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#1

We are building an intake tube for a custom car. the shape is not perfectly round and it does have a bend in it. I was thinking of using the white polystyrene foam for the male mold, wrap the wetted out carbon fiber around the foam core mold. Once cured pull and dissolve the foam out.

Is there a better foam to use for this than polystyrene or is that the correct foam to use?

#2

Aquacore. Shape it and let it dry. Lay up. Wash out core with water.

#3

how hard is that stuff to shape?

#4

or SmartMolding (i think the name…look up Cornerstone Research Group, or Veriflex)
It’s a memory shaped plastic, that you heat up in a mold. You wind/layup on the inflated plastic mold. Cure. Heat the part, and it softens, and you pull it out.
Or soemthing like that.

I think they have options for everything. RT cure resins, and HT cure epoxies.

#5

Eh. If you can make a 2 part mold, you can shove it in there and pack it. It’s like wet sand. And will break easily when not dried/cured!
I think it’s machineable too…so if you get a general shape, you can sand/machine it to the exact shape.

#6

Hi Faster:

Check out this link regarding tube making. It is an interesting
way to do complex tube shapes.

http://www.vaglinks.com/Docs/Misc/CarbonFiberHowTo2.pdf

Jim

#7

Cool technique. An aluminum/poly roller would do that guy a world of good for his mold layup. Way to much air in his layup.

Another cool technique is a two part mold, pour in melted salt, let dry, and theres your mold. Not really do able for most hobbiests though.

#8

Nice link and I would have no problem making tubes that way under normal circumstances. However this is an AC Cobra with a SVT prototype engine and the car is going in SEMA show this year. The tube needs to be a one piece mold for this guys car. I’ll check out AquaCore. I’m not doing the actuall fab work, my partner i swap jobs with is doing it in our shop, but I wanted to research it so he knows the best way to make the disolvable mold.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help everyone gives here on this forum :slight_smile: Yeah we disagree sometimes but all in all it’s a knowledgable group of people.