First Im going to show, what previous mould makers have done:
notice the gap between the part and the flange.
My part on my flange with frame work:
The part has 20 bolts welded to it. the flanges has holes drilled in it. The flange is mounted to the part with washers and nuts.
I wanted the flange to take the shape of the part(countour or radius 217in) so that there would be little clay work needed.
Im showing the relatively snug fit of the frame work to the flange
Notice how there is very little gap anywhere. It really is a snap in fit, i just Hlaf @$$ed it so that i can take this picture.
Heres the point of it all:
Image that the towel is a backing material. I am goign to have the fiberglass overlap and become one piece with the wood. This is to reduce the flexing and twising that the mould could experience.
This frame work is to reduce twisting, warping and shrinking.
Once i have all my cloth layers down, Im going to attach more wood gussets. In the end, the back will have lots of wood on it.
Ill take pictures of the final assembly when finished.
This is going to be an epoxy mould, just for the records with. 3 layers of 30z fiberglass cloth for surface and 3 more for the backing. With as many layers as i can fit of 10oz fiberglass cloth for the middle and core, this will likely be 10 layers or so.
After the material has dried for a day, Im going to attach flat wood pieces to the backing of the mould to build faster height. Then attach diagonol gussets to the wooden frame work to reduce any more twisting.
ANY ADVICE or comments pleas please share. Im new to mould making.
To reduce shrinkage Im going to be very sparing with my epoxy resin.