Has anybody esperienced home made Fury carbon fiber bodywork?
It's on the list as part of the diet my car is undergoing. However, i'm still finishing off the CF tub.
The side pods are especially heavy.
Having fixed some cracks and distorsions and asimmetry in the fiber glass bodywork its now heavy and I' evaluating to produce new light one
without faults. So the idea of Carbon version once undestand the total cost, both for material and mould necessary even if low-cost home made.
How many layers of which wheight each one and how much epoxy resin are my questions in these days as well as hoven parameters. Hence request of other
experiences
BGH Geartech had a classic Fury Carbon body made..it is sitting in someones garage currently (BGH garage).
I'm on the lemans light-weight bonnet.
For the side-pods:
I'd be looking to do one outer layer of 300, and a second layer of either 200 or 300 depending on if I really wanted to save all the weight. I
think there's about 1.5m squared of cloth in each side-pod. outside and a 2mm core in parts. On the other side of the core I'd do another
two layers of 300. It would also use resin infusion to do it.
You need a minimum of 2 layers of carbon on the outer layer to avoid seeing through to the core. I think 300 slightly has the edge cosmetically - the
weave is slightly more prominent. You could go a little cheaper and back the inner layer in e-glass rather than CF if you wanted - it would still be
light, but it wouldn't be a strong part - purely cosmetic.
Resin uptake is about 30-40% resin to cloth. So, a side-pod would probably need 6m of cloth, at 300gsm, and say 1m of core such as soric at about
300gsm as well. All in, a side-pod could be fettled for about 3kg each. That's with £150 of cloth and probably £25 of resin.
That doesn't include making the mould, and time spent making the part cosmetic enough to take an acceptable mould from.
Not particoularly interested to cosmetics because I will anyway paint the bodywork, loving classic vintage shape of Fury and classic colours livery. Just want to lighten. Don't mind the time invested being my leasure time.
True, but whatever surface you either paint or gel-coat, it has to be good enough to give a reasonable finish. A bad surface will only show up in the paint. I find the surface prep to be very satisfying.
quote:
Originally posted by FuryRebuild
True, but whatever surface you either paint or gel-coat, it has to be good enough to give a reasonable finish. A bad surface will only show up in the paint. I find the surface prep to be very satisfying.
I have a friend who has a wrapping company, and he's pretty much of the opinion that the surface prep is stil crucial - most surface
imperfections will show through the wrap, and can be emphasised even.
With regards to the different layup techniques, pre-preg is going to be lighter for sure than wet-lay. Also you'll be pre-preg with epoxy, which
will be much stronger.
There are considerations to pre-preg which are normally you struggle to get as good a surface finish as you may with infusion. Often there can be
small surface holes - pinpricks. The talc or wax test revealed these. I think a company like easy composites now do a cosmetic pre-preg which has a
higher resin load. Pre-preg was designed to take some of the craft-work and error from the composites process over and above resin-infusion. The resin
load is already sorted and the parts can be machine cut (either laser or wheel) and assembled as a pattern with instructions. Aerospace companies
pioneered it to reduce waste and decrease rejected parts. In essence, pre-preg was designed so less skilled labour could adopt a production line
process. So in one aspect it is better in as much as less parts are rejected.
Resin infusion when done properly can achieve a better surface finish and equally well consolidated parts. Again, the resin load is just as
predictable if you hold it under vacuum until the resin gels off. The resin at the correct temp (see the appropriate technical data sheet) will have a
carefully formulated viscosity and when pulled through the part under vacuum and allowed to drain out in the catch-pot, will leave only the right
amount of resin in the part, and will achieve full consolidation.
You can do pre-preg badly (not compressing and rollering it well enough, letting the pre-preg go off over its age) or leaving bridges, just as you can
with infusion (bridges, not getting a full bag seal and dragging air into the part).
So, there is no necessary better output between pre-preg and resin infusion. One is easier and one achieves a better surface finish if your mould can
deliver the surface.
quote:
Originally posted by FuryRebuild
I'm on the lemans light-weight bonnet.
I'd be looking to do one outer layer of 300, and a second layer of either 200 or 300 depending on if I really wanted to save all the weight. I think there's about 1.5m squared of cloth in each side-pod. outside and a 2mm core in parts. On the other side of the core I'd do another two layers of 300. It would also use resin infusion to do it.
You need a minimum of 2 layers of carbon on the outer layer to avoid seeing through to the core. I think 300 slightly has the edge cosmetically - the weave is slightly more prominent. You could go a little cheaper and back the inner layer in e-glass rather than CF if you wanted - it would still be light, but it wouldn't be a strong part - purely cosmetic.
Resin uptake is about 30-40% resin to cloth. So, a side-pod would probably need 6m of cloth, at 300gsm, and say 1m of core such as soric at about 300gsm as well. All in, a side-pod could be fettled for about 3kg each. That's with £150 of cloth and probably £25 of resin.
That doesn't include making the mould, and time spent making the part cosmetic enough to take an acceptable mould from.
I tend to use sonic for a couple of reasons: