I am looking to do a few test runs and make a few small items finally over the xmas holiday. I am in need of everything imaginable. I have no previous experince with purchasing the release plys, bags, sealant tapes, etc. Where do you recommend I buy them from, best prices/products? What sort of resin systems do you recommend? I am only familair with the West systems, and Fiberglast. thanks.
I would recommend www.fiberglasssupply.com I usually get my resin, peel ply, resin flow media and vacuum bag from them. The prices are very resonable and they are great about getting things shipped on time. If you are going to try infusion you will need vacuum tees and spiral tubing which I get from www.mcmastercarr.com. This stuff is much cheaper from them than most of the fiberglass only stores. For the tubing i usually find some place local. If you have a Menards home improvement store near you they have the tubing very cheap, I just got a 100 foot roll for 10.00! As for carbon, you just get it where you get it:D
Excellent appreciate it.
Heres some of the places I use:
USComposites: Silicone, S Glass
Jamestowndistributors: Heavier CF
Fiberglass supply: Infusion supplies
Freemansupply: Urethanes, silicone, and misc tools
Places I havent used but will be switching to:
Fiberlay.com for a lot of the stuff above
And if I can convince my boss to buy me stuff under there account (with my money): www.richmondaircraft.com <----its products seem really project specific. As in theres no such thing as a proven method for each part. So they make a variety of materials that all do the same thing with one or two minor changes.
if you go to fiberlay talk to Ian!!!
How do you like the bagging film you got from FGS? I bought a roll of film from them. IMO, its the worst film I’ve ever used. .001 thickness does not cut it for infusion because the flow media sometimes punctures the bag. I prefer the thicker .002 stuff from airtech.
I use airtechs 4 mil bag
Will do.
And in terms of bags. Any of you guys use Stretchlon 800 for infusion? Or are you just sticking with plane old nylon?
I bought some of the stretchlon 800 and I have noticed that the flow media will put holes in the bag if you start pushing on it where the flow media is cut. If you don’t touch it it’s fine. It is also not a stretchy as they make it seem! I layed some flat across a mold surface and pulled a vacuum to see if it would suck completely into the mold like they show on the website and it won’t!
We use Stretch 200 at work (for bagging, not infusion). It really stretches well. Never seen the 800 which is why I ask.
Good to know about the holes with flow media.
The green strechlon (200 I think) is good for infusing with epoxy but not with poly, for poly resin use the pink 800. Flow media will poke it but laying a layer of peelply ect. on top of the flow media will solve that for infusion. It’s all I use. Things to look out for with it, where the bagging is at its limit forming to the mold when you infuse the resin it will pool a bit in that area (on the flow media side) because the bagging film will come off the part a bit because of the lesser vacuum.
I noticed that vinyl/poly seems to react with the 200. It appears to weaken the bag material.
For that puddling issue do you think double bagging would solve it? As in a second bag with breather only, and a separate vacuum source all on top of the original layup.
I’m no expert by any means, but if you are going to double bag, then I recall someone posting stating that they put some plasticine or something on top the first bag in the areas that need an extra bit of encouragement to stay down and then place the second bag over this and when the vac is applied then this pushes the plasticine into the mold with an extra bit of force, this way you might be able to use your 800 bagging and not worry about reaction.
Pre molded silicone pieces works well for what your talking about.
Breather cloth believe it or not can add quite a bit of extra presure to a lay up if it remains dry (like double bagging).