I think I'm going to add a flange. It seems easy enough to do. Should I use gel-coat on top of the flange as well? How wide should I make the flange for this particular part?

yes you should use a gel coat on top of the resin as that will be a surface you use bagging tape on to get a seal (if not envelope bagging).  If you are extra paranoid about the strength of the mould, srew a few screws in half way in the putty on the mould to give a solidly mounted item the new putty will set round.  new putty on old putty will always be a slightly weak bond so an extra mechanical bit of help might stop the flange cracking off if your a bit heavy handed releasing a part or bang the mould.

I think ill be envelope bagging and laying dry then infusing resin, do i still need more than 2 flanges? where would the best 2 places for flanges be if i do just the resin in, and vacuum out flanges? The 2 farthest points from each other or across the most complicated part of the mold?

Thanks for all the advice guys I really appreciate it

Chris

id put the resin feed at the complicated light end of the mould (the top of the light if on the car) and the vac feed at the bottom.  In theory it shouldnt make much difference if you use the EC method of clamping off both ends as the resin should of travelled everywhere, but i like to have the complicated bit infused first as you can mess around a bit with resin flow etc early on in the infusion if its not going where you want etc.

With envelope bagging and putty you MUST sand the putty smooth as it WILL have small strands of fibreglass poking out and they WILL pop your bag giving you small leaks you cant find.

Ideally even seal the putty in with a resin so the surface is smooth and wont puncture bags.

OK so I couldn't wait...



I used 3 cuts by the openings and some scrap carbon "band aids" over the top of the cuts and some of the pin holes.
I figure this one CANT come out worse than the last one, right?
we'll see

What is the "ec" method

By EC i mean Easy Composites.  Watch thier infusion video

What am I doing wrong with the easy lease? It still sticks to the mold after 4 coats.

Better this time but not good yet. Im going to PVA and vacuum

Are you applying the easy lease properly? 

Take the mould back to gel by cleaning it with mould cleaner and giving it a good scrub and starting again with easylease.

Ive never had a problem with easylease applied properly although i do drink the stuff......

You sure the part had properly cured before demoulding???