We are very happy to announce DUNA-USA Inc.’s sponsorship for Tachyon! DUNA-USA Inc. manufactures a large range of low and high density foams, as well as chemicals and equipment for utilizing these foams. They have sponsored CalSol with high-density tooling foam and specialty adhesives for joining the foam into larger blanks for milling, and we look forward to continuing our productive partnership through Tachyon and beyond.
DUNA-USA Inc.’s high-density tooling foam is dense enough to hold fine details when machined, and is also nonreactive with a wide range of primers and chemicals. These qualities are essential for making high-quality “positive” or “male” mold patterns, which can then be used to create “negative” or “female” molds for part fabrication.
Large pieces of high-density tooling foam can be very heavy, and a single piece of foam large enough for Tachyon’s molds would be prohibitively difficult to transport and store for long periods. We plan to use DUNA-USA Inc.’s specialty foam adhesive to join together pieces of tooling foam into the required shape and size for our machining blank. We had a chance to practice with their foam adhesive and were very happy with the result: the adhesive expands as it cures to fill any gaps or unevenness between the foam pieces. Not only does this result in a very strong bond, this will also allow us to create our mold patterns without having to fill-in the glue lines after machining.
Our positive patterns for Zephyr were machined from Styrofoam. While we were create successful molds from these plugs, the low density and chemical vulnerability of Styrofoam necessitated much additional sanding and extra protective layers. DUNA-USA Inc.’s generous sponsorship will help us avoid these issues for Tachyon and aid us in making our best molds yet!
DUNA-USA Inc.’s logo is proudly displayed our website, and will be carried on Tachyon as she races in American Solar Challenge 2018, World Solar Challenge 2019, and beyond. We encourage you to visit their website at www.dunagroup.com/usa/home for more information on their wide range of foams, chemicals, and equipment.
Keep posted for more blog posts and pictures as we begin our mold-making journey with the help of DUNA and other generous sponsors!