After quite some time and a few attempts I’ve made my first good part via vacuum infusion, NO Pin holes!
it’s a wing mirror cover, my first carbon part
Can you guys give me some tip on the best way to trim the part and finish the edges?
Very nice!
Trim the excess close to the line with a band saw or jigsaw mounted upside down. Then use a palm sander with 80 grit paper to get it exact. It can be smoothed further by hand with wet and dry. I’ve never found the need to seal then edges.
Put a diamond cutting wheel into a pillar drill, set the table height to the correct level for where you want trimmed, then just sit the part on the table and rotate the part against the cutting wheel and hay presto you will have a nice straight cut, then only minimal finishing on the edge will need to be done with some fine paper.
What cloth??
200gsm harness (H4 I think?) 4 plies
For trimming you can also install an angle grinder with diamond blade horizontally on a workbench, with the diamond wheel protruding through a piece of wood.
You can then simply rotate the mirror though the diamond wheel. This is especially efficient if you need to do a bunch of these.
Wheres it from?
Someone was selling it on eBay every so often at a good price, based on isle of Wight if I remember correctly? It has a yellow guide thread every 4 inches or so that I pull out.
Think I’m going to go for the diamond cutting wheel on an angle grinder approach, there are 2 types of cutting wheel, one with slots around the edge and the other is solid.
Can anyone tell me which type will work best and why?
I prefer the solid one.
In theory the slotted one is better in discharging fibrous materials, but it can break out fibers more easily. On my angle grinder I have a solid one, but the table saw at work has a slotted one. (water cooled). I like the solid one better.
If you can, you can water cool things, but keep in mind the safety. If cutting dry, make sure you have a good dust extractor nearby. Fibrous dust is nasty stuff. Protect yourself.
The diamond blade can fill with molten resin at times, decreasing the effectivity. Cutting a piece of rock or concrete will burn the resin away, and the wheel is like new again.