I have a 3 part mold that I made of a front bumper/air dam for my race car. I’ve made a part from it doing just a wet lay-up mainly since I did not have a reliable way to seal the the joints of the mold. Has anyone used a multi part mold in either a vacuum bagging or infusion process? How were the joints sealed?
Gprodcrx.
I had a multiple part mold once, and I envolope-bagged the mold. Then it is air tight.
I just asked about this on these boards a short while ago.
I made a two piece mold that I wanted to infuse so I ended up putting the entire mold into a bag. Instead of making an envelope froms bagging film, I bought some 36" wide bagging tubing. This way I could just slide my mold in and close off the ends.
I do believe that they sell tubing that is 60" which should be large enough to put a bumper mold into.
The one thing I learned from this is to put mold release all along the flanges and the backside as well.
The first time I infused my part, the resin seeped into the small cracks at the flanges and made its way all the way to the edge and stuck my mold together.
I think he is asking how he can make this part from infusion. I dont think an envelope bag would work for infusion? maybe I am wrong?
An expert like TET could prob tell us either way!
I used a very thin bead of a silicone along the flanges before I bolted the flanges together, let the silicone set over night and then started the infusion. If you have decent approximation of the flanges then the silicone will be too viscous for it to be pulled thru under vacuum, especially if you let it set for a while before hand.
First of all, the layup tooling needs to have locators to properly align the various sections, and good fasteners to hold it together.
Apply release agent to all “A” side surfaces. This includes the flanges that will face each other when bolted together. DO NOT apply release agent to areas where the bagging tape will be applied.
Apply a bead of high quality sealant (silicone is common but not always allowed) to the flanges that will be joined, about 1/2" away from the layup surface. Make sure to go around the bolt holes and it would be wise to add another bead a couple of inches below the first as extra insurance.
After assembling the layup tooling, some sealant will be squeezed onto the layup surface, wipe it away to produce a flush joint line.
Let it sit until the sealant cures, then infuse as usual.