CNC Machined Polyurethane Foam Sealing


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JLiang
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Hello, 

I'm part of a student design team looking to make kevlar enclosures from a negative mould. I've done work in the past with carbon fibre in an MDF mould, which I sealed with gelcoat. However, gelcoat was a huge pain to work with, didn't sand well, poor surface finish, etc.

This time I'm looking to use either aluminium or closed-cell polyurethane foam, which I will be machining on a CNC router. What sort of mould release agents should I use? Is just a wax and some PVA ok? Are there better mould materials to use? These are very low volume, room-temperature VARTM process moulds, 2-3 pulls max so I'm not concerned about long term durability, just ease of machinability and low price. The parts are also very small, largest is about 150x125x54mm. 

Thanks for your help!
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JLiang
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Hanaldo - 1/19/2020 5:23:35 AM
Tooling board is ideal for what you are wanting to do, much better than polyurethane foam. You can get a range of densities, basically the higher the density the more durability and the better the surface finish will be, but also a higher investment price. But if you get something around a 600kg density, this will be plenty sturdy for 2-3 pulls (depending on draft and geometry), great surface finish, and still quite affordable especially at the sizes you are looking at.

Sealing wise, you can either prime and topcoat the tooling board, or you can seal and gloss it directly with a sealer like the S120 you can get from Easy Composites. Sealer has a bit of a learning curve with its application, but once you get the hang of it it works pretty well.

I looked into tooling board fairly early on, but unfortunately I can't find it for an affordable price in Canada. Most of the sites are selling it in 48" panels, which run over $300. 

By 'topcoat' do you just mean a 2-part paint like polyurethane? I can't find any of what you mentioned in Canada unfortunately, which is why I'm looking at alternatives. 

Thank you for you insight!

GO

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