[| alkaline |]

Looks great!

For the legs, 3 pieces of wood instead of 4 would prevent the inevitable diagonal wobble, but that's probably not as important as the extra stability of 4.

I originally planed that but I didnt have enough room at either end to place a leg. Thanks for the kind words so far everyone....today is D-Day ( Demold). I honestly had bad dreams all night about air pockets and mis pours. It was strange. Must really be on my mind.

[bradboss12]

Agreed! : )

[| alkaline |]

Well, today was the day for demolding. I despite my horrid dreams, the mold was a success and turned out beautifully. I had 3 other coworkers chip in to help me pull it out and I'm very grateful I did. This would not of been an easy task by myself. Plus, I think they were just as excited As I was to finally see the end product.

First started by screwing a board to some of the parts for leverage. This was was gut wrenching as I was really afraid something would tear or go wrong during this step.


After prying around the edges, using air to help release the mold, and basically hacking the crap out of my foam pieces the rubber was free of the carrier. Whole process took about 20 minutes cause we were real careful not to deform the rubber. You want to pull the rubber out as straight as possible.


And here is the rubber by itself.




Once the carrier was blown out to clear the dust and bits of mold that broke off, I coated the whole thing in Vaseline. Then I coated the outside of the rubber the same way. This will make the rubber easier to pop out from now on.




Another close up of the ribs. Details came out nice and crisp.


I couldn't be happier with the results. However, on a sad note, I had to totally destroy my plug . It sucked cause it was basically throwing out 100+ hrs of work but, that's what it was made for so it did it's part...RIP dude.




That's all for now as Vacation starts tomorrow till the 18th. So when I get back I will cast the first shell on Monday the 18th. See you then !

[| alkaline |]

A little funny side not was when I was demolding it a shop guy cam up to me and said, " This whole time I thought you were building a leaf blower, no an unlicensed nuclear accelerator." haha, classic.

[UltimateGBfan]

Wow that's a beautiful mold,can't wait to see the shells from this awesome mold!

[bradboss12]

wait, it's NOT a leafblower? I thought that's what you were building : P

[Gareee]

Really does look super!

[nick-a-tron]

A little funny side not was when I was demolding it a shop guy cam up to me and said, " This whole time I thought you were building a leaf blower, no an unlicensed nuclear accelerator." haha, classic.

haha that's awsome! and so is your mold! yes it always a shame when a buck gets destroyed but it's sooo worth it when the mold turns out as nice as yours

[| alkaline |]

Thanks guys for the kind words. Ya this rubber was great. To be honest I thought I screwed up the initial layer cause like I said it started to set pretty quick, but this stuff is designed to fill in gaps that may form do to spreading it on. I definitely recommend it for any user especially since its a 1:1 mix ratio. I bought a 16lbs kit @ $123.00, did 4 coats of rubber and still have about 32oz left of each. Well worth it. Has high tear strength too as this type of rubber is meant to be folded over itself. The stuff is Polygel35 if interested.

[gbrob]

awesome man1

It even looks like you could save parts of the buck that came apart and fix em up for another build later on if you wanted.

[| alkaline |]

awesome man1

It even looks like you could save parts of the buck that came apart and fix em up for another build later on if you wanted.

Funny you say that cause I was thinking about using the remaining rubber I have and casting the gun mount/ crank gen and possibly doing a run of those since there's a lot of work involved in those parts. I'm sure some people may be interested in getting one.

[Gareee]

When I saw those paerts separate, I thought that would be a great way to supply a pack shell.. in major parts.

That might also make mold management and handling much easier as well.

[| alkaline |]

Oh def since my mold itself weighs a good 85lbs

[IV0 SHAND0R]

It's just so pretty.

[CPU64]

I have an indecent proposal for you...

1 million, for a whole night alone with your mold.

[gbrob]

lol I'm about to scrap my current project and go the foam route.

Love this thread....

[| alkaline |]

my mold is not a whore ! HAHA but seriously... ill let you know.

[| alkaline |]

lol I'm about to scrap my current project and go the foam route.

Love this thread....

Foam is great for the cyclotron combo, but I had a hell of a time trying to keep the foam square on the eda and crank gen for instance.

[wbundrick]

Good job!

[Gareee]

lol I'm about to scrap my current project and go the foam route.

Love this thread....

Foam is great for the cyclotron combo, but I had a hell of a time trying to keep the foam square on the eda and crank gen for instance.

Best thing to do it use wood putty around the corners, and hand sand them sharper. An orbital sander realy helps for shaping, but you can make a corner round in a second or two.

[Agent Gibbs]

This is awesome, and slightly depressing too since i started my project at the same time as you and the latex is just taking forever

what sort of rubber did you use to"bulk" up the deep parts before your final rubber coat? just any old rubber? cos the gap between the cyclotron/synchronous generator and the HGA concerns me
could something like this be used?
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?a ... earch=true

1 piece mother mould? hmm i may have a go at that, i was planning a two piece but your ideas are pretty good too it seems, very good indeed

[| alkaline |]

To fill the gaps I simply ( well not simply, this stuff is a b*tch to cut when its cured in a big block) cut strips of the rubber I had left over from the first coat that set up too quick. I dunked them in rubber, then applied them to the mold. If your going to use rubber to bulk up the mold do it on either the 3rd or 4th coat. If you do it on the second, you run the risk of damaging or pulling the beauty coat away from the buck if you press the block to hard.

Your using Laytex for rubber? Is it expensive? I'm not sure but I don't think laytex would make a good mold. Not sure what is strength properties are exactly but I never heard of someone using it for a fiberglass mold. Not sure how long it would hold up or keep its form for that matter. If I may I suggest PolyGel35 from polytek.com. $123.00 for a 16 lb kit ( plenty to do a pack) and super strong. Were talking so strong the band saw was having a hard time cutting it. But flexible enough that you can turn it inside out on itself. Just my 2 cents. unless you already bought the laytex.

[Peaugh]

This whole thread is amazing. I've absolutely loved following it since I found it. And even though I just got my pack/trap/uniform just about finished up, I can't wait to see what comes out of this mold. Great job!



You totally earned it.

[Agent Gibbs]

To fill the gaps I simply ( well not simply, this stuff is a b*tch to cut when its cured in a big block) cut strips of the rubber I had left over from the first coat that set up too quick. I dunked them in rubber, then applied them to the mold. If your going to use rubber to bulk up the mold do it on either the 3rd or 4th coat. If you do it on the second, you run the risk of damaging or pulling the beauty coat away from the buck if you press the block to hard.

Your using Laytex for rubber? Is it expensive? I'm not sure but I don't think laytex would make a good mold. Not sure what is strength properties are exactly but I never heard of someone using it for a fiberglass mold. Not sure how long it would hold up or keep its form for that matter. If I may I suggest PolyGel35 from polytek.com. $123.00 for a 16 lb kit ( plenty to do a pack) and super strong. Were talking so strong the band saw was having a hard time cutting it. But flexible enough that you can turn it inside out on itself. Just my 2 cents. unless you already bought the laytex.

your 2 cents are much appreciated
3rd or 4th coat....i'm on about the 40th coat of latex, which on every tenth or so coat has had muslin pasted in with it for strength
I'm doing it as an experiment really, 6kg of liquid latex was £16.99 (approx $25) i was trying to find a cheaper alternative to silicone, which it is, but 1 coat is less than 1mm thick and takes 16 hours to dry
The tear resistance increases as the thickness increases, but its not that thick
I'd be happy for 1 pull from it any more is a bonus, if i do more i buy RTV silicone simple as that.
Sure i have left over latex in places i can use come to think of it

Love your build though it is awesome

[gbrob]

hope this project was a success...

[| alkaline |]

Ok back from vacation and started the fiberglass portion of this project. Did I mention I hate this stuff?

Ready for battle!


After spraying a generous amount of mold release on the rubber. I laid down the beauty coat making sure to overlap the rubber and mold so I have a flange to help pry the piece out.






While the first layer was still tacky, I added a thin layer of resin then applied the fibers. I used the remaining resin to help pack the fibers against the first coat of resin.








Lastly, I mixed another batch of resin and coated the fibers I missed on the first go around. I also added more fibers on spots that weren't covered so much.








Well the shell is done we'll see what it looks like when I pull it tomorrow. I never used loose fibers before so there are spots where they didn't stick to the first layer too well. Areas where it pulled a bit from the face I just added a little more resin in those spots. I started to get a feel for it towards the end and know how to better execute it in the future. I'll leave with a few more shots.

[| alkaline |]

In case anyone was wondering I bought a 118oz resin kit. The first layer I mixed up 40oz cause I wasn't sure how much it was going to take. When I was finished, I had about 8oz of waste. So the next layer I mixed up 32oz and had practically no waste. For the final layer I mixed 2 separate batches, both 16oz each. I mixed just enough so I could just concentrate on the top portion ( crank gen, gun mount, power cell etc) making sure I packed the fibers as best I could and didn't have to worry too much about cure time and not being able to do the bottom half cause the resin had set; I could take my time. I repeated this with the bottom half ( cyclotron, spacer, etc).

For the resin mixture I used about 2% hardener for ever 1oz resin. Then I converted the hardener percentage to mL because I had a mL syringe. so for a 32oz mixture I added 2% hardener ( 32oz x .02 = .64oz = 18.93mL or about 19mL). I always add a little extra ( 1mL - 2mL) Just to make sure it kicks right.There are plenty of free converters available online to covert to any unit of measurement you need. Note that typical hardener percentage can range from 1% - 3% per 1oz. This number relies greatly on the ambient temperature at which your working. Hot day? lean more towards the 1%. Cold out? More towards the 3%. Temp I did this at was about 55F so the 2% worked very nicely.

[mburkit]

Looks good! My one question is why did you decide to use loose fibers instead of mat? I'm just curious because that's what I usually see people use.

[Agent Gibbs]

I'm watching this very closely, may print it off to use as a rough guide when i start this in the next 2 weeks (waiting for glass and stuff to turn up through the post)

top notch work

[| alkaline |]

When I used mat in the past I've had a hard time getting it to stick to the walls and always had to fight to keep it in place by constantly dabbing it with a brush till it set up. It was especially worse on vertical sides or trying to wrap corners. Also, with mat its best to cut a lot of the shapes before hand and I really didn't feel like cutting 15 squares for the cyclotron then cutting another 15 to place over the joints or cutting little strips to try and fit into the crank gen ribs or any other pieces for that matter. Besides, the more cuts or loose pieces you have the less strength.

With loose fibers I'm able to pack them in tight places and in spots I would normally have to cut the mat to fit into. Since I'm basically applying a hand full at a time, I'm able to simulate the matrix of glass mat nicely, which adds to the strength. They worked out pretty well I just have a spiky death trap of fibers on the inside of the shell that I have to grind away a bit. Plus @ $3.00 a lb, can't beat the price. Thanks for the kind words so far everyone!