Vacuum infusion questions

Many questions for this first timer. I have seen the Vacuum infusion process done many times but have never done it myself.

What type of tees are you guys using to connect your tubing to? Where are you buying them?

What type of tubing are you using? Can the aquarium line be used?

Okay here's what i know.
*Make sure the mold is waxxed.
*Make sure there are no rough areas on the flanges to poke holes in the bag.

*Place te bagging down then the mold ontop of it. fold over (evelope style) and use the bagging tape to seal all around.
* lay the material into the mold. ***Do i need to push the material into the corners? or will the vacuum suck it in?***

* amount of resin+ hardener = to amount of weight of fabric.

What do i need to put in the bagging to make sure the resin is distributed properly? I have seen a spring used on the flanges.

 

* tubing; ONLY POLYETYLENE TUBING, ALSO BECAUSE YOU CAN CLAMP AND STOP INFUSION

*Make sure the mold is waxxed: OF COURSE
*Make sure there are no rough areas on the flanges to poke holes in the bag:OF COURSE

*Place te bagging down then the mold ontop of it. fold over (evelope style) and use the bagging tape to seal all around: USE TAPE OF AIR CONDITION, IT IS THE SAME AND COST HALF
* lay the material into the mold: CAREFULLY
***Do i need to push the material into the corners?: NO, TRY MANY TIME TO VACUUM,
or will the vacuum suck it in?: YES
* amount of resin+ hardener = to amount of weight of fabric: A LOT OF TESTS ON TABLE, YOU WILL BECOME CRAZY ABOUT. NEVER TRY ON A BOAT AT 99% YOU WILL THROW AWAY EVERY THING. AND A SMALL BOAT OF COURSE.

What do i need to put in the bagging to make sure the resin is distributed properly? I have seen a spring used on the flanges: A GOOD FLOW MEDIA

 

So around that tee: is that just the flow media evelope style?
What is the air conditioning tape you were referring to?Do you just fold the tape over so it acts like two sided tape? I use the airtech doublesided bagging tape.

It was a little unclear to me where you responded about the amount of resin needed. Was i correct to say that i should use the same amount of resin (grams) as i do material (grams)?

Great help, the pcitures help alot!
Can i just you auto body wax on the mold? 3 coats of wax right?

Has anyone experienced that spray down stuff? I have this green liquid that you spray into the mold instead of waxxing it. Sometimes it leave wrinkes in the resin coat on the part though.

 

You can connect the T (polypropilene or polyetylene) with the tubing but before the connection put around it some sealant tape.
The air conditioning tape is the same as the one sold for vacuum bagging but just black color, more stick and more wide, it is Butane tape, You can find it at air conditioning sellers.
The airtech doublesided bagging tape (as all the other material related to infusion) it is just more expensive (may be 10 time) but more easy to be reusable. The original Butane tape stick better and seal better but it is difficult to remove.
Usually glass/resin ratio in infusion is around 70% so You have to use less resin than normal lamination or vacuum bagging. But this depend a lot also from the flow media, You have to try on table the exact ratio.
Use good high temperature wax as temperature rise up during infusion and catalization more than nomral lamination. note: You can use water based mould release as You never can exepct good result on gel coat with infusion. Usually infusion is done without gelcoat.
Which resin You will use?? You cannot do infusion lamination with normal polyester resin.
I recommend to buy VIP infusion CD or latest DVD by André Cocquyt as all is well explained about.

 

Do u have any idea where i can purchase this cd/dvd? our company usally orders all the materials and such so i dont really know where the composite shops are and who sells what

 

google resin infussion and you will come up with a few dvd for sale,you will have to let the frist few trys as testers what are you making

 

i dont mind making the first few pieces out fo fiberglass to test things out, but i DO NOT want to destroy this mold. Destroying the mold is my main concern, i do hvae a smaller mold but it sucks! just trying to get as many tips as possible before i start

 

what i mean is the first 1 or 2 you may find that the path of resin is not working and have to relocate your resin ports and vac lines are u making a boat

 

the only way u will damage the mould is if you bring the bag down over the mould and tape to a table the vac presure psi is high and can warp and even breack a mould also if you are using carbon you will get a print on the mould if the mould is gelcoat better make sure you have a good mould first and make sure you have at least 6 to 8 inches of a flange to tape the bag to

 

I have about 9 inches of flange. I am using carbon fiber.
The mold is for a panel going into an automobile. It is actually a sunroof lid.

THe piece is about 24" x42"

 

ok i see first place the carbon on the mould you can stick it in place with 3m 77 but use very very little then a peel ply with is a release fabric onto the carbon ,then you need to place a breather ply ontop of this.for the infussion part you need some spiral tubing place a lenth on two opasite sides of the mould one will be for the vac and one for the resin ,now place your tape or sealant around the permeter of the mould dont peel the paper off the tape yet.get your sheet of plastic to drop on top cut two holes for the spiral tubes,place a fitting into them and put some tape around them ,now remove the paper from the sealant tape and place the platic down rub hard around the tape and make sure its down well.place two tubes to the fittings on the spiral tubing and seal the plastic once again u must have no voids. clap the one for resin hook the other up to you vaccum and listen for any air leaks this is very important when you are happy ,mix up your resin and and let the resin flow dont let it flow to fast once the part is fully wet and and the resin is running up the vac line clap the resin line u should also have a resin trap on the vac line a pressure pot will work just fine and you will have a part dont release the vac till the resin is set

 

The CD / DVD by André Cocquyt are intended to support the conversion of Your normal production into infusion process; it is expensive, around 400 USD in the full version. Other CDs are just an elementary explanation of the process. You do not need to buy the CD for a single piece. Take a look at this website http://www.fram.nl/workshop/controlled_vacuum_infusion/cvi.htm

 

that the guys name couldnt think of it its a good tutorial but the price is steep ,but as you say your company might but it and carbob 2x2 twill at the price it is its worth it

 

hi guys,

i am looking at using rtm lite but not 100% sure of how it works. i would eventually want to to use it on my hulls which are 17 and 19 foot long. can gelcoat be used with these systems? looks like the bagging is very similar to what i have been told apart from a bag is used instead of a liner mould.. is there any ont on here that actually use rtm lite?

steve

 

vaccum infusion is rtm lite some people will use a bag to cover the mould others will yous a silacone liner , yes you can use gelcoat but u will have printthrou and u will see the fiberglass , to avoid this you should skin the gel first and this will help