So long time no post on this, although we have been getting stuff done. I've not been great at taking pictures all the way, but I'll put up what I have.
Box is now finished, windows installed and solar mounted:
I still need to make bash rails to protect the panels. We also need to clean off some of the excess glue from the box.
Onto building the interior. This is also composite panel based to give optimum strength to weight. We are making the panels ourselves. This starts with prepping a moulding table - 1.25m x 2.5m aluminium sheet mounted onto nice rigid beams to ensure it's as flat as we can practically make it. First step is waxing down to ensure we can remove it once moulded!
Next we set out a "frame" to mould into:
Then, depending on the panel in question comes an optional gelcoat spray:
The finished surface is the table side, so the stippling you see here doesn't bother me too much. This was the first one I did I think, I've got a bit better since. Then it's layout of fabric:
And wet out, this one is a different panel, to be honest once we get going with the resin things get a bit time critical and sticky so there wasn't time to pick up the phone to take pictures, I also don't want to get it covered in epoxy!:
Fabric layup depends on the purpose of the panel, a load bearing floor will have more layers than a drawer front, a panel that might be bashed gets a surface layer of Diolen as well as carbon, others get glass and carbon. Then we add a layer of foam:
Before more fabric and resin to finish off. Then it's a case of sticking peel ply (if we need a surface texture), release film, breather fleece to soak up excess resin and create an air path to the vacuum pump, and vacuum bag before the big suck starts!
Vacuum bagging ensures great consistent wet out, good layer to layer bonding and minimises excess resin maximising strength to weight ratio. At the end we get a panel out which might look like this if it;s going to be covered up and needs high strength (this is a suspended floor panel that will be in the main pass through area and therefore needs to be able to support 200kg in its centre, it is 2 layers of 300g diolen, 2 layers of 300g CF on the top 3 CF layers below with extra reinforcement on the cross beams integrated into the panel it's not pretty but it does the job and we are getting better with each one we do!: