METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING TRUCK BODIES

33 A machine for manufacturing a unitary glass fibre reinforced body shell includes a carriage which is movable along the mold and a turntable which is mounted on a carriage for rotation about a first axis extending in the direction of longitudinal movement of the carriage. An arm is slidably mounted on the turntable for radial movement and a dispenser is located on the arm for dispensing glass fibre reinforced resin onto the surface of the mold. A guidance system is provided which interconnects the turret and the slidable arm and is operable to cause the arm to reciprocate with respect to the turret in a radial direction to maintain a substantially constant length of trajectory extending between the dispenser and the wall of the mold. A drive system is provided for rotatably driving the turret about the axis. The carriage is normally stored on a mobile end cap which may be moved from one mold to another and serves to close one end of the mold. A canopy is mounted with one end connected to the mold and the other end connected to the dispenser carriage such that as the dispenser carriage moves along the mold, the canopy is deployed to cover the open upper end of the mold to form an enclosed chamber from which fumes may be extracted. The method of forming the required body shell includes the steps of dispensing a coating of glass fibre reinforced resin onto the forming surface of a mold while moving the dispenser along successive longitudinally displaced U-shaped paths which traverse 34 the forming surface to form a continuous coating covering the top and side forming walls of the mold cavity. The further step of compacting the coating by applying a compactor to the inner surface of the coating and moving the compactor along the same path as that followed by the dispenser at a point located downstream from the dispenser.