Re: [RCSE] Fuselage Mold Making Supplies / Advise
If you're picking up a bunch of glass for some molds, look at www.thayercraft.com for the fiberglass. If it's a fuse mold, you may want to make sure the cloth is flexible, so you might want to stick with the volan finished cloths. Some of the other cloth with tight weaves or some of the silane finishes can be pretty stuff. If you intend to use S-glass for the parts, go to www,sweetcomposites.com for the S glass. Stick with all epoxy. And slow cure since you want to build up a few layers at a time but don't want to end up with too much heat. Avoid trying to make a full frame with any other material. The key to a stable mold is to make in consistent from surface to surface so it's an even sandwich. If there are differences, then there will be temperature expansion ration differences and things will warp or twist or bow on you. I even finish up the last layers of my molds with a finer cloth since it makes less likely you will have a rough mold with pointy fiberglass bits sticking out as a benefit. You're better off with gluing on some posts if you want the fuse mold to sit flat on the bench while you are laying up the fuse. Don't go crazy on thickness if you only need a few parts.But if you want to use a bladder, then you will need the thickness for strength. Jimmy Prouty wrote: Hi Jack, Check and see if there are any boat shops in your area. The nation wide chains carry West Systems epoxies which are pretty high quality. They also carry fiberglass cloth but I think you'll find it less expensive if you order it There are several sources for the materials online, AerpSpace Composites, CST, US Composites to name a few. I prefer to lay up my molds with epoxy due to it's stability and how long the molds will last. I prefer tooling resin from ACP since it's epoxy based and compatible with the resins I use. When making a mold I a layer of tooling resin followed by a couple layers of 4 oz then several layers of 6 oz and 10 oz. The amount of glass depends on how big the mold it. I've never had to use a frame for my molds and store them with both sides connected to each other with Clecos. I haven't used a bladder on any of my fuselages yet but can see advantages to them. My biggest reason for not using one is the cost of having it made. I have a tutorial on my website for making molds if you're interested. Go to http://www.jtmodels.com/molds.htm Hope this helps, Jimmy Where do I get this stuff... anyplace in Albuquerque, Amarillo, Lubbock, or El Paso? Primarily looking for mold wax, tooling gel, parting agent, such as PVA or better if you have a recommendation. Also should I use polyester to make the mold, or epoxy? I'll be using epoxy (MGS) for the fuselages. How many layers of what weight cloth for the mold? Do you use a frame to keep it from twisting / warping? Do you use some kind of bladder inside? I built one once, for a Legionair. It turned out OK, but sure could've been better. Thanks in advance... Jack -- schrederman schrederman's Profile: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=13218 View this thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=823343 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
RE: [RCSE] Fuselage Mold Making Supplies / Advise
If you want to make a professional mold easily try this; 1. Your master is perfect. 2. Your master has a hard finish like catalyzed polyester paint or urethane and a high polish. 3. Make a splitter board. Add locating balls or pins and bushings to the flange. 4. Make a Steel frame of 1 X 2 welded around the perimeter of the plug offset by 2.00 5. Use a good carnauba release wax, wax and buff. Let cure and repeat 4x. 6. Use Epoxy gelcoat. Add about .025 thick and even coverage. Apply with a 1/2 brush and start from one end always keeping a wet edge. 7. Mix thick (like mayonnaise) slurry of epoxy and milled fibers and attach the clean, sanded frame to the gelcoat. 8. Now the fun part. Mix a slow cure epoxy laminating resin with clean white sand. The kind used in ash trays. You can buy at the tile store. Mix the slurry until you can't add any more sand to solution. 9. Pack the sand over the gel coat while the gel coat leaves a finger print but does not come off to your finger. Pack a mix about 1.5 thick. 10. Let cure for 2 days and flip over and repeat the process. The mold is only as good as the master; the edge and parting line are only as good as the splitter. Take your time on the master and splitter. It pays off in the end 100 fold. It will take less than a gallon of resin to make a 55 glider fuselage mold. US Composites seams easy to buy from. I havent shopped there so I dont know first hand. Tom Copp Composite Specialties www.f3x.com 949-645-7032 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] Fuselage Mold Making Supplies / Advise
Hi Jack, Check and see if there are any boat shops in your area. The nation wide chains carry West Systems epoxies which are pretty high quality. They also carry fiberglass cloth but I think you'll find it less expensive if you order it There are several sources for the materials online, AerpSpace Composites, CST, US Composites to name a few. I prefer to lay up my molds with epoxy due to it's stability and how long the molds will last. I prefer tooling resin from ACP since it's epoxy based and compatible with the resins I use. When making a mold I a layer of tooling resin followed by a couple layers of 4 oz then several layers of 6 oz and 10 oz. The amount of glass depends on how big the mold it. I've never had to use a frame for my molds and store them with both sides connected to each other with Clecos. I haven't used a bladder on any of my fuselages yet but can see advantages to them. My biggest reason for not using one is the cost of having it made. I have a tutorial on my website for making molds if you're interested. Go to http://www.jtmodels.com/molds.htm Hope this helps, Jimmy Where do I get this stuff... anyplace in Albuquerque, Amarillo, Lubbock, or El Paso? Primarily looking for mold wax, tooling gel, parting agent, such as PVA or better if you have a recommendation. Also should I use polyester to make the mold, or epoxy? I'll be using epoxy (MGS) for the fuselages. How many layers of what weight cloth for the mold? Do you use a frame to keep it from twisting / warping? Do you use some kind of bladder inside? I built one once, for a Legionair. It turned out OK, but sure could've been better. Thanks in advance... Jack -- schrederman schrederman's Profile: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=13218 View this thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=823343 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
