Instrument Face Plate and Pod.

[Greg Mitchell]

Hey Sonny,How was it? Heard it rained most of the first day. Great to see Chris still has the ASRA sticker on his pod which Allan gave him.Is that a 'ram' clamp on the tube for a radio or some other accessory?AND did you get to fly again?I mounted the instrument pod today and second gelcoat went onto the face plate plug. I'm not real happy with the pod just yet but as discussed with Pete Barsden, if the first part is not up to scratch I'll glass stand that one and work it up as the new plug.Hope you had a blast at the flyin.Best regards to Barbara and family.Mitch.www.thebutterflyllc.com

[Greg Mitchell]

Here's a pic of both plugs mounted. Two gelcoats on that face plate and sitting here waxing up the other in prep for gelcoat tomorrow. Image Insert: 51.6

[Greg Mitchell]

Mold mounted, needs to be polished. Nearly ready to turn out the first part.Mold had three coats of black gelcoat over several days then 6 layers of 200g cloth.Instrument pod mold has been laid up and has a piece of timber glassed in to mount the mold once separated from the plug.Unlike the first effort this mold has a very good depth of real gelcoat (not a home brew) and there is no cloth impression or any other defects. It is also perfectly flat and much more uniform throughout than my first effort. I only hope the pod mold turns out as nice.Big thanks to Pete Barsden for all his help on this project.[]Mitch.Image Insert: 64.24 KBImage Insert: 59.83 KBwww.thebutterflyllc.com

[Greg Mitchell]

Now have a working pod mold. It was a little difficult seperating from the plug. Wet and dry polished and then used a fine paste polish. Presently waxing for use in turning out a part.The face plate mold had two small hole defects in it and Pete Barsden advised me to patch these with clear resin (hot mix). This will be set tomorrow and I will wet and dry back to flush, then prep mold for part production.Intention is to lay up a part in each on the same day.Mitch.Edited forCORRECTION:.... the above "clear resin (hot mix)" should read A SMALL HOT BREW OF GELCOAT.Sorry Pete, I used a hot brew of resin. I stuffed up again. Image Insert: 41.1 KBImage Insert: 50.16 KBwww.thebutterflyllc.com

[Greg Mitchell]

FAILURES and FRUSTRATION.G'Day Gents,Very important you use a wax that is compatabile with your PVA.AND make sure the wax is silicone free.I have been very heavy handed in waxing ON and not as attentive to waxing OFF, it seems if the wax builds up, then this area will most likely be subject to failure.Also, if the Gelcoat takes to long to go 'off' then apparently the catalyst (MEKP) can have time to eat into the WAX. It should not be able to go through the PVA but then you must be sure the PVA has fully covered the part. If there is excessive build up of wax and or it is green (not fully dried) then the PVA may noit go on effectively and a resultant welding of the gelcoat to the mould may be the result.Do not use wax paper coffee cups as mixing cups. This can cause contamination. (Yet I am at a loss as to why 95% of the instrument pod part shown has such a good gelcoat finish.) Anyway, use plastic containers as mixing cups.Everything needs to be very clean all the time, reduce dust and lint and other contaminates to ensure best practice.I will be trying a high grade Nu-Cerawax this week and the trick is to be very light handed with the application. Dont try and put too much on (over engineer your safety margin) and make sure you polish it off. Several applications of clockwise and counterclockwise will do nicely. Make sure you have plenty of clean lint free cloth and turn cloth regularly so as not to reapply what you just wiped off.This process has been my archielles heel. This pod would have been a very accepatable part had it not welded into the bottom of the mould due to excessive wax build up in this area, which even though left to dry for one hour after the last coat was apparently still 'green', resulting in a failure and more frustration.The instrument panel had two small weld spots at each end, this could have been repaired with a hot mix of black gelcoat BUT it has been sent off to Western Australia. Peter Barsden has kindly offered to 'eye ball' the part determine cause of dulling (around the edges near the radiused lip)and streaks on the part and left on the mould after layup.I am told by two other pilots who have seen this failed pod part, that the part and the gelcoat is very acceptable. It would seem that once Pete determines exactly what's happening, that I am not far off turning out something half decent.Many websites are helpfull in getting started BUT they do not give the fine detail info required to get over some of the problems that arise. Also, never rely on a sales rep (so called expert on the product) as their information and recommendations are often WRONG!Ask a rep if their gelcoat is ISO or ORTHO based and see what kind of response you get.What a fantastic thing it is to have an Asst Tech Mangager who will take as much time as Pete has with me and my project. Cheers Mate. Mitch.Image Insert: 49.28

[NiqueNaque]

Gee Greg,Sorry I can´t help you..Nick.

[asra]

Greg, try contacting one of my customers Michael Nell nell@optusnet.com.au he runs a business Nell Fabrication in Nowra manufacturing hovercraft. I am sure he will give you some good advice.

[asra]

MitchMy ole Dad has a saying that he without fail tells me when I have trouble getting it right.It go's like this," if at first you don't suckseed, keep on a suckin til ya do suckseed"[)]. Hope that's of some help, Cobba[]C' Yun'sSonnyIntelligence is not a privilege,it is a gift and should be used for the good of mankind.

[Greg Mitchell]

Thanks Barry,I certainly appreciate the contact. I'm working very closely with Pete Barsden on this now. I think part of the problem for me early on was using snippets of info from here and there. With Pete's tutoring I now have continuity and the benefit of his 30 yrs plus his mentors 40 yrs of experience combined.Pete's not far off straightening me out,[B)] we are nearly there.I will hear from Pete as soon as he has some of my product in hand, this way he can see exactly what I'm doing wrong.Cheers,Mitch.www.thebutterflyllc.com

[Greg Mitchell]

Think I'm getting my head around this fibreglass stuff now.[]Thanks to all involved.Mitch.Image Insert: 70.67

[Greg Mitchell]

And to finish off with this batch of 4 pics.Then on to replacing my tail with a complete rebuild. Both skins having to much gelcoat to repair, so I will lay up new gelcoat laminated panels. I will likely replace the alum rudder horn and internal spar, with a 4130 component.Mitch.Image Insert: 57.75

[NiqueNaque]

Greg,Nice job. You'll find releasing the moulds is easier if you squirt some water into the gap, the plug then hydraulics itself out of the mould or vvs, however they are shaped.Cheers,Nick.

[Greg Mitchell]

Instrument face plate was removed using water, more difficult (sucks back in on itself) than using compressed air. When using the air the article exited the mould with the PVA attached, which is how it should be. I am laying up another face plate and pod today/tonight, just to make sure I'm on the right track.www.thebutterflyllc.com

[Greg Mitchell]

Repeatable product with great results. In this instance both articles were laid up starting yesterday afternoon (two coats of gelcoat) layup the cloth last night and popped from mould this morning with air. Both articles had the PVA transfer from mould. Normally the article would be left in the mould for 24 hrs plus, however these articles were produced simply to ensure correct fit. They have been placed back in there moulds.Face plate is a better fit than the original, so I will not have to adjust the new plug for length, simply need to reshape the contours for a more acceptable shape.This time I used three layers of 200 gram cloth, no 'printing' is evident. Mitch.[]First pic shows the PVA transfered onto the articles.Image Insert: 52.88

[Tim]

Great work Mitch. We will have you doing full enclosures in no time.Tim McClure