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Tygaboy's Carbon Fiber How-To Seminar

DougZ said:
One more question for ya Chris, about bagging: What makes the bagging plastic that you buy so special that it won't stick to the parts? Have you tried bagging anything with regular ol' plastic and if so, what happened.

I tend to use generic plastic all the time since my parts are often too big for the 50" wide sheets of bagging material. Black plastic garbage bags work very well except that you can't see through them to keep an eye on the part. However, they can be left in the sun for very high cure temps. They are also pretty rugged, so you don't get as many pinholes in them. I've also used the thin, clear plastic trash bags that come on rolls used by many cleaning services. Using a bag is nice because 3 sides are already sealed for you, and you can use a $5 bag clip to seal the fourth in a matter of seconds.

Primarily, I use clear painters tarp from Home Depot. The roll is something like 15' wide so it can do all but the biggest layups. It comes in a variety of thickness, so you have to decide what you want. The thinnest 1mil is really easy to work with, but develops pinholes if you set it on a table with dirt on it, etc. Unless you have a clean room, I'd stay away from it. 4 mil is pretty impervious, but too thick for complex shapes. I tend to stick with 2 mil and 4 mil, depending on what I'm doing. Just learn to be extremely anal about protecting your bag. Cut it on a perfectly clean table, and fold it up and put it away until needed.

The best part about the painters tarp is that I use the same material as floor and table protection. It also allows you to wet up the fabric on a clean sheet separately, and squeegee it out to remove excess resin. It isn't nearly as nice as the purpose made bagging material. You may find yourself listening for leaks and smearing caulk all over in a frustrating attempt to seal the bag.
 
Simple question: How long should parts stay in the vacuum bag before you release the vacuum and stake the parts out of the bag?
 
DougZ said:
Simple question: How long should parts stay in the vacuum bag before you release the vacuum and stake the parts out of the bag?

Usually, I leave them in the bag until they are cured. There are occasions I'll pull them out sooner but you bag for a reason so you should let it do it's job.
 
tygaboy said:
Usually, I leave them in the bag until they are cured. There are occasions I'll pull them out sooner but you bag for a reason so you should let it do it's job.

Its funny, cause I just let the lay up stay under vacuum for 45 minutes, and since the resin in the cup was cured, I figured the part in the mold would be cured as well...dang it, so I threw it back in the mold, put the DZ peel ply on, and some breather and threw it back into the bag, and turned the vacuum back on. We'll see after another 1/2 hr or so.
 
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