How would you put carbon fiber on like your dash ect.

 

its pretty much exactly the same as fiberglass only much more expensive and harder to work with... Ive never done it but that is what Ive read. What Ive heard is that when using cf you should first do everything in fiberglass then do one layer of cf over the fiberglass. Good luck if you going to try, I'd be interested in seing how it works out.

 

Thanks yeah i found where i can get some i guess i will buy it and just play with it to figure it out. If anyone else as any help i would love the comments.

 

joel647
You're confusing 2 methods : CF can be formed from pre-impregnated sheets , meaning that the resin is already in the CF material and is in a dry sheet form . That requires an autoclave to heat the material and for it to be formed around a plug . You can also vaccum bag the stuff : basically laying raw CF ( like fiberglass cloth ) onto a mold , just like fiberglass , and bagging the part so that the resin is *sucked into* the material and you get your part .

Me ? I hardly have that kinda fundage for an autoclave and whatnot so I covered the part I wanted to copy with a release agent ( clingwrap ) and laid up the CF just like it were fiberglass . Instead of vaccum bagging it to get the resin embedded , I laid the CF out on a sheet of glass and really went to it with a stiff paintbrush , then applied even more resin to get it to stick to the mold and to the other sheets . You can tell where the material changes direction and where I sorta lost the weave a bit in a couple of spots ? The bad thing is that using my ghetto assed method is that the surface gets air bubbles and pocking . I trimmed the edges to shape , sanded and polished , re-resined where it needed it and finally clearcoated the crap out of it till it looked decent . Lots of work ? Eh , about a week of evenings allowing for time to cure etc but not too bad . Besides , if no one makes the part it isn't like you're going to get it any quicker or cheaper ! Coast wasn't bad : the resin is just regular old stuff and CF material isn't all that expensive . www.aircraftspruce.com has good selection .


A couple of things about CF : it cuts easily when raw or finished , sands and shapes easily too but its some hardcore **** . WEAR A GOOD RESPIRATOR , long sleeves - don't be cheap , get a couple throwaway paper suits at the hardware store - and gloves and eye protection . CF is nasty stuff if it gets into your eyes , skin and lungs .

HTH - I know that was pretty broad but it isn't that hard to do - after years of fixing mashed up bodies , it was pretty easy and fun .

 

I just got done wrapping some of my interior pieces with carbon fiber. To wrap them it is pretty easy. And i just ordered a starter kit from west systems and a roll of carbon fiber. Here is a very good and detailed write up

http://www.6gc.net/index.php?action=howto&itu=125

I found it to be easy, but it can be time consuming

Best of luck.

Ill have pics up soon of my finished products

 

I know it is supposed to be easy but is there any company that you can send plastic peices to that will do it for you? I know there used to be guy on this forum that did it, but he has since stopped doing it.

 

if you want your pieces to turn out nicely you need:

fiberglass for making the female molds
Vacuum pump. The stronger the better but you can make your own using a refrigerator condensor. do an internet search for "the cheap little sucker"
Vacuum bagging supplies (BST, peel-ply, etc)
carbon fiber fabric
Scale to measure out your matrix to get the correct ratio
non-wax coated dixie cups
some puddy knives to spread the matrix into the carbon
a mould release agent. (pva if you're going to be working on a sheet of glass)
Matrix/ epoxy

i think that is everything off the top of my head. If you want to do it correctly you need to take your time and do a lot of research.

a good place to start is composites.about.com