Carbonfiber work..
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2002
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From: Sodertalje/Sweden
Carbonfiber work..
Has anyone of you worked with carbonfiber?I`m planning on building a new centerconsol and handbrakecover in Carbon and was wondering how the material is to work with? :smash: :smash: :cheers:
Le Mans Master
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From: Standing still with all my might Texas
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St. Jude Donor '09-'11
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (BB wowbagger)
I have molded a number of parts for my model jets out of carbon fiber.
I am guessing that you are planning to use woven cloth and not tow?
The heaviest cloth I have used is 6oz (sq yard), and I find it slightly easier to handle than heavy fiberglass cloth. It can be a little difficult to get it to lay down on the mold surface with radical complex curves, but once it is fully wetted out you can work it very well with a brush or a roller to "train" the fibers how you like. If you have complex curves I would suggest that you look for a satin (aka "crowfoot") weave fabric, it will be much easier to work with and leaves a really nice pattern in the finished part too. Satin weave is usually a lot more expensive than plain weave though.
Since carbon cloth is so friggin expensive I would also suggest that you only use it for the first couple of layers, then switch to heavy fiberglass for building up the thickness, this will save you a lot of money.
OBTW, I use West Systems epoxy or EZ-Lam epoxy resin for most of my molding.
I am guessing that you are planning to use woven cloth and not tow?
The heaviest cloth I have used is 6oz (sq yard), and I find it slightly easier to handle than heavy fiberglass cloth. It can be a little difficult to get it to lay down on the mold surface with radical complex curves, but once it is fully wetted out you can work it very well with a brush or a roller to "train" the fibers how you like. If you have complex curves I would suggest that you look for a satin (aka "crowfoot") weave fabric, it will be much easier to work with and leaves a really nice pattern in the finished part too. Satin weave is usually a lot more expensive than plain weave though.
Since carbon cloth is so friggin expensive I would also suggest that you only use it for the first couple of layers, then switch to heavy fiberglass for building up the thickness, this will save you a lot of money.
OBTW, I use West Systems epoxy or EZ-Lam epoxy resin for most of my molding.
Team Owner
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From: All humans are vermin in the eyes of Guru VA
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Re: Carbonfiber work.. (Kevin_73)
My dad works with a company that makes carbon fiber canoes. they owe him a whole bunch of carbon fiber boats. I was going to see if they could make me a carbon fiber body for the vette.
C6 the C5 of tomorrow
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Twin Cities Minnesota
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (Guru_4_hire)
My dad works with a company that makes carbon fiber canoes. they owe him a whole bunch of carbon fiber boats. I was going to see if they could make me a carbon fiber body for the vette.
Course I do know a guy that has a bunch of body panel molds for sale...
Almost bought them but he wouldn't sell the L88 hood mold :mad
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,165
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From: Where are the Smoky Mountain Cruisers? Not Correctly Restored Stingray
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (427V8)
My dad works with a company that makes carbon fiber canoes. they owe him a whole bunch of carbon fiber boats. I was going to see if they could make me a carbon fiber body for the vette.
:eek:
Course I do know a guy that has a bunch of body panel molds for sale...
Almost bought them but he wouldn't sell the L88 hood mold :mad
:eek:
Course I do know a guy that has a bunch of body panel molds for sale...
Almost bought them but he wouldn't sell the L88 hood mold :mad
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 2002
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From: All humans are vermin in the eyes of Guru VA
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Cruise-In V Veteran
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (74 vert)
I was thinking about talking to Zip products and find out how much carbon fiber and lightweight kevlar they would need to make a body. I figure that a canoe is 16-19 feet long and around 3 feet wide. our vette is 15 1/2 feet long and 6 feet wide at the widest point. So I figure we would need similiar amounts of material as we would need for 6-8 ultralight race canoes. And the woven carbon fiber body would be GORGEOUS to see under just some clear coat.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2000
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Re: Carbonfiber work.. (Guru_4_hire)
Do you mean...like THIS
I can't say by any means this was easy. And it is far from perfect, but the prismatic property of CF really helps hide minor flaws. If I was to do this again, I would vacuum bag it using pre-preg carbon. Wet lay up works much better with fiberglass because you can't see the flaws under the gelcoat. Not so with CF. By far the most difficult part of this project was building the plug. It is easily %80 of the work and it took several iteration to get it right. I still need to do the parking brake console but that will be easier as I will just lay over the existing console.
Good luck
Chris
I can't say by any means this was easy. And it is far from perfect, but the prismatic property of CF really helps hide minor flaws. If I was to do this again, I would vacuum bag it using pre-preg carbon. Wet lay up works much better with fiberglass because you can't see the flaws under the gelcoat. Not so with CF. By far the most difficult part of this project was building the plug. It is easily %80 of the work and it took several iteration to get it right. I still need to do the parking brake console but that will be easier as I will just lay over the existing console.
Good luck
Chris
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2002
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From: Las Vegas - Just stop perpetuating myths please.
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (BB wowbagger)
Whats wrong with good old fiberglass? Cheap, easy to work with, paint able. Little bit heavier but I won't be flying my corvette anywhere.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Where are the Smoky Mountain Cruisers? Not Correctly Restored Stingray
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (cardo0)
Whats wrong with good old fiberglass? Cheap, easy to work with, paint able. Little bit heavier but I won't be flying my corvette anywhere.
C6 the C5 of tomorrow
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Twin Cities Minnesota
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (cardo0)
Whats wrong with good old fiberglass? Cheap, easy to work with, paint able. Little bit heavier but I won't be flying my corvette anywhere.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2000
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Re: Carbonfiber work.. (BB wowbagger)
There's a guys in Netherlands who has done loads of CF work on cars and this C4 has many CF bits on it.
The guy would also be interested in making CF stuff for C3s if there was enough demand. :cheers:
The guy would also be interested in making CF stuff for C3s if there was enough demand. :cheers:
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
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Re: Carbonfiber work.. (groovyjay)
The guy is full of crap, there's not a square mm of carbon fiber on his car
I've seen the car up close and seriously it's the biggest POS. Not even worthy of the name corvette anymore. The lights are hideous and installed in a bubba-ed way.
He's been telling this BS crap about the carbon fiber panels for years but still nothing
This car is in the league: stickers and big wheels make a race car.
BTW he totalled the vette some weeks ago
I've seen the car up close and seriously it's the biggest POS. Not even worthy of the name corvette anymore. The lights are hideous and installed in a bubba-ed way.
He's been telling this BS crap about the carbon fiber panels for years but still nothing
This car is in the league: stickers and big wheels make a race car.
BTW he totalled the vette some weeks ago
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2002
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From: Montreal QC
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (BB wowbagger)
I think that wet laminating or prepreg both works, if you use vacuum bagging. But remember that mouldside is the side that you want to show... And because of that the mold surface quality is important... Otherwise there is nothing special if compared to glass fibre. :cheers:
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
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Re: Carbonfiber work.. (FinnShark)
actually there is a difference, if you want your pieces to have a quality look they must be made out of as large sections of carbon fiber clotch as possible because the vloth is visible, using all kinds of small sections will show up.
Team Owner
Joined: Feb 2002
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From: Sometimes I wonder... why is that frisbee getting bigger? Then it hits me.
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St. Jude Donor '06
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (71roadster)
Do you mean...like THIS
Chris
Chris
YOU STOLE MY STEREO!!! :mad :jester ;)
I have the same exact pioneer in my 77 LOL.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Storm lake Iowa
Re: Carbonfiber work.. (71roadster)
Hey! Where were you when I posted asking about this stuff a week or two ago? (look back aways for the thread " '68 restoration". This is EXACTLY what I had in mind for my certer console and parking brake assembly. What I'm really intrigued by is a possible vacuum bag layup to do the same thing with my interior door panels. My guess is that all the curves would be tricky PIA, but if you could get it to lay in where you wanted, it would look sharp.
For anyone looking for cheap 6oz plain weave carbon fiber cloth, you can get 50" stuff for only $16.00 per yard at this URL:
http://www.noahsmarine.com/carbon.html
I bought some from them, and it looks great, just haven't had time to start playing with it.
If anyone else has expeiience with vacuum bagging layups for interior trim stuff, save me some painful trial and error and post!
-Roy
For anyone looking for cheap 6oz plain weave carbon fiber cloth, you can get 50" stuff for only $16.00 per yard at this URL:
http://www.noahsmarine.com/carbon.html
I bought some from them, and it looks great, just haven't had time to start playing with it.
If anyone else has expeiience with vacuum bagging layups for interior trim stuff, save me some painful trial and error and post!
-Roy
