There will always be resin left in the mesh. If theres not you will have a big problem. Resin infusion isnt too resin efficient for small parts.
Also, I can tell you had a vacuum leak in your part. This isnt good. Make sure to do a vacuum leak check before infusion. Best to use a digital absolute pressure gauge at the resin inlet. For something like this, 0mbar/10 minutes should be sufficient.
I concur hojo, does look like there was a leak there.
Glad things worked out osburn. The Sunshield is one of my favourite products, I do highly recommend sticking with it and getting the hang of it. You’ll never look back once you do.
Yeah it sprang a leak somewhere while infusing.
Still managed to pull a good part luckily.
I will have to vac down dry longer to test for leaks.
I guess to keep to the topic of my thread.
Learned a lot along the way through experimenting and great advice from members here.
You can get pretty good result with just pure surfboard resin.
Picture of my previous attempt.
Upsides is cost, uv stable, very clear, infuses really well.
Downsides is short pot life, the mekp tends to attack the first layer if to thin, greater fiber print through once fully cured.
’
The Sunshield in mold coat with epoxy infusion.
Sunshield
Upsides is uv stable, pretty clear, cures in mold a day for infusion the next.
Downsides is cost in comparison to surfboard resin.
Epoxy resin.
Upsides is loger pot life, infuses easily, super clear, uv stable, less shrinkage.
Downsides are cost compared to surfboard resin.
I will probably stick with the using Sunshield and Epoxy resin.
They work well together and gave great results.
The cost is a bit higher but that easily offset by the benefits in my opinion.
Why do people always think about costs first? You save money with all your materials, but you make 10 parts and are still not happy with the result. Thats the wrong way. How much do you save per part by using a cheap resin? 3$ ?
A bit on the attack there.
It was more an experiment to see its feasibility.
If it worked and i achieved the results i wanted than i would save money in the long run.
This was also a learning process for me.
I have used the surfboard resin before in wet lay ups.
I was more comfortable with that plus using it was less costly if i made mistakes getting the infusion process down.
Cost savings for me would be $20 dollars for this part if i used surfboard resin. I did not make ten parts.
I made mostly test samples and two test parts.
I would probably use the surfboard resin if it where not for the fiber print through it is prone to getting when using it as an in mold coat and infusion.
About the cost factor a lot of people come in here and are scarred of the cost at first. As i was.
I don’t have a lot of extra money and want to use it wisely as i can with the knowledge i have at the time.
I learned a lot thanks to a few very helpful people that went out there way to point me in the right direction.
After gaining that knowledge i can see more clearly that now the added cost is worth it to me for certain benefits.
Its hard to have that insight to make that decision without some first hand experience and a little advice.
Some people may come to that conclusion earlier than others.
People get on here to learn, experiment, showcase, and converse with fellow composites enthusiasts/professionals.
Ended up making a laser cut bracket out of abs sheet to replicate a no longer produced factory part.
Next i need to sort out whether to add a piece of wood or plastic square in the laminate stack to screw to or just glue the bracket to the part as is.
I will do some testing tonight and see of my 2 part epoxy glue holds to the part.
Can see the results of your leak in that first photo in post #43. Void trapped between the coating and the laminate. That’s the issue with in-mould coatings, if something goes wrong then the end result is generally not fixable. So it’s less forgiving but a better result when things do go well.
I’d carry out a greater vacuum integrity test to ensure no leaks are present prior to infusing. well worth the extra time to increase the chances of a perfect moulding