Ready Steady Eddy

[EddyCurrent]

I meant to say hot air gun straight after the pour so the waves won't matter. I was told by the people at Wests a good way would be to mix in a container with a small hole at the bottom on the side (say 7mm) with some tape over it, when mixed remove the tape and let the epoxy flow out of the hole into your trough that way you don't get the bubbles. I never tried though. ..Clive

That was likely okay with your moat design but with the draught excluder there's not much height before the banks are breached. That sounds like a great idea for pouring.

Also I'd like to thank everyone for their input because I feel I've learned a hell of a lot more about this epoxy idea these last few days.

[njhussey]

I meant to say hot air gun straight after the pour so the waves won't matter. I was told by the people at Wests a good way would be to mix in a container with a small hole at the bottom on the side (say 7mm) with some tape over it, when mixed remove the tape and let the epoxy flow out of the hole into your trough that way you don't get the bubbles. I never tried though. ..Clive

One slight problem I can see with playing a heat gun over the epoxy is that the moat is foam...heat and foam aren't the best of friends in my experience! Only takes for the heat to be on a fraction of a second too long and you've a leak in your moat!

I think I'm going to do a mix of ideas for getting the bubbles out. Firstly I'll mix it slowly in one container and hopefully not induce too many bubbles. Then I'll transfer it to a second pot to ensure its all mixed and no pockets of just resin. This pot will have a hole in the side to aid pouring. I might even pinch a bit of 100 mesh SS filter wire from the works to strain it through. This should trap all the bubbles on the way through the mesh.

Some cracking ideas in this thread...

[njhussey]

Where's the pics Eddy???!! Need pics

[EddyCurrent]

Can you see them now ? I was doing a long edit, I can see them here okay.

[EddyCurrent]

Earlier I was having problems getting my spindle running in vector speed mode, this is now sorted thanks to ABB

Spindle ELTE, V=220, A=9.5, Speed=24000 rpm, Kw=2.2
Drive - ABB ACS355 2.2kw 01x-09A8-2

The problem was it would work great in v/f mode but not in vector mode.
Following many emails and parameter changes without success an AB engineer paid me a visit and it was sorted out in a morning. (I don't think you would get this support with a Chinese VFD)

This was the solution;

1) Drive firmware changed from 5060 to latest 5090. Version 5090 is known to contain improvements for ‘special motors’
2) Switching frequency par. 26.06 set from ‘4kHz’ to ‘16kHz’. Par. 26.07 = ON(LOAD).
3) Rescaled group 99 motor data to 200Hz equivalent, (i.e. 200Hz, 11500rpm, 9.5A, 110V,1.1kW)…changing this allowed the motor to achieve 24000rpm for the first time during testing
4) Adjusted ramp rates (par. 22.02 = 5s and in particular 22.03 = 10s), also introduced S-shape (par. 22.04 = 1s)
5) Adjusted non-user parameter 112.08 from ‘40’ to ‘10’ (made motor sound quieter, particularly at low speeds)
6) Speed controller ‘Autotune’ performed (using par. 23.05), resulted in par. 23.01, Gain = 3, par.23.02 Integral = 2s and par. 23.04 Accel Comp = 1.45s

[njhussey]

I was too impatient..... I'm going to the DIY store this weekend to get some draft excluder to do this on my pieces of angle for the X axis carriage mounting points next week...away for the weekend so can't do it :(

[EddyCurrent]

I'm going to the DIY store this weekend to get some draft excluder to do this on my pieces of angle for the X axis carriage mounting points next week...away for the weekend so can't do it :(

Obviously make sure it's thick enough, the stuff I got was 7mm thick x 15mm wide, very close to the wire for a 5mm deep epoxy but manageable with care

[njhussey]

Obviously make sure it's thick enough, the stuff I got was 7mm thick x 15mm wide, very close to the wire for a 5mm deep epoxy but manageable with care

I don't mind if it's 5mm or 4mm as long as it's flat but I'll bear that in mind when I'm looking for it...

[Washout]

You could also try Easy Composites - they do low viscosity infusion resins with a variety of timed hardeners, which I've used for vacuum infusion projects - the resin needs to be thin for that as you are essentially sucking it through your carbon/kevlar/glass fibres. The West System is probably similar, but if you need another price point......

[JAZZCNC]

You could also try Easy Composites - they do low viscosity infusion resins with a variety of timed hardeners, which I've used for vacuum infusion projects - the resin needs to be thin for that as you are essentially sucking it through your carbon/kevlar/glass fibres. The West System is probably similar, but if you need another price point......

Don't know how I've missed this debate.? . . . . I've always used Infusion resin's with slowest hardner I could find for doing this. Most Infusion resins will work with slow hardener.