vacuum bagging and wax

[woollymoof]

Does anyone out there know what affect vacuum bagging composites on wax moulds has on the mould? Does the pressure crack or deform the mould?

Cheers,

Kirk Veitch
Swinburne University of Technology

[woollymoof]

Does anyone out there know what affect vacuum bagging composites on wax moulds has on the mould? Does the pressure crack or deform the mould?

Cheers,

Kirk Veitch
Swinburne University of Technology

[Scott Wordley]

Depends on the wax, if its really soft or has sharp geometry or fine detail then you might deform your wax mould. I wouldn't be confident vac bagging any wax mould thats super critical dimension wise.

Maybe you could try freezing the mould to try and make it stiffer or even suck down the vac bag and then disconnect your line to reduce the pressure applied. Reconnect and suck it down again periodically to make sure its still reasonably firm.

Our 2002 intake was made off a wax mould that wasn't vac bagged. Resulted in a pretty heavy part once it was cleaned up and finished to a gloss with more resin. See pics on our website. I'm guessing your trying an intake too, the guys at Solid Solutions mentioned you boys had been in asking about it. We've gone ally this year thinking it would be neater. It will be but it has taken a pretty long time to get it right.

Regards,

Scott Wordley

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae