Sunday, August 5, 2012

Panels, panels, and more panels

 Now that the port hull interior is fully glassed, it is time to prepare the myriad of flat panels that reinforce the hull and divide the volume into various spaces.  These flat panels are best laminated on the vacuum table.  As discussed previously, I am applying the glass and epoxy to one side at a time rather than perforating a couple hundred square feet of foam core.  Unfortunately I got a little hasty today and tried flipping the first set of panels too early.  The epoxy was fully gelled, but still too soft to release from the table easily.  To make it even more difficult, I didn't place a sheet of release film under the panels, so I had to use a thin scraper blade to free the overrun epoxy from the table.  I will be sure to wait a good 6-12 hours before trying to remove the panels from here on, and I will need to thoroughly clean the table for the next set of panels.
I tried to precut some of the materials for the dozen or so sets of panels.  Laminating one side at a time requires twice as much release film and absorbent matting, and I ran out.  So I will be placing an order for another 50 yards of each.  I have enough supplies to get through about half of the panels, so I have a little time before I need the additional materials.  As we slowly make progress, our stock of materials is dwindling.  I will probably need a few extra sheets of CoreCell foam core as well, but I think we will be close to the planned quantity.

Here are some of the cut foam panels awaiting their turn on the vacuum table.  It took the better part of a couple of days to cut all of the panels.  I transfer the full size plans to poster board and then use the poster board templates to trace the shapes on the foam.  I think this method is much easier and more efficient than transferring the plans directly to the foam.  The laminating will probably be going on for the next couple of weeks.  But I am fabricating both the port and starboard half of the panels, so this will all pay off once we get to the starboard half of the hull.

No comments:

Post a Comment