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cool mold making material


Z-TARD

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Found this stuff on ebay, 1/16" thick sheet that forms by hand when heated to 150-170 f. By itself, it would probably be useless for most automotive applications due to its heat sensitivity. I'm betting it could be usd as a mold for fiberglass or carbon fiber though.......

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8156331773&fromMakeTrack=true

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From my limited experience, it seems the heat generated by resin as it cures is largely dependant on the amount of resin used. I think you could probably get away with using this stuff for a mold if you were only laying up one or two layers of cloth over it, and once those cure, you could put as much over the top of that as you need. Unfortunately, this comes a little to late for me, as I am about 50% complete with making a styrofoam plug to make a new dash out of. If only I would have seen this stuff a week ago.....

 

Mike

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I have used something very similar, if not the same stuff (mine was 1/8" thick though). Put it in hot water and form to make a very rigid complex shape. Great for molding all sorts of things, never thought about using it for a fiberglass mold though (good idea). I used it directly as it is very stiff, and was being used in a low heat environment...

Joshua

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I have just ordered some to use in molding extensions to my rear flares. This looks like just what I need - I usually use cardboard with a layer of wax paper over it for a crude mold for hand - laying cloth and resin.

 

I'll report back with how it works as a mold for fiberglass.

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hm. i'm gonna get some of these to make a mould out for my dash so i can customize that shite. too much cracks. This looks like a very good thing to make a mould out of :) thx

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Since it's only 1/16" thick, and about 3 pounds per sheet, you could probably just layer glass or carbon right over it and incorporate it into the final product, rather than using it as a mold only. Just layer on the cloth and resin and vacuum bag the whole thing: Done. Carbon fiber dash for about $150 or less.

 

I'm going to continue with my foam plug for a dash, but I might use it to mold some of this stuff over rather than making the carbon fiber part directly off of it. My original dash is probably good enough to use for molding this stuff, but I've chosen to redesign the whole thing from scratch to look more like the 350Z dash, so the original isn't much use to me. It never ceases to amaze me how this car can spawn new projects that just spiral wildly out of control. In retrospect, I should have just built a new car from scratch....

 

Mike

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