Great video on carbon fibre - model, mould and final piece production

[NickK]

Three parts - model, mould and final piece production:

Just wondering how easy this would be for producing a reflector imaging scope.. you could, in theory, produce a couple of scopes or refine the design by reusing the moulds for different pieces.

The same could be used for producing other components - making it lighter for star parties

CF all-sky cam anyone?

[NickK]

In terms of a DIY curing oven - 80degC for 8-9 hours - I was looking at two options:

a) an old chest freezer - excellent insulation, easy access and large size allows for heating ducts and vacuum lines to be added. This assumes that the plastic internally can cope with 80degC ±10 degC.

a simply wood box with insulation design - using a duct on the bottom to duct the air back to the heater. The difficulty here is by other people's experience it would need decent insulation (rock wool etc) and the door design needs to be good to prevent leaks of heat/air.

Both would require a collapsing safety circuit with PIC to control the heater. This means any large deviation and the oven shuts down and requires manual restart.

Research (and common sense) indicates that you should not use your house oven for curing - resin and food should not be mixed!