Toe guard - 1st infusion attempt


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Chris
Chris
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So, my goal is to make a full fairing eventually for mine and a few other bikes but I needed to start off small. After making an engine case cover wet laying carbon and kevlar I decided infusion was the way to go. 

I made a mould for a toe guard from a ali guard I have had on my bike for years. It took a bit of work and this was a practice mould as the final mould has the pattern repeated 3 times to make a few at once. 

Getting the vac bag to seal was a bit of an issue, I couldn't find the leak for love nor money so resorted to starting over with a fresh price of film etc. Perfect, I must have nicked it some how. 

The video tutorials were nice and easy to follow so it all went as expected, even if I had to put the whole lot in with the boiler as it was so cold the resin was still as it was mixed 7hours later. 

On taking it out of the mould there were a few air bubbles in the surface (how do I go about reducing this when mixing??) and the top 2 corners the cloth can't have been into the corners fully as the resin chipped off there was so much there. Also I was a bit too excited to de-mould so it wasn't fully cured, this could have caused the resin to chip on the corners. 



Tuesday I plan on ordering some GC50 gelcoat so I can get the corners sorted. If I use a heat gun on this will it make the bubbles come to the surface and pop so I have a perfect finish?? I'll get another pic when the resin I've put on top to fill the voids has cured and been sanded, it is deeper than the pic makes it look. 

Any other advice is welcome........
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Chris
Chris
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fgayford (06/04/2013)
Hi Chris

You can build a small hot box using styrofoam board and use a small space heater. You can easily set the temperature to what you need.

It really isn't air bubbles but the resin boiling volitles you see near the vaccum line. So by closing vacuum first this will stop. I then allow resin to still flow into the bag and it will. I wait for 30 seconds to allow the resin  to kind of balance in the laminate then close the resin line. Yes you get a slightly heavier part but eliminate the nightmare work of filling pinholes. By the time your done filling and clearcoating sanding clearcoating your probably are just as heavy .  

Others may disagree but this works for me.

Hope this helps

Fred 


That does make sense Fred, many thanks. I've made a couple of the toe guards today with the gel coat but think I may try your method in the week and see how I get on. 

I'll see about making a small box to start with and go from there.  thanks for the tips!
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