Design and make a 3D mould, and produce a fibre composite part in it.
Composite is when two or more different materials are combined together to create a superior and unique material.
What I did :
Design :
I used OnShape to design my 3D shape to mould. I designed the Kuwait towers main tower. I used the fillet tool to curve the sharp edges of my design after extruding my shape by 15 mm since the wood bed is 18 mm thick. Then exported it as stl from Onshape software.
These are my parameters that I used while designing in OnShape
The I extruded my design using extrude tool , also I used the fillet tool to insert curved edges all around my shape.
Then I pressed next and I select (Bottom of Model) because I need all the design milled.
Then I select 3 mm bit for rough cutting , for I selected 3mm bit.
Then I selected the material thickness to be 15 mm because my wooden sheet is 18 mm to avoid cutting through the wooden sheet.
Then I pressed calculate to make the tool path.
And finally this is the simulation of cutting
Milling :
After milling my design on the wood , it turned out neat , it was a clean cut.
Composite :
Then I covered my design with tape for taking a clear composite of the mould. because without the tape , the composite would stick to the wood which will be hard to take off.
Making of the Composite :
Precautions :
- Avoid contact with skin and eyes , and wear gloves.
- Do not mix the components of the Gedeo Crystal Resin with the components of the Gedeo Glazing resin.
- Gedeo resins are not approved for food contact.
- Do not exceed 150ml of crystal resin preparation per mix.
Step 1 : I mixed two resins A & B (Crystal Resin A & Crystal Resin Hardener B)
Step 2 : I mixed resin A & B with a 2:1 ratio mixed it for a few minutes.
Step 3 : I placed the 1st layer of fabric on my taped wooden cut shape and scattered the mixed resins on it.
Step 4 : I placed a 2nd layer jute fiber and placed the mixed resins all over as well.
Step 5 : I placed a 3rd layer of fabric and placed the mixed resins all over.
Step 6 : I placed it in a sealed plastic bag and vacuumed all the air inside and kept it for one day.
Result :
I removed the wooden shape from my dried composite and it was hard enough to tap or drum on.
Above are my wooden cut on the left and my compositeon the right.
This image was the original composite before I cut the extra parts of fibre fabric on the edges.
Finally this was after I cutted the edges , it looked a lot better.
