SERVICES

Fiberglass Molds + Parts

With over 60+ years of experience combined, here at Crosslink Laminates Inc. we manufacture custom fiberglass parts and molds for our valuable customers. We provide free estimates and enjoy working with you during the process to ensure the best quality product for your needs.

We use various techniques to produce your parts or molds.

Mold Manufacturing

Fiberglass molds are commonly used to make multiple versions of a part that may have a complicated shape. Using a fiberglass mold has several advantages: the materials are inexpensive, they are simple to produce, last many years and can be used to generate hundreds of parts.

Open Molding

Open molding is a low cost and effective method to manufacture composites. It is a single-sided mold open to the atmosphere. Open mold processes include, spray-up (chopping) and hand lay-up. This well established molding method is used to produce boats, RV components, truck cabs and fenders, spas, tubs, showers, and other fiberglass composite products.

Spray-up (chopping)

Spray-up is an open-molding composites fabrication process where resin and reinforcements are sprayed onto a reusable mold. The chopped laminate process uses a chopper applicator, which cuts continuous strand roving into short fiber lengths, and deposits resin, known as “chop”, on a mold surface. The resin and fiber may be applied separately or simultaneously chopped in a combined flow from a chopper gun. Workers roll out the spray-up to compress the laminate.

Hand Lay-up

Hand lay-up is a manual open-molding method. The process involves the use of roll stock reinforcements, such as chopped strand mat, woven, knitted or textile fabrics, where the reinforcement is place by hand, then saturated in resin. The resin and catalyst mixture can be manipulated to allow for ideal processing condition.

Vacuum Bag Molding

Vacuum bag molding is a close-molding, clamping method that uses atmospheric pressure to exert force on the vacuum bag that holds the adhesive or resin-coated components of a lamination in place until the adhesive cures. The pressure on the laminate removes entrapped air, excess resin and compacts the laminate. A higher percentage of fiber reinforcement is the result. Also, vacuum bagging reduces styrene emissions. The effectiveness of this technique permits the laminating of a wide range of materials such as synthetic fibers and core materials.

Vacuum Infusion Processing

Vacuum infusion is a variation of vacuum bagging where the resin is introduced into the mold after the vacuum has pulled the bag down and compacted the laminate. The method is defined as having lower than atmospheric pressure in the mold cavity. The reinforcement and core material are laid-up dry in the mold. This is done manually and provides the opportunity to precisely position the reinforcement. When the resin is pulled into the mold the laminate is already compacted; therefore, there is no room for excess resin. This method is suitable to mold very large structures. If the pressure in the mold is lower than atmospheric pressure, it is vacuum infusion.

Resin Transfer Molding (RTM)

Resin transfer molding (RTM) is used as an intermediate volume closed-molding process for producing composites. The RTM process is to inject resin under pressure into a mold cavity. Vacuum assist can be used to enhance resin flow in the mold cavity. The process is versatile and can fabricate products with embedded objects such as foam cores or other components in addition to the fiber preform. If the pressure in the mold is higher than atmospheric pressure, it is resin transfer molding.