Dear All,
I brought up a carbon fibre rocker cover earlier in the week and you advised an insert would be best.
Has anyone ever made there own carbon fibre, how easy is it? Has anyone used this source:
http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/Products/Carbon-Fibre-Laminating-Starter-Kit__CMCFLK300.aspx
How much of external bodywork on a car is required to be metal for SVA?
Cheers
James
[Edited on 09/12/2007 by jnormandale]
you dont have to have any external metalwork to pass sva.... infact i would go so far as to say you dont need any metalwork at all.. as long as the materials you use are upto the job
quote:
Originally posted by jnormandale
Has anyone ever made there own carbon fibre, how easy is it?
None of the bodywork has to be metal. You can make it from what you want, so long as the edges are not sharp.
CF is harder to do than GRP. I made a recumbent trike out of the stuff. I couldn't get it to wet out in polyester so had to use epoxy. Epoxy
gets bubbles in it just by pouring and it is hard to get them out without vacuum bagging. This is not a problem if the parts don't need to be
strong but you get pin holes in the suface. These, of course, can be filled and painted over, but then why use CF? The other problem is getting the
weave straight.
unless you want the light weight, I wouldn't bother. Use GRP.
I've done flat pieces of both, and I agree, in general. It will depend on what kind of a deal you get on the CF matte - that's going to be
automatically higher than an equivalent amount of glass fibre matte.
By the time you practise, use up a lot of expensive epoxy resin, go through a few bits of matte, you are beginning to be more expensive than buying
something made by someone who knows what they are doing. But once again, what's the fun in that?
[Edited on 29/10/08 by RK]
RK "I've done flat pieces of both, and I agree, in general. It will depend on what kind of a deal you get on the CF matte - that's
going to be automatically higher than an equivalent amount of glass fibre matte."
How much did you pay for the CF matte and the epoxy resin?
quote:
Originally posted by jnormandale
How much did you pay for the CF matte and the epoxy resin?
quote:
Originally posted by smart51
Look Here for prices. 200 gsm CF plain weave mat is £23.75 + VAT for 1 metre. 1.2kg of epoxy resin is £21.24 + VAT. glass is about 20% of the price.
I make CF bits all day at work. I have also made numerous carbon parts, including making a radiused dashboard etc.
The carnon mods kit includes twill weave - this is generally considered to be the prettiest weave, hence most people use it for bling bits.
If the parts you are making are just for show, then just use carbon with glass over the top. It will weigh more, but cost a lot less, and still look
very similar.
Roughly speaking, a 200gsm carbon fabric, will give you a 0.2mm ply. So depending upon you application, I would aim for a thickness of around 2mm.
It's a shame I cant get rid of all my surplus carbon - I have around 400m sat in my garage! It could pay for the car!
quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
Roughly speaking, a 200gsm carbon fabric, will give you a 0.2mm ply. So depending upon you application, I would aim for a thickness of around 2mm.
As I said, it will depend upon application. If it is for body panels, and you actually want it to add to the chassis stiffness, then missile proof is better than wafer thin!
I bought the clear epoxy from EBay ($60 US for two small sets) and the non-clear stuff from a local boat shop (a medium sized tin of each, resin and
hardener, was around $75 cdn, and I've used two sets). The CF I got from a guy in NY state. Enough to do a dash and transmission top was about
$75 US. I bought it when our dollar was good, so it was about $75 cdn (about 35 gbp at the moment). I've also used about the same $$ amount in
glass fibre. Shipping, taxes and customs duty (on UK items) can make it pretty pricey here in Canada.
For you however, in short: it's cheaper to buy whole parts from Carbon Mods, and I can guarantee you the quality will be there, AND they are very
very good with the customer service.
And, um, er, why CAN'T you get rid of your surplus? Many of us would be very interested to say the least!!
[Edited on 29/10/08 by RK]
[Edited on 29/10/08 by RK]
[Edited on 29/10/08 by RK]
quote:
Originally posted by RK
And, um, er, why CAN'T you get rid of your surplus? Many of us would be very interested to say the least!!
I won't tell anybody within a hundred miles of here, honest!
quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
If the parts you are making are just for show, then just use carbon with glass over the top. It will weigh more, but cost a lot less, and still look very similar.