Vacuum Bagging - Test 1

 I am building my own rear seats - but very similar to how Glasair does it.

In their design, the rear seat backs and bottoms are fiberglass / foam.

Having never done this before, I did some small test pieces, and laying it up is easy, its getting nice edges.

Talked to some fellow builders, and their solution is vacuum bagging.  A whole new skill to learn...

Here is a really good write up on vacuum bagging.

I purchased a vacuum bagging starter kit from Aircraft Spruce.

My first test piece was pretty small - about 4" x 6", 1/2" foam.

This is where I made my first mistake...  I lined my 'mold' with vacuum bag material, then a layer of breather material, then perforated film, then peel ply, then the fiberglass, then the foam.  Then more fiberglass, peel ply, perforated film, breather and bag material.  Essentially I had no mold.

Here is what the layup looked like before applying any vacuum.

After

A fellow builder loaned me a pump.  I bought the valve from Aircraft Spruce.

So I need to try again.  This time using only half the material.

Here is what came out of the first attempt.  Because I put peel ply down on top and bottom, it is stuck to itself along with the perforated film.

Definitely learned something from this...

2nd test

Slightly larger foam (6" x 8").  Used Aluminum tape on the mold, and waxed the area where the part will be laid down.

This time no bag material on the bottom.  Lay up (from bottom to top):

Aluminum tape

Wax (4 coats)

Peel ply

2 layers of glass

Foam

2 layers of glass

Peel ply

Perforated sheet

Bleeder

Bag

Finished part

I need to pull a bit more vacuum (and need a vacuum gauge), especially when trying to do the seat back that is roughly 3' by 3'.  More vacuum, more CFM.  Also, I have been told I am putting the bag on too tight.  It should be really loose.

But definitely going in the right direction.  

Horizontal Stabilizer Ready for Inspection, and Wing Kit Arrival!

Been awhile since I have posted... we took a nice holiday in California for 2 weeks in March, so progress has been slow.  BUT...

Horizontal stab is completely riveted on one side, and ready for MD-RA inspection.  It is safely put away until that milestone is ready.

Also, I have been working on the annual for the Emeraude - which is taking a fair bit of time.

The big news is the wing kit arrived today!

So here are some notes / hints for wing kit shipping / delivery - this is specific to Canada / transborder, but has some general notes as well:

1. If you plan on picking the crate up from Glasair directly, you will get charged local (WA State) sales tax @ 9.1%.
2. Glasair will arrange for shipping, which means dock to dock.  They will not setup delivery to your door / on the ground.  Unfortunately I was not informed of any of this until the kit was ready to go.
3. Glasair / their shipper will arrange brokerage, but it is at a premium.  In my case, shipping was $600 USD, but shipping and brokerage was $1600.  I arranged brokerage for $275 Canadian (About $210 USD)
4. After asking on the Glasair forum how guys have dealt with shipping in the past, they have had the crate sent to a shipping location that has a loading dock.  They then arranged for another shipper with either a flat deck or hiab crane to deliver the crate to its destination and drop it.  In my case, I had a flat deck deliver the crate and we just slid it off onto Harbor Freight / Princess Auto cheapo dollies.

Next is onto the elevator... but that will not start for a couple weeks.