[Motor Purchased] 5 inch diameter rocket and a CTI O3400.

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Looks *almost* identical to mine. I have an oil fill port not shown on yours, other than that appears to be the same. The vacuum port unscrews with a little elbow grease so you can put a proper long barbed connector for a hose on it :)
 
yea u probably have the 3 cmf, mine is the 1.5 cfm. Yea I got the port off with a 9/16 closed end wrench. It was a booger getting off.
 
Well picture shortly!! I am doing my vacuum bagging right now. i have a small leak that I am having trouble finding. Idk if its the tape or the actual vacuum lines. I am continuing to have the robinair 1.5 cfm pump running to keep up. I am having 29.5 hg being pulled.
 
Well picture shortly!! I am doing my vacuum bagging right now. i have a small leak that I am having trouble finding. Idk if its the tape or the actual vacuum lines. I am continuing to have the robinair 1.5 cfm pump running to keep up. I am having 29.5 hg being pulled.
Well you can't do much better than that. The local barometer here in MD is only 29.70 currently with a low pressure system going through
 
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I believe the rinkles are caused by to much epoxy and breather getting to saturated. I sanded the left side and that side the rinkles went away. I am gonna use another layer of breather when I do the next side. I figure the excess epoxy that did not get absorbed rinkled under peel ply.

1. Show us pictures of it in the bag.

2. Wrinkle, not rinkle.

3. Those wrinkles are caused by non-uniform stretching of the bag; this is apparent from the wrinkles that radiate from the fin tips. You can assume that if there are any wrinkles in the bag, they WILL show up in the underlying layup. Smooth them out, and the underlying layup should be fine.
 
i will get pics of the bag tonight. There were a few wrinkles in the bag. What is wierd was the amount of wrinkles in the epoxy was more then any wrinkles in the bag.
 
i will get pics of the bag tonight. There were a few wrinkles in the bag. What is wierd was the amount of wrinkles in the epoxy was more then any wrinkles in the bag.

In that case, I'd blame it on the release film stretching and wrinkling; that's the main reason I stopped using it in favor of peel ply which can flex and conform a little more before it starts to wrinkle.
 
In that case, I'd blame it on the release film stretching and wrinkling; that's the main reason I stopped using it in favor of peel ply which can flex and conform a little more before it starts to wrinkle.
Agreed-- I don't think I've ever had a wrinkle-free finish using release film on a fin can bagging job. You'd have to be some sort of ninja for that to happen. Peel ply is definitely the way to go.
 
I have some fabric peel ply left over from other jobs. So instead of doing the laminate, then perforated release film, then bleeder, then bag. Should I just do laminate, then peel Ply, then breather, then bag? Should I go with just one layer of breather like i did or do 2 layers of breather, I have plenty of it?
 
I have some fabric peel ply left over from other jobs. So instead of doing the laminate, then perforated release film, then bleeder, then bag. Should I just do laminate, then peel Ply, then breather, then bag? Should I go with just one layer of breather like i did or do 2 layers of breather, I have plenty of it?

Use only enough bleeder to make sure it doesn't get saturated. If you're afraid it's gonna saturate fully again, use two layers until you become more comfortable.
 
I have some fabric peel ply left over from other jobs. So instead of doing the laminate, then perforated release film, then bleeder, then bag. Should I just do laminate, then peel Ply, then breather, then bag? Should I go with just one layer of breather like i did or do 2 layers of breather, I have plenty of it?

In the bagging method I wrote up, I used three layers of carbon, then peel ply, then perforated release film, then three layers of bleeder/breather. Doing the same project now, I would eliminate the perforated film and go with two layers of breather. I also found this task much easier with the stretchy bag material.

Jim
 
If people are saying not to use the perforated release film, and I may go without it from now on. What applications is it best used for?
 
ok things with lots of curves and joints go without but things that are flat and more even sufaces use it got it!!

P.S. I got my O3400 in the mail today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Generally, pick between perf film and peel ply, one or the other not both. At times, you may need to use film if your breather is pulling too much resin out of the layup, some epoxies/finishes on cloth seem to make it prefer to be in the breather and can dry your cloth out at which point perf film over peel ply can be a good option - peel ply acting as a distribution media to the holes in the perf, and the holes in the perf preventing the breather from sucking the resin out.
 
I have decided to build a shelf for when doing the tip to tip. I noticed after I did my first side when the bag squeezed down it pulled the carbon fiber the was hanging over the edge and stuck to the other side of the fin. This way with the "shelf" the CF will have something nice to lay against. Removal of the excess will be a breeze.
 
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I highly recommend not doing the bag as I did, the seal between the edges of the supports and the tube were horrendous to seal. Do two pieces of bag and seal them together, one piece peaked over the lower fin and under the two fins you are bagging, one over the fins you are bagging. Ensure you have peelply under the fins you are bagging too, some resin can get squeezed under there and you dont want to have to deal with that later, so peel ply gives it a nice surface to bond to ;)

Based on the concept of John Coker: https://www.jcrocket.com/tttjig.shtml
 
Alternatively, if you work quickly, you can do all 3 sides at once, and there's less to seal in that case.

It needs >4 hands, though.
 
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Everything worked great. Except for I had some wrinkles in the final product. It was wrinkles in the epoxy not CF. I presume since the breather was saturated it was caused by pooling epoxy under the perforated release film that was unable to escape since the breather was saturated. I will try for 2 layers of 4 oz breather this next time. My thoughts are double the resin will be extracted leave the wrinkles behind.
 
The previous pics were taken prior to post #189, but did not get posted here till now. The pics in post #189 were on my cell phone.
 
Just did the 2nd side. It is still under vacuum. I still used the perforated release film, but this time I used 3 layer of bleeder breather. So hoping this time all the excess epoxy will get soaked up and not be wrinkly. I made sure this time the surface of the fins where the bag is I smoothed out all the wrinkle in the bag. So hoping I checked all my basis. If there is still wrinkles even with the extra bleeder breathers I will use fabric peel ply next time along with the perforated release film.
 
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