Infused a Part last night

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#21

Try not to infuse on the part otherwise you will get a shadow of your resin line, if you have to infuse this way put plenty of flow media under the tee or resin line to spread the load. Use a popsicle stick with a few turns of tape around it to ensure the carbon is fully in contact with all corners of the mold, when you pull the vacuum pull only partial to allow you to position the bag. When you have pulled full vacuum you can if needed play a heat gun (paint stripper or hair dryer) on any corners to make sure you have full contact, but be carefull you dont want to weaken the bag material.

All the above works well for me but i`m sure there are other ideas out there. The best advice i can give is patience, take care and time at all stages.

Baz

#22

i also didnt use Super 77 or alike, i used a “repositioning spray” instead =. it was hard to get the fiber to stay sometimes.

#23

Every stage of an infusion is important but you must make sure the carbon is in contact with the mold, that first layer is so important, if this is not right you may as well forget every other stage because you will be wasting materials and time. I have used 77 tac spray on all my parts but only just enough to hold the parts, just a really fine misting, dont go mad with it. It has never shown up in any way on my finished parts.

Baz

#24

cool beans, im going to the hobby store today :wink:

#25

super 77 did the job of holding the fabric in well. but im glad im not wasting carbon just yet. which im pissed off that my supplier hasnt shiped shi*(*(Y#!! yet.

there was a small air leak in the bag, this doesnt matter as much as the infusion process itself. im trying to get it right so i can move on up to the next step.
will update soon with pics

#26

If you have any leaks in your bag, you wont have to worry about the infusion process, as without vacuum it just wont work.

Rather than using expensive materials such as carbon, and epoxy resin systems, it may be a very good idea to get the process working properly with glass and poly RTM resin.

#27

you are totally wasting time,effort and materials if you have a leak.

#28

it wasnt a “leak” per say. i have vacuum bagged lots of times. it was a small tinYYYyyyyy leak. my gauge never went down. im not using exp parts either. all of this is my testing phase.

#29

its still a leak,if your guage goes down in 10 mins while pump is not running then you cannot proceed,i thought we made this clear enough a few weeks ago??

#30

Vacuum bagging and vacuum infusion, are 2 entirely different processes. Any leak in an infusion set up will mean the part is very likely to be ruined.

#31

lol gtfour , (yes dad we did =) ) lol

the vac. never turned on and always kept 25 hg. it maybe turned on once after 5 hrs? for 2 secs. i think it was air in the resin. i will know 2morrow morning what the part looks like

#32

so… report

part 2.

the EPOXY SUCKS ASS. why?
its super brittle. SUPER brittle. so brittle and has no structure to it that i can peel the fiber layers off! this totally sucks. The epoxy i use for layups can be bent very well, even bagged parts. the fiber never seperate either.

I think im going to use my layup epoxy on my next part. thing is, the test epoxy sucked so much, it went all over the place and it sorta messed up my mold. in fact, its so brittle, its like rock candy. AHHHHHHHH!!! i gotta sand and buff and wax this mold yet again. the outside flanges, how the heck do i get the epoxy off it!?

=(

the bubbles in fact did not mess up the part and i did find the leak, i have a 90 degree bend that i have to find out a better way to put sealant tape over it. there were still some minor tiny pin holes which this is what im trying to eliminate with infusion. so far, no success. bagging was the same result.

does super 77 have silicone in it!? i tried reading the ingred. and did not find anything.

i am also going to try and use an ester based resin i have laying around. =\ dont want to use it, but lets find out.

#33

If you tried using glass and infused with epoxy, then that just wont work unless you used powder bound glass.

#34

can you post some pics?

#35

Sorry guys,

I read all this section and I must say that yesterday I make my first vacuum infusion progress. For my first time I must say it was done very very good without bubbles in it or any other bad thinks ( I have not take it out yet), but I have only my question: How many hours I must leave the vacuum on? usually I left it over 6-7 hours in vacuum bag, is that ok? I hope yes because if not I fault with my first infusion progress.

xmmm!!! I will open new post with photos!!!