Mould finished.....

Message

morepower · #1 Post by **morepower** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:51 am

Ok guys called Vick today and the mould is done all bar some surface finishing and trimming by Vick. Then post cure and releasing up by me..
I can go to collect it next week and spend a day with Vick to sort out the finer details of the lay up.

So as soon as the mould is with me I will post updates of my bit until I start making the tanks so you can see the process and understand how the whole process works.

The plan is to get at least on set of component parts at least part done and laid up for the end of the following week. This is just dependent on if I have to do any surface polishing or source any bolts or inserts I may have missed..

After the first one is made I want to try and make two tanks a week if I can so they are ready for lacquer and do them in pairs. The assembly process Vick has worked on for me should allow me to do that. But I will see after the first one is made and let you all know from there on in.. My priority is a strong good tank not to make them as fast as possible but if I can do 2 sets of component parts in a week and then hopefully bond them up it will make up for some of the lost time.

Now is the time when for you guys it will feel endless then all of a sudden your tank is being made.. For me this next week will be a blur of finishing off work for others and then nothing but Falco tanks for the next 6 to 8 weeks.

D-Rider · #2 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:43 pm

This is excellent news - and I'm sure I'm not the only one that approves of your quality against speed approach.

We look forward to pictures as things evolve.

morepower · #3 Post by **morepower** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 5:11 pm

D-Rider wrote:This is excellent news - and I'm sure I'm not the only one that approves of your quality against speed approach.

We look forward to pictures as things evolve.

Cheers.... I have spoken to Nooj and may need a fuel pump if someone has one spare.... I almost forgot about the pump to bolt up for the leak testing....

Now I am thinking about stuff like that is making it feel real now.. I am sure there is other stuff to remember too...

D-Rider · #4 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:57 pm

morepower wrote:
D-Rider wrote:This is excellent news - and I'm sure I'm not the only one that approves of your quality against speed approach.

We look forward to pictures as things evolve.

Cheers.... I have spoken to Nooj and may need a fuel pump if someone has one spare.... I almost forgot about the pump to bolt up for the leak testing....

Now I am thinking about stuff like that is making it feel real now.. I am sure there is other stuff to remember too...

I can lend you the fuel pump that came out of my spare tank that you used to think the job through.

I'll be in Japan from Monday to Friday but this weekend or next weekend / the following week it would be available if you are over towards Coventry.

morepower · #5 Post by **morepower** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:25 am

After next week is fine.... It will take a week to get the first one laid up and ready to bond up.....

Viking · #6 Post by **Viking** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:26 pm

Woo! That's excellent news. I can't wait to see the photos!

morepower · #7 Post by **morepower** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:07 pm

NOW. My work begins. I should have collected it at the weekend but there was another mould being finished off and that one was only finished today....

Post cure will be starting tomorrow...

Viking · #8 Post by **Viking** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:45 am

I can see why the moulds took so long to make. They are a work of art in themselves.

And I second what D-Rider said - quality over quickness wins!

morepower · #9 Post by **morepower** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:13 am

I will get some more photos of the mould sections later too...... Its going to be a head scratcher for a few days. Working out templates and the order it needs to be disassembled when it has made the tank shell too...

Falcopops · #10 Post by **Falcopops** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:16 am

I'm a little bit excited now, need to start saving my pennies again!

morepower · #11 Post by **morepower** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:39 pm

It has been a long slow day...... The mould has had its first 12 hours in the oven to post cure the resin. This allows all of the styrene in the resin to cook out of the mould. It needs another 12 hours before I can even look at doing anything else now. Then the release agents have to be applied and cured onto the surface. After using wipe on chemical release agents for a couple of years I have gone to one which needs to have a little heat to help it cure as I have found the material I now use can be quite harsh on release agents in a new mould. Once sealed the normal release I use is fine to put on top of the sealer and gives a good clean finish after a couple of parts have been made (it leaves a little release agent residue as Nooj can testify to seeing on some of his screens). More updates over the next couple of days... Sadly it will not look any different or be an exciting read for a while..... But next week the first one will be in the process of being made.

The tank base mould..

morepower · #12 Post by **morepower** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:39 pm

3 more hours in the oven last night. The temperature is now close to the cure temperature I will be using when I make the tanks... 9 more hours to go all of them up above the cure temperature so with the ramp up and ramp down time it is exactly 12 hours to go.. It will be done over the weekend.. This bit is a little like watching paint dry, inside a sealed oven with no lights on.. All you have to let you know anything is happening is the slowly dissipating smell of the styrene as it is cooked out and the gentle hum of the oven fan. Funny, now I hate drinking tea out of styrene cups but like the smell of the moulds curing..

#13 Post by **mangocrazy** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:39 pm

Absolute work of art, and a massive amount of preparation before you can even think about producing the first tank. Staggering stuff. As a matter of interest how long does a mould last; i.e. how many items can you get done before the mould is past it? I'm assuming they do have a 'life'?

morepower · #14 Post by **morepower** » Tue Aug 04, 2015 8:33 am

mangocrazy wrote:Absolute work of art, and a massive amount of preparation before you can even think about producing the first tank. Staggering stuff. As a matter of interest how long does a mould last; i.e. how many items can you get done before the mould is past it? I'm assuming they do have a 'life'?

Thanks... The worst of the prep is getting the tank ready for moulding. The guy I use is great. Not fast but good. The bit I have to do is just timely and frustrating. This mould should have a life of about 40 pulls from the mould before it needs to have any real work done on it... About 100 pulls before it needs to be replaced I hope. But I will be making a master so it would be a simple job to simply bolt the sections of mould back round the master and then remove one section at a time and lay up onto the master using the flanges of other sections to create the flange on the section I would be making.

The post cure is now done 24 hours in the oven was finished on Sunday morning. Now I have to get the release agents down. I have put 3 coats of mould sealer on the sections of mould already. Yesterday the tank and a seat unit mould filled my little layup workshop and kept me working on something else outside all day.... Damn... Having to work outside when the weather is nice is hell.... Haha.. So now I am ready for the tape test on the sections. I applied the sealer and now it just needs to be buffed back then strips of masking tape applied to the mould in numerous locations to see how much stick the tape has on the surface. I am not looking for it to stick too much but I am not expecting it to just roll off either. Once it has a very minimal tack on the surface it will then be the high gloss release agents turn to be applied. I need at least 6 coats of that on the mould with extra attention to raised areas where the release can be rubbed off easily and cause damage if it is not correctly released. The tape test is done again but this time I want the masking tape to almost curl up on its own. Zero tack on the surface and I need to test all of the edges and raised areas thoroughly before it is ready for layup. So hopefully tomorrow it will be ready for layup. I had to order a new tin of the release agent for the final applications and it arrived this morning. It has taken a lot more sealer than I had expected but this is due to the size of the sections and not any porosity issues. Its a bloody big mould.. There is 30kg of tooling resin in the mould so the whole thing is about 50kg in weight.. All this for a tank that should weigh less than 2kg... lol

#15 Post by **mangocrazy** » Tue Aug 04, 2015 7:00 pm

Fascinating stuff, Richard. I knew the process was labour-intensive, but I never realised to what degree...