Just thought it would be interesting to get some feedback on what materials you have a hard time finding, what you want but aren’t sure if it’s available, or what you can’t get in quantities desired.
Resins…
Fabrics…
Coatings…
Bagging…
Hand tools…
Equipment…
Post away.
Suitable foam for a plug. It looks like the cone will be 5 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet but I’m still waiting on the chassis to be designed before I know for sure. Depending on a pending rule change they might have to make a wide bodied frame to meet driver safety rules
Foam is easy to get, liquid 2-part available in various densities.
How about specialty infusion supplies, or rare fabric styles?
Very surprised at the lack of interest here…
multiaxial graphite that doesn’t cost $100 + per yard.
Plastic paddles in various shapes, premade for working the bag/laminate. If smeone made these people would buy them.
Mold wedges that don’t get all gouged up after 10 uses.
A magic jeenie that prevents all bridging and air bubbles
Besides the paddles, you’re looking for fantasy stuff!
Multiaxial graphite is usually cheaper per oz than woven. Less ply cutting, and you get the required +/-45 degree plies without wasting much.
Wedges need to be soft so they don’t damage the tooling, even if it’s metal.
We use carbon fibre wedges made from uni. I know sounds wanky but they are offcuts. They don’t damage metal tooling, hold a nice sharp edge and are strong enough to lever off too. We even use them to remove resin flash off plates
It’s called an autoclave 
If you need an abundance of wedges, try another mold release, or air injectors.
About bridging: try and avoid that. a vacuum bag will not move fiber. Perhaps an autoclave would, but I guess fiber will always shift in a direction you do not want it to… (carbon addendum of Murphy’s Law)
Autoclaves do not fix bad lay-ups or bagging. Bridged areas will cause marceling in the fibers or create wrinkles, and will stretch the bag. All of it leads up to resin pooling or voids.
If I were auditing that shop, I would definitely mark that negatively.
Don’t get me wrong we avoid bridging like the plague in our parts, but we sponsor the local FSAE team and they love bridging and the clave turns their rubbish into usable parts. I have tried to teach them better but what do I know.
We also post cure our infusions with pressure which helps get rid of any air that may have made it in and increases consolidation. Or like once when someone turned off the vacuum before it had gelled, it looked like a milkshake but a fast ramp to 80deg and 3bar fixed it and it looked great.
coloured carbon kevlar!!
in australia =[
i just want to have a bit of a play and do some cosmetic parts but its os hard to source those kinda materials…
Is there some sort of import law that prevents shipping composite supplies to Australia? I’ve heard some countries do not allow exporting of certain types of materials… guess maybe they figure if you ship uranium to Iran they will build a nuke… oh snap wait… they will.
Not saying anyone needs to worry about what Australia will build.
Carr Composites in Britain exports colored hybrid cloths.
I will look into casting some urethane plastic paddles… local supply store sells hard casting urethane. called “tool cast” or something like that.
There are US export controls on composite materials to a lot of countries, Australia is ok. A couple of guys got 4years for selling a few hundred kg of high mod fibre to China. We have to sign end-user declarations when we get fibre from the US and get visited by New Zealand’s SIS at the request of the CIA.
It’s more a case of there is such a small demand for unique fibres in Australia and New Zealand that no one stocks it.
Import and export laws are a joke.
I know of a guy that involuntarily became a player in an export line of tank and other military parts from USA to Iraq, via Israel… Approved by CIA…
^^ thats it, there is just no demand. i have also fought for courses that they closed but there werent enough people to run them for, altho now 5 years later they are running them, but in ridiculous locations…
would you have more information on the top part of your last post i quoted??*
That’s funny China gets their high modulous carbon fiber from Japan and France so why would the US gubment bother getting involved in US sales to China. Not saying it ain’t so, just how the US tries to macromanage the world. Don’t get me wrong i love the US and security we have.
Edit: Found the product I need
How about quick connects? I know Airtech sells them, but it looks like I can get some cheaper here…
http://www.torrtech.com/Pages/Probes1.htm
Any other companies that sell these for a decent price?
I’ve also used some where there is a male and female threaded section that you twist on and break the bag at that point. I found that these were easier to use than the quarter turn ones, as in less trouble with leaking and no need to score the bag. Anyone know where to find these?
Continuous Strand Mat
Don’t need large qty yet just want to try it out with my infusions.
I know fibreglast sell it, but every thing they sell is overpriced.
I have a account with CompositeOne, I haven’t checked with them yet.
I still have some 800 kgs in very lightweight CFM. Not in USA though…