aron
Active Member
I have thought of doing this multiple times with by carving a foam block for the form. Please keep this post updated as you have many of us intrigued.
isnt making a mold easier then making multiple foam stocks to wrap and vacuum bag?Look up vacuum bagging and or hand layup videos. The vacuum bagging process has been successfully used to make professional composites in a home shop. It helps you get around the lack of a good mold.
Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you were doing 1/2 molds?isnt making a mold easier then making multiple foam stocks to wrap and vacuum bag?
Keep giving your input, brother! Good stuff.We made a three piece mold. But we are using 3 d printed parts to hold the in letting so we can avoid having to do any CNC work. We also are making our inlet/chassis area out of compressed carbon fiber. Here is a foam with a CF chassis in it. We are doing hand layups not vacuum bagging. I wanted to learn how to vaccum bag just haven't got to it. We designed the CF chassis to fit rem 700 SA. It works with my TL3 as well. Chassis weighs under 6 ounces and we have driven trucks over it. Total stock weight is 18.5 ounces without a butt pad. We still have refining to do to make it awesome lol.
I plan and laying up the cf in each half mold, pressing together and adding a form of internal pressure. Think vacuum bag process from the inside. The stock will already be together when removed.Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you were doing 1/2 molds?
My thought was you would hand lay dipped sheets in the 1/2 mold, then bag it, then vacuum to draw air and excess epoxy out of the workpiece.
Letting the epoxy degas naturally doesn't work very well in my experience...(limited)
This could be another option. If i cannot get the mold process down as planned, I can use the cf stock formed in the mold as a blank of sorts. Put a sleeve over it and vacuum bag . Hoping the internal pressure presses out any excess epoxy. I'm figuring out the epoxy thing a bit with the barrels and think there won't be much extra when laying up the stock. We'll see though anyone want to buy my first 4lb cf stock?Vacuum bagging does not help you get around the lack of a good mold. What comes out of the mold is hopefully going to be an exact impression of the mold.
You vacuum bag the pieces while they are in the mold so that it draws out excess epoxy, it also helps eliminate voids in the epoxy. Ultimately, vacuum bagging is going to make a lighter and stronger product.
Carbon fiber derives a lot of it strength by being one continuous piece. If you are using a lot of pieces you will have to do multiple layers of cloth, which will add weight. I don't know how well it would work, but I would look at using carbon fiber sleeves in your mold somehow.