Can I make carbon fibre?

I've never made anything of fibreglass or carbon but it dosn't seem that it would be that difficult. Can I just make some molds from foam or wax then lay on layers of carbon and resin?

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Gone fishing

We use pink insulation foam (4'X8' by 1/2" and then 3M spray adhesive to make blocks the size we need. Shave and sand into desired shape and then lay over the top of that. It's not the prettiest method, but it's cheap and functional. Our Audi used to have a single day made front bumper and later a hood scoop, both made using this method. I'd practice alot with GRP, or start with items that the final finish isn't as big of a deal. My friend Mitch made a mold from his Primitive skid plate and made himself a Kevlar skid plate for his Subaru. Good practice and the shinyness, final appearance, etc. isn't a big deal for a skid plate.

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Grant Hughes

Yep it is about that easy.

You can make bucks ( male molds) out of blue styrofoam skinned with bondo, two part foam, metal, wood skinned with bondo, lots of options. Some really good books out there fer sure on this topic.

Get good resin - epoxy

Beware - Carbon prices have sky rocketed lately. There's a war on dontcha know. If weight/strenghth combo isn't absolutley crucial, lay up with S-glass and just have the top sheet carbonium for bling.

Spend the time on the buck, making it puss. The rest is monkey work.

As well, also too you can construct stuff using flat sheet and angle stock using metal fab techniques - glue and rivet the joints. the stuff is bitch to weld...

Take it easy

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Rich Howard
Indianapolis, Indiana
1967

I used to make air boxes and seat bottoms and junk-n-stuff and friends made gas tanks for our motocross bikes. We were in our 20s and living in Santa Cruz and when I first wanted to make something and asked one friend answered "Hey, surfers can make boards, so how difficult could it be?"

Got those key skill needs:
20s
surfers intelligence and attention span.

Got at least those, then you're set.

Rotsa ruck.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I make/made a boat load of stuff out of carbon/fiber, carbon/kevlar and some strange composites like nomex honeycomb.

Before you start spending money on stuff you may not need go buy Competition Car Composites by Simon McBeath, if you didn't buy it and come here complaining because something went wrong, I will make brutal fun of you, ridicule you and tell everybody about it.

Seriously it is not that difficult after you buy the book go check www.fibreglast.com, an ocean of knowledge and very reasobanle prices for all composite supplies you can imagine.

Remeber BUY THE BOOK !!!

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Cheers
M.Samli
Phoenix AZ
Gaylant VR4
EVO III GSR (Stolen)


Rallies are no place for traitors

oops double post.

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Gone fishing



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2006 07:43PM by david amor.

Thanks guys. I'll find that book. And I promise no more mortens...erm I mean questions till I figure out what I'm doing. I just enjoy making stuff myself and although I can do basic fab work its hard to make unusual shapes from alum sheet.

And no JVL I'm beyond my twenties, canucks don't surf but I may have ADD. Will I still find sucess?

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Gone fishing

david amor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks guys. I'll find that book. And I promise no
> more mortens...erm I mean questions till I figure
> out what I'm doing. I just enjoy making stuff
> myself and although I can do basic fab work its
> hard to make unusual shapes from alum sheet.
>
> And no JVL I'm beyond my twenties, canucks don't
> surf but I may have ADD. Will I still find sucess?
>
> In search of the eternal buzz

Hey Dave, a lot of those boys found the "eternal buzz", but I'd wear a respirator if'n I wuz youse!


And why don't you surf up there?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Lots of surfing in Tofino I hear!! Better bring your 10mm wetsuit

I wonder if they punch out newbies like in Aus. I'd love to go surfing again.

Skye

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www.rallyrace.net

Ok maybe they DO surf in B.C. but like Quebec they are not really part of Canada. B.C. I believe is actually a colony of the Country of California which is just south of the U.S. border. And Quebec BTW is still owned by France.

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Gone fishing

david amor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok maybe they DO surf in B.C. but like Quebec they
> are not really part of Canada. B.C. I believe is
> actually a colony of the Country of California
> which is just south of the U.S. border. And Quebec
> BTW is still owned by France.
>
> In search of the eternal buzz
And the "State of Mind" of Cal-forlorn-ia may have advanced outposts in the Eastern suburbs of Seattle, those wastelands of all but glitz and shopping called Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, calling Washington a part of the miasma is as they used to say down South "Thems fighting words".

Amor, you owe the entire State of Washington a grovelling on your knees tearful apology.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I will add that I sometimes wet out the cloth on a wetting board then lay the wet cloth into or on the mold, this thends to lower the mass of the glue vs fiber.

It is nice to hold tension in the carbon if you are building something for strength as crip makes weak.

Vacume bagging is nice and worthwhile when doing parts that strength matters.

D

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In the long run reality always wins.

Ok so a year and a bit has passed and I'm making some really decent carbon pieces even selling some stuff. I just made a yard of carbon/kevlar/carbon sheet and the finish is near flawless. With the pieces I'm making for other guys cars I'm getting all the stuff I wanted for free. Thinking about making myself a super cool kevlar skid plate- just cause I can.

I think I like making stuff as much as I like driving and breaking stuff!


Oh and I read the book.

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Gone fishing



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2007 07:15AM by david amor.

Pics.

Mitch made himself a Kevlar skid plate and it ended up being a waste. It kept catching on fire from oil soaking in. Of course, one could argue that he should not have oil on the skidplate, but that's a different story. Happened both in NA and turbo form, but only really bad once the car was turbocharged.

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Grant Hughes

Yeah everyone wants pics these days. Unfortunately I only recently got a computer at home since all my investments were tied up with Fuji Heavy Industries and I'm having trouble figuring out how to post up pics but I'll get there.

Fire??? Why be worried about silly things like fire when we're blasting down logging roads with danger around every corner!

Actually I hadn't thought about the flamability aspect. I still wanna make one though so I can make more good ones and sell them on Ebay for a million bucks. I can even call them "Race proven!"

At every service we'll remove it and have it on display so the competition KNOWS we're serious. hahahahahaha

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Gone fishing