Rick Mullins: It's really looking nice, Phil. You are having much better success with the infusion than I had. I was constantly battling air leaks. I had read somewhere you needed ports every meter but you seem to be doing well with half that number. Also you may already be doing this but the rotary cutters that you can buy at any fabric store cut the carbon fiber fabric very nicely and easily, even when it's too dull to cut normal fabric. Also those vibrating cutters work really well on the finished parts and don't cut skin if you slip.
Yup - on the longer infusion jobs I used two or more resin infusion ports spaced along the table along with a length of spiral-cut tube running the length of the table and between the infusion ports. This sped up the infusions big time... but even then, resin infusion would often stall (or slow down too much) after about 6 - 8' (working on a 24" wide table / vac bag.)
My work table surface is made from 3/4" thick melamine covered chipboard. I found that the melamine would become porous after a few vacuum infusion jobs and would start to allow air up through micro-holes. This never became a problem and the vacuum pump coped very well. Worst case - you end up with a slightly resin-rich part.
