Finally after months of thinking about it and planning....The X-2 topdeck mold is actually starting to come together!!! Please note, this may or may not be the right way to do it...but here is how I am building it.
First off before you do anything type of project like this GET YOUR S__T TOGETHER!! First thing I did was clean my shop....LOL. Organize everything and removed EVERY SINGLE THING that is not need for the project. All my EPOXY related supplies got packed up in a box and removed from my bench with a bunch of other crap. New plastic is layed down on top of the table.
Next I spent a few hours trimming up 4oz cloth in many different sized patterns to use in all the tight corners.
Now here is my PVA trick. I always found myself touching my molds to check the the PVA drying progress and texture. What I ended up doing was messing up one of my parts. I knew there was a better method. This is what I came up with. Glue a small piece of aluminum to the mold so that it gets sprayed whenever you spray the mold. BUT HERE IS THE "CARD UP YOUR SLEEVE"....ONLY DO THIS AFTER ALREADY APPLYING (3) COATS OF PVA. This way no matter how your aluminum piece looks, you have MORE PVA on your mold....and the rule is MORE PVA IS BETTER THEN LESS PVA. Now you can touch this and see if your pva is dry and you dont
up your mold.
Thanks to Alex for this tip, use el cheapo harbor frieght $14 touchup gun for pva @ 90PSI. Depending on the humidity outside (if less then 70%) I always add a few drops of water to the PVA. This makes the texture smoooth as glass on the plug.
Next I use these handy solvent proof measuring tubes for all the checmicals that have to get mixed. Here is the duratec @ 2%MEKP and 5% Lac thinner.
1/2" barb fittings....I am glassing these INTO the mold to allow ports to inject water and air to help pop parts out....AND for wetsanding drains.
Remember the aluminum plate for the PVA. Well here is where you get to check your spray work and make sure you have a good barrier to remove your part/mold, ect. Check this BEFORE laying anything up.
Here is all the MEKP for the actual tooling resin that I am using to lay the mold up. All ready to go.
When working with polyester ANYTHING make sure you have good ventalation. This
is deadly.
I LOVE this stuff!!!
100oz of Duratec ready to rock. And in tastefully decorated fruit cups!!
Drill mixers....I do not know how I ever lived without them.
Before spraying duratec make sure your surface temp is over 70F. If not you will get orange peel OF DEATH!!!
Dump gun makes this go FAST.
Positioning the barb fittings on the plug to be glassed in.
Making sure the duratec drying process is kept above 70F.
ughhuhuh huhuh.....thats cool...
Get you poly resin right around 70F, use with 1%MEKP and get a pretty good gel time.
And after a few hours you end up with this. (2) layers of 4oz cloth, and 2 layers of .75oz CSM!!! Tomorrow I will be adding more layers.... But the X2 mold is coming along!
