Mold Construction Techinques
4 Days - 2 x Sat/Sun

Mold building is an industry all on its own and requires specific techniques for the varying kinds of mold construction. When you want to build something that you want more than one of and it is a specific shape, you use a mold. The durability of that mold is dependant on mold materials and construction techniques. When building high performance, light and strong components such as a wing; using a mold is paramount. Aerospace, automotive, wind turbine blades, bridge girders... they all use molds for their products. We designed this course to teach you the basics needed to create a mold capable of creating accurate, reproducible products using fibreglass and epoxy. The mold that you create in this course will be used to create the high performance airfoil project in the following course should you choose to move forward. All skills developed in this class are transferable to other mold building techniques using assorted materials such as polyester or vinyl ester matrix systems.  

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During this 4 day course you will:

• Learn the mold building materials used to build quality molds on varying budgets.

  • Mold materials, costs, machining and time considerations

• Learn mold building rules for accurate product results

  • Which mold materials to use based on material final product is created from

  • Which mold materials to use based on end product cure temperature 

  • Which mold materials to use based on how many parts you want to pull from the mold

• Learn what a "plug" is and how to prepare it for making a mold

  • Why a  plug is the foundation of the finished product through the use of a mold

  • Why plug perfection is critical to an accurate, quality product

  • How to prep the plug to create the mold

• Learn how to use supports and laminates to create strong accurate mold

  • Why integral supports within the mold are critical producing accurate product

  • How to plan supports to take stresses applied by cure temperatures and applied pressure (vacuum bags)

  • Where to put supports for vacuum bag sealing when pressure is used.

• learn whether or not pressure (vacuum bag) is required for mold construction

  • When is pressure going to benefit the mold construction for shape, voids, matrix/fiber ratios etc.

• Learn trimming techniques and consideration specific to molds and product needs.

  • Where to trim molds so that adequate space is left of laminate layups within mold

  • Sanding for safety when handling molds

  • Identify and prepare areas that could damage future vacuum bagging materials

• Use all of the knowledge and techniques above will be used to create a mold for the advanced airfoil construction project

• All course information will flow so that the skills learned can be retained for future use on other composite projects you build. Knowing how to create a mold is the foundation of most great composite projects

• Have fun through an open and fun learning environment in a home garage

• Certificate of completion

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Prerequisite: Introduction to Laminating and Intro to Vacuum Bagging

Basic safety equipment will be supplied such as: dust mask, safety glasses, disposable gloves. Must bring disposable painters coveralls/apron (chemical resistant).

Deposit: Non-refundable $100