Does anyone make have a brush on silicone bag system for infusion? I know smooth-on has a system to make reusable infusion bags but it seems to require the use of a very expensive spray machine. Arctek used to make a brush on system but their website no longer works and I dont know if they are still around.
http://catalogue.airtech.lu/product.php?product_id=32&lang=EN
They have it in the USA as well, but the datasheets in the USA are behind a password.
smooth on does have a brushable version.
I haven’t applied my Smooth-on brush bag yet, just have it in stock for a specific mold I’m building.
But I’ll give it a review and post later.
Airtech has a brushable one as well. And MVP has a (sprayable) system as well.
I like the reinforcement weave that Airtech has.
Prairie Technologies makes a SWORL system that sprays better than both smooth on and MVP and also can be resprayed directly over an existing SWORL bag making repairs very easy. The system is inexpensive and almost fits in a small suitcase. I personally own one and wouldn’t use anything else. Great elongation and bag life.
Curious to their kit price and also what would you estimate a average bag materials cost with their system ?
my machine was just under 5K. I have never priced making a bag for someone else, but I have been quotes $25 per ftsq sprayed and higher.
Thanks for that info. Certainly worth considering. That would be about $500.00 for one of my bags initially…but more importantly would be the reduction of set-up time.
I’ll be testing the Smooth-on brush kit soon and if I like the result I’ll certainly consider moving up to a system such as this.
Can you share any pix of your finished bags and the special steps that had to be built into the mold surfaces ? Such as vac ports etc.
I will certainly do that. I use a silicone port that I simply place on the part, spray over, and never have to worry about it again. Best part is that it is easy to clean out cured resin. No Drilling or soaking. I also use mesh materials for reinforcement in the bag for extreme handling but generally not required. I am headed to HOTROD Drag Week so will not be around for a week but will get pics posted as soon as I get back.
That is awesome ( Drag week)…love to attend some day. Looking forward to your pix and details. Are the ports something you make on a lathe or buy ? Or is it simply a removable profile used while the bag is curing ,then pulled out leaving only the hose I.D. to use ?
I have bought them in the past but now that I have the machine, prob going to mold a set and build into the bag as I spray. Haven’t tested that yet. I get them from SWORL as well. I am in the process of developing a bag with integrated edge seal, peripheral part vacuum, and flow channels built in. Goal is to use a bag and tool design that will allow for infusion while not producing any wasted materials like bagging materials, etc.
I thought all of that was THE main reason for reusable bags in the first place. That is certainly why I’m going this route.
No spiral tubing,tape etc. Just flow mesh and peel-ply as needed. No port or fittings trash.
Please post up your process as you go. Lots to learn.
So has anyone brushed on a bag yet?
Try this company stabond corporation in gardena…they can make spray silicone
check stabond corporation …they have one
I made an infusion mold recently with the brush-on bag from smooth-on, I got it from Reynolds advanced materials in LA
I haven’t used it yet although the mold is complete. Probably wont get to use it until October, if ever. At that phase in our development we were trying out different methods of producing easy-to-use infusion molds. We found a method we like now and the method by which the silicon bag would be used would be cumbersome in comparison… We ended up going with “hard” tooling (well, hard compared to silicon). We are loading preformed parts into the molds… A soft rubbery mold would not be easy to load, and the mold design makes it necessary to load the dry materials into the top, soft side of the tool. I am planning on backing the top of this tool up with an epoxy/glass backer board of some sort to prevent deformation of the bag as I load the materials, and then keep its shape as the mold is closed.
All that aside:
The brush-on silicon bagging material performed well in making the mold. Very very few voids/pinholes, and only in very tight corners. Just fyi, this stuff is THICK. I degassed the material as recommended (make sure you use a GIANT container for degassing, it easily expanded 5-6 times in volume while degassing), and used a reinforcement mesh as recommended by the Reynolds guys. I tested the entire tool for vacuum integrity and so far I have no indication that it would not work as intended. If I am allowed to (I’ll check with the bossesses) I’ll post a pic or 2 of the setup.
Hope this helped
-david