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Composite body panel thickness
J666AYP - 21/12/22 at 11:54 AM

Hi all,

Back after a long break. I'm looking into starting the buck/moulds for the supercharged project and im wondering what kind of thickness I should make the body.

My thoughts are 3 layers of matting but im unsure if this will be enough.

Any thoughts or advice appreciated

Jay


motorcycle_mayhem - 21/12/22 at 02:52 PM

Insufficient information.

Assumption: You're using glass fibre and polyester. Gelcoat, either polyester or vinylester, can be applied by brush or spray. Follow this with 2 layers of chopped strand mat (450g). over tissue if you're fussy, and that will give you enough rigidity for most light panels. An open weave instead of the 2nd chopped mat will give you a good result on large floppy things (like undertrays). Lantor Soric is your friend for stressed areas, such as seat mounting points and areas you might stand in (or on).
Laminate well, roller the mat and resin until your arm hurts, don't try it in the cold.

Carbon/diolene/whatever with epoxy is a little more complex as you start talking about hand lay or infusion with core materials. Fun, messy, but recently bloody expensive. Last batch of West epoxy was eye wateringly costly.


J666AYP - 23/12/22 at 03:41 PM

Thanks mate, was thinking about a carbon/FG or carbon/kevlar sandwich