carbon fibre

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:44 pm

where does everyone get there carbon fibre suplies from?

(those who use it that is

)

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:04 pm

here;

http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/

or easy composites; same company. what you planning?

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:17 pm

or easy composites; same company. what you planning?[/quote]

a couple of months back i watched a you tube vid of someone putting a carbon skin onto a wing mirror, much sanding and polishing later hey presto carbon mirror, look great but at the time couldnt see the point, but then i think in a thread here (with you) the idea came to skin my sunroof, afterall if it rusts again it wont be visable under the carbn skin

and a window spoiler

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:20 pm

Sounds cool, will be a job and a half sanding the glass to get a good bond though!

If you need any pointers let me know, I've been chipping away at the CF stuff for a good few months now

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:26 pm

my sunroof is steel (4g) i have done fibre glassing before, very satifying, best bit - removal from mould, should be even more rewarding as carbon fibre

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:28 pm

Definitely is rewarding, a whole lot more expensive tho as you no doubt know already! As for your best bit, I'd be tempted to add 'and it's come out right'

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:42 pm

as its just a skin it should cost too much, when you add in the paint on the car is 20 years old and it would cost around 50 notes to respray anyhow plus the rust will just come back.

thinking a skin would work well, better than a wrap which would just show the rust bubbles when they do come back.

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:44 pm

window spoiler like this one

By littlefeller2010 at 2012-03-23

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:48 pm

Cool! Have a question for you then. How did you go about moulding a shape like this? Did you do it as a 2 part mould? I've got three different 5g spoilers to make CF copies of and I've been racking brain on how to do it...

Any tips from experience?

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:57 pm

yeh the easyes way is to build a model (plug) from wooden members, (the best way to visualise is to imagine an aircraft wing before it was any canvas). you simply build the shape in spaced wooden profile (or ribs if you like), fill the gaps between with foam (polly boards) then hot wire or file-sand down to the wooden profile, use a high build primer to smooth it off, then paint it to give it some rigidity, no so important on a single piece mould as it is just the plug and will be thrown away afterwards, but for multi section moulds the plug will have to survive at least to prosseses.

do you have a photo of the spoilers?

almost forgot, lots of sanding and pollishing involved, final surface will have to be as good as the final product as you will already know. you could just use the original part to take a mould from, i always prefer to use a model (its desposable)
the number of parts to a mould would depend on how you go about negative draft, you should be able to do it in 2 parts i would have thought, desiding where you divide the mould would be the important part, for this i use shiney fibre board and moddeling clay, you will have to do this twice as you will need to move the board for the casting of the second half, a real pain to get right, would prob be best to use fibreglass for the mould, then you can store them for later use on others. but if you build a moddle you could make it larger to account for this dividing board and only fit it once if you see what im saying.