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Old 03-11-2013, 10:20 AM   #97 (permalink)
kach22i
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard View Post
Other composite materials are available, like..........
Nice links, but making compound curves looks difficult, lot of steam bending or at least soaking involved.

I've gotten away from the flat plane concept I started with, although I just know one day I'll return to it for another study.

My latest sketches are much more complex and would require 3Tex/Zplex, molds and vacuum bagging.

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3TEX Incorporated | 3TEX, Inc.

Z-Plex
ZPlex - Total Conformable Sandwich System | 3TEX, Inc.




Quote:
The 100s of slender flexible foam cores move freely like the yarns, providing a deeply conformable structure...................

Applications; Curved parts difficult to make with balsa or rigid foams
Lightly loaded parts like car hoods, ducts, engine covers, doors.....
Maybe I can blend different technologies and materials. For instance; start with a very light gauge and bendable conduit (plastic or metal), cover with a single plane bendable product (Monopan?), and for the complex and compound curves found at the front, back and corner/plane intersections use fiberglass over hand sanded foam or Z-Plex pieces.

The very light gauge and bendable conduit (plastic or metal) used as the mounting framework for body shell construction, could be used to run wires or later filled with structural foam.
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Last edited by kach22i; 03-11-2013 at 10:34 AM..
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