My second carbon part (infused)

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#1

Well no stopping me now and i got it right on the first attempt, no damn vac leak and you`ve won the battle well most of it anyway. This part in the pics below is for the centre consol between the seats.

The mould was easy because i could mould off of an original part but getting the carbon to lay down reasonably was a pain due the shapes involved, but then again thats why we use twill. this part infused in about 2 mins, once again i heated the epoxy and mould prior to infusion, the epoxy was heated for about 30 mins unmixed obviously and boy does that viscosity come down. Ive just got to do a bit of final trimming and then clearcoat it, then grab the next mould im 50% through making.

Baz

#2

And the last pic :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

#3

And finally trimmed and clearcoated :slight_smile:

#4

nice work

Got any pics while making the mold? How did you get so nice edges on the mold.

#5

Sorry Marius no pics of mould construction but i can tell you that the original part was sprayed using Duratec (grey) then once all nice and smooth i placed it on a piece of melamine board and cut a hole out to allow the part to drop in then used plasticine between it and the board where required to give nice sharp edges. I then applied two generous coats of gelcoat followed by tissue (veil) then 5 x 300gm mat.

Hope this is of some help

Baz

#6

awesome work.did you ever try vacuum bagging?

#7

gtfour, i thought about doing so but no i decided the only way to get a good part was to infuse everything, my decision being based on the countless number of threads ive read. This process is so clean and i love the time it gives you in setting it up, there is no rush Oh and i get a kick out of watching the resin make its journey to the vac lines :slight_smile:

Anyway have you tried it yet? i tell you once you do you won`t do bagging again or maybe only on the simplest of parts.

#8

nice!!! :smiley:
whats your resin viscosity at??
how hot are you heating the resin and mold?
i am having trouble with flow???Looks like your only using one layer of flow media…

#9

fox,

The viscosity of West epoxy can be dramatically reduced by heating,

At 55F its viscosity is 2500
90F 400
100F 250

So with ambient temps here at about 80F at the moment it doesnt take much to get the temp of the epoxy up to 100F so viscosity is pretty low.
I am at present heating the epoxy on an oil filled radiator and pre heating my small moulds with a heat gun, a bit heath robinson but the moulds only have to hold the heat for a minuite or so. The cargo cover mould was a different matter due to size so i elevated it above my workbench by 150mm and built a temporary box around it and left a small opening for a fan heater, it worked perfectly and infused very quick. I only use one layer of flow media.

Best of luck fox hope this helps.