Mould type

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a male mould vs a female mould?

 

well, with a female mold you need to build a plug first, where as with male mold you just build "it" (its basicly a plug)..... with female mold your outside skin is nice and smooth, with male mold its bumpy because of the vacuum bag. (so you have to spend more time fairing and sanding and such) As far as I know, common wisdom is if your building a one use kind of thing, use a male mold, if your doing production work, especially for sale, use a female.

 

ya,,,,thats simpler then saying,, one of them you'll build your part from the inside out,, the other,, from the outside in,,,,but i always get em mixed up,,,,makes for some interesting "parts" hehe

 

what sam said X2

 

In the boat industry, in reference to hulls? Female molds are it. Less finishing. Demensionally consistant parts.

 

You can build directly a female mold without a plug. See http://express40.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=1&page=1