Haven't posted much, but I haven't made much.....Weaving.

General Composites Discussions Showcase
#1

I wish i had a sledge hammer…weaving is not easy, even with brand new machines.
It has taken me over a year to get to this point, including various equipment issues.

Weaving fiberglass is HELL, due to the nature of the beast (multi-end tows, with no twist, like normal yarn, along with tow spread during sample warping/beaming)

Info: CCI Tech Sample Loom and Mini-Warper
Fabrics shown are 750tex, 10 end S2 glass in warp, and weft has white and/or black embroidery yarn (thicker than normal sewing thread, thinner than knitting yarn) to hold it together.
Warper has on it 250tex (equiv to 24oz glass fabric tows, 20 end (uncounted)…sizing smells like hell, and it fuzzes like a old horse.

#2

I didn’t notice any type of creel. How many spools does it use and does it keep tension on the tows? How was learning their software? Anymore pics of redirects would be appreciated. Looks like fun!

#3

http://imgur.com/a/WfHBN

Creel system is absent, which is bloody annoying. It’s a sample loom, and creates about 3 ft of fabric. For the warp, you wrap the tows around that large drum, clamp, tape and cut, and then wind it back on a “beam” or spool. Then you take the beam, transfer it to a large rack, and manually insert it to the heedles (or the things that do up and down to allow the weft to go under/over the tows)…which is fun. Glass filaments everywhere… After that, the weft is inserted with a gripper, and yadda yadda yadda, 2 days later and a load of problems, you have fabric :slight_smile:

Only have done simple plainweave/uni fabric, but I have already racked some Vectran for a 4x4 twill.

#4

This is one of the few avenues of compsites that I have never ventured down. Best of luck to you and I hope all goes well for you in the future.

#5

Once you have this sorted what next…making yarn? :eek:

Total respect, for dedication and fully getting to grips with carbon fibre and its processes! :wink:

#6

Next on the list is knitted fabrics:

Riff at work:

#7

I hate you Herman.

Anyways, I WISH I had yarn. glass/carbon tows are very very hard to work with on a small scale. Normal looms have tensioners for each warp creel!! Maybe i can get some wrapped tows with a thermoplastic for toughening :slight_smile:

I wish this upon no one, that does not need to make a fabric…it’s not fun :slight_smile: However, I pray one day I get the process learned and easy…then I can make cool stuff like thermoplastic prepreg, or weave my face into carbon :wink: