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Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 7:25 pm
by tahoedirk
Hi DU, Flimsy or fragile molds don't like clamps or vacuum . Mostly I am learning to use less material instead of more. So long as they're not overstuffed with carbon then the epoxy is easily displaced. Yes, solid carbon.

Cool BC, If they are one piece then just a strong glass job probably will do it, I would beef that connection up a little just because it's easy now. I just started with big wings and there is a whole new set of challenges since solid is not going to happen. On my 1300 and 1600 I replaced the center foam with oak where they fasten on the fuse. I am looking forward to building a big wing with a mold, not quite sure what to do about filler yet.

Your work looks really nice, thank you for sharing.

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:28 pm
by tahoedirk
I'm still at it!
1518283313778.jpg
Imperfect? Yes!
Thinking of trying this white MW profile, good looks?
20180208_160318.jpg
Lots of uni , more handy than I once believed
20180208_160227.jpg
I cranked out a few more parts. Here are 4 different types of dirty molds, fiberglass, fixitall,aluminum and foam

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 11:21 pm
by opie
There's a production line! You'll need a lot of water time for testing. :)

Do you use the tow in the middle of your molds? It seems like the shipping charges are much less for tow.

P.S. Have a laugh at my first attempt at a fiberglass mold. I tried to wrap the leading edge to make a taco around my 3d printed Sup foil plug. It's not as easy as you guys make it look. :-?
20180210_141532.jpg

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 10:20 pm
by TomW
Opie, you should try to print the mold. A few are trying it. Fdm printers take like 20+ hrs to print.. so it's a lot of trouble.
I know students at local uni are using large format nylon sintering printer to make molds for composite parts. Cost prohibitive if you have to pay full price for it.
My thinking now is to print a wing in a 3D printer in 5 parts and glue it together before making a mold from it, like Dirk is doing.

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 12:41 am
by thewindego
If its a 20hr print who cares? Do something else while your printer pays for itself. It should not be motionless. :)

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:29 am
by opie
I am printing a mast mold right now to see if I can make it work. 20 hours? I wish. My six mast mold prints are taking 36 hours each.

With the plug I am going to try a few methods, the taco first, then Dirk's quick fiberglass mold, then maybe a fix it all mold. I might even try wrapping the plug and putting it under a vacuum. If it doesn't get crushed, I'd leave it in like a core, even though the epoxy won't stick to the PLA.

Since I have none of these skills trying everything doesn't really cost me, I am learning from the mistakes.

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:40 am
by downunder
opie wrote:
Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:29 am
... My six mast mold prints are taking 36 hours each.
.
.
Plus time you've spent on a screen designing ;)

I'm doing a DIY to move away from a screen, my reasoning is to build with hands. Which is applicable to anything.

We are all different, and that's great.

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:38 pm
by opie
I hear you on the screen time, but I am really enjoying the design part. It reminds me of trying to figure out math problems when I was a kid. :)

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:22 am
by tahoedirk
Yeah Opie , you just keep trying!

Yup water time and some help and opinions.

Yes, I have kind of abused the uni lately, its cheap and these bigger wings barely need to be carbon . I haven't noticed a huge difference with a higher tech layup, they are stiff.
I want to try wadding and fluffing up the scraps to make a sturdy , compressible wing fill . I'm sure I can get it to work, soon.
Very little printing here. Epoxy is cool , but not that fun anymore either.

I have never bought tow , but it is indispensable I have used 1k to 20 k for pin striping and any and every thing you can imagine. I disassemble the cloth usually.
I don't have regular choices for all of the fabrics I have tried. There are so many and they are sooooo different. 8 oz is slow enough , I like 20. Maybe I will like light cloth if I find a suitable filler stuff for making big wings.

At one point at least half of my changes were improvements, Shit now I've been happy with 1 out of 5. Tuning to max performance seems to be my challenge now. I didn't even agree to sell a foil last year because could not improve and tune my foils further. Whether these new wings are my best remains to be seen but I have to get them out there and keep trying, right? My boards are bomber coming out great, I almost have learned to hot coat and sand. It's worth it , kind of. It has to be more than just an ego boost. This craft is hard and elusive.

Nice to hear some grittier questions, makes me think there may be a few of you out there.

Re: More wings, the hard way?

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 4:13 pm
by Bille
opie wrote:
Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:38 pm
...
It reminds me of trying to figure out math problems when I was a kid. :)
Last week, the local news in Vegas, had a story about 3'd graders, being taught how
to use a 3D printer ; kinda makes me think, that even My dumb-A$$ , could
learn how to do that ? :(

Any recommendations, on where to start ? Please don't tell me 3'd grade ; or
i'll get Bummed.

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/3d-prin ... /962977814

Bille