Brief Description: Molded an engine plenum out of fiberglass.
My buddy John had to leave today (Friday) because strong headwinds would be blowing on the return flight path to Nevada on Saturday. He had about an 8 1/2 hour flight ahead of him. Thanks John for all the help. Hoping you find a tailwind somewhere.
One of our EAA chapter 187 tech counselors, Seth, is building an RV-7. He built a fiberglass plenum by molding it to the bottom side of the top cowling. He laid down thin plastic in the cowling to keep it from adhereing to to the cowling. After trimming, he then made L shaped flanges that were riveted to the molding and then nutplated to accept screws through the baffles.
He said that I could use his plenum as a mold to make my plenum. He came over to my hangar with his plenum and we molded mine. We used one layer of carbon fiber and three layers of 8 oz glass fiber cloth which I had ordered from AC Spruce. I had the West System resin and hardener which is really easy to mix with their pump system.
It only took us about two hours, even though we messed up the first layer which we were able to resurrect before the epoxy started to set up. Seth gave me some great instruction. He once built a Varieze. After learning how to "stiple" with bristle brushes, I feel that I can now do just about any fiberglass part or repair.
