“1. Shade cloth. A piece of shade cloth simply goes in the bag over the vacuum connection to keep the flow free of blockage.”
yup. bubble wrap works well too. don’t just use it around the vac connec; use it the length of the board.
"2. Peel ply. What is the purpose? Does it go over all surfaces being vac’d? "
not at all useful unless you’re bagging on saturated glass. if you’re just bagging on skins, and leaving the outer layer resin free (no glass for hand lay-up later), it’s entirely unecessary.
"3. Stretch film? "
different type of bag material that allows you to avoid pleats. It’s nice to use, but pricey. not necessary.
“4. Breather?”
used in conjunction with peel ply when vac is used to remove excess resin. again; if you’re bagging a wet surface, you might need it. if you’re bagging on dry skins (wet in between core and skin) it’s unecessary and wasteful.
“5. Release film? Perforated”
see number 2
"6. Anything else? "
with a bit of ingenuity, you’re better off with a flat mold surface that you can wax and is reuseable than with all of the consumeables listed above. hand lay-up will add only a fraction more weight in resin than using vac to remove excess resin. you’ll likely never truly realize the performance benefits associated with vacuum bagging wet lay-ups without investing substantial amounts (hundreds, if not thousands of dollars) of money, shitloads of time and the depression of multiple failed tests/projects. Bag the skin to the core using just the bag and some shade cloth to spread the vac evenly and allow gases to flow, then laminate the outside by hand afterwards. Light cloth conserves resin usage and keeps your hotcoats light.
I have used a few of these consumables whilst building kiteboards, not all of them are required to get a good job.
Shade cloth can be re-used over and over by bending and shaking set resin free and if you follow berts post you wont get much bleed thru to the shade cloth anyway. Peel ply should not be used direct onto balsa as it could tear chunks out of the balsa on removal. Use it over outside glass to give a matt finish it also helps stop/remove blush so you will not have to sand between lamination and hotcoat.
Preforated flim can be used to give a pretty good finish straight from the bag you do end up with pimples of resin that need to be sanded off
Peel ply can be brought at 1/2 the cost at a material (dressmakers) store known as petty coat lining. beather material to use over peel ply can also be brought at the same store either cheap as chips polyester lining (stuff they use in padded jackets/pillow cases) or the cheapest sheets. I have had some real funny looks in dressmakers shops buying cotton prints and metres of petty coat lining…
depending on what you want to do with the vac bag you can get away with the bear minimum doing balsa skins on foam. Bag shadecloth and pump is all you need.
if you’re bagging on dry skins (wet in between core and skin) it’s unecessary and wasteful.
Actually you have a built in breather - the foam from either the rocker or the board. You only need breathers when the air doesn’t have paths to travel.