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It seems that the channel Rammy RC has the mold making process down to a science, he makes scale models of planes. I think I would have made the molds of the sides separate and then joined them together after they were solid pieces so that you had the ease of getting all up in that crevice. You know She is us going to want the strongest part to be right in the middle there. I can't wait to see what you will make once you get this process down. I can also imagine some kind of collaboration between you and the Rammy RC channel! Edit: on wait you already decided to do the halves separately!
@@evilcanofdrpepper but the first molding was the most successful I think - also I would maybe make it without the vacuum, but roll the air out like in hand-layed boat making, but you need special resin/polyesters for that. It will also give the strongest keel connection.🤓
Professional sailor and boat builder here: if you dont have a hvlp spray gun use a preval sprayer. You can get them for 5 or so dollars at the Homeless Despot. Use acetone to thin out your gelcoat till it sprays smoothly. That should help with the brush marks on your tooling gelcoat. Once you have the gelcoat on your mold sanded and polished smooth, use the same wax and mold release method as you do in this video. Then use the preval sprayer to shoot in laminating gelcoat (dont use finishing gelcoat, it has wax in it so it's no good to bond with the fiberglass and epoxy) covering the mold. Once the lqminating gelcoat cures in the mold you can then proceed to lay up the fiberglass as you did in this video. Essentially you are building the boat in layers from outside to in. The result will be that you only have to spend time getting your molds to a perfect finish, then you can pop out as many parts as you want with minimal finishing work to be done. To solve your structural issues you can add a bilkhead or two and a spine made from balsa (or other wood). Then tab them in with fiberglass and epoxy. The result will be a boat that will be very stiff and strong. If you have questions philiptothsailing@yahoo.com
As custom boat builder myself (Bonadeo Boat Works) I would recommend thinning Gelcoat with MEK solvent. Acetone will work but it will effect how it cures so if you do go the acetone route be sure to catalyze at no less then 2% MEKP. Also for your use you could just hand lay your hull in a polyvinyl or vinylester resin they are both much cheaper but it does take a little bit of skill set to hand lay without getting air bubbles.
I also look at my watch at 8 AM and I say: Today is going to be productive, glue a servo, glue another and look again, and the clock says it's 3 PM. I can relate to that.
Daniel: Boy, oh boy, that was a lot of work. Probably enough for one video. Me: I'm already at the end?! :O Love these boat projects, please keep going :)
It also gives me motivation on my own project tbh. Sometimes you feel nothing works and this only happens to you. It's good to see perseverance examples to keep up in a same way
Knowing why things are more (and less) correct put together is the only way to perfection in my mind ... learned my way around epoxy by deliberately trying out all the no go's in small tests over a few years 💪🏻
if you are ever going to do more hulls I can recommend using an inner mould to put fibreglass around instead of trying to get it inside of the moulds. much like the fibreglass canoe made by xyla foxlin.
@@Tomwesstein don't forget he had to sand the mould. It's one or the other. Sanding is also only really needed if you want to apply varnish. If you don't sand the fibreglass it has a very smooth texture so that might be smooth enough for some.
@@Tomwesstein It is an interesting alternative but once you sanded the mold it will make all hulls smooth. With the inside mold, you need to sand all the hulls that come out which is more time consuming per hull molded.
I love how the voice over is only half prepared. It makes it feel so natural. 5:30 "After I put in probably, pff, I don't know 4 or 5 layers" 6:58 "Um, what was I saying before that?"
I would have used that or high build automotive primer to make it smooth depending on the roughness. Like another commentor pointed out, you can use a preval sprayer. Also, you probably would have had an easier time with a male mold and then smoothing the outside with filler and/or primer.
@@vanbrua I use body filler at work and without much work it sands to an almost glossy finish, it bites into most finishes as well so no danger of it peeling off.
Heat break hearing the PLA started to melt in the sun. Very impressed at the mold working as a whole. Maybe some day I will experiment with making a mold and fiberglassing. The vacuum bag technique is my biggest unknown. Being able to make some molded carbon fiber parts would be interesting.
Lesson - use near solid infill and many perimeters if thinking about vacuumable 3D printed moulds and just pull as hard a vacuum as you need. See "Ramy RC" channel to watch how he uses 3D printed moulds to make really large fuselages for model airliners.
Nice work! the next time you have to fill something that has to be strong enough and is lightweight but also good to sand, mix some microballoons into your epoxy and create a paste which is aproximately the same consistency as shaving cream!
RamyRc uses this same 3d printed fiberglass molding technique. He uses a spray can primer directly over the PLA molds and amazingly he gets great results. He builds awesome RC jetliners that are beautiful.
Excellent job with that 3-D print that’s amazing I’m currently working on a catamaran myself don’t be afraid to use the shredded fiberglass it lays in all different directions easily and doesn’t typically fold up like the weave will and it takes less layers of it to build up strength. The smartest thing I ever did was start using rollers roll on the first layer of Apoxsee slap on the fiberglass which wetsuit out quicker and then do a quick roll it’s about two times faster and it helps you ensure that your resin doesn’t set up too fast and it doesn’t trap and air bubbles
One way to get an existing model or fresh piece stiffer for cheap, would be to put in glass rovings. they are fairly cheap and will act as frames and stringers.
I was working in a prop shop in highschool and put more gallons of Bondo down than I care to remember... But one trick is to spread it out pretty thick, then use a cheese grater (rasp?) to grate the surface down BEFORE it's fully cured. Basically it goes into a sort of rubbery state before hardening, then you grate the majority off, and the rest can be sanded when hard... Hope it helps, you know for the next boat ;) I think you can get the rasps at Harbor Freight, but if not, a body shop supplier will definitely have them. Awesome video! Can't wait to see the next one!
The next time you use PVA apply it with paper towel, it is easy to do. As far as the bag, use a big enough bag to fit entire mould into. Pre tape bag leaving one end open with tape on but paper over tape, insert mould, then pull paper and seal. Put bleeder cloth over peel-ply. Once you master the trade, think about infusing these parts, all cloth layers go on dry, giving you hours to perfect, do not use spray glue to hold dry glass. I used very small bits of masking tape, then under vacuum add the Epoxy resin.
Just some suggestions on your molds as a composites technician. Good job with the jel coat! It can definitely be brushed and sanded. However, make sure to do a light coat and wait for it to go to b stage where your finger print doesn't show when touched. Then apply a 2nd thicker coat this stops aligatoring or cracking. Instead of spackle use resin mixed with cabosil to sand. For the bagging apply breather material so the vaccum pulls and apply the tape to the bag for easier alignment. Really good for your first go!
Bravo bravo! As someone with lots of boat building and fiberglass experience, I must say how impressed I am with what you accomplished! You only had a few hiccups but like always you were able to overcome. There is a product called glass microballoons. When added to epoxy it makes the perfect filler. It's strong, flexible and much easier to sand. If you do something like this again only do two layers of woven at most. Then do the rest with fiberglass chopped strand mat. The woven helps the hull from cracking and the chopped strand gives it rigidity. An integrated stringer system would also make a difference.
Nice work mate. I highly suggest picking up a respirator for when you are sanding, especially fiberglass. Breathing dust and fumes is seriously bad for your health. Cheers!
'Banana Slug'. That's great! I'm watching your video, at the moment. If I could make a suggestion... Create reinforcement pieces made of various types of wood or carbon fiber 'blocks'. To avoid having to modify the reinforcements have them machined beforehand. For instance, the lowest point of the keel where a propeller shaft will exit. Create a block of wood, (don't recall the best type, but it's not balsa. Oak? Cedar is a good choice.), with an opening for the shaft. Give yourself some extra tolerance in regards to the position of the hole. To make it easier to line up properly, modify the mold from the beginning to accept this block. As I'm watching you put the v. bag in and I believe that you could make things easier if the most difficult part, the keel area, was pre-made. When I was younger my dad and his buddies built their own boats to work the waters. These weren't a bunch of layers of plywood and 2x4s. The most difficult part is the front piece that ties the whole frame together. It had to be chiseled out by hand, usually oak, to accept the keel and side reinforcements. A single piece keel that can be placed inside of the mold as you're going along, it would eliminate any issues with the space between the molds. Epoxy the reinforcements into place after laying in fiberglass mat, similar to what you're already doing. I would suggest learning more about boat design before getting started. I have no doubt that if you watched a few UA-cam videos you would do great! I've used this technique while building radio controlled airplanes as a reinforcement for the center wing spar section. I tend to fly 'aggressively' and I have snapped my wings in half. Sounded similar to a gun shot. I have been putting materials together to create a project or 2. One goal is a autonomous airplane is one. If there is enough cell coverage, would that allow me to utilize it to maintain contact with, and control of the airplane? I do own a 7-channel transmitter for visual control of the plane, but couldn't most of the control be accomplished via cell? Of course there has to be coverage. I am watching an other of your videos and you mentioned criticism of boat design. Lol. I hope that you don't think that I'm simply criticizing you. I was offering a suggestion to make your jib easier. I would rather work aircraft than boats, too. My humble opinion is that if knowledge and wisdom should be accepted when shared. But that doesn't mean that you do what has been shared, rather I put it into the 9 million other ideas that are constantly roaming around my head. If you're able produce these projects, which require knowledge of the various subject matter involved, and they actually work, that's awesome! You created a gps guided vehicle from foam and Tupperware, that has been proven to work. Boats can be difficult because if they sink, your electronics are either lost in the depths or simply ruined by the water. I have nose dived rc airplanes into the ground at full speed, but I recovered the electronics and re-flew the airplanes. The electronic gear is expensive. I've gone around the world in this comment due to commenting as I watch more than one video while typing. And ADD.
After you sanded the PLA mold the first time, you could have just wiped it down with a rag and acetone and you would have gotten a smooth shiny finish. Perfect for applying a release on it. After wiping with acetone you could also "paint" on a layer of epoxy to seal it up even better. this would have eliminated the need to use bondo or spackle paste. Love your videos !! great job
I absolutely LOVE any and all boat content! Super entertained by this, can't wait for part 2. Also, I personally loved the Banana Slug, and I look forward to future long-range experiments, because those have been really fun videos. Great content!
Ayyy bro this new chapter of rctestflight is something special. that song at the end is just vibin. gotta be your new theme song or something. Such good videos man ! that amazon drone one was hilarious and at the same time made me want to fix my drone and get playing around again. Much love Daniel .
this reminded me of how back in elementary (we were like 9-10 lol) we made "fiberglass" boats and stuff by dipping strips of ordinary paper in glue and laying them on top of each other like youd do with fiberglass. Stuff was much stronger than youd expect
In marine hull construction we have these things called 'stringers'. They are lightweight pieces of balsa or other wood used as supports across the inside of the hull so you dont have a big, thick, crappy, heavy, weak, fiberglass hull.
hobbyist tip.... to add rigidity without much weight to flat surfaces, instead of adding multiple layers of fiberglass, put a bead of spray foam, or superglue strips of balsa wood in X patterns then lay fiberglass over those strips. This will add quite a bit of rigidity w/o the weight.
To stiffen the large sides, lay a length of tubing, garden cane or similar along the length on the inside with some large clayballs to hold it in position. It's how we make stiffener ribs for canoes, Lay down some extra mats and resin over the tubing/cane, so that it forms a rigid tunnel when it cures. Remove clay balls when it's cured, resin over where they were. This will be much stiffer than extra flat matting layers or just painting resin on and probably weight less too. For perfect results plane/shape some thin spars or ribs rom spruce and mat them in
i have a lot of thoughts for you after watching this. first of all, you might consider styrene based resin, you'll have an easier time after its cured. Also, you can get two different kinds of filler, one is called microballons, or some times people refer to it as q-cell. this is very soft sanding material after hardening and will help you fill much easier. also, if you want more toughness instead of an easy sanding-filler, you can use silica, its also a white power to be mixed with the resin and is commonly called 'plotch'. anyways, these are two things you might consider. also, if you bought 12oz or 24oz fiberglass called 'cofab' you'll have an easier time reinforcing the inside and stronger; using strips of the cofab is the way to go, and also if you use thin pieces of foam on the inside the create stringers, which you can put down with hot glue and then glass over them to form a strong curved stringer. massively strong and will keep it light. finally, you might consider watching the resin as it kicks and trim the top off when its stiffended a bit but not too much. it will save you a lot of time and possible injury too. the guy recommending to thin out the gel coat with acetone is correct, also consider doing what is called a hot-coat, but practice that, you want to get the catalyst right on it or if its too hot it will alligator on you. and youll have a defect. also, next time you can spray the mould with pva, then wait and do you gelcoat, and then lay it up. spend more time on your plug for the mould and you'll be able to make better parts that require less work to make them ready and youll make more parts from the mould. the key is waxing the mould. do it like 50 times at least.
I built a solar powered triamaran with xps foam board not long ago. Most of center hull and 2 side hulls are just triangle made with 40mm thick XPS foam board. Joint between boards are cut with circular saw and hot glued. Only bow and stern of center hull is 3d printed(which can also be made from foam board sanded down . It's powered by 2 bolt-on duct thrusters located between center hull and side hull,able to reach 4 knots when using only solar power(two 50w panel).It steer by diffencial thrust ,so no rudder is needed. It's not as spacious under water as your fiber glass hull but it took lot less work.
Printing your molds turned out great, i would of made it the inside as a plug, yes you would have to sand it a little but i think in the long run it would be less work, to make it release you drill some 1/8" holes in the plug, cover them with scotch take you cut with scissors so you get a smooth edge, after it's gone off and cooled down you use compressed air to blow in the 1/8" holes and it should pop right off. the whole thing will expand when it gets hot, the layup will go hard and when it cools the plug should shrink down some, I would of used polyester resin as well, fiberglass matt, and to fill in bad spots you mix the resin with micro balloons. i worked at this place a few years, at that time we made more than just pipe and i'm sure they still do, we made life rafts, all kinds of boxes, but lots of pipe, some took a week of three shifts a day, 90 gallons a shift, the pipe never stops turning till it's finished, ua-cam.com/video/njpWtpVgzoE/v-deo.html
You can use painters plastic for your vacuum bagging, and regular cheap painters caulk instead of "vacuum bagging tape". Caulk creates incredible seams for folding large sheets of plastic over whatever you are vacuum bagging. Source: Have done a lot of vacuum bagging for RC Jets.
Also, I use 1/4" poly pipe (cheap stuff) and paper towel over the end of it, then electrical tape to secure it, and just stick it in the bag with a bunch of caulk around where you insert it. This is in place of the "valve" they sell with that kit.
I vacuum formed wings from PLA forms and I quickly found the same thing happening (infill impression on the wings), increasing the in fill helped but doubled the print time to like 72 hours (actual print time), technically at low speed the dimpling was aerodynamically advantageous as decreases boundary layer seperation 😅
Darn!! that was a lot of work!! I would probably would have try to remove the texture of the molten mold... (You never know. you may finis trying at the end to put that same texture to break the drag....)... Awesome video... in the future use children's gray play/dow... to correct the imperfections on the mold... it allow you to remove the mold flaws ... and at the same time would make even easier to remove the part from the mold!!
Seeing Integza commenting here made my day, rctestflight you do amazing work and I so very much enjoy watching both channels whenever new content is uploaded!
With fibreglass, The learning curve isn't steep, just sticky! I personally wouldn't have bothered with the vacuum bags when doing a boat hull, but it's a great way to gain experience before tackling that solar glider wing. bagging works great on fairly simple convex forms, but (as you discovered) sucks at conforming into tight concave spaces, I've seen sand or lead shot used successfully inside boat moulds, but that was on full-size craft.
@@thefekete I did that with a small part one time. It certainly can be done, but then you're trying to balance an extra 8 pounds per gallon of water... If your mold can be braced in the right way, It might be helpful... But like the other poster said, probably not really needed for this application...
a few ribs for structural reinforcement would be a better to stiffen it up than extra fiberglass. Standard bondo from the autosupply store would be great for filling gaps and leveling - that's what the stuff is designed for.
Hey mate you can spray PBA out of a household hand pump spray bottle all you need to do is adjust the ratio by drinking 32mL and it should spray fine 👍🏼
Hulls can be also be constructed from sheet fiberglass, bonded at the seams. Considering the amount of effort in producing the hull, take a look at a child's Kayak, they sell for around $100.
The vacuum bag stage is overkill. Just be reasonably careful to avoid air bubbles when laying up. To solve the stiffness issue add some ribs. These can be glued in place pretty much immediately after laying up the hull. As others have mentioned polyester filler works great on moulds. Technically you shouldn't use it over epoxy but in reality it will hold up pretty well.
Hahaha the first few minuets were jokes... "I did this but that didn't work out to well so I did this other thing to combat that but as you'll see later that didn't really work out either!" I feel you brother
the correct way to do it is with two halves, after waxing and aplying pva, you apply one hand of gelcoat, when the gelcoat is sticky at the touch that is the best moment to lay up, you can wait until fuel cure but best addeshion is achive in this point, then apply one hand of resin and one layer of fiberglass (if you lay up the fiberglass in parts as you did in a big impact it can breake in the unions, the best way is to apply a full layer at once) and so on until desired thickness is achived, wait until is hard but not fully cured, grab a cutter or a scissor and trim off all the excess, then aplly one hand of resin to the lips of the mold and clamp the two parts, also if it is posible apply one strip to the entire union, also vacum bags are not needed, vacum is used when you need the less amount of resin of a weight critical part, or when the part is so big that manual layout is imposible
Nice project! Microballoons in epoxy makes a good filler, easily sanded afterwards. IIRC phenolic only polyester friendly but glass balloons okay in epoxy.
I am really enjoying this Saga. You should really try to make a autopilot sailboat. You have to keep in mind wind Direction, but the controls are actually very simple. Just a single analog control for how much to let out the sails. You can look it up. There are plenty of commercial models available
Instead of sanding softer materials try scraping or using a really coarse file. Either will remove the material nicely and they won't clog like sand paper. You can get specialized auto body rasps (that are like small cheese graters) and files (that have parallel curved cutting edges) and pretty much not need sandpaper after just those two. As a matter of fact, it's best to work the body filler with them before it has set up all the way, in so-called "green state". Start working it while the surface is still tacky. It's the very top layer and it's what clogs the sand paper the most, yet the filler itself is not sticky underneath. As for vacuum bagging, you should have another layer called breather cloth, essentially low quality felt, on top of the peel-ply. It will soak up excess resin, allow air to get around much easier, and will help to press the fiberglass tightly against the mould.
Pretty cool that you 3D printed a mold for such a massive boat! How much plastic did you end up using? Also wow, lol the sun must have heated that mold half to at least 55ºC (which is roughly the heat deflection temperature of PLA.) It might help if you printed it out of PETG (~70ºC heat deflection temp.) Maybe white PETG for good measure... In my experience, I have been able to find PETG that costs less than the same amount of PLA. It is also softer, so you can sand it directly, without applying spackle.
Dude like an amazing amount of work - But I'm thinking some marine ply and some router cut proformers may have be a lot quicker (and less toxic!) amazing project though!
A few pointers, all in respect: - Four layers of wax on a first time mold is considered a bit "stingy". Most people will do almost double. - Go easy on the resin. More does not mean better, and it looked really rich from the video - Add a breather ply so suck up the excess resin - Consider bagging the whole mold. That way, it matters less if the mold is porous and there's no/less risk of pulling a fragile mold out of shape. (Sorry, wrote that before I saw you had to that anyways...)
Take 20% off your SimpliSafe security system AND your first month is free when you sign up for the Interactive Monitoring service. Visit simplisafe.com/rctestflight to learn more!
SimpliSafe simply ISN'T. It can be defeated by a $2 purchase off amazon. www.theverge.com/2019/8/7/20758529/simplisafe-home-security-system-flaw-compromise-lockpickinglawyer
It seems that the channel Rammy RC has the mold making process down to a science, he makes scale models of planes. I think I would have made the molds of the sides separate and then joined them together after they were solid pieces so that you had the ease of getting all up in that crevice. You know She is us going to want the strongest part to be right in the middle there. I can't wait to see what you will make once you get this process down. I can also imagine some kind of collaboration between you and the Rammy RC channel!
Edit: on wait you already decided to do the halves separately!
you need to watch One Man's Dream - The Britten Bike Story, what he does with carbon fiber is amazing
@@evilcanofdrpepper but the first molding was the most successful I think - also I would maybe make it without the vacuum, but roll the air out like in hand-layed boat making, but you need special resin/polyesters for that. It will also give the strongest keel connection.🤓
@@TheLukemcdaniel everybody has got something to sell......except for the truth.
Professional sailor and boat builder here: if you dont have a hvlp spray gun use a preval sprayer. You can get them for 5 or so dollars at the Homeless Despot. Use acetone to thin out your gelcoat till it sprays smoothly. That should help with the brush marks on your tooling gelcoat. Once you have the gelcoat on your mold sanded and polished smooth, use the same wax and mold release method as you do in this video. Then use the preval sprayer to shoot in laminating gelcoat (dont use finishing gelcoat, it has wax in it so it's no good to bond with the fiberglass and epoxy) covering the mold. Once the lqminating gelcoat cures in the mold you can then proceed to lay up the fiberglass as you did in this video. Essentially you are building the boat in layers from outside to in. The result will be that you only have to spend time getting your molds to a perfect finish, then you can pop out as many parts as you want with minimal finishing work to be done.
To solve your structural issues you can add a bilkhead or two and a spine made from balsa (or other wood). Then tab them in with fiberglass and epoxy. The result will be a boat that will be very stiff and strong. If you have questions philiptothsailing@yahoo.com
Liked for "Homeless Despot"
@@MrGatlin98 That's one treat aespecial
@@linuxguy1199 tumb seaking nut rounder
should fix it up right quick and in a hurray
As custom boat builder myself (Bonadeo Boat Works) I would recommend thinning Gelcoat with MEK solvent. Acetone will work but it will effect how it cures so if you do go the acetone route be sure to catalyze at no less then 2% MEKP. Also for your use you could just hand lay your hull in a polyvinyl or vinylester resin they are both much cheaper but it does take a little bit of skill set to hand lay without getting air bubbles.
Im emotionally invested in this project now
Love your videos Integza, keep up the great work!
@@lukassyrovy9081 I second thisss
Can you add a rocket to this lol hahaha
Lightweight fiberglass rocket boat?
Nice
I also look at my watch at 8 AM and I say: Today is going to be productive, glue a servo, glue another and look again, and the clock says it's 3 PM. I can relate to that.
Hello there! Your flying wing glider build was nice!
Make a fish 🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🎉😢😂
Daniel: Boy, oh boy, that was a lot of work. Probably enough for one video.
Me: I'm already at the end?! :O
Love these boat projects, please keep going :)
Those videos are always too short, even when they last 30min. One of the most relaxing and most interesting DIY channels I follow.
I appreciate your willingness to share mistakes. I often find them more useful than successes.
^^^ this
It also gives me motivation on my own project tbh. Sometimes you feel nothing works and this only happens to you. It's good to see perseverance examples to keep up in a same way
it is the full experience.
It inspires people to try silly things as well to problem solve because you may just end up with success as well
Knowing why things are more (and less) correct put together is the only way to perfection in my mind ... learned my way around epoxy by deliberately trying out all the no go's in small tests over a few years
💪🏻
This boat is going to be huge!
Its going to be great!
go big or go home
if you are ever going to do more hulls I can recommend using an inner mould to put fibreglass around instead of trying to get it inside of the moulds. much like the fibreglass canoe made by xyla foxlin.
With an outer mould like he did, the outside will be smoother by itself, without the need for a lot of sanding.
@@Tomwesstein don't forget he had to sand the mould. It's one or the other. Sanding is also only really needed if you want to apply varnish. If you don't sand the fibreglass it has a very smooth texture so that might be smooth enough for some.
@@sainsay That’s true, I overlooked that he then doesnt need to sand the mould. Could indeed be a good alternative. I’m curious now
I was thinking more like @RamyRC does his planes. I think he spends almost as much time filling and sanding his molds as he does printing them.
@@Tomwesstein It is an interesting alternative but once you sanded the mold it will make all hulls smooth. With the inside mold, you need to sand all the hulls that come out which is more time consuming per hull molded.
This is going to be great. I also liked the Banana Slug boat 👍
Nothing makes me happier than a boat in the tumbnail .
When rctestflight releases a video I'm like "lets goooooooo!" 😎
Ikr
Total aviation guy... "Leading edge, trailing edge" as in bow and stern haha
Love the videos though!
Well he does genuinely use propellers on his boats ...
a sailing boat is just a plane but sideways.
I love how the voice over is only half prepared. It makes it feel so natural.
5:30 "After I put in probably, pff, I don't know 4 or 5 layers"
6:58 "Um, what was I saying before that?"
Polyester car body filler is your friend when smoothing stuff like this, cures in minutes and sands beautifully =D
I would have used that or high build automotive primer to make it smooth depending on the roughness. Like another commentor pointed out, you can use a preval sprayer.
Also, you probably would have had an easier time with a male mold and then smoothing the outside with filler and/or primer.
@@vanbrua I use body filler at work and without much work it sands to an almost glossy finish, it bites into most finishes as well so no danger of it peeling off.
the bondo boat?
@@vjhansen7280 i don't think I've seen that. Not entirely sure what Bondo is either.
@@cmdrdevlegion7824 bondo is just a another body filler
Man, I love how honest you are about your mistakes. Really takes the fear of starting a project away from me.
that song at the end is fantastic! i hope we can hear more of it or like it
Heat break hearing the PLA started to melt in the sun.
Very impressed at the mold working as a whole.
Maybe some day I will experiment with making a mold and fiberglassing.
The vacuum bag technique is my biggest unknown.
Being able to make some molded carbon fiber parts would be interesting.
Lesson - use near solid infill and many perimeters if thinking about vacuumable 3D printed moulds and just pull as hard a vacuum as you need.
See "Ramy RC" channel to watch how he uses 3D printed moulds to make really large fuselages for model airliners.
A cliffhanger ending for an rc test flight video?! Waiting for the end result is gonna be torture!!
You *could always glass a wood spar in the hull to give it more stability and strength.
Just a keel and a few ribs from closed cell foam with one layer of glass. Weighs next to nothing.
Nice work! the next time you have to fill something that has to be strong enough and is lightweight but also good to sand, mix some microballoons into your epoxy and create a paste which is aproximately the same consistency as shaving cream!
^ aircraft tips!
RamyRc uses this same 3d printed fiberglass molding technique. He uses a spray can primer directly over the PLA molds and amazingly he gets great results. He builds awesome RC jetliners that are beautiful.
Yeah, Ramy has become really skilled. Spend a few hours to learn of his mistakes and your build will be much easier.
Excellent job with that 3-D print that’s amazing I’m currently working on a catamaran myself don’t be afraid to use the shredded fiberglass it lays in all different directions easily and doesn’t typically fold up like the weave will and it takes less layers of it to build up strength.
The smartest thing I ever did was start using rollers roll on the first layer of Apoxsee slap on the fiberglass which wetsuit out quicker and then do a quick roll it’s about two times faster and it helps you ensure that your resin doesn’t set up too fast and it doesn’t trap and air bubbles
One way to get an existing model or fresh piece stiffer for cheap, would be to put in glass rovings.
they are fairly cheap and will act as frames and stringers.
Very cool! Epoxy mixed with microballs gives you a nice lightweight putty.
I was working in a prop shop in highschool and put more gallons of Bondo down than I care to remember... But one trick is to spread it out pretty thick, then use a cheese grater (rasp?) to grate the surface down BEFORE it's fully cured. Basically it goes into a sort of rubbery state before hardening, then you grate the majority off, and the rest can be sanded when hard... Hope it helps, you know for the next boat ;)
I think you can get the rasps at Harbor Freight, but if not, a body shop supplier will definitely have them.
Awesome video! Can't wait to see the next one!
The next time you use PVA apply it with paper towel, it is easy to do. As far as the bag, use a big enough bag to fit entire mould into. Pre tape bag leaving one end open with tape on but paper over tape, insert mould, then pull paper and seal. Put bleeder cloth over peel-ply. Once you master the trade, think about infusing these parts, all cloth layers go on dry, giving you hours to perfect, do not use spray glue to hold dry glass. I used very small bits of masking tape, then under vacuum add the Epoxy resin.
Hats off on the build. But the song solo at the end of the video was a cherry on top
Just some suggestions on your molds as a composites technician. Good job with the jel coat! It can definitely be brushed and sanded. However, make sure to do a light coat and wait for it to go to b stage where your finger print doesn't show when touched. Then apply a 2nd thicker coat this stops aligatoring or cracking. Instead of spackle use resin mixed with cabosil to sand. For the bagging apply breather material so the vaccum pulls and apply the tape to the bag for easier alignment. Really good for your first go!
Little tip, you can spray the pva from the hand spray bottle if you add a small amount (a few drops) of dish washing soap (e.g. fairy) to it.
Bravo bravo! As someone with lots of boat building and fiberglass experience, I must say how impressed I am with what you accomplished! You only had a few hiccups but like always you were able to overcome. There is a product called glass microballoons. When added to epoxy it makes the perfect filler. It's strong, flexible and much easier to sand. If you do something like this again only do two layers of woven at most. Then do the rest with fiberglass chopped strand mat. The woven helps the hull from cracking and the chopped strand gives it rigidity. An integrated stringer system would also make a difference.
Nice work mate. I highly suggest picking up a respirator for when you are sanding, especially fiberglass. Breathing dust and fumes is seriously bad for your health.
Cheers!
'Banana Slug'. That's great!
I'm watching your video, at the moment. If I could make a suggestion...
Create reinforcement pieces made of various types of wood or carbon fiber 'blocks'. To avoid having to modify the reinforcements have them machined beforehand. For instance, the lowest point of the keel where a propeller shaft will exit. Create a block of wood, (don't recall the best type, but it's not balsa. Oak? Cedar is a good choice.), with an opening for the shaft. Give yourself some extra tolerance in regards to the position of the hole. To make it easier to line up properly, modify the mold from the beginning to accept this block. As I'm watching you put the v. bag in and I believe that you could make things easier if the most difficult part, the keel area, was pre-made.
When I was younger my dad and his buddies built their own boats to work the waters. These weren't a bunch of layers of plywood and 2x4s. The most difficult part is the front piece that ties the whole frame together. It had to be chiseled out by hand, usually oak, to accept the keel and side reinforcements.
A single piece keel that can be placed inside of the mold as you're going along,
it would eliminate any issues with the space between the molds.
Epoxy the reinforcements into place after laying in fiberglass mat, similar to what you're already doing. I would suggest learning more about boat design before getting started. I have no doubt that if you watched a few UA-cam videos you would do great! I've used this technique while building radio controlled airplanes as a reinforcement for the center wing spar section. I tend to fly 'aggressively' and I have snapped my wings in half. Sounded similar to a gun shot.
I have been putting materials together to create a project or 2. One goal is a autonomous airplane is one.
If there is enough cell coverage, would that allow me to utilize it to maintain contact with, and control of the airplane? I do own a 7-channel transmitter for visual control of the plane, but couldn't most of the control be accomplished via cell? Of course there has to be coverage.
I am watching an other of your videos and you mentioned criticism of boat design. Lol. I hope that you don't think that I'm simply criticizing you. I was offering a suggestion to make your jib easier. I would rather work aircraft than boats, too. My humble opinion is that if knowledge and wisdom should be accepted when shared. But that doesn't mean that you do what has been shared, rather I put it into the 9 million other ideas that are constantly roaming around my head.
If you're able produce these projects, which require knowledge of the various subject matter involved, and they actually work, that's awesome!
You created a gps guided vehicle from foam and Tupperware, that has been proven to work. Boats can be difficult because if they sink, your electronics are either lost in the depths or simply ruined by the water. I have nose dived rc airplanes into the ground at full speed, but I recovered the electronics and re-flew the airplanes. The electronic gear is expensive.
I've gone around the world in this comment due to commenting as I watch more than one video while typing. And ADD.
Great video still to this day the most inspiring channel on UA-cam. Keep this stuff rolling!
I love these videos because it's something I like but don't have the time. Nice one as usual. Thank you.
I love your boat projects! The Banana Slug actually inspired me to build an autonomous boat of my own over this winter.
After you sanded the PLA mold the first time, you could have just wiped it down with a rag and acetone and you would have gotten a smooth shiny finish. Perfect for applying a release on it. After wiping with acetone you could also "paint" on a layer of epoxy to seal it up even better. this would have eliminated the need to use bondo or spackle paste. Love your videos !! great job
I absolutely LOVE any and all boat content! Super entertained by this, can't wait for part 2. Also, I personally loved the Banana Slug, and I look forward to future long-range experiments, because those have been really fun videos. Great content!
Ayyy bro this new chapter of rctestflight is something special. that song at the end is just vibin. gotta be your new theme song or something. Such good videos man ! that amazon drone one was hilarious and at the same time made me want to fix my drone and get playing around again. Much love Daniel .
this reminded me of how back in elementary (we were like 9-10 lol) we made "fiberglass" boats and stuff by dipping strips of ordinary paper in glue and laying them on top of each other like youd do with fiberglass. Stuff was much stronger than youd expect
In marine hull construction we have these things called 'stringers'. They are lightweight pieces of balsa or other wood used as supports across the inside of the hull so you dont have a big, thick, crappy, heavy, weak, fiberglass hull.
Came across your channel at 3am on a random Monday. I have a feeling it's gonna be my next binge
hobbyist tip....
to add rigidity without much weight to flat surfaces, instead of adding multiple layers of fiberglass, put a bead of spray foam, or superglue strips of balsa wood in X patterns then lay fiberglass over those strips. This will add quite a bit of rigidity w/o the weight.
I'm looking into 3D printing a large fiberglass mold myself. This is super helpful. Thank you!
To stiffen the large sides, lay a length of tubing, garden cane or similar along the length on the inside with some large clayballs to hold it in position. It's how we make stiffener ribs for canoes,
Lay down some extra mats and resin over the tubing/cane, so that it forms a rigid tunnel when it cures. Remove clay balls when it's cured, resin over where they were.
This will be much stiffer than extra flat matting layers or just painting resin on and probably weight less too.
For perfect results plane/shape some thin spars or ribs rom spruce and mat them in
Just came across this video while looking at sciencey stuff and have subscribed to see it progress!
god bless you for including original soundtrack in the end... I almost thought you forgot why we are here
i have a lot of thoughts for you after watching this. first of all, you might consider styrene based resin, you'll have an easier time after its cured. Also, you can get two different kinds of filler, one is called microballons, or some times people refer to it as q-cell. this is very soft sanding material after hardening and will help you fill much easier. also, if you want more toughness instead of an easy sanding-filler, you can use silica, its also a white power to be mixed with the resin and is commonly called 'plotch'. anyways, these are two things you might consider. also, if you bought 12oz or 24oz fiberglass called 'cofab' you'll have an easier time reinforcing the inside and stronger; using strips of the cofab is the way to go, and also if you use thin pieces of foam on the inside the create stringers, which you can put down with hot glue and then glass over them to form a strong curved stringer. massively strong and will keep it light. finally, you might consider watching the resin as it kicks and trim the top off when its stiffended a bit but not too much. it will save you a lot of time and possible injury too. the guy recommending to thin out the gel coat with acetone is correct, also consider doing what is called a hot-coat, but practice that, you want to get the catalyst right on it or if its too hot it will alligator on you. and youll have a defect. also, next time you can spray the mould with pva, then wait and do you gelcoat, and then lay it up. spend more time on your plug for the mould and you'll be able to make better parts that require less work to make them ready and youll make more parts from the mould. the key is waxing the mould. do it like 50 times at least.
It's always a good day when rctestflight play posts
I built a solar powered triamaran with xps foam board not long ago.
Most of center hull and 2 side hulls are just triangle made with 40mm thick XPS foam board. Joint between boards are cut with circular saw and hot glued. Only bow and stern of center hull is 3d printed(which can also be made from foam board sanded down .
It's powered by 2 bolt-on duct thrusters located between center hull and side hull,able to reach 4 knots when using only solar power(two 50w panel).It steer by diffencial thrust ,so no rudder is needed.
It's not as spacious under water as your fiber glass hull but it took lot less work.
Wow you put alot of effort into those hulls. And you also put aloooot of effort into making a great video! Awesome work man ☺️
I totally forgot about your musical talent. Great video and song!!
I really think you could build anything you set you mind to and I hope you do and that you share it with us!
Printing your molds turned out great, i would of made it the inside as a plug, yes you would have to sand it a little but i think in the long run it would be less work, to make it release you drill some 1/8" holes in the plug, cover them with scotch take you cut with scissors so you get a smooth edge, after it's gone off and cooled down you use compressed air to blow in the 1/8" holes and it should pop right off. the whole thing will expand when it gets hot, the layup will go hard and when it cools the plug should shrink down some, I would of used polyester resin as well, fiberglass matt, and to fill in bad spots you mix the resin with micro balloons. i worked at this place a few years, at that time we made more than just pipe and i'm sure they still do, we made life rafts, all kinds of boxes, but lots of pipe, some took a week of three shifts a day, 90 gallons a shift, the pipe never stops turning till it's finished, ua-cam.com/video/njpWtpVgzoE/v-deo.html
You can use painters plastic for your vacuum bagging, and regular cheap painters caulk instead of "vacuum bagging tape". Caulk creates incredible seams for folding large sheets of plastic over whatever you are vacuum bagging. Source: Have done a lot of vacuum bagging for RC Jets.
Also, I use 1/4" poly pipe (cheap stuff) and paper towel over the end of it, then electrical tape to secure it, and just stick it in the bag with a bunch of caulk around where you insert it. This is in place of the "valve" they sell with that kit.
I think we're going to need a pt.2 of this video!
Dude, awesome work. I like to think that all the effort I put into making fun of your previous boats had something to do with this.
I vacuum formed wings from PLA forms and I quickly found the same thing happening (infill impression on the wings), increasing the in fill helped but doubled the print time to like 72 hours (actual print time), technically at low speed the dimpling was aerodynamically advantageous as decreases boundary layer seperation 😅
Darn!! that was a lot of work!! I would probably would have try to remove the texture of the molten mold... (You never know. you may finis trying at the end to put that same texture to break the drag....)... Awesome video... in the future use children's gray play/dow... to correct the imperfections on the mold... it allow you to remove the mold flaws ... and at the same time would make even easier to remove the part from the mold!!
Seeing Integza commenting here made my day, rctestflight you do amazing work and I so very much enjoy watching both channels whenever new content is uploaded!
Such a rollercoaster of emotions!
With fibreglass, The learning curve isn't steep, just sticky!
I personally wouldn't have bothered with the vacuum bags when doing a boat hull, but it's a great way to gain experience before tackling that solar glider wing. bagging works great on fairly simple convex forms, but (as you discovered) sucks at conforming into tight concave spaces, I've seen sand or lead shot used successfully inside boat moulds, but that was on full-size craft.
I don't think the vacume bags were any advantage, just roll the air bubbles out is enough.
Could you bag the inside and just fill it with water?
@@Paulman50 I agree.. sure it helps with the surface finish and compaction, but probably not 100% necessary for this application..
@@thefekete I did that with a small part one time. It certainly can be done, but then you're trying to balance an extra 8 pounds per gallon of water... If your mold can be braced in the right way, It might be helpful... But like the other poster said, probably not really needed for this application...
An rc waypoint sailboat would be cool as hell. You could get some insane range if you put solar panels on the sail and give it a keel.
a few ribs for structural reinforcement would be a better to stiffen it up than extra fiberglass. Standard bondo from the autosupply store would be great for filling gaps and leveling - that's what the stuff is designed for.
Hell yeah, this was super awesome. Love watching timelapses of fiberglass layering, looks really nice.
it's insane how much work this guy put into his project
Excellent idea of printing.3D negatives! Molds are like 3D puzzles, almost any shape can be positived with the right disassembly configuration.
Hey mate you can spray PBA out of a household hand pump spray bottle all you need to do is adjust the ratio by drinking 32mL and it should spray fine 👍🏼
Awesome video! I love that it’s in 4K 😃
Hulls can be also be constructed from sheet fiberglass, bonded at the seams. Considering the amount of effort in producing the hull, take a look at a child's Kayak, they sell for around $100.
The vacuum bag stage is overkill. Just be reasonably careful to avoid air bubbles when laying up.
To solve the stiffness issue add some ribs. These can be glued in place pretty much immediately after laying up the hull.
As others have mentioned polyester filler works great on moulds. Technically you shouldn't use it over epoxy but in reality it will hold up pretty well.
For the next boat, add in some core material in the walls. That should make it a lot stiffer without a big weight penalty
excellent! very entertaining and I cant wait to see the progress
Hahaha the first few minuets were jokes... "I did this but that didn't work out to well so I did this other thing to combat that but as you'll see later that didn't really work out either!"
I feel you brother
Nice mold RC. Thanks
the correct way to do it is with two halves, after waxing and aplying pva, you apply one hand of gelcoat, when the gelcoat is sticky at the touch that is the best moment to lay up, you can wait until fuel cure but best addeshion is achive in this point, then apply one hand of resin and one layer of fiberglass (if you lay up the fiberglass in parts as you did in a big impact it can breake in the unions, the best way is to apply a full layer at once) and so on until desired thickness is achived, wait until is hard but not fully cured, grab a cutter or a scissor and trim off all the excess, then aplly one hand of resin to the lips of the mold and clamp the two parts, also if it is posible apply one strip to the entire union, also vacum bags are not needed, vacum is used when you need the less amount of resin of a weight critical part, or when the part is so big that manual layout is imposible
The idea of leaving it in the sun is pretty awesome! The texture looks cool.
10/10 for the song, 11/10 for the cat
Your music is THE BEST!
This entire project is so cool. I really want to replicate this
Nice project! Microballoons in epoxy makes a good filler, easily sanded afterwards. IIRC phenolic only polyester friendly but glass balloons okay in epoxy.
Actually it's the other way round :D Pheolic ballons collapse in polyester.
I am really enjoying this Saga. You should really try to make a autopilot sailboat. You have to keep in mind wind Direction, but the controls are actually very simple. Just a single analog control for how much to let out the sails. You can look it up. There are plenty of commercial models available
i cant wait to see that beast tow you up stream for a fun river trip!!! 👍
Instead of sanding softer materials try scraping or using a really coarse file. Either will remove the material nicely and they won't clog like sand paper. You can get specialized auto body rasps (that are like small cheese graters) and files (that have parallel curved cutting edges) and pretty much not need sandpaper after just those two. As a matter of fact, it's best to work the body filler with them before it has set up all the way, in so-called "green state". Start working it while the surface is still tacky. It's the very top layer and it's what clogs the sand paper the most, yet the filler itself is not sticky underneath.
As for vacuum bagging, you should have another layer called breather cloth, essentially low quality felt, on top of the peel-ply. It will soak up excess resin, allow air to get around much easier, and will help to press the fiberglass tightly against the mould.
Pretty cool that you 3D printed a mold for such a massive boat! How much plastic did you end up using?
Also wow, lol the sun must have heated that mold half to at least 55ºC (which is roughly the heat deflection temperature of PLA.) It might help if you printed it out of PETG (~70ºC heat deflection temp.) Maybe white PETG for good measure... In my experience, I have been able to find PETG that costs less than the same amount of PLA. It is also softer, so you can sand it directly, without applying spackle.
Pretty sweet..at the very least this one is gonna be around a LONG time!!!
Keep em coming!!!!
When you release a video im like "Fuck yeahhh!" :)
This man will take over the world with his lil robits
Add thin strips of wood covered with more fiberglass to the inner sides to stiffen.
boat hull jokes aside you really took your time planning this out and it shows, good work, and good on you for wearing a mask too
Really looking forward to the rest.
Nice Daniel, we will make a sailor of you yet. The oldest greenest form of transport :)
Use Bondo for filling fiberglass parts and 3D prints! Sands like a dream.
A really good thing to use for bonding PLA is 3D gloop, you should check it out if you want to do something like this again.
good tune at the end
Dude like an amazing amount of work - But I'm thinking some marine ply and some router cut proformers may have be a lot quicker (and less toxic!) amazing project though!
8:55 Christmas in August in 3... 2... 1... Perfect!
A few pointers, all in respect:
- Four layers of wax on a first time mold is considered a bit "stingy". Most people will do almost double.
- Go easy on the resin. More does not mean better, and it looked really rich from the video
- Add a breather ply so suck up the excess resin
- Consider bagging the whole mold. That way, it matters less if the mold is porous and there's no/less risk of pulling a fragile mold out of shape. (Sorry, wrote that before I saw you had to that anyways...)
Enjoyed the song at the end
Nice work! I love seeing you grow, learning and make nicer stuff.
the accidental dimples looked intentional af, and super cool. you should have left them in!