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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

>The breather is in contact with the lower  foam
>bed. The core and mylars lie in the lower bed and so are not in
>contact  with any previously used breather.

As you know from my video, I place the cores in the mylars, then the mylars
go inside a release film/breather envelope, this then goes in the bag. The
beds are outside the bag. I can't tell for sure from your post, but it
sounds as if you might be putting the beds inside the bag or perhaps are not
using the top bed at all. If you are not using the top bed and are placing
weights directly on top of the vac bag, this could cause dents to appear in
the wing. Many years ago I tried putting bricks directly on top of the vac
bag without using the top foam bed. The weight of the brick and the uneven
surface of the brick caused dents in the top of the wings.

If you continue to have mysterious problems then I would recommend that you
follow the procedures in the video as closely as you can. If that produces
good results then you can start changing one thing at a time if you want to
go back to your own methods. It sounds as if you are doing quite a few
things differently from my methods. One or more of those things are
producing unexpected and unwanted results. You likely are encountering a
problem which I have never encountered since I have never used those
methods.

>I never get any of these defects in glassed balsa parts, even with very
>light, soft balsa.

This makes me think about something that melts the foam. I do know that
unmixed epoxy (or more likely, the hardener) will melt foam. Could there be
a chance that you are not mixing the epoxy thoroughly? Little lines of
unmixed epoxy perhaps melt little trenches in the foam core.


>These defects sometimes appear just over the foam,
>sometimes over the foam and the uni. Since the glass surface in the 'dent'
is
>smooth, well wet-out and well bonded to the core, it's getting some
consolidation
>pressure in the bag. That's why I suspect trapped air or volatiles  of some
>sort.

I'm not sure I totally understand this but this does not sound like melted
foam is the problem. It does sound like trapped air although I have never
personally experienced a "trapped air" problem other than the lifted paint
problem that I described earlier. Once again I would suggest following my
procedures from the video more closely. I only use a squeegee for layups on
layups that only use glass. I use a foam roller to spread epoxy on all
carbon and Kevlar layups.

>Perhaps I'm just crushing the foam with too much pressure for 150?

Too much vacuum on softer foams can cause the entire core to get compressed
a few thousandths of an inch. It can also cause tips or leading edges to get
crushed in odd ways when the mylar extends past the foam and cannot conform
readily to the curves. There is no reason suspect excess vacuum as a cause
for thin lines or depressions in the center areas of the core.

Phil


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