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5 foot composite blade mold
By paradigmdesign, Section Wind Posted on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 02:46:20 PM MST
nearly completed

Here is an update on the 5 foot blade molds. Just finished reinforcing the last side and the vacuum outlet(not pictured). They will require a small amount of 1000grit sanding on a few places, but other than that, they are completed. Next step will be to make the "inserts" for the foam core.

p.s. that is the plug or pattern sitting in front of the mold, not a finished product.
It is not acceptable to remove the width tag on images. I reinserted them.

5 foot composite blade mold | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by fernando on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 11:47:20 AM MST
(User Info)

I like to build a set of fyberglass/resin blades...
Please share with us the infos about manufacture.

Thanx.

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by paradigmdesign (paradigmpower_05@yahoo.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 01:08:36 PM MST
(User Info) www.goldstarpetresort.com

First off these plugs are intended for use in the Vacuum Infusion Process.

Read: This is a VERY similar approach to what we are trying

My Files
Resin_Transfer_Molding.pdf

Summary;

We made a "plug" or "pattern" which is pictured above. There are three posts about the process we went through to make that, the products that we used etc. Then we used the plug, made a shadow box, applied gelcoat, then made the first side of the mold. Once that was completed we flipped the whole thing over, plug still inside, and gelcoated/reinforced the second half of the mold.

Our next step will be to make "inserts" to go into the mold we already have to represent the glass in the final product. With the inserts in the mold we fill it with pour foam. Once the foam is cured, we remove the inserts, giving us a nice foam core to lay the dry glass onto before we place it in the final mold for infusion. If all goes well, we should end up with a monolithic, foam core blade with somewhere around 60%-70% fiber content (not including foam weight).

If I were only looking to make one set of these blades I would not go with this process. I would most likely not even use composite construction at all. Though if I was inclined to make a one-of composite blade, I would use the process that we used to make the plug, with more glass.
"Don't worry about tomorrow, plan for it."
[ Parent ]

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by paradigmdesign (paradigmpower_05@yahoo.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 01:11:53 PM MST
(User Info) www.goldstarpetresort.com

p.s. The vacuum outlet has not been drilled yet.
"Don't worry about tomorrow, plan for it."
[ Parent ]

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by cr8zy1van (salsa117@hotmail.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 01:39:15 PM MST
(User Info)

Good afternoon!

After reading your comments, I am assuming that you want to go into production with these blades. Do you have any speculative prices for a set? I would be very interested! How do you intend to fix these blades to a gen-head?

PS. Great job, these look awesome!

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by paradigmdesign (paradigmpower_05@yahoo.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 02:10:09 PM MST
(User Info) www.goldstarpetresort.com

The first few will actually have a wood root, a 4x4 or so, 1/2 of it will be turned turned down on a lathe to fit inside the root, while the other half will be left flat, so they should be able to mount in the standard home brew style hubs. Eventually we will have a regular flanged, all composite root, but that requires us to finish designing and building a hub to match(these will be variable pitch hub/rotor sets).

No price as of yet, don't know if the current design will be strong enough until we do some stress testing etc.
"Don't worry about tomorrow, plan for it."
[ Parent ]

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by cdog on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 03:26:54 PM MST
(User Info)

I would be happy to do some stress testing for you!!!!!
Cdog.

Re: 5 foot composite blade mold (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by paradigmdesign (paradigmpower_05@yahoo.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 04:28:03 PM MST
(User Info) www.goldstarpetresort.com

I still have the list of who I contacted about a year ago, and was still planning on doing the trial. I just haven't been contacting people because I do not have any firm dates.
"Don't worry about tomorrow, plan for it."
[ Parent ]

5 foot composite blade mold | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial)

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