Hmm, I can't see me getting into heat cure. What temp do people usually do this at?

So your saying the black stuff is a bit better to use if you want a more verstile mould?



If Brute Force Isn''''t working your not using enough...

I know some prepregs sold by EC will cure at about 80-90°, so Unimold would do the trick, while epoxy gelcoat EC sells would not. They say HDT of this gelcoat is at about 50°C. If you want to post cure your part in mold, same story.

For versatility, well, their green gelcoat and mold putty are time savers for small parts. You dont need rollers, and I dont think there's much difference in time between applying resin+mat and putty, on small parts. And you dont have to wait a coupling coat to cure like unimold before applying your main "mold thickness". Plus, and you know it from your experience too, this process is not messy as long as u use a plastic sheet on which you mix the putty. And it dont smells ... You can do it in your living room without your wife screaming at you

Epoxy gelcoats and mold making putty can be used for larger parts, but better with a few pals to help you mix the putty while you're applying it. Last time I made a 70cm*70cm mold with putty, and well, I had to hurry to apply the putty before gelcoat was not sticky enough, in a 18°C room. Maybe I mix too much the putty and lose too much time then? Dunno.

Thats why the unimold is, IN MY POINT OF VIEW, and i aint no composite guru, better suitable for larger molds. Its more difficult to fail on applying 1sqm resin on tacky gelcoat in 5 mins rather than mixing and applying 1sqm mold making putty before the gelcoat stops to tack. If vinylester used in this process smells as much as vinylester I used to work with, if you try do that in your living room, your wife WILL scream at you

Some say gelcoat can be returned to tacky by applying a bit of acetone on it. i never tried that, but if it works, then mold making putty could be used for larger molds too. For that, EC guys could give their input too.

I dont think one process is better than the other in each and every case, each has its good sides.

Hope it helped.

 



 


    A $1000 electronic device will always protect a 10 cents fuse

Hi Joe,

As usual, you're right on all this.

When working with the putty system (epoxy tooling gel coat and epoxy mould making putty)
I wouldn't use acetone to bring a 'cured too far' gelcoat back to life, instead I would apply another coat of gelcoat or even a coat of laminating epoxy and then put the putty onto that whilst it was still completely wet. We've done this to good effect. The best thing is to catch it at the right time but if it goes too far (and you're using the putty) then the worst thing you can do is try to stick the putty onto a dry gelcoat. Instead, wet it with laminating resin or another coat of gelcoat and then put the putty straight onto that.

When working with Uni-Mould
It's definately better suited to large moulds than the putty system (mentioned above) and it's more cost effective too. I think it is harder to get wrong and because it uses a coupling layer that is reinforced with a light glass then your chances of ending up with air voids between the gel and the reinforcement are a lot lower than they are with traditional GRP.

Uni-Mould smells! - You certainly cannot do this in your house or you will be incredibly unpopular.

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Just a quick question about your uni mould system. 

Hi Joe,

You are spot-on with the theoretical HDT for the gel-coats, however recently we have been pushing the epoxy gel-coat (the green one) a fair bit further, we have found that with a good post-cure the moulds can be run upto a service temp of 75-80 deg C, without any 'print' on the surface or tool distortion, we'll be doing some more trials but that product data might soon be changing! We have also taken to unimould upto 120 deg C, but that was getting close to it's edge! for good durability I wouldn't advice going far past 90.

Paul Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical

Thanks, Paul, thats a good thing to know about that epoxy gelcoat

 



 


    A $1000 electronic device will always protect a 10 cents fuse

Any update for when will new videos be uploaded?

 



 


    A $1000 electronic device will always protect a 10 cents fuse

I hope to upload part2 next part next week (I had some IT issues!) and then the remaining parts soon after. I'll keep you posted!

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Sweet...

 



 


    A $1000 electronic device will always protect a 10 cents fuse