Building A Mold For A 2010 Camaro. ---> Lots O Pics!

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#41

Pending on what temperature you cure your parts at, any tooling gel coat should suffice. The tooling I’m using is rated up to 202f. I know some PE tooling gel coats go up to 250f and some VE tooling gel coas go up to 350f. I’ve never seen VE tooling gel before so I’d yo find it, pease let us know where :).

#42

I sometimes get amazed that people order stuff without reading the TDS first.

Most vinylesters are pretty high-Tg stuff, and suitable for mould making.

Some recommended stuff:

GC206 (brush) or GC207 (spray) VE tooling gelcoat from Nord Composites: Tg 135C
RM2000 (Nord Composites) or RM2550 (the latter can be cured with normal peroxides.) Tg 85C
or
RM3000, which is VE based, Tg 110C

But read the TDS first…

I believe NidaCore is selling the stuff in the USA.

#43

You are using wax as your release agent.

Once I finish my molds with Chemlease 15, then I put 3-5 coats of Chemelease One FS, let it dry then put a few coat of max mold release wax just to get rid of the streaks. You can get about 10-20 pulls from your mold with the Chemlease One FS before you have to re-coat and was again.

#44

We are looking forward to purchasing some semi perm release agents. We first wouldike to sell a few parts before spending more money haha.

Today I put on 7 coats of wax. Finished the frame and attached the frame to the mold.

Bad news though :(. Since the frame was not painted yet, the joint compound I used to smoothen out the edges of the frame disolved since I left it outside accidently in the rain.

Damn Florida weather… Sunny all day then 5 min of rain…

I’ll finish attaching and repairing the frame tomorrow and then wax it 5 more times. Then its on to gel coat 8-).

#45

^^ that’s a lot of waxing, it should be good to go after 5 to 7 coats.

#46

I have to play it safe lol. We put about 30 + hours into this mold and I’d hate for the first part to stick haha. We will be infusing today, so ill post pics :D.

#47

better safe than sorry when applying release, but that’s a lot of wax :wink: when you use it more often you’ll get more familiar with it properties.

#48

I was told to do the tape test. Wax it a few times, then put some masking tape over the mold. If it stick it’s not ready. If it doesn’t your ok to go. I’ve done fifteen layers so far and the tape still sticks. What ever, it’s good to go :D. Haha

#49

tape test and wax doesn’t work :wink: only with semipermanent.

#50

Went everything okee?

#51

No wonder the tape kept on sticking…:confused:

#52

So here are more pictures! Sorry for taking so long to post the updates!

Here we were attaching a frame around the mold.

Here is out mold after its all framed up :smiley:

Then we buffed the mold to a high gloss shine.

We laid the mold up with carbon fiber and foam core matting.

Infused it.

Then demolded it:).

The first one came out terrible because some air was trapped in the part. The second try went perfectly!

I’ll post finished pictures tomorrow night.

#53

Well Done :wink:

#54

Nice :cool:

#55

I don’t see any flow mesh. Do you just lay the carbon and then the peel
ply and call it a day?

#56

Thanks guys. :slight_smile:

#57

Lol no I’d never get it all infused. The flow media is white. Look harder :). Since we are out of flow media we’ve been using polyester netting from our local fabric / hobby store. Its very thin so we’ve been using 4 layers of it. It works well. Its no green Airtech though :(. We still have to place our order for more.

#58

Ahh, I see it now. I’m still struggling with getting a perfect infusion, so am curious to see what others are doing. How long did that part take to infuse? Looks like you are using a pretty large feed hose. Also, is it true that you don’t need to cover the entire part with an infusion mesh or should I make sure the whole surface is covered? Thanks!

#59

I ususally put the flow media only in the mold’s cavity and leading from the tube. In the cornered areas I either wont put any, or ill pleat it heavily to not cause resin rich areas. I like to place the infusion line at least 2" away from the starting popint snd the veccum always goes a few inches away itself.

Send me a picture of whatyou are infusing I’ll try to help :).

Also, yes it is a large hose haha. Its a 3/8th" hose with wpiral wrwpping on both sides. Infusion for this part takes about 3 min. We need to slow it down a tad though. There were a few air pockets here and there in between the weave. Luckily none that are visible when installed. Half of this product is hidden.

#60

lookin Good…!