I’ve been trying reach him via the forum and email for the past couple of days.
I’m getting desperate because I purchased a vacuum pump from him and have not received it. All my supplies are here and I’m eager to get a hold of him.
I haven’t seen him online in quite some time now. I hope everything is OK.
He’s probably just busy. I know he gets caught up in projects just like the rest of us do. He’ll speak up soon, I’m sure.
Hi Vince,
Sorry it’s been a long week. I’ve just gotten back from Composites 2003 convention. It was okay although I did get a lot out of it. Anyway, I will go to the shop tomorrow and take care of your vacuum pump. I apologize for the wait.
thanks,
Evan
Evan,
No worries. I figured you were away for a good reason since I didn’t hear back from you via email or see you on the forum.
Composites convention? That sounds pretty cool. Learn anything new?
Thanks!
Thanks Vince,
Yes I did learn some new things. The thing I liked most is the fact that manufacturer of the resin that I use was there. I got a chance to talk to them. I pretty much asked them what I need to do to get the most out of their resins and stuff like that. They were extremely helpful to the point of sending someone to my shop soon to show me a thing or two about a thing or two.
Other than that there are tons of glass/carbon manufacturers and suppliers. There’s also a new type of composite material that I have never seen before. It has a dark goldish look to it and it’s made out of lava rocks. Supposedly it has a service temperature of up to 800 fareinheit and it’s 15-40% stronger than glass. I got their brochure but didn’t hang around long enough to talk to them.
What else… hmmm? Oh there’s this one company that makes a cleaning solution. It’s not a solvent and it works really good, well so the demonstration showed. You take a brush with cured epoxy and dip it in the solution and the epoxy just literally falls off the brush and sink to the bottom. It’s non-flamable and non toxic. 90% water and salt content. I was going to pick up a bottle but they didn’t have any more. This is great because I don’t have to keep throwing the brushes away.
I also saw some fancy machineries that literally automate the whole process. A machine cuts out the desired size and shape of strand mat. It then gets infused with resin and lifted off by a robot arm and dropped onto a mold. A negative mold then clamp down, sandwiching the piece in between, provide the adequate heat for curing. Everything is completed in about 10-15 minutes and the negative mold opens up and spits out the fnished part trimmed and ready for packaging. Too bad I forgot to bring the $2 mil of cash with me or else I’d bring that bad boy home. :lol: just kidding
Anyway, lots of other stuff too but I gotta look through my tote bag for the info.
Evan
It doesn’t surprise me a machine like that would carry a $2M price tag. I bet that is just incredible to see in action.
I just started playing around with composites last night…I tried to laminate a couple of small light switch covers to practice. They turned out OK…but I think I’ll have better luck when the vacuum pump arrives and I can get setup. Doing everything soley by hand just introduces too much margin for error.
Anyways, I’m really excited about the learning process and hopefully I’ll have something worthy to post a pic of soon. 
Even,
I was at the show also, everything was about the same as last time I went. But it still was a good show, I was able to get some more work from a customer (more tools to make) anyway how’s the shop coming??
Hey Joe,
I wanted to come back for the last day to talk to some more people but just couldn’t find the time. The show was good but I thought there were just too many fabric manufacturer/supplier and not enough of the other stuff.
My shop is coming along. Slowly. How busy are you with the tools? I might need your services so just let me know if you’re available. Speaking of tools, I spoke with the people from 2PhaseTech.com regarding their new machine. Apparently Boeing is testing out their larger version so I was wondering if you knew anything about it. I got really excited when I first learned about 2Phase but it seems kind of pricey. Besides, they are still 3 months away from being able to produce one.
BTW, Paul from PMI is going to come by the shop and show me vac infusion. I can’t wait.
Evan
Even,
I’ve got five tools coming to me in the next week or so that I shouldn’t take me more then a week to build. Just let me know when you need the help.