Fibreglass/FRP Split-Mould Making Guide (Carbon Fibre Airbox Pt.2)
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- Опубліковано 25 вер 2024
- The ultimate guide on how to make a fibreglass/FRP/GRP split-mould/multi-part mould. Step-by-step instructions on how to create a 3-part mould for a complex airbox pattern. This is part two of a three-part project on how to make an ultra-light, carbon fibre airbox using state-of-the-art prepreg (dry) carbon fibre. Visit www.easycompos... for more details or to buy the best in advanced composite materials.
7 years later and they still answer questions in the comments, respect !
We try to ensure any questions that haven't been covered get answered.
@@easycompositestv i have a question. what is the meaning of life?
@@cvspvr 🤣😂😹😆
There's a reason your company is taking off like it has! Top notch craftsmanship, clear representation of your products, and sharing the knowledge! I have learned more from your videos and forum than I thought possible without attending a specialized school! Thanks to all of you at EC!!
David Williams not true at all and you know it.
Good
I appreciate the number of details that you give us (the viewing audience)!! Great Job! The quality that comes from taking the steps you recommend will be unmatched!
Thanks Paul, it's our pleasure to share our love of these processes and techniques.
Thanks for this video series. I must have watched these over 10 times when making my first pattern/mold/part
It’s extraordinary how involved and time consuming these processes are, but also how high quality the results are - this is bespoke manufacturing to a commercial standard.
Thank you Simon.
Using the rigid foam as a support when cutting with the Jigsaw (4:20) is a genius idea. So simple but it never occurred to me till I saw this! Way better than working off the end of the bench or trying to support on wood battens etc. Great videos and learning a lot, cheers!
Thanks Chris, glad it helped :-)
Completely amazing. Incredible skill. People who have a hard time visualizing surfaces and positive and negative shapes might find this challenging. Ironically someone seriously into pattern making for clothing might be good at it.
I suppose, if you wanted the smooth surface inside instead of outside, you could make a split part, say with a flange seam and screws, using two inside molds.
Excellent videos! What I like is that he gives you alternative ways to get almost the same results if you don't have the same products or tools.
With composites there are often several ways to make a part, some easier or more or less technical than other methods.
I watched it with my own eyes and somehow it still feels like magic. Bravo!
Hopefully we dont have to wait a year for the next one. Great vid though i have learned a lot from you guys.
Hi Brandon, no you definately won't have to wait a year for the next one. We're filming it at the moment. The great thing about prepreg is that we can make that airbox in about 20mins from start to finish so, even allowing for lots of filming delays, explaining and editting, it's still nothing like the time taken to make the pattern or the mould.
Most beautiful mold I've ever seen!
Wow, thank you!
I've never handled carbon fiber, I just love watching those videos 🤷🏼♂️
ikr 😂
Amazing level of explanation and detail regarding how to create a carbon fiber 3-piece mould. Thank you for sharing!
I seriously can not thank you guys enough! You provide so much value in your content. Thank you!
You’re welcome Michael, glad you enjoyed it.
This is so useful. 7 years later! Thanks
Thanks Chris, it’s very much still current technique 👍
Thank you for bringing these things to people that on the internet want to do something but they dont know why. Also i bought from you materials and im happy. Thank you very much (this is Mindaugas)
Hi Mindaugas, thanks for the feedback. We had a lot of fun making this video (we always do) and we really do love to share this information. It's been a pleasure dealing with you and I'm sure we will again soon.
O u t s t a n d i n g tutorial!! - Now I understand why custom composite parts are so expensive!!
Wow, exellent tutorial. I have learned A LOT. Very good tips and tricks. These guys know their stuff !!
clear and precise tuturial about carbon fiber.adds technics how to build.very helpful..thank you
You're very welcome, thanks!
Fantastic videos so far, would be good if you guys keep more of these coming regularly for different shapes etc
Look forward to the next one
It wouldn't really matter what the shape was; you should be able to apply this technique to make a multi-part mould for any shape or sized part. It's the technique and the understanding we try to give you, then you apply this process and understanding to your own projects. In terms of shape, this airbox is about as difficult as it gets, which is why we made it! Many moulds, even for much larger parts, would be simpler. Take a look on our forum where you'll see one of our customers has made split moulds for the entire tub of a Noble; it's all the same process. He then goes on to resin infuse the whole tub in carbon fibre. Username is Andycanam - search for Noble on talkcomposites.com
What an excellent tutorial - well done. (I believe you should give due credit to our very good instructor.)
Thanks Chris. Indeed - that's Paul; our technical director.
well, i finally just called and ordered filleting wax on my iphone, its dirt cheapto call with att. Got a bunch of tips too. I want em to open a store in usa. Maybe easy, maybe not. These people have best quality stuff. I know. They are on top of the game of turning out good tools, parts, & helping their customers. This video is incredible.
+Pushyhog We had the same experience with them. They truly are an awesome company!
Easy Composites Ltd Have you considered working on partnerships\distributor deals with european vendors? Speaking from experience, many italian shops either have a limited offer or have ashamingly high prices. Perhaps you could build a distribution network to help spread your winning business model.
Happy new year and please keep up the good work!
i made in your place pre preg thing and that was helpfull. im trying infusion. so i hope i be at the end of perfect finish like on your tutorial. Wish you all the Best as company and guys making things clear to people who want these knowledges!!
AWESOME!!! It took sometime, but it's the best easycomposite video so far! Can't wait for the third!
super impressed with the quality of video and explanations
Thanks, glad you like them.
Thanks a lot. Rare stuffs in UA-cam. Helpful for my career..
Makes me realize how foolish my teen age dream had been of me making a custom fiberglass air box for my racing motorcycle back in the early 70's ...I had thought at the time "how hard could it be" I purchased some materials and found out early on that I was nowhere near capable of producing even the most crude example of what might work ...such is the frustration of visualising exactly what one needs but entirely lacking the expertise to even begin to get there ....And that was a part that in no way needed to be visually appealing !
If you mould in a tyre valve somewhere on the pattern, you can use air pressure to separate the parts, instead of having to chisel them. (Beware of excessive pressure blowing them across the room, though.)
smart. I might use that for a bigger thing.
OMG !!!!!! How perfect. Congratulations, video is so perfect, don't know what to say.... keep going.
Thanks for the praise!
Just bought a couple of kits from these guy, can't wait to try and make my own parts 👍🏼👌🏽
Great choice Liam! You know where we are if you need us.
Nice instruction. You have the skills to do it. Congrats from Araucaria PR Brazil.
god this takes me back, i used to make front splitters for touring cars and we did the same thing exactly
Haha, yes, this process has not changed much in a long time! Only difference would probably be the Uni-Mould rapid tooling system which is slightly different from conventional polyester gel and GP resin.
Man, you're my new hero.
Nice video!!! A lot of tips to apply on my own molding process. I really like this channel and I begin to use your products last week (gelcoat). So fra, so good!!!
Top skills to make it look so easy! very well explained too. i'll know where to come for materials and advice
Amazing stuff and high videos quality, will probably watch all of them :) Big thanks from Canada.
Amazing how a pro can make it look easy, but if you try this a home kids it’ll probably take a half dozen projects to look “pro”. Thirty five years ago I made a fiberglass console. Man that was an aggravating experience. Wish I’d seen this back then.
There's certainly some skill and experience needed to get this sort of thing right first time but hopefully these tutorials give people the best chance to learn the process and build their skills.
Can you please make some video about Paul, have been learning a lot from him.
Some of the best videos on the net. Well done and thanks.
Guys!.. Great video, but.. when you design the part in 3D, and use that CAD software to make the profiles of the part.. you could also make the templates the same way, for the top template, the one you made first.. just project the curve on the centerplane, and use that as a guidecurve for a sweep of a thin part that you can then convert to a "Sheetmetal-part" and Unfold to a flat pattern.. that's all there is to it.. same goes for the other templates..
(Can't help it.. i'm a designer.. :) )
your video's are a great help, teaching me things i didn't yet know..
Just thougt of this.. why not place some "Wax-wedges" around the perimeter, so after curing and cutting the mould to size, you have some recesses to pry the mould open?
Yes! Finally! =D
This video series is really great. Can´t wait to get some parts ordered from you guys and get going my self. Thank you for uploading and taking your time for us =)
You're very welcome. I'm really pleased we've got this one 'under our belts' now; split-moulds is something that we've wanted to cover for years and where I think there was a real lack of a coimplete tutorial.
These are great tutorials. Thanks for posting them.
Crazy the time that goes into making the moulds
Very good, job and presenter
Thanks Daniel, appreciated.
Excuse me, sir, I want to ask, if we don't use vacuum oven, what media can dry with yourself then how long?
Master craftsmanship!
Excellent work. I'm very anxious to see the next part.
Outstanding video and instruction!
That was incredible! awesome video series thank you very much
Great demo !
Beautiful work there.
Thank you very much Cameron!
Awesome, very helpful and professional.
Thank you.
Salim from King Saud University
Great video, it is very useful for my next work about a motorcycle tank
Please get part 3 up soon.
Outstanding tutorial ! Very insightful
Glad you enjoyed the video!
AMAZING THAT THESE EXIST.
What an artist
Hola buenos días,que resina es la de color amarillo??
You guys are geniuses and I have watched these videos years prior but revisit now and then.
Just wondering - you state that 18-25deg c is the optimal temperature, but if you are working at a colder temperature, could you warm the tin of resin in hot water prior, to help quicken things up? I have used this method when painting a car and it worked well.
You can certainly warm the resins to 20C or similar. Just be aware it will cool once in use so the cure times will still be extended and you may have issues curing at very low temperatures.
I try to do a split moud with a saddlebags but I don't know how or where I can split, can you have a chance to guide me the best way to do it?? I'm in Chile... very far away, but I follow all your videos... are amazing.. thanks
Hi JP, thanks for your comment. It might be an idea to post an image of your drawing or patterns on www.talkcomposites.com; on there you might get some helpful suggestions from our other customers.
Just wondering...can you do something similar and show how you would lay up this mold in fiberglass instead of carbon? It would be nice to see how to lay fiberglass in complex, multiple part molds instead of pre-preg. Thanks!
Très bon travail.
Thank you for your reply I appreciate all the advice and am looking forward to purchasing your resin infusion starter kit
can you infuse a mulit-piece mold? Not a tube like this but for say a lip for a car. I could make it 1pc but the angles of the front are too great to get my hand in there to try and make it look right.
Yes you can. By the far the easiest method is to use "envelope bagging" ie putting the entire mould into a single bag (like in this video) as it solves issues with trying to seal the join lines on a multi-part mould.
Nice and clean work
But the very lengthy process you have done,
Especially making flanges .
Excellent and informative video. I learned a lot. Thank you!
Hi, great video series. I like it a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. One question: How do you ensure that the parts of the molds do not stick together at the bare edge where the fibreglass has open surface. The release agent won't help very much there on the rough glass. I'm considering developing a faired recumbent bike.
Generally any slight sticking on the very edges can be trimmed off to allow access for a demoulding wedge to release the rest of the part.
These are great tutorials. Thanks a lot.
Thanks Mojahed, we're glad you like them.
I don't have an oven large enough to accommodate the tubes I want to make. Can I cure carbon fiber without heat?
You can absolutely make carbon fibre parts using wet epoxy resin and dry fibre without oven curing. The problem is for complex parts like this, is that they really are suited to prepreg which unfortunately does need to be cured at elevated temperature. Sometimes paint curing ovens are good enough to cure prepreg and usually large enough to house vehicle parts. If you can find friendly bodyshop who may let you borrow their oven, that may be a solution for you.
Excellent and professional. Thank you
You're welcome. I'm glad you like it. Thanks for all the feedback everyone :)
You can upload a video production with unidirectional and bidirectional carbon fiber
Any suggestions on how to release a stuck plug from a mould? I used your release agent and followed the instructions here but it's stuck solid. I've used air, a chisel and anything to hand.
GREAT VIDEO GUYS!!!! The dude is actually understandable. ;) Easy to follow along. ***
Glad you like and and pleased to hear you could understand it all clearly :)
In fibergrsss parts manufacturing.more pin holes are visible during paint. How to avoid yhat
hi, a gelcoat finish will eliminate any pinholes on the components surface
@@easycompositestv thank you for the reply bro. Can we apply gelcoat finally after putting body filler
thanks for videos.
Could you upload pt.3??? how you close the open part in the molds for have the same part as original?.
Nearly there with it. Just a bit more editing and we'll be uploading it!
I'm interested in getting a fiberglass frame of a jet ski built. How much would something like that cost to have done professionally?
It's art!
Great video very cool 👍🏻
Thanks Micheal, glad you liked it.
If ever you guys would like to do carbon fibre reinforcement of some 3D printed objects we at MEOE would love to help.
can i use the original metal air box as a pattern to make the mould? any suggestion about particular release agent to use on it? thanks
Yes you can use the original airbox as long as it is in good enough condition. You would follow the same process just skipping the carving of the foam, as you already have the basic shape. Use same release agents as the video.
@@easycompositestv thanks a lot. gonna try on my Alfa 105 airbox as soon as i can.
Very helpful video. Thanks a lot
Why is the coupling coat necessary, why not just use the matt?
It provides a good bond between the gelcoat and tooling resin.
These are great videos explaining the processes extremely well, I do have one question, what's the possibility at some point in the future having the option for different colour gel coats in the mould making process ? I'm making panniers for a motorcycle that I want in a black finish, but painting black gel coat on a black mould isn't ideal - I think you mention this yourself in the Dark Ice video
It is a possibility. Our epoxy tooling gel is green which provides a good contrast for darker colour part gelcoats.
knew it, cant find the yellow clay filler you use in the video on your UA-cam. Can you help direct me there?
Big respect!
Is it possible to make a shape like this but also control the internal dimensions through calculated the thickness of the carbon fiber? Thanks!
Yes, absolutely, the internal dimensions will simply be the outside dimensions minus the laminate thickness which can be precisely controlled.
@@easycompositestv That's great. Thank you. You all don't have a US location do you?
Excellent video, I have been following this for my own project your your products and so far so good, but I have a couple questions. As it's getting colder now in my garage I have been leaving each layer to cure over night. Is there a danger of leaving each layer too long? Like what if I leave the coupling layer to cure beyond a tacky state? Secondly, I have one of those nifty rollers included in your kit. Is it single use (like did you need to use 3 for this project) or did you somehow clean it?
Thanks again for this content ( and for the confidence to try such things!)
Temperature reductions will slow the cure down so ideally you would want heating to keep temperature optimal. If you leave it too long, you can sand the surface but ideally try and keep it within the recommended time limits for best adhesion between layers. Acetone can clean rollers and brushes to help get extra uses out of them.
How many times will the mold last, in other words, how many pieces can you make with a mold before it starts to have surface inperfections??
Great video by the way!!
Treated sensibly you would get hundreds of releases from the mould before it started to show scratches or other signs of damage and deterioration. We use this exact mould system for most of the 'Carbon Mods' brand products that we sell meaning that we have daily production experience going back 7 years. Some moulds we made 7 years ago are still in use today. The great thing about Uni-Mould is that you can flat and polish the surface if it gets stratched or faded and it will be like new. That's why we normally 'double gelcoat' to give ourselves extra repairability.
Hello again, at 13:08 you mention that you must make this a 3-piece mold because of 2 parallel sides. Is that because it would be really difficult to remove the master plug if you don't make this mold as 3 parts? Could you install a nipple onto the surface of the master so that later you can use air pressure to push it out from the mold? Thank you in advance!
If you have parallel sides on a mould then it will be almost impossible to remove parts from it, even with the use of compressed air. If you do manage to remove the part then it's likely there will be damage to the part and the stress on the mould will reduce its life. It's a *much* better idea to design a split into the mould for sides even approaching parallel.
How is your tooling gel not absolutely full of porosity? when we are building our molds we spray the gel on in about 6 applications to stop the porosity. we also switch colours of tooling gel 1/2 way through the application so that Un the future what doing mold repairs we know when we are sanding too far through the gel.
I've never experienced the issue with porosity that you're describing. We have a number of tooling gelcoats and I've never encountered this - it might be time to consider changing your tooling gelcoat. It's an option to give yourself two gelcoat colours so that you can tell when you've gone down fully through one layer but at the same time it can be visually quite distracting when you're trying to check the perfection of the mould surface after repair or restoration. Personal choice I guess.
Unfortunately for us, we only have 2 suppliers in our Provence that can handle the volume we need and one of them has such terrible service we just can't use them.
So, I can’t find polypropylene at lowes or Home Depot in usa. I buy the filling wax from this company, i love it. Shame they dont have usa east coast warehouse. I wonder if that is black epoxy tooling gel or polyester tooling gel????
In this video we used the Uni-Mould Tooling Gelcoat which is a vinylester. We would never suggest using polyester resin for prepregs, instead you should use vinylester (as we do in this video series) or better still an epoxy tooling gelcoat which we have since found is more compatible with a wider range of prepregs.
Will polypropylene of that thickness warp from the gelcoat like HDPE does?
It did not warp in this case or other times we have used it. If the resin gets very hot, the risk of it warping or distorting the sheet is higher.
Great video. I have one question. I understand that it would be better to make the mould out of carbon fiber prepreg (as you do in another video) instead of using fiberglass. Is that correct? If so, which would be the benefits? Thank you!
The main benefit of using prepreg carbon fibre to make the mould is improved accuracy at higher temperature because the CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) of the mould would be extremely low, very closely match that of the carbon fibre component. Additionally, you can use the mould at a higher temperature than you could with a typical 'fibreglass' resin system (although there are exceptions).
Great vid I never thought about making my own carbon fibre products, question though at what point is an oven used in making carbon fibre? And could you do a video on making a car bumper as that would be very informative on mould making and hen the bagging and infusion as that's what I'm interested in making but no idea where to start, can't wait for part 3 of this vid
If and when oven is used is dependant on what process is used to make the part. The part to be made from this mould is to be made in out-of -autoclave pre-preg carbon fibre and as such is cured in an oven once the vacuum bagging process is complete. You can see this in part 3 of the video series here: How to Make Prepreg/Dry Carbon Fibre Parts (Carbon Fiber Airbox Pt. 3)
In terms of making a bumper, we would probably recommend resin infusion as the ideal process. You can see a complete video series on making a bonnet/hood here: How to Make a Carbon Fiber Car Bonnet/Hood - Part 1/3 which shows all the techniques and processes you would need for pretty much any body panels on a car, including a simple bumper.
I am planning to make a 2 part mould from a foam pattern for the casting of a ca. 35x55x5 cm lit for a tool case. Can these products you use here work with casting af PUR resin too?
I plan to use the yellow filleting wax in 100°C autoclave curing. Would it be a problem and if yes which is there a temperature limit for this product?
+Ioannis Topalidis : Well, yes, the problem would be that the wax would melt and much less than 100'C. Also, if you're planning on using yellow wax in an autoclave (i.e. under increased pressure) then it's only a soft wax and would instantly deform under the positive pressure of an autoclave. I can't think why you'd want to use yellow wax in an autoclave however?!
+Easy Composites Ltd Thank you for your aswer! I use carbon fiber split-mould and I want to close the gap between the two moulds. Would it be better to use Epoxy Mould Making Putty? If yes, is it difficult to split the two moulds after the cure cycle?
So delightful to watch
Incredible videos, very well done.
Is it possible to make a rough carbon fibre surface (e.g from wrapping) glossy, by sanding and adding more resin, or is having a smooth mould the only way to get that smooth shiny glossy surface finish?
Ideally a smooth mould will be the quickest way, however you can use the skinning method by coating layers of resin on top of raw cloth. You will need to spend considerable time sanding and smoothing the resin but great results can be achieved with patience.
How many times can i use a mould like this? I'm planning on making pipes so the mould will be used a lot, or is there another method that is better for making moulds that will be used several times?
Hi Stef, moulds made from Uni-Mould will last a very long time, probably hundreds of releases. Often it's just a case of re-polishing the surface (after a while) to restore the mould to as-new condition. When we started out in business we manufactured carbon fibre parts in Uni-Mould moulds, we would use the moulds every single day, for years.