2,000x faster than epoxy! DIY advanced composites
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- We are developing a DIY fiberglass-reinforced plastic that cures almost instantaneously.
I'm testing something I've never seen in the DIY space before. Help me develop this process into something that can change the game for convenient, affordable, and environmentally friendly fiberglass composite materials. It's open-source! So, as improvements are made to this process, the results will be documented and available to the public.
Join the channel so you can get plugged into our discord where we will dive deep into developing this project and many more like it.
/ @standracing
Reach out! warner@standmotors.com
Here are the pages I used to source the material used in this video,
Glass mat: amzn.to/48SUxTk
Polypropylene fabric: amzn.to/3QfoTYR
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Check out standracing.com/ to get involved!
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Make a positive and negative aluminum mold so you can squish the medium in the middle for a quicker and more accurate shape.
That's kind of how they made the composite panels on the Trabant.
Also you might want to wear a decent respirator and find a spare oven to melt plastic, just so that none of it makes into your food.
Interesting, were they pretty much done by hand?
Yeah... totally with you there haha
There is a UV activated fiberglass resin. In California I use “sun flash”
Allows a lot more working time, but 5min in the sun and it’s ready for another layer.
I've never done anything with a mold so maybe just ignore this comment, but I've got some thoughts. Maybe impregnate the plaster with the chopped glass to increase strength? And use a relatively thick piece of mild steel cast directly into the bottom of the plaster to help with uniform heating. Then if you can do the entire sheet application process entirely in the oven at temperature to improve layer adhesion
Definitely good ideas. I think glass inside the plaster can only make things better and not worse.
My thought process right now is "how can I apply this solution to a mold the size of a full size fender?" but there is probably a good amount of value in making a small scale part as nicely as possible even if the solution might not scale up.
Instead of using plaster for mold try a jif- set floor repair product and mix with adhesive milk mix. It's always comes out smooth and won't crack.
What about using your pre-made sheet as stock, and vacuum forming as you would acrylic sheet?
The fabric weave type may also influence the formability and saturation characteristics.
That would be a good application for this I believe. Someone has offered a large vacuum pump to me to use for this idea, so we'll see once that's in hand!
I’ve been working on new composite ideas for a while and I was thinking about doing something just like this! I’d try making a two-part mold. I’ve used carved wood but any material that can withstand heat is good. Make a compression mold, so a mold with a bottom and top, and then make a mixture of molten plastic and chopped fibers of various lengths. Heat the plastic until it’s viscus like molasses. You want the plastic to be able to extrude. Then place the molten plastic in the bottom mold and clamp the top mold on, extruding excess plastic out until the top and bottom of the mold index. Look up making forged carbon parts because the process is very similar. You can melt the plastic in the same way you did, but instead of using chopped mat, sprinkle chopped fiber inbetween layers.
After getting an idea for how many sheets it takes of glass and plastic it takes to get a certain layer thickness, I realized I can throw down many more layers of chopped glass and PP and end up with a pretty uniform sheet. I'm gonna show it in the next video.
I'm going to try really hard to make this viable as a single-piece mold. Mostly because I want it to be a superior solution to epoxy fiberglass layups in as many ways as possible, and I want to make really big parts with it. The smaller the part the better it is to use a second mold.
Metal molds are probably a good idea, with integrated heaters, figure out what the best temp to demold is might also be useful, some fdm materials still stick to a bed 30°C but pop themselves off under 25°C for example (from a glass bed)
could use a plaster part to make an aluminum mold, and you could always try talc/baby powder, or hairspray for mold release
Maybe try fibreglass tissue. Also, you can get fibreglass without the glue for different types of resins
At 20:27. Thinking it might be good to make a counter mold to sandwich the material down and maybe a plate of steel on top to add pressure
Agreed. That may pose a challenge at large scale but it's certainly a good idea.
Damn you're creative!
What about the sheet moulding compound they use to make various things like jet ski's and car parts
Don't know what weight mat you were using but you can get 3/4 oz which I believe is the lightest made. Heat lamps make a good heat source without creating air turbulence, and you can control the temperature by the distance between the lamps and the object you are heating. You can get wire clamp-on heat lamp receptacles that only require a simple stand of some type to mount the lamps to.
Material wise, there are companies that I believe still produce thin sheets of unidirectional fiberglass reinforced polypropylene that can be cross-plied 90 degrees for uniform strength and stiffness. Also, your process might lend itself to vacuum bag molding which can be a fairly inexpensive composites fabrication technique.
Heat lamps are a great idea. I have a couple really strong tubular shaped ones for curing paint, I should see what kind of temps I can get out of them.
Any idea where I can find those pre made thin sheets?
I sent you a couple of emails with links to more information.
Making a clip or latch on plaster mold that attaches to the t-shirt heat press would be great for you I think, that and vacuum pump to suck out air with a little bit of gasket seal around the edges to increase pressure and heat transfer. Maybe it can help with oxidation of the combined materials increasing the separation of the materials when you separate the mold
That's interesting, how do you picture the mold attaching to the heat press?
@@StandRacing I was thinking an overhang indent in the plaster that's covered with some rubber, the plaster would have an outline indent in the inside diameter of the backing where it attaches to the heat press lined with some high temp silicon caulking or similar for having it seal to the mold better. If the heat press can be drilled to allow for a vacuum line to be placed in it then it helps with the mold not experiencing as much stress in certain hot spots for the backing of the mold that attaches there. Then its more about having a horizontal, between the 2 plates, vacuum line that sticks there to allow for air to be sucked out and allow for the mold to properly apply force to the composite material, heat it up, and reduce porosity of the design overall, hopefully.
It would mostly be about getting tolerances right and having it not be stretched to too high of an tension that doesn't allow for it to give a bit so it doesn't do a concrete slab problem of cracking and crumbling away. A little bit of something similar to a rebar might work for you too, like a type of material that doesn't expand much with heat and still holds decent strength when tensioned under that heat. Maybe synthetic fiber that is strung and pre-tensioined into the plaster you are using that handles higher heats?
It just needs to be anchored to something inside the plaster where you placed the overhang so the overhang has something to brace itself against for the wire and allows for it not to bend as much. I don't think steel wire will do it thanks to the constant heating and cooling, stress and strain problem. The material will likely fail too quickly for the amount of material cost and work put into it. Instead maybe fiberglass would be better, but a brosiclicate? (the one the use for glass that repeatedly see head and stress anyways) would be a better bet that will hopefully last longer as a prototype that can be used for the money, effort, and associated costs after for maintenance, useability, total cost reduction of other issues from its use, and so on.
Hope it helps! The one for the bottom would likely just be placed on it and strapped to it more easily since it doesn't have to attach to the top of the heating plate. But you could go all out however you want, its up to you :)
man you got that sweet printer.. just print more car parts. the afm delete you made for me is great. i am so lucky to have it. thank you 1000X
Glad to hear it! More car parts are currently being printed 👍
What about running hotwires through the mould? You'd be able to keep it hot, fairly uniform and could control the heat.
+1 I'd definitely like to incorporate that
What about vacuum bagging and oven baking, research says some are rated up to 400F...
Another great suggestion. We're going to have a lot of different avenues to test this in and see where it shines and where it struggles.
Hey so this is really cool and all but like what about nasty fumes getting in your oven :(
maybe you should get a shop oven? Just looking out for you, keep up the great videos!
I figured plaster by itself was going to be pretty safe, I definitely wouldn't put the plastic itself in there.
But, I was wrong. It had a super janky smell the next day lol. I used self clean and it went away thankfully.
+1 on retiring kitchen to food preparation only.
Seems to me you need to liquify the plastic and pour it over the fiberglass.
is that Trevor Moore? i thought he passed away.
W video
See if you can build a vacuum former.
why is this better than regular fiberglass?
No cure time. Also cheaper and easier to repair because thermoplastic can be reheated to become pliable again.
Metric is the way to go.
Lol. You can't quickly measure in metric with your hands and feet though!
Palm + thumb = 6" (2 closed fists thumbs out, touching thumb to thumb = 12"
Well, to be fair, I can't quickly measure with a tapemeasure of any unit. Measure 3 times, cut 2 times, start over is my motto!@@StandRacing
Sshmear