Took these photos a little while ago and thought I would share. They show a range of carbon fabrics of varying weights and weave types. Each photo shows the surface layer of a laminate in a fully cured state.

What was surprising to me was the amount of very small air bubbles and voids trapped within the resin. It should be noted that all the parts look absolutely perfect with the naked eye, each one of a very high gloss. But under the right light and right magnification all the air bubbles become very visible.

The photos are close ups of a range of parts, including helicopter blades, high performance pylon racing wings and flat composite panels....Continue Reading

So for a while now I have been wanting to try vacuum infusion but it has been cost prohibitive. For a long time I have been limited to hand lay parts utilizing closed shell molds. After venturing into some basic RTM work I began to see the real advantages of injecting resin into a dry laminate utilizing some sort of pressure differential. This Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a very nice vacuum system perfect for infusion (Thanks Santa )

My first panel measured about 500x1200mm. It featured a 6mm core and a layer of 600g biaxial glass either side. The panel infused perfectly except for a small amount of dry fibers left at the end of the panel. I adjusted my infusion strategy and after some additional research decided to try again with a panel of the same size utilizing a combination of glass, SANcore and carbon.

Very happy with how this panel turned out, absolutely no voids or pinholes and a volume fraction of around 55%. After doing a few more infusions since I think I've gotten the process pretty much dialed in.

Still, I have lots to learn about infusion and look forward to making many parts using this method. I really like how clean the process is, very little mess is made. No longer do I have to lay out a few layers of newspaper to avoid messing up my table. The process also limits exposure to resin and associated vapors. I find I am pretty sensitive to resin vapors and some resins give me a headache very quickly. (I have since gotten a respirator (Thanks Santa again )) I'm also able to achieve a High Vf and produce consistently perfect parts everytime. Very Very happy.

Apologies for the poor quality photos.

Hope everyone has a very happy new year!

I spent some time over the past couple days working on some ideas for a folding spinner designed for high performance F5D/B models. I'm not sure if I will actually make these but it was fun drawing them. I'm fairly happy with how they came out. Although they are just a first draft and need some reworking.

My main design goal for this particular spinner is simply to design something that doesn't explode at high rpm (among other things)

Just dreaming though, maybe once I'm 100% happy with the design I'll get some cnc work done.