what would YOU do?

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

ive been given these two dash panles and im not sure if i should overlay it or mold it,im planning on selling around 10-15 of them,if i overlay it i will sell it as an exchange part so they send me thier old one…

#2

If you do an overlay will they still fit also the parts that fit in them might not fit, the right hand pic looks a fairly simple mould but the left hand one has some fairly complicated fixing points to consider, difficult choice i suppose depending on how many you think you can sell will determine the method used to produce them. If you moulded them would you infuse or bag them, based on your prevoius comments on bagging success i guess infusion then there is the cost to make them would there be a worth while profit. These questions no doubt you have asked yourself and i`m sure some of the gods that visit here will have done something like these before and hopefully can help.

I am doing a mould at the moment for something similar to the right hand pic but its for myself so am not concerned about any profit when i pull a part from it ill post some pics and share my experiences with you.

Anyway good luck and keep us informed please

Baz

#3

the part on the left i already had one of those and did an overlay on it which worked out nicely,im pretty confident i can sell the pair for around £100.

#4

gtfour,

Use the sandwich mold technique by creating a female and male mold set over the oem part. Apply Liquid plastic into the cavity and let harden for 8-14 hours. I usually let mine set over night. the set up is easy…a inlet tube is placed on one side while your vaccum pum is hooked through a bell jar and an exhaust port on the other side. use vaccume hose and a bag placed at least 2 feet above teh mold to drain the liquid plastic down the tube into the mold. I use sealant tape and vacbags cut to need with a vac tee in the bottom of the bag. I use polytek easy flo 60 with a black dye. My molds are also a light rtv (Polytek 74 RTV liquid rubber) reinforced with fiberglass mat.

You have to work quick the setup on this stuff is 3 miniutes, and make sure the mix is set in a bell jar to get the air out. Other types of plastics may work for you. And the dyes can come from www.tapplastics.com . And just for giggles i use liquid acrylic for custom emblems to put on the parts. Like if the kids name is scooter then router out an mdf jig make a mold and then pour the acrylic into it and bammmmm there you have an awsome custom touch that the customer will pay top dollar for. Just adhere it with emblem adhesive or emblem tape from the autoparts store.

#5

not trying to hijack thread stew but Krymis can you explain in laymans terms the emblem bit again - if you can start another thread and put piccies in that would be ace :wink:

#6

yeah,it kinda lost me to.

#7

overlay the left (top) portion and vacuum the right (bottom) portion, they’ll look pretty much the same. the top one could easily be overlayed because it so flat on the outside with the bottom part would be harder without vacuum or infusion. thats just a suggestion and im new at this.

~Eric

#8

i just tried an overlay on the right part but it reallt struggled to form to the dipped part so i scrapped that idea :slight_smile:

#9

i’d make a mold, take a pic of the backsides just so i can see if i would attempt it.

#10

i dont really want to recreate the entire piece,just have a carbon finish on the front,either thru an overlay or a stick on panel from a mold.heres a pic of the rear.

#11

like i said, overlay the flat piece and mold the curvy piece. u admitted that overlay wont work on the lower piece, so your goin to have to make a mold.

~Eric

#12

yeah, you can make a mold of that. just include the mounting points when prepping for lam, fill in with some bondo if you need to, and you got it.

#13

how about you just put release on it do two layers of 1-1.5 oz mat and then make a mold of that. Just make the overlay then there is no turn in of parts of core fee.

#14

i would probably mold both pieces, i’ve never done overlay, but it seems to me to be easier to just bag it and sell it.

edit*disclaimer - i’ve never bagged either, but it seems alot easier than hand layup.

edit*disclaimer - i’ve never done a hand layup either, i’ve only actually seen it on TV.

edit*disclaimer - i really don’t know anything, i’m just having a funny day. not like funny ha ha, like funny strange

edit* disclaimer - i really don’t know anything about fiberglass or carbon fiber, i’m just lurking around trying to find anyone who’ll talk to me :wink: