Sunday, April 23, 2006

The foam pieces are glued together, screwd to MDF, and bondoed until there are no more visible holes and cracks.
The bottom part is being sprayed with duratec (a sandable primer) to give it a hard, smooth surface.
The top half (plug/tool) being sprayed with duratec by Estevan.
After the duratec dries, the plug is then sanded to shape. The process of bondoing, spraying duratec, and sanding is repeated about 8 times per plug, until all holes, gaps, dips, and valleys are removed.
 Posted by Picasa

The final result of the top plug.
The final result of the bottom plug. The plug is waxed and sprayed with a chemical release which allows the fiberglass female mold to be easily parted from the plug.
The start of wet layups. Fiberglass is used to make a female mold of the car. The process is called "wet layups" because we have to mix resin, hardner and cloth together to get the final "hard" result. And yes, that is Cindy in the background.
The start of laying down "mat" fiberglass.
Posted by Picasa

The final result of the bottom fiberglass mold (part).
After drying for 48 hours, the female mold is pulled of the plug. The surface coat gives the mold a nice smooth finish
The two molds are then taken down to C & D Aerospace in Santa Maria where the final layups will take place. The carbon fiber used is what's called pre preg (preinpregnated resin). It's suppose to be much lighter than wet layups because of the exactness of resin to cloth ratio, 40%.
David starting on the laying of the first layer of carbon in the bottom mold.
 Posted by Picasa

The group adding the first layers of carbon to the bottom mold.
NoMex core is added to the middle to improve stiffness of the bottom half.
Closeup shot of the NoMex core. It's very light and feels like paper. The layers of the bottom half are 2 layers of carbon, some reinforcement pieces, NoMex core, some more reinforcement pieces, and then 2 more layers of carbon.
Second set of reinforement pieces added to the bottom mold.
Posted by Picasa

Finishing laying the final layer of carbon fiber.
Laying down peal-ply so that the inner surface is rough (easier to post bond to)
After the vacuum bag is applied. The vacuum squeezes the excess resin out of the carbon and it gets rid of bubbles and folds in the carbon.
We're finally finished at 2:45 AM, Saturday morning. Now the two halves have to be baked at 150 degrees F so that the resin can cure, and we'll finally have our car!
 Posted by Picasa