Practical CAD Techniques for Composite Pattern/Mould Design
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Composites video tutorial from Easy Composites covering the design principles and practical CAD techniques required when preparing 3D models for CNC machining into composite patterns. In the tutorial, we’re using Autodesk Fusion 360, although the tools and processes are generic and would apply equally to any other engineering CAD package such as Catia, Solidworks or Onshape.
The tutorial begins by looking at the more basic steps of checking draft angles, adding trim allowance, closing apertures, creating flanges and setting up the stock material. The second half of the tutorial looks at a more complex ‘split-mould’ and covers the process of using draft analysis to create the optimum parting line, as well as design-in features such split-mould clamping bushes.
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - CAD Packages and Features
03:39 - Draft Analysis
05:42 - Creating Trim Allowance
06:56 - Creating Mould Flanges
10:42 - Cutting into Stock
18:26 - Split Mould Parting Line and Faces
25:06 - Stock Material Cutting
28:10 - Mould Alignment with Clamping Bushes
28:32 - Drawing the Bush Locating Pads
33:55 - Creating the Pattern
For a full list of products used in the tutorial or to discuss any questions you may have about taking your composites project from the screen to the real world, visit the tutorial project page on the Easy Composites website:
EU Customers:
www.easycomposites.co.uk/lear...
UK & Rest of World Customers:
www.easycomposites.co.uk/lear... - Věda a technologie
I've learned so much from this dude over the past 10+ years its actually crazy, and its free! unbelievable great work
Thanks for sticking with us, let's see where we're at in another 10 years!
same here!! since those old time videos!! i do it as a job because of this dude toooo!!! its amazing to see the evolution of all these! i wish we had easy composites in BRASIL!!!
SAME!!! been following since i was in college and couldnt afford anything. now i just started to create molds and was able to produce carbon fiber parts for my motorcycle. I owe it to this man and his company. greetings from Philippines.
Agreed with all the above, I wish we had Easy Composites in Australia. It's difficult to get all the right gear, dodgy tacky tape and peal ply, trying to make do with whatever you can find! The previous bloke with Mini bonnet absolutely blew my mind 10 years ago, this information is absolutely priceless!!
wow i can’t believe it’s been 10 years since i saw their first video. that’s actually insane
The quality of the production and content of these videos never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for making these!
I am honestly more excited for new Easy Composites videos than Hollywood movies these days. Thanks for delivering outstanding content and making the world a smarter and more capable place.
Thanks Landon, we enjoy making them so stay tuned for more that we've got in the pipeline and in production already!!
@31:57 - That absolute fire insert shot of slamming that num pad!! 🔥
Haha, yeah, gotta throw in some action shots! CAD is a tough sport and I play it hard!
Been following since i was in college and couldnt afford anything. now i just started to create molds and was able to produce carbon fiber parts for my motorcycle. I owe it to this man and his company. greetings from Philippines. i guess learning CAD is our next goal haha
I've become a composites expert over the past decade thanks to your incredible video. Thanks for your passion and dedication to teaching. I haven't made a single part from composite, but I know I could thanks to you.
Cool! This is next level! Your tutorials are growing exponentially in quality and usefulness. Thank you for your work!
Thanks for the kind words, we realize this video won't really be for the casual viewer but glad to hear you found it useful, that's why we do them!
Glad we are able to help and share the knowledge.
@@easycompositestv I love the very in depth videos. They are very useful especially when learning about other things like 3d printing and machining.
you guys are single handly describing every step of a very complex manufacturing technique in such a comprehensible and great way one video at the time. Without you guys, formula student teams around the world wouldn't be able to make the carbon fiber parts of their cars 🤣👏
So glad you put this out! I've been pulling my hair out this week trying to design a mold for my first pre preg part. Perfect timing for me
Glad it timed in well for you, yeah the design doesn't quite stop at the component, we had a look around and realised that this was a subject that had not really been covered before.
You know, as a truck driver, that had nothing to do with anything you guys do, and consequently will never be a customer, I just want to thank you for the high quality videos you put out on the process. I'm obsessed with them. It's incredibly interesting how it all works, and I appreciate you guys being so thorough. I literally watch every video you guys come out with. The dude in the video is a great presenter.
Just wanted to let you guys know that your video's reach even those who aren't potential customers, and provide a great deal of entertainment.
Glad you enjoy the videos.
What a time to be alive! A world of decentralized manufacturing is upon us.
Composites has always been a bit decentralised, but I agree this is an amazing time to be in any form of engineering!
Incredible, man. I'm so glad y'alls business model allows and encourages free knowledge of how to use the product to it's fullest. These are invaluable videos. Thank you so much.
Our mantra has always been to share the knowledge rather than keep it secret and hidden.
This was really good, im a journeyman tool and die maker with about 5 years of experience designing injection molds in solidworks. Fun watching those skills applied to carbon composites
Best educational content in this field on CZcams. Giddy each time one of these comes out.
This channel is absolutely teach you about composite material from start to finish!!!
Oh yes, I want more of those high quality, in depth CAD tutorials !
Im a member of my university's baja sae team and I wish i had this video sooner. Making the molds has been a trial and error process for us and a lot of the tips in this video were things I found out after machining a ton of molds. Hopefully in the future our molds come out much better!
Glad it helps.
I used to build composite tail rotor blades for attack helicopters. This channel is always a joy to watch as the information and techniques are spot on!
The fundamental value of knowledge you are teaching in these videos is incredible ! As a start-up maker I'm following closely. As payback, I'll be sourcing materials from you. Thanks and Regards !
That's great to hear and thank you for the support :)
This is amazing!!!! I’m looking to 3D print molds, and this will be useful. Thank you for making these videos, the quality keeps getting better and better!!!!
I'm mainly a 3d printing guy with no composite making experience nor appetite to do one. Making mold is so complicated I think I need a degree just to do it. But this video proves me wrong. Thank you for the free education
This is really really great. I have learnt a lot in this one video and haven't skipped a small portion even. Hats off to your work!
Awesome tutorial, you have helped me so much with production methods.
Having no knowledge of CAD, the explanation was easy to understand. Thanks for sharing!
Glad it was helpful! the principles can be applied to most CAD packages once you start learning one.
Thanks so much for continually producing content like this. It's unimaginably informative and helpful. Now I just wish you guys had a US-based shipping hub available!
No words brother thanks for everything you sharing with us
Wow - I love that you are sharing your knowledge in such a great way - thanks!
Thanks for the appreciation, 'share the knowledge' is literally our company strap line so I'm glad we're doing it right!
Watching you model in the parting line made me really appreciate CATIA's Reflect Line tool, which would have done that automatically. Great video!
Thanks for the comment, yeah you get what you pay for! I was surprised that Fusion didn't have the functionality for parting lines (that I could find) most packages do.
Every single video you release is such a pleasure to watch. The work you all do is brilliant. Thank you for all the free advice and different guides and tutorials. I always leave your videos feeling inspired and with more knowledge and understanding than I arrived with. Awesome mate.
Glad we are able to help.
Best quality videos, as always! ❤️
Exactly what I needed, thanks !
You're welcome, glad it was useful! Thanks for watching
Friday and now this!
It deserves a pint or "two" 😆
Well this is now 6 hours later, how many was "two"?!
Eight!
Time fpr bed 😂
Fantastic video! I would love for the next episode in this series for you to cover CAD Techniques for ply design/creation for complex parts. Thank you for all of the hard work and amazing knowledge!
Some CAD packages will have advanced composite tools within them, or available to buy, to help with some part of the design process. The same goes with FEA tools to help you analyse the design. Similar with ply template and cutting tools.
Incredibly helpful and thoughtful video! Thank you so much! Hoping for more like this.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I'm pleased to hear you found it helpful, that's why we make them!
Thanks for the great video!
Awesome. I've been watching this CZcams channel for a long time. It's exciting it's new it's revolutionary❤
Superb detailed runthrough, always appreciate the effort you put into making these videos. The backcatalogue of knowledge is getting quite comprehensive.
Thanks for the comment, plenty more to come, I don't think we've scratched the surface yet!
So needed this video ... THANK YOU ♥♥
Superb presentation, as always!
Merci pour les explications, super vidéo 😊
Merci d'avoir regardé!
Great video!
Again, an amazing video. I didn´t know how to properly make a parting line, now I know, Thank you
You're welcome! There are a few ways to do parting lines but this method will work regardless of your CAD package, thanks for watching and commenting!
great content thanks
Excited and expected video 🎉
Thanks for watching!
I love my luck and what the universe brings me. I have been trying to learn how to cut a body from a meshbody and I asked the 'experts' about it a few weeks ago, on numerous facebook groups. I was getting a lot of useless answers and my project got stalled because I had an uneven surface and I needed to use it as a tool to cut another body from. I have spend this last weekend also looking for the solution, without success (reading about b-rep and boolean stuff). So, out of boredom and frustration, I've decided to just watch some composite-related stuff and relax and vent my frustration. I thought I was going to lose consciousness when the video reached the 13th minute and I accidentally saw the solution to my 2-3-week search. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its our pleasure - we really get a kick out of making these videos and the help it can give so it is always great to hear they're working for people :)
Thanks for sharing the knowledge, I really like this video.
It's what we do, thanks for watching!
helpful thanks
That's a really good video again! Thanks! That will be shared a lot!
Glad you liked it!
wow i learned a ton in this ,
This one was really good
very cool!
Now I'd like to see a follow-up video when you're laminating both of these elements 😀
The engine cover we will laminate in a future video, the component itself is something we’ve made for another CZcams channel (V8Creative). The fuselage will feature next in a video about the machining of the pattern and laminating the mould. No current plans on laminating the fuselage but you never know.
Superb as always.
I'm glad to be one of your happy customers 🙂
Always good to hear from a happy customer! Thanks for watching and thanks for using us for your materials!
great presentation again. it will take me a few views to follow it all, but its all useful stuff, thanks EC.
Very useful info. Thanks! 👍
No problem, thanks for watching!
Fusion 360❤ is fantastic
Impressive. I feel like you could probably teach entire courses for people/ companies who want to go into composites. A lot of the trial and error could be avoided by attending classes with hands on experience. A lot of insanely overpriced niche parts could get so much cheaper if more people had the skills to design and produce these parts. Especially if using fiberglass instead of carbon fiber, for example.
I know that’s not the first or the last time I’ll be watching the video.😑🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼🍀☮️
Glad you found it useful.
Great video. I'd like see another on carbon fiber flat pattern design. Going from 3D model to 2D patterns for the part fabrication.
Thanks very informative !
Glad you liked it. Thanks for the comment!
Whenever i make a composite part i feel like I need a holiday after making the pattern and mold CAD but this, blimey 🤯🤯🤯
I take my laptop on holiday with me to fix this problem! Thanks for watching.
I would like to see the video of the internal layup of the aircraft fuselage.
Thanks again, your videos are very helpful.
Well done for presenting this topic with such clarity. I guess one thing to add would be scaling of the pattern since you are curing at an elevated temperature, unless i missed this point within the video.
It depends how precise and relevant that is for your specific application, but most CAD packages have a relatively simple scaling function should you need to do this.
Like before even the video start 🙏✌️
What, no pictures of the drone flying gracefully over a local lake?
Once again, this was a very helpful video. I liked the simple way of finding a split line on an uncooperative part, and the introduction of the mold clamping bushes along with best practices for using them.
Haha not in this one, but I'm going to need to make some wings for that bird in a future video, I don't think I'll resist taking it up! Glad you liked the info on the bushes, not something that's been well covered before so I hope people will find it useful.
@@easycompositestv I do think that when you talk about patterns and molds and parts, you need to motivate a bit more why (and when) we need to make molds off the patterns vs just making parts off the patterns.
Always a good day when there's a new Easy Composites video. One question. Is there any scaling factor that needs to be applied to the parts to fit precisely to the intended application or are the as measured dimensions accurate because there's not an issue with shrinkage when molded and laid up in this fashion?
It depends how precise and relevant that is for your specific application, but most CAD packages have a relatively simple scaling function should you need to do this.
Its great to see the old video's and see how far he has come in 10+ years and what is now possible to what was possible over 10 years ago. I have spoken to this guy over messages a few times and he is always so helpful. Is there a way of doing any injection moulding with carbon fibre yet or are you just making parts on the computer for plugs?
Plastic injection moulding is not a composite process at this level yet. Resin infusion and resin transfer moulding processes do exist albeit they are slightly different in both the approach and technique. There are some overlap with some composite processes, eg infusion uses vacuum in a bag to draw resin into the mould. Forged carbon fibre is a compression moulding process between 2 tools. So there is some cross over in some areas albeit there is not injection moulding in the traditional plastics sense.
Thank You so much for all of the information over the years. Is there any chance of a video for bladder molding into an aluminum split mold? I am on the hunt for bladder making materials at the moment. Thanks again!
Its something we might cover in a future video. The bladders are generally bespoke to each application with different people having different preferred materials and methods so it is hard to give an easy solution that works for all/most.
Hello, I really love your videos. There is a lot of useful information inside a the videos are well put together. Could you show, how the fuselage would be laminated ?
Thanks for the comment, stay tuned for the fuselage and wing construction!
Hello. Are you planning to make a second part of this video? It would be great if you continued making the drone. Namely the wings and tail. Thanks for your work. I'm looking forward to the new videos, they're like a breath of fresh air in the world of composites.
There will be another video that features the UAV fuselage but that one will cover the machining of the pattern and the laminating of the mould sections. We do also plan to do something on wing construction so you might be in luck there!
It will be wonderful! I'm looking forward to it!))))@@easycompositestv
Could you guys do a video on how you went about designing the brake lever mold you used in your 3D printed mould video? I think that would pair greatly with that video!
A lot of what you see in this video would apply especially using the original lever body to cut from stock to get a mould shape.
Amazing content, thank you!! if you have a branch in America I would only by from you guys
We can ship most of our products to the US with the major couriers.
This video makes me appreciate my silent-click mouse.
Thanks for another perfectly well done video.. as someone working with CAD daily my brain hurt watching the flanges getting made.. with a direction of Z and am angle of 90° the flanges would be perfect and would turn around the whole part.. but apart from that, the video was good as always!
Thanks for your comment. In this case with this model and Fusion, we found this method worked best without causing any geometry issues or the tool failing to work correctly. Other models and other CAD packages may work in a more simple way.
i love that joystick thingy you have for moving in 3d, mind sharing what that is? been doing 3d work for years as a hobbyist and yet to see such a stand alone controller!
It is known as a "Space mouse" and there are a few different models.
Loving your content 😍😍 I think after multiple tutorials, I found myself in this world😅 Just out of curiosity, can you make a suspension control arms using forged carbon? Would be it applicable on the normal car? And how would you need to reinforce it? Thank you😊🥰
It would entirely be down to specific design calculations. Its unlikely to be seen on any road cars as often cost dictates the retention of traditional steel pressed parts. It may theoretically be possible on some race parts.
Helllo ECL, really great video! I have a question, if I want the same dimensions between my orginal part on CAD and the final composite part, should I adjust the scale of the part when I create the mold? Thank you
In general no, as the pattern should be the same size as the CAD drawing, and the mould will be an exact negative of the same dimensions. For some very precise applications, scaling can be done to take into account machining tolerances, CTE during curing processes etc.
I have watched so many of your companies videos you guys made me choose motorsports over aeronautical for BEng, thankyou!
Is it possible for you guys to make a video on design considerations on the final parts themselves? Like how to plan the structure for known loads and then testing with finite element analysis? I have looked around and there seems to be only a few solutions available (at huge cost lol) for composite FEA? Thanks!
Generally CAD tools with such features are only available on the higher end CAD packages or as paid add on features which makes availability not easy. You may be able to access through your uni engineering department such software.
@@easycompositestv thanks, I'll check!
Hey Easy Composites, awesome video! I had a quick question, regarding mold cutting - what tolerances do you typically need for a CNC machine/router?
For the parts shown, we have not added dimensionally or scaled the part for machining purposes. The parts are not super critical dimensionally so no additional tolerance is needed for the CNC machining and finishing processes being used.
If you guys ever want to open a branch in Brasil, count me in.
Thanks for the great videos.
Did you manage to avoid bridging on the locating features/Clamping bushes (35:00) without any radius?
Br
Thanks for the feedback. Yes the features are pretty small so bridging wasn't really an issue due to the way it was lamainted. The laminating video will be ready soon so keep an eye out for that. It'll probably go live on the website first, so check back in the next week or so to see how we did it.
@@easycompositestv Thank you for the quick reply.
I will look forward to the upcoming video.
I use freecad working on a rear diffuser hopefully everything comes out good lol
You may find the tools used work differently or have slightly different flow paths between different CAD packages.
Great video! Why don’t you invert the cnc mold and use that as a final mold instead of making two? 😄 thanks for all the knowledge you shared 😄
For very short production runs or proof of concept/prototyping, machining the mould from tooling board would be fine; however, for production runs and repeated heat cycling of the tools, you need much more durability than a machined model board tool could offer. You can also use the pattern to make a number of tools rather than machining multiple tools.
@@easycompositestv Great response! Thank you 🙏🏻😄
Will there be a video on 3D printing moulds as well? This was a great video but a bit out of my budget...😅
We have done this in a few of our other videos and it's a good method for ambient temperature cures, I'm sure we'll be revisiting it again in the future! Thanks for watching.
She practical CAD technique on my mould design till I composite pattern
Hey, i would like to 3d print a multi-part mould and do a vacuum bag, wet layup. What filament would you reccomend to use for printing the mould? My first thought was to pick something that does not bond with your polyester resin (i got a bucket of that and need to use it on something haha) so i could coat the mould in polyester resin and then laminate the epoxy part onto it. This would propably be relatively easy to de-mould but the issue is that the polyester resin will deform pla prints.
Have you done any research on wether, for example petg is compatible with being coated in polyester resin?
Greetings from germany!
PETG is generally great for moulds and patterns as the PETG naturally releases from most resin systems meaning the main concern is mechanical grip around the layer line detail.
On the topic of drones, the website shows that the lightest weight glass and carbon fiber sheets are ideal for RC model aircraft. Could we get a video or series demonstrating that process? If possible it’d be greatly appreciated.
Sure thing, we have a few videos on drones (multi rotor and fixed wing) in the pipeline so stay tuned!
Hey do you so ship the oven in your site to the US? I’m in Texas and can’t find a oven the size that you all sell here in the states
We sell direct from our UK site to the USA.
@@easycompositestvoh my word thank you I’ll space in the shop for it 🫡
👍👍👍
❤
I'm sorry if this is not the appropriate comment section for this question.
But what are the chances that you will explore basalt fiber composites in a video or as a product?
I find it really fascinating that, what's basicaly a spun natural rock can have almost as high of strength as carbon fiber, and I would love to see a deep dive from you guys into that topic.
It isn't out of the question that we'll do something in the future but currently it isn't a product we carry in our range so unlikely to be a topic covered in the very near future.
I was wondering, how do you consider the thikness of the matirial designing the mold?
Ultimately it depends on a few factors, type of mould, use of mould and the size. They (and some other variables) can influence the design of the mould laminate you end up using.
Finally I saw someone using 3D mouse... 😅
what is the name of the CNC milling you used on this video ?
Can I make a carbon monocoque by bonding cored flat sheets together? Rather than the all-in one autoclave or OOA
In a basic sense yes, however it would need to have been designed and analysed with that construction method and also careful consideration would need to be taken for assembly, bonding, strengthening joins, hard plate locations etc to ensure it can perform as required for its intended load case and use.
@@easycompositestv Thanks for the response. I saw the CLK GTR monocoque, and it's boxy design made me wonder.
Any specific reason to not extend the surfaces from the reference model in a tangent or enforced curvature?
Good question, it really depends on the geometry of the model you're working from, I find that tangent surfaces can often result in bad geometry around complex edges, but that said give it a try and if the results look good then it's fine, there's no exact science to creating a trim allowance.
@@easycompositestv Always interesting to hear others opinion on this, vacuumbucks looks quite similar to these and they always extended surfaces with a curvature continuity. But as you said, some surfaces will go inverted if the surfaces are 👎 from the start.
Isn't it common outside automotive to have a masterline to reference the model's drafts to? 🤔
Your flying wing likes like Skywalker X8 but smaller, also I found that the nose is a bit sharp than in original X8.
Yes it's very similar to the X8, about 20% smaller but being carbon the internal volume is larger. Thanks for watching!
Question/suggestion: Pls show how you design the actual part figuring out the fiber layers, their shape, total thickness etc.
Is there a feature in Fusion which can design a laminated object calculating for layers of thickness and their shape, split the shape into shapes that can be cut on a plane surface, create cutting stencils for the plies and so?
Some CAD packages will have advanced composite tools within them, or available to buy, to help with some part of the design process. The same goes with FEA tools to help you analyse the design. Similar with ply template and cutting tools.
cool to know, thanks!! @@easycompositestv
Would you be able to do this in FreeCad?
Afraid we've got no specific experience with FreeCad so cannot advise unfortunately.
I think I love you