Tooling dough, compound, foam.. whatever

General Composites Discussions Products Talk
#1

Available in 2 versions, room temp and high temp tooling compound. It’s basically a 2 part polyurethane foam mixed with epoxy tooling resin. Mix the 2 parts together and you have a dough like compound that you can use to reinforce your mold.

Pros:
Add strength and stiffness without the weight
Reduce overall time it takes to build the mold
Reduced mold cost
Great for reinforcing sharp corners and hard to get into places

Cons:
Epoxy based so it’s for epoxy tooling only

Quick rundown:

  1. Tooling gel coat
  2. 2 plies of fiberglass cloth
  3. Tooling compound (no thicker than 1/2")
  4. 2 plies of fiberglass cloth

Example: Here is a motor hood mold that I made on Saturday. The entire top side of the mold was done in half a day from brushing on the tooling gel coat to the last 2 plies of fiberglass cloth. Overall this mold only has 4 plies of 8oz glass, yet it is stiff like a mother. The tooling compound was only applied to 1/4" thick.




#2

2 robinair pumps huh, Finally got mine and works like a dream!

#3

Ah… welcome to full vacuum

#4

Check this out… Last night I was finishing up on a job that was supposed to be done on Friday :oops: I was infusing a part and everything went as planned. I left the part to cure under vacuum and when I came in the garage about 3 hours later, it was covered in SMOKE!!! It really had no odor but it looked like something was on fire!!! I use a Robinair 15600 just like the ones in the picture. The smoke was coming from the exhaust. I called Robinair today and the technician told me that the pump was simply pulling moisture out of the part. (He actually said it was pulling moisture from the AC unit) He claimed it was just a normal thing but I’m not so sure. I mean, the smoke was SO THICK it looked like the place was on fire!! I’ve been using this pump for over 2 months now and I have never had this problem. Could this be because of my sudden drop in temperature? It was around 70 degrees yesterday. The pump runs into a peice of 1" PVC and has 4 brass ball valves installed so I can run 4 bags at a time. (only 1 bag was running)
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

#5

What was the oil level in the pump? Could the vapor have been atomized oil?

#6

that is what I was going to ask, about how many hours do you think you have on the pump??

#7

looks like a comforter :smiley:

You don’t spray your gel?

#8

Oh not on epoxy. The epoxy tooling gel coat is a thick paste that can only be brushed on.

#9

Hey Evan, do you carry it, and if so how much? Also do you ever use balsa wood in any of your plugs or molds? If so where do you get it?

#10

I do carry it now, the dough that is. I’ve never used balsa wood before but it’s not a bad idea either. You can get balsa at any local arts and crafts store.

#11

cool.

#12

do you have it on your website yet? Want to order some in the morn

#13

The oil level was right at the line when running and I have maybe 12 hours max on the pump. I was thinking it was time to change the oil but when thinking about it today, maybe my PVC has a slight leak and it nmight be pulling moisture from there. I’m going to pull the pump from the distribution pipes tonight and run another part.

Thanks!!
Danny

#14

looks like a dakota rt hood… am i right???

#15

Sorry it’s not a dakota rt hood.

#16

I am guessing a BMW hood

#17

Close…

#18

mini?

#19

not so close

#20

not really a hood just a glob of dough that you messed up on?