I wanted to make a little half hull. I chose a sail boat of course. I found one STL of a beautiful 70's yacht designed by famous Sparkman & Stephens.
I do love this kind of boat.
It is a Swan 36.
I modified the file with SketchUp to make a mold and resized it to the right dimensions:
We own 175x85x31mm synthetic wood in the lab, so I can use this for the mold.
I checked the file with MeshLab and started to mill with the Mdx40.
Milling is a two steps process:
Roughening, with a square KRK 4x40 mill, I used the default settings for this kind of material.
Finishing, with a round ball 2.5x25 mill, I also used the default set up.
Here's the set up I used:
The machine needs 5 hours to complete the process. A usual with the MDX40, the result is perfect.
I draw the fiber's cutting outline with Inkscape and tried to cut it with the laser.
After 3 or 4 tests, the fiber is correctly cut. Here is the set up that I used:
First, I sprayed "smooth-on" inside the mold, to be sure that the mold and the piece will separate.
There was nobody else in the lab when I started to stratify, so I could'nt take pictures of this step...
Taking pictures with my Iphone with gloves full of resin wasn't a brilliant idea...
I used two layers of fiber, I dispose the carbon in place against the mold and flew the polyester resin inside.
This is the resin I used:
I sanded again, and again ... 80, 120, 400, 800, 1000.
and applied three varnish coats.
I also prepared and glued two pieces of wood to make a support.
I used the Shopbot to mill the wooden medium.
I should add a little engraving ; I called the boat "Marylin" cause it's the name of our Fab Manager.
