At the risk of revealing trade secrets- does anyone have any economical substitutes for peel ply and breather? I’ve been searching around and the stuff I’ve found is not cheap and according to manufacturers, not reusable (they want you to buy more right?). I’ve done about ten boards in the bag with timber and never needed all the extra stuff, but this will be my first attempt at bagging a laminate.
What do you guys use?
Hi Jeff -
You can use stretchy film and pop your own holes in it. Paper towels work fine as bleeder material.
How far apart do you pop the holes in the plastic? Do you put the paper towel under the breather mesh?
As for cheaper alternatives I’ve heard of using door screen as breather mesh, have some but haven’t tested it yet. PVC shower pan liner can be used for vac bags or membrane on a frame style press. Stuff is pretty hardy.
Wide shrink wrap as release, Home depot floor sander polishing pads from the rental department as breather, It looks loke a huge scotchbrite pad. But I remember someone saying quilt padding from wall mart.
Whenever I use peel ply, I loose too much epoxy, and I see dry weave.
Laminate as normal, squeegee off all you can. Place 20 inch wide shrinkwrap over. and bag it. The epoxy that goes to the top is your hot coat.
…garden shadecloth for the breather ,with plastic film underneath so it won’t stick…it wont absorb excess resin from the laminate ,like peel-ply , so you gotta be accurate with your resin amount…leaves a bit of tidying to do , but generally a nice even surface ,when it comes out of the bag.
Or if you’re lazy, you can just use shadecloth without the plastic film underneath:
[img_assist|nid=1065903|title=Shade cloth used for breather|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480]
The shadecloth sticks, but can easily be peeled off with a little force. You just have to use some 60 grit to clean up all the spikey resin left behind on the surface, but it only takes a couple of minutes.
Cheers
Paul
Forgot to add that this probably only works if bagging a skin like bamboo or cork or balsa. Haven’t tried it bagging a fibreglass lamination, but I don’t think it would be successful.
[quote="$1"]
[/quote] .....those tools work well for the xps blanks Dave .....good insurance against delams
Llilibel,
I shop for vacuum bagging supplies at the local fabric store.
My “peelply” is nylon dress lining, tight weave,doesn’t stick to epoxy if you use the
next secret ingredient, high loft quilt batting as a bleeder outside the nylon.
I have also used mylar drafting film for a shiny finish, or a uniform flat finish with
the “rough” side of the film. I do a fair bit of work in and around the boat and composite business,
so none of these ideas should be credited to me,nor will I claim credit for them.
Pete