Composites...

For this assignment we were asked to make a 3d mold and produce a fiber composite part in it. I decided to make a fab skate while I was in the Barcelona Lab.

I made my design in Rhino and exported it two files, one for the laser cutter to cut out the 2 bamboo parts/boards and one for the shopbot. Special thanks to "inkhead" for providing the image that was etched on the board

First Luciano helped me to ge some good material they had in the Fab Lab. A big piece of bamboo was put in the large laser cutter [Laser Pro Sporit GE 30W] and at first the image was etched and later outlines forming the boards were cut out.

Now it is time to mill the 3d mold. 2 passes, first the roughing and later having changed the tool tip, the finishing.As the mold is made out of foam board, it took minutes ot mill.

Before preparing the resin to apply to both parts of the skate, the board needs sanding

Different fabrics are then cut a bit larger than the actual size of the skate [approx 3-4mm more, see image below] and epoxy and hardener are mixed and applied onto both parts of the board. In one part a very thin layer is needed, in the other part a thicker layer is requires to be applied on top of the fabric.

It is important to understand why all these different quality fabrics are being used here and what they are for. I have made a rough sketch in order to remember if I need to do it again.

Now it's time to place the boards onto the foam mold. A wooden base is needed below all these layers in the vacuum bag.

Ta-raaaa!!

@%£^$%$&^*(&$%^$!!

Aparently the vacuum pump broke down during the night so the parts did not manage to stick together. What a shame.. At least I have all this documentation in order to be able to do this again..

The drawing can be found here.

---