Week 2 in Composites Technology, as told by Eric Miller (Check out the photos on the blog!) This week was focused on filament winding. Making fiberglass roving wrap uniformly around a cardboard tube seems like it could be a easy task. After watching a few videos on Youtube of the real thing, I quickly changed my approach. The number of factors that could make or break the result were too big. I knew this would take solving each issue one at a time. My partner Luke was a big help when it came to bouncing ideas back and forth. Personally, I could do things like this all day. Luke had the same approach, without drawing a single illustration of the machine. The entire class started off with fairly complex ideas. It was a good feeling to see everyone so involved and entangled in the project. Some finished results worked better before we added the resin. The amount of drag this created (Not to mention, MESS) was something everyone underestimated. I’ve made some big messy things as a child, but this was something else. The machines we created and grew so proud of quickly became a crap shoot once the resin started slinging. The idea of making a fiberglass tube completely to spec and balanced is something I would trust in the hands of a modern machine! The experience in the end was a ton of fun and we learned that you never underestimate a single factor. One additive or subtractive element could make or break the outcome! Next week we will be getting into Gel-coating and open molds. Stay tuned!
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 11:10:01 +0000
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