Hi everyone!
Welcome to this new series of videos (4 In total)
All about making an RTM mould to produce composite parts in a fast way.
Through these adventures I'll take you to the final result of making an RTM Fiberglass mould and making parts out of it.

RTM moulding is something I haven't done yet and always wanted to try one day. The big advantages of RTM moulding is that you get a good surface on both sides of the parts. It also makes it possible to produce parts in a faster way, due to the fact that you don't need to apply any vacuum supply and bags. Another advantage is a reduction of waste that is created using the regular technique of VARTM resin infusion.

If you want to watch my first video again (cringe):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tosb...

If you want to watch the video where commented on my first video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU5t7...

The video series is separated in 4 Parts:
The video series is separated in 4 Parts:
1. Finishing the master with Pattern Coat from @Easy Composites Ltd and getting it mould ready:    • RTM Mould - Finish Part With Patternc...  

2. Creating the base-mould out of uni-mould tooling resin and solving some issues I had with the mould:    • RTM Mould - Making the first mould (P...  

3. Creating The fiberglass RTM topmould by first making a carbonfiber part out of the basemould:    • RTM Mould - Creating Negative Fibergl...  

4. Creating parts with the RTM mould:    • RTM Mould - Creating Carbon Fiber Par...  

*In Previous video's:

Back in the days (more than 7 years ago I started working with composites) At school we had a sample mould and so decided to use it to make my first steps into composites and resin infusion VARTM. Back then I was way less experienced and watching that video over again, I saw a lot of room for improvement. This is why I decided to redo this video but taking everything next level to challenge myself a bit.

I'll take you through the steps of using one of the parts (fiberglass and polyester resin) I've made back then and get everyting ready for making a new mould. First step is removing any paint that I've put back then on the part (It was a 1K rattle spraycan paint) that might cause any problems with the gelcoat. Sanding the part also made sure that any residue like dust, oil, silicones, glue was removed from the part so we could start fresh.

The mould was made using the uni-mould tooling system from Easycomposites. first a gelcoat is applied, then coupling coat with CSM chopped strand mat fiberglass, followed by the polyester tooling resin witch CSM as well. Where needed some repairs were made and finished to a high gloss

*In this video:

Easy lease (chemical release agent) from easy composites was used to have a good release at the end. We'll make a negative pressure mould. This will replace the usual vacuumsupply normally used in a VARTM resin infusion system. by this we save in materials (peelply, infusionmesh, vacuumbag) but more importantly we save time producing parts.
First step would be to make a first part that will define the thickness future parts will be. I decided to make a first dummy part using resin infusion with carbonfiber 2x 650g/m² twill weave. Normal procedure of a resin infusion is used. The part is infused with infusion epoxy resin (IN2) Once the part is demoulded the back of the part is finished as well using the polyester pattern coat again.

Once the part is finished it is put back in the mould and a resin channel is created by using some modeling wax. This wax sheets can be bought in different thicknesses. I picked a 1mm thickness.
A regular polyester gelcoat is applied with a spraygun followed by adding fiberglass and general purpose polyester resin with MEKP hardener. Build up a nice thickness with the chopped fiberglass mat and theresin. Do this in a few different coats with letting it fully cure inbetween. Adding to many layers in one go might complicate the process and make your resin go in an exothermal stage causing shrinkage and warping. Air channels are added around the perimeter to create the clamping pressure. Other resin in and resin out channels will have the purpose of infusing the part in a later stage. Once all done we are ready to make our first parts in the next tutorial.


For all products used, check https://www.easycomposites.co.uk
they now also have a .eu website for european customers!

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#Mould #Easycomposites #Carbonfiber