George Sychrovsky
Well-Known Member
Typically composite builders think some kind of mold less method is the way to go because its faster and cheaper then building the molds first.
Not so fast, there are some compelling reasons to make molds.
By comparison either way the actual mold less fuselage or the plug for mold has to be constructed shaped contoured and surface finished to the same degree, all this is a lot easier done by making a plug rather then a flying fuselage, Shape contouring and finishing a flying fuselage requires the use expensive and hard to work with materials like epoxy/micro and acrylic urethane based products. The plug on the other hand is finished with polyester based products that specifically designed for this purpose to be easy to work with and cheap. Taking the mold off the plug is the easy part its just a thick lay up and the polyester resin and glass mat that is used is also very cheap.
With the mold less method all of the weight you add on to finish it is a dead weight you have to carry every time you take off , with the use of molds that weight stays on the ground.
Even if it does cost more and takes more time to build the molds first the ability to subsequently reproduce many parts in a fraction of the time is priceless.
I will document my mold making here, some of it pulled from the past and shown already on my webpage and some of what I work on right now.
I start with some basic full size templates and glue up the blocks of foam to the well oversized shape.
The glue lines are vary important part of the shaping process, they serve as a guide in shaping the compound curves and symmetry, if the shape is not smooth the lines are wobbling and if not symmetrical the lines are skewed. I use no other device while shaping only my eyeballs and those lines.
This is an all composite trike pod.
Not so fast, there are some compelling reasons to make molds.
By comparison either way the actual mold less fuselage or the plug for mold has to be constructed shaped contoured and surface finished to the same degree, all this is a lot easier done by making a plug rather then a flying fuselage, Shape contouring and finishing a flying fuselage requires the use expensive and hard to work with materials like epoxy/micro and acrylic urethane based products. The plug on the other hand is finished with polyester based products that specifically designed for this purpose to be easy to work with and cheap. Taking the mold off the plug is the easy part its just a thick lay up and the polyester resin and glass mat that is used is also very cheap.
With the mold less method all of the weight you add on to finish it is a dead weight you have to carry every time you take off , with the use of molds that weight stays on the ground.
Even if it does cost more and takes more time to build the molds first the ability to subsequently reproduce many parts in a fraction of the time is priceless.
I will document my mold making here, some of it pulled from the past and shown already on my webpage and some of what I work on right now.
I start with some basic full size templates and glue up the blocks of foam to the well oversized shape.
The glue lines are vary important part of the shaping process, they serve as a guide in shaping the compound curves and symmetry, if the shape is not smooth the lines are wobbling and if not symmetrical the lines are skewed. I use no other device while shaping only my eyeballs and those lines.
This is an all composite trike pod.
