I’m preparing to layup my new semi-gun with of 5.8 oz. graphite and am very concerned with achieving a final ratio of resin to cloth that is as low as possible. I guess this question could apply to other reinforcements. Anyway, I was going to do this by just putting the elbow grease to the ol’ squeegee, but I don’t want to damage the (XPS)foam underneath. Is there a point of diminishing returns, such that I shouldn’t bother pushing very hard to get rid of that extra resin, or should I explore other means, ie: maybe wet out using excessive force on a piece of large window glass and then transfering to the blank?
You could try laminating using a piece of quality plastic film (eg. vacuum bagging plastic) You won’t get it round the rails, but doing it to the general flats top and bottom will allow you to squeeze out a lot of excess resin while maintaining complete saturation. This can be and should be done carefully so as not to depress, dint or damage the foam. This process also compresses the cloth which will increase its strength slightly. Lighter AND stronger? Someone’s sure to add critique to this thread! Bring it on.
If you squeege the cloth too hard then when the pressure is removed the fiber in the cloth will want to expand to its norml thickness. When it does this it sucks in resin or, if theres not enough resin left, it will suck in lots of air. You’ll have an uncountable amount of tiny pinpoint bubbles in the cloth. The suggestion lay a film over the cloth before squeeging it hard will prevent the cloth from being able to suck in air and will result in a thinner glass job. To get an idea of the strength results you might think about the relative strength of cardboard(compressed glass) versus corrugated cardboard (uncompressed glass). You can trade thinness/lightnes for strength. Compressed glass is likely to be less resistant to denting while having the same or similar longitudinal strength. What you usually want is the best compromise - relatively light without significant loss of strength.
You could use peel ply to soak up the excess resin. This will also, if applied properly fill the weave much the same as a hotcoat will. The only thing is, dont get it on the foam after your first layer. It will pull up the foam when you peel it of the laminate. The other option is to weigh your carbon, decide what fibre to resin ratio you want to achive,and weigh out enough resin to achive your ratio, may be add a little resin for absorbtion into the blank.If you are an experienced glasser treat it the same way you would if you were glassing a board with normal cloth. You know how much resin to pull out with out making the laminate to dry.David.
Use the peel ply under the plastic and get even better results. You can wrap the peel onto the rails a bit. Bet, as stated, DO NOT get it on the foam. Oh, and be careful peeling it off. http://www.xxxseduction.net/Rosalind/
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