mr henderson
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 10:08 AM |
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Making production GRP moulds, any info?
Within the next couple of months I expect/hope to be in a position to start making moulds for the bodywork of the new car. I had hoped to get a GRP
company to do this, but it maybe that I will need to do it myself, partly because of the cost and partly because of the desire not to wait til there
is a gap in their schedule.
The buck is sorted BTW, it's making the actual moulds I am concerned about.
I have done some GRP work in my distant past, and I have looked at various youtube videos etc, but would like to get more info on the mould making
process from the production, rather than the one-off point of view.
I have the Simon McBeath book on competition car composites, and it's really not much help at all
Anyone point me towards a good source of information?
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trextr7monkey
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 10:32 AM |
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Hi,
Best thing would be to talk to the guys at East Coast glass fibre supplies in South Shields near Newcastle - they are masters of the art, have a
detailed website and are using the stuff all day long and more than happyto help with any 'strange requests', they have been running a
training course recently and we have not found anywhere cheaper to supply mat and resin , if collected from factory.
hth
atb
Mike
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)
Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/
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mr henderson
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 10:45 AM |
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Thanks Mike
I'm aware of EC glass fibre and have watched their videos on youtube. I daresay I will get the materials from them, but as for collecting them
personally, I don't think the cost savings would pay for the petrol! Unless they were to pay me to take the stuff away 
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Volvorsport
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 10:56 AM |
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well , theres the spot in southport , forget their name , and also CFS in cornwall , ive used both , and they do some informative leaflets .
but , you really need someone to show you on the day to do it , imagine the horror when the mold wont lift from the plug .
if youre only waiting 4 weeks , id say wait .
if you are going to DIY , make sure you wax at least 5 times and pay attention to return edges so that you can get the plug out . whatever you make
the flanges out of is upto you - ive made them in ally , plastic and grp .
oh and drill the split lines flanges for bolt holes before you release it !
you can use half ping pong balls for locators on the split lines too .
www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus
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belgian2b
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 11:20 AM |
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Hello,
when i was young, i worked a few monthes in a car company in Belgium.
When we had to make some big moulds ( bonnets, roof, etc..), we used to insert in the mould a air inlet ( like you have on air compressor tubes).
So when we had to lift the mould , we could inject air between the mould and the part.
This made the work quite more easy.
Gerardo
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Triton
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 12:39 PM |
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Making things from moulds is easy but to make the mould in the first place is a different thing altogether so I would advise you get an expert to make
your mould mate.
My Daughter has taken over production of the damn fine Triton race seats and her contact email is emmatrs@live.co.uk.
www.tritonraceseats.com
www.hairyhedgehog.com
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mr henderson
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 12:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Triton
Making things from moulds is easy but to make the mould in the first place is a different thing altogether so I would advise you get an expert to make
your mould mate.
Perhaps what I need is a consultant to visit and advise?
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oadamo
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 01:12 PM |
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hi iam looking in to doing the same thing at the mo. the moulds iam going to make them out of mdf for the formers then i plan to cover it with some
kind of mesh, then some kind of filler to make the first mould, then when i pull the first mould off then use that for the rest. if you get what i
mean lol.
adam
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Triton
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 03:00 PM |
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A plug can be made with what ever you find easiest to work with but the surface finish is best painted to allow a better finish to the mould face or
you will be left with an almighty rubbing down task.
John,
You could always take some pics of the plug and email them to me..
My shoulder won't let me do much these days so all I could do is is chops about it...
My Daughter has taken over production of the damn fine Triton race seats and her contact email is emmatrs@live.co.uk.
www.tritonraceseats.com
www.hairyhedgehog.com
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mr henderson
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| posted on 29/11/09 at 03:09 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Triton
John,
You could always take some pics of the plug and email them to me..
My shoulder won't let me do much these days so all I could do is is chops about it...
What I really need is someone who I could visit, or who could visit me. The design has been done in CAD, and using a Solidworks viewer on my laptop we
could swing the image around and look at various angles, and talk about them.
The project has been designed, over the internet, by a couple of talented engineers (neither of which is me  ) but having to email and talk about
stuff over the phone is a pain.
[Edited on 29/11/09 by mr henderson]
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