Mounting the top heat blanket

[prospectsnow]

I was taking a look at some of the factory vids.
Their presses attach sheet metal to their cat, which mounts the blanket to the top form.

I'm trying to figure out a good method to have 1 sheet, that bends with the cat, to a range of sizes. One big factor in this is the fact that the mounts actually change distance depending on the state of the cat track. In other words, the length of the cat track when the press is inflated is longer than when the hose is flat.

I have relatively thin piece of sheet metal and am going to cut 1" slots that allow the mounting screws to slide when the track changes shape.

I'll snap some picks when I get down to the shop, but wondering if anyone has tried this and had good/bad results.

[MontuckyMadman]

don't mount the sheet to the track.
Sandwich the blanket between two sheets to protect it below the track.
This is how we do it.

[chrismp]

our setup looks like this:

cattrack
4mm mdf sheet
heat blanket
aluminum sheet (top of the cassette)

the mdf sheet helps with not heating up the cattrack to get more even heat top vs bottom. a metal cattrack basically is a huge heatsink if you don't insulate it somehow.

[prospectsnow]

So I put together a quick attempt to suspend the cat track. MM, The 2 sheets to surrounding the blanket sounds like a good way to go although are you loading it back in with each layup?

My quick attempt uses some cotter pins cut down to about 3/4 of an inch to keep the sheet metaltight to the track. I then put a sheet of thick glass used on boats to protect the blanket.

Chrismp, I'm liking your MDF to keep heat away from the track although does it bend enough to not snap when changing sizes. In other words if it curls around the tip/tail will break?

After the photo I shaved down the bottom side of the pins in case they were to get in the way. Did a few inflate/deflates and it seems to be holding the metal to the track and keeping the blanket in place. Wondering what 4 letter words I'll be yelling at myself in the long term for this.

[chrismp]

i haven't had any problems with the mdf breaking yet...but i build snowboards which i think usually have a more shallow tip/tail radius.

[MontuckyMadman]

you can suspend the sheets and not have to mess wt the track.
This is without the top mold and not enough bungees or springs but you get the picture.

[prospectsnow]

Now I see MM. That is better indeed. Looks way cleaner than having a buzzilion bungees and way less of a hassle.