Magnum Venus Plastech Impregnator Roll - Manual (Page 4)

IMPREGNATOR CONCEPT
The Magnum Venus Roving Impregnator System was designed for rapid, economical wet-out of
reinforcement (fiberglass) with polyester resin. This is achieved in the following manner.
The reinforcement is mounted on mandrel shafts above Impregnator. Material is fed down through the
rubber feed rolls. These rolls are spring loaded and provide a means for spooling material off the
mandrels. Material then passes through a resin bath, which is formed by the end dam at either end of
resin rolls. Precatalyzed resin is supplied by a Magnum Venus H.I.S. dispensing system, through a
resin manifold and into spreader tubes. The spreader tubes deposit resin on both sides of the
reinforcement in amounts required for impregnation. The gap or nip of resin rolls is controlled by
micrometer adjustment, allowing only the proper ratio of resin to glass to pass through the rolls as
reinforcement exits the machine.
TYPES OF REINFORCEMENTS
Various types of reinforcement are being processed with the Magnum Venus Impregnator units. These
range from woven roving to chopped strand mat. There are, however, limitations to what kinds and at
what rates various materials can be impregnated.
Woven Products: As a general rule the more loosely a reinforcement is woven the better it lends itself
to impregnation. A tight weave material will act as a fluid barrier and will not let resin pass through the
glass strands as readily. As a result, it is very difficult to impregnate more than one layer of a tightly
woven material at a time, where as a loose woven reinforcement will allow resin to pass through, and
multiple layers can be impregnated. There is a point in multiplayer impregnating where it becomes
impractical to impregnate; again this depends on type of material and weave.
Chopped Strand Mat: Chopped strand mat materials are difficult to process through the Impregnator
without having some form of wet strength support. This support can be in the form of machine
stitching, additional binder, or by processing a woven product or unidirectional material with the mat.
It is possible to process chopped strand mat without a woven product as a carrier if the following steps
are taken into consideration.
1. A maximum drop distance from machine to mold surface of 7 feet (or less) is maintained.
2. A mat with maximum wet strength is employed.
3. The machine is kept running on a continuous basis.
4. If stops are required, the operator must advance mat through the wet-out bath every 15-30
seconds to keep the mat binder material from dissolving completely and mat from coming apart.
Most all manufacturers of glass reinforcements have chopped strand mat products that can be
processed in the Impregnator. It is a matter of individual preference as to which one is utilized.
SPECIALTY MATERIALS
There are several specialty reinforcing materials on the market that can be used with the Magnum
Venus Plastech Impregnator. Unidirectional is the most often utilized of these specialty reinforcements.
To be successful using unidirectional in the Impregnator, a material that has a cross stitch every few
inches should be used. This will insure good integrity of the material until it is placed in the mold.
You will find that unidirectional materials wet out much more readily than do woven or chopped mat
materials. This is due to the loose strands of glass as opposed to a tight weave or compacted mat