Trial 2

Owned by Jasmine Thind
Dec 26, 2022
3 min read

For this trial the same mold was used except this time we did the entire mold prep process. We did a few layers of body filler and sanding (did not do Duratec following Brian’s suggestion).

Something that was key during this trial was that we had multiple fails just because of the machine not set up right. A few things to check before starting:

  • Make sure the screws at the back of the plate are correctly tightened

    • This depends on the thickness of the plastic - if it’s thicker then less tightening is needed

      • Just make sure it is not loose, if loose the plastic will pull out when going over the mold

      See in this picture, that plates are not tight - PROBLEMATIC

  • Make sure the oven is warmed up correctly, after warming up for 10-15 minutes (should be red), the time that the plastic should be heated is dependent on thickness

    • If not heated enough, the plastic will again pull out of the plates when pulled over the mold

  • Clean the machine before use, do an inspection of all parts before beginning

In general the setting up and pre-checking of the machine is essential. It can avoid many problems/failed trials.

After we finally got the set up and heating time right, we finally had more successful trials. The results are shown in the images below.

 

 

 

 

Notes/Observations:

  • Holes are necessary, but they also appear on the surface, despite the fact that I used a very small drill bit (so what helps is having holes on the side where we don’t care about the texture much, cause it still helps pull vacuum)

  • The connection valve we used for the shop vacuum really improved overall vacuum (so make sure it is used and then also use tape to secure connection if needed)

  • Also placement of the mold on the plate is key - keep it centered - keep the molds smaller to make this easier (the vacuum pulls better this way)

Problems:

  • The body filler melted and therefore we ended up with this weird texture on the surface (worse then trial one tbh)

  • Even though the edges are so much better because of stronger vacuum pull, but like the surface is very rough

  • We need to figure out a solution to this

Solutions:

  • Brian suggested just sanding the mold itself and trying this (from Trial 1 the surface was not too much of a problem so this might be a good solution)

  • We thought of completing the full mold prep (with Duratec) but there’s no real guarantee that it won’t melt like the body filler (I am going to look more into this to be sure)

  • Next step: I will be looking into what else we can do (what foam do pro’s use)

  • The next trial is with a convex mold, a lot smaller in size as well.