Hey guys/gals of the NW,

Do any of you have experience/known any places where I could find some "cheap" carbon fiber (no I was not trying to make a pun )? I am trying to learn how to use carbon fiber and I really don't need any of good quality as of right now. I also would like to know if any of you know where to find the resin you would use with the carbon fiber.

If anyone has had experience with CF work, please feel free to post your experiences and what to watch out for.

Thanks.

 

you will need more than just fiber and resin.... I am pretty sure to do it properly, it needs to vacuum sealed to pull any excess resin, bubbles, wrinkles out.

 

Yeah, I was talking to my dad and how Boeing manufactures it.

He said it would be a good idea to use a oven to cure it along with a vacuum for the air bubbles.

Hmm..

 

I have a lot of experiance with it...........my experiance is with real "wet CF".........but the same principals apply............what are you trying to make..........I can get you on the right path........but even cheap cf is not cheap...........more like $99 a yard..........a shop vac is needed...........3m tape..........a sheet of aluminum or steel to make a work surface for the vacume..............some form of plastic sheeting to make the vacume bag............

you need high grade boat resin that goes dry clear.........also need good clearcoat,but for interior parts Krylon will do fine............

pretty much anything you can think of building I can build..........also Nebster on SL is workign with CF buildign interior parts and he can also give ideas on how to work with it.......and where to get it........

 

Hit up TAP Plastics in Bellevue, they have all the supplies there, remember that if you are shaping / wraping something tinfoil works great for the surface you want to shape / mold it to because (most) resin won't adhere to it!

 

TAP Plastics..okay. Yeah I might try to get some quotes. I think something I will try is trying to wrap my fuse box just for fun. But yes, I will have to do a lot more research.

So a list of things I would need are:

Carbon fiber sheets
Resin (high grade boat resin)
Shop Vac
Misc.

If I do decide on try to do this, BZinn would you show me how to make a vacuum?

 

I know for fiberglass stuff Fiberlay in Seattle is good, as for the Carbon Fiber sheeting I sadly can't help you there. Goodluck, I have seen some cool homemade carbon projects and always love to see more. Go crazy and use Carbon Kevlar!!

 

yeah I can show you how to work withthe vacume.......we have to build a small pump using the vacume..........it is easy to do............finding the high temp plastic is the hard part........it is like a green mylar type stuff that is transparent.

 

heck you maybe able to find a small vacuum pump online for cheap... may work better than a shop vac... and deff more portible... they are about the same size as a air compressor pump for airbrushing etc

 

I have found CF sheets online for $45-50 for some thinner stuff with a normal 2X2 weave. It would work good for wrapping stuff.
http://www.shopmaninc.com/carbonpage.html

 

Here's how we did all of my interior pieces:



Sand... resin... lay carbon... resin.. dry... sand... resin... dry... sand... resin... dry... sand sand sand until its completely smooth... trim the excess... clearcoat.

 

^How I am used to doing it...the vacum thing sounded difficult.

 

Not to dificult by what I have researched.

For small parts just use the"Food saver" vacume sealer.

 

I wonder how stretched cf vinyl would look with clear resin lol , or would it bleed right through ? Some places are creating vinyl patterns that are looking pretty realistic these days

 

To be honest the vinyl cf would not look any differant under resin and clear........i know I could make two side by side and no one could tell it was not real........

 

BZinn1 I'm going to give it a try, do you think the resin will bleed through the vinyl after it's applied? and would it be able to be removed?

 

The best way to work with it is in a mold.......if the part is a mold then it needs a product called Freecote put onthe mold to act as a release agent........if you are just covering your parts with CF then you willwant the resin to soak through and stick.........you can also use a preadhesive like 3M spray to get the CF to stick and be workable prior to the resin and clear........

I would be at the higher end of CF work and would use the part to make a mold and then make a new part out of CF from that mold.........but that is just me.........covering the part with CF would work just fine and it would look great........I looked at Cynce's and they did agood job of it.......I am jealous in fact as they did a few complex parts.......

 

I would consider making a second piece, I'm gonna give the vinyl a shot. but would it bleed through? and touch the plastic