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Evan Gatehouse
 
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Default Mold Table Construction

Hi all,

I'm building an 8' x 12' formica toppped mold table. I will be using
this to lay up foam/E-glass panels for a bridgedeck cabin for my 40'
catamaran. It's being build inside a garage.

I'd appreciate a bit of feedback on a few questions:

1) How high off the floor? I was thinking of either 2"x8"'s on the
floors (with resulting back pain from lots of bending other) OR on
sawhorses to have a nice working height. Generally I'm concerned that
the table might be too flexible or harder to make it if level on
sawhorses (5/8" plywood substrate)

2) I'm thinking of building a "bridge" (for lack of a better word) to
get to the middle of the panel more easily. Any construction hints?
Maybe some 2x8's with ply top and bottom to form a box beam. It has
to span 9'+ and have 220 lbs in the middle.

3) What's the best method (short of proper resin impregnator) to
apply epoxy resin (1000 cps) to a triaxial fabric. I'm thinking of
pouring and then plastic spreaders as the most efficient way. I've
never used fabric rollers to spread resin, though I know lots of
production builders that do use it.

Oh, it's vacuum bagged and the triaxial fabric is 90/45/-45 20 oz (666
gm/m2).

Thanks very much,

Evan Gatehouse