Building Hatches

[LilRichard]

So some of you may remember that I bought some hatch molds about 8 months ago.  Well my floor is going in this weekend, so I need to get the main bilge hatch done.  I have never built parts on a mold (I am learning) but I laid up the receiver last night, and the actual hatch door tonight.  Here is the receiver coming off the mold:





Here is the front side of the receiver:







It did not come out perfect but I was happy with the results.  A few small voids, but I will grind them out and fill with putty.  The whole thing needs to be sanded anyway, so no big deal.

Here is me getting the cloth ready for the hatch door mold:





The mold was waxed three times with partall #2, then sprayed with partall #10 (PVA).  







Can't wait to pull this off the mold.  I will obviously core the door... prolly 3/4" ply.

[RickK]

That looks like it'll be a nice finished set.  8)
For the finished receiver, what do you do now, clean up the outer flange edge, mark the floor where it goes minus the outer flange, and then router out a 1/4" deep x 1" wide groove so it will sit flush with the top of the floor?

[LilRichard]

Yup, basicallly that is about it.  I need to see how it will sit in the floor first, but I imagine I will have to do a little routing.

Woke up early this morning, really wanted to see the product.  Pulled the hatch door... looked good.  Cool thing is that the door has a built in recess for the hatch pull...

Time to core it now.  I'll post pics later.

[Undertow2]

...and I guess the molds are just out there to buy??  Where? How much?

Dude, your job is coming along nicely.  A lot of work but you will get more satisfaction when its over than me.  I wish I had the time and the know how.  Actually, have some of the know-how just that I work 60-70 hours a week.  Not too much experience with glass.

[LilRichard]

Thanks!

Actually no, I have not seen tons of molds out there.  I got really lucky and found a guy getting out of the business... he happened to have two sets of molds (one square, one rectangular) and I jumped on them.  

I understand about the long hours... that's why my project stalled for a while... I was doing 60hrs pretty regularly and it's hard to get excited about grinding when you get home!

[KeithG]

That looks really cool  You know we really appreciate you showing us this stuff, if it wasnt for you guys, I really don't have any where local to see this kinda thing.  Aluminum is pretty much King here.  So keep up the good work.

Keith

[LilRichard]

Appreciate it... all I can say is I was very inspired by seeing guys doing this stuff before I started... so I just hope I can help some folks along in return!

[The Bear]

Awesome work! coming along beautifully!