I’ve posted a few times but haven’t had the pleasure of a formal intro…
Hi, I’m Jeremy (hello Jeremy) I work in composties, and… I have a problem. I love what i do more than my family. ohhhhhh, gasp, how horrible. blah blah blah.
anyway, I’ve been working for a motorcycle bodywork manufacturer for 1.5 years now making fiberglass molds for both street and race bikes. I’m mostly self taught with a few pointers that came from my predecessor. I’ve finally gotten consistant results and after a year and a half of trying different things have settled on a contruction and lamination guideline to make the molds more consistant, stronger and resistant to the idiots in production. not to say that all production people are idiots, but man, if you know what i have to put up with… so there i was… NO NO, i won’t start.
I digress… I have two very specific goals to achieve before i move on from this company:
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Learn how to keep from laminating the edges of the plug so that i have to sand the edges of the plug to release the part and the mold. I’ve never liked how I’ve done this. I’ve been cutting and grinding and sanding the edges of the plug, which of course i loose a little form, but that’s how i was taught and due to the nature of the complex forms of motorcycle panels, uppers and lowers, I don’t have an easy or even a hard solution yet. I would like to keep from ever touching the edges with a piece of sand paper on a stock OEM plastic part, but I have no solutions as of now. I’ve included a picture (fig 1) of the forms that i have to deal with. solutions please!!
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Learn how to make flanges that don’t sag under laminating load. Now, I have a solution for this which works with my overall construction schedule. I layup the surface coat (epoxy) and let kick until it doesn’t move, but is tacky and still sticks to my finger when i touch it. I then spread around a layer of cotton flok to act as a physical bond between the surface coat and laminating resin. I let dry for another 15/20 minutesish. I then lay down a layer of 5.7 oz plain glass cloth for a supporting/structure/backing layer to the surface coat. I let that tack, and then laminate with CSM. the problem is still though, that the flanges sag under the weight. in order to have as perfect of a flange as i can, I have to wait until complete dry of the cloth to finish with the CSM. I make my flange forms from a stiff, but apparently not stiff enough cardboard, like a cereal box.
NOW, i can:
1. bondo some support sticks under the flange but they don’t always last because of the dabbing of the resin, and finally they come loose because my plugs are as smooth as a baby’s butt, so that’s not a consistant solution.
2. I can wait until i’ve laminated until the last layer of CSM and then put some support sticks from the table surface to the flange, but by that time the surface coat and the first coat have hardened enough that when i lift the flange, the flash line separates from the plug and now i have an uneven mold surface AND it makes for a wavy flange, albeit a more complex registration for it to fit together properly.
3. I’ve tried putting coffee stirrers with clay from the plug underneath to the flange, but the heat created melts the clay and they fall off anyway. SO, i’m left with saggy flanges that work, don’t get me wrong they work and all, but the prettier they are, the happier i am.
SOOOOO… I come here, by the grace of doug, after about 6 months of searching for an online BB for composites I finally find one with humans that visit it more than once a week.
I have many many other questions that directly relate to what i’m currently doing but those can wait. these two are my most pressing.