Electronics Composites Assignment Week of April 9, 2014: This week's assignment is to: design and make a 3D mold (~ft2), and produce a fiber composite part in it.
1. My lion/scarecrow face designed for the Molding/Casting assignment was too big for the Modela. I think this project was destined for a foam mold created with the ShopBot and then filled with epoxy applied to burlap. First step was to design a mold in SketchUp. The rectangle is 14 x 14 inches. The face is 12 inches in diameter. I have located old bicycle reflectors for the eyes and mouth.
2. Remembering the lessons with my molding and casting project and universal mold release, I had an experiment with silicone spray and epoxy-laden burlap and foam. The burlap did not "release" from the foam. I went with vegetable oil for my release agent. After the epoxy cured, the good news was the single strips of burlap released from the oil coated foam. The epoxy however pooled thickly through the burlap in multi-layered regions and did not release from the mold. I resorted to the ultimate release agent for the foam: acetone.	The single strips of burlap were too thin, brittle, and broke easily. The overall end product was very different looking than my original plan. However, I learned about composites and I learned about epoxy. That's progress.
3. 6/14/14 The Guardian of the Geese is glued onto his dogloo outpost.	Mickie Flores Home