Do you think mabye a diy vacumm chamber could help get the air bubbles out before the mold process?
Definitely. Will be vacuum bagging the part for sure.
Probably the biggest reason for the air bubbles was that I let the gelcoat fully cure before applying the glass so it was hard to get it to stick down.
Will definitely be bagging all future attempts and looking into a proper vacuum setup
effectively then using the buck/plug set up to create the mould you could take an existing enclosure as the buck to create a mould for little clones.
Right… its in the bag. fingers crossed.
Part 2 has been added to OP
Truth.
Was it polyester resin or epoxy that you used? I ask because chop fiberglass technically needs a polyester resin to break down the fibers properly. Or something like that.
But I am sure it will be fine either way really.
Can’t wait for the next installment!
Using polyester gelcoat cos I can’t find any epoxy gelcoat in Australia… maybe I’m not looking hard enough.
But using epoxy resin. The chop strand that I got is especially for epoxy and uses a powdered binder, only downside of it was that I had to buy a full roll of it!
Hahahahaha black plastic and rags in the sleeping bag didn’t really pay off! Looks like there’s gonna be a lot of sanding this week.
Also the vac bag wrapped my part around the edge of the mold… goin to be very tricky to separate.
Got it out. Both part and mold are unusable. Lessons learned, back to square one
Polyester gelcoat definitely a no go.
Too rigid I bet.
Nothing wrong with the gelcoat. Shit is just not as easy as one would think. I applaud you for putting up your efforts in real time.
I smashed my first mold with a piece of rebar and never posted about it…
Lol
Haha damn. I can’t be upset, I am actually really surprised with the result considering I had pretty much zero experience at the start of this.
Definitely learned a lot and keen to get started on V2
I have a decent amount of molding and casting experience. Fairly well versed in resins, silicone, and urethanes. I might be able to throw in some feedback.
That would be great! If you could tell me where you think I fucked up most in the OP I would be glad to hear it!
Round 2:
Design change from 10s6p to 10s5p to give me a bit more room to move. Just shaped the bucks, need to fill and smooth.
If I learned anything from round 1 it was this. The more work you do at the start, the less you will have to do later. In round 1 i used crappy paint filler on my bucks which didnt work very well. This time ive used builders bog/bondo/body filler, whatever you wanna call it. No such thing as too much bog.
A bit of taper on the sides might make it easier to de mould?
All sides on v2 except the very back have a 10 degree angle
Have you considered making the first layer with Silicone and the second layer out of hard stuff like fiberglass or plaster? With a Silicone layer the separation from the mold is dead simple. You first take of the hard shell and after that you can remove the stretchable Silicone.
It actually wasn’t too hard to remove the part from the mold, the aerosol release that I used worked really well. I’m going to use the aerosol and the PVA for round two and I’ll be sweet.
Don’t tempt me with the silicone… I’m already trying to find reasons not to spend more money on experiments.
Yeah man I feel you. The big black hole e-sk8 sucks all your time and money.
After making my first enclosure I come to realise at what nice price point @BigBen and @eBoosted enclosures are. Making your own is more fun though. (My wife deeply disagrees)
Yeah I agree with the other posters. A steeper angle will help, undercuts are a bitch, ask me how I know… silicone would be the really nice way to go. You could cover the cost if others wanted to buy a few? I would also consider glassing some pipe or wood onto your mold so you can fasten it down for your demold. Leave the flex in the mold, but able to secure the base somehow. When you glass into the mold, leave extra off the top that you will trim off but will give you something to pull on or use a mold jack. A rubber mold would really save you any of that. The PVA is water soluble once the glass is fully set you can soak it in water to release it easier. If you do go with a hard mold and casting, being able to flex both sides will be key to popping it out. You can use a bubble roller or chip brush to minimize bubbles under your glass. Start from the center of each piece and tap or roll the air out. You want your gel coat to be set not cured when you go on with your first layer as well as the following ones. If it’s too hard you will get a wack of trapped air. If you are using mat, use a lighter weight on the angles. You can soften the glass before starting by manipulating it and bending it around to get it to conform better. Do that before wetting it and obviously wear gloves. Sender is right regular fibre glass mat has a binder on it that epoxy has a hard time breaking down. Do as much prep as you can on your form as that’s exactly what you’ll get after casting. Lower your catalyst if you need more working time. Don’t leave cups of thick layers of resin fill them with water if needed to keep them cool. If you can’t to the glass all in one go. Sand and whipe with acetone before going on with your wet stuff. You could also cut small seams in the corners of your mold, that should help to flex them off for the demold. You would have a tiny bit of sanding there, but less than you’ve done. Good luck with your project. Touch base if you need it.