How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

I'v been reading a couple other forums and it's really ridulous what people would pay for carbon fiber things. I remember reading on here that a couple people have been messing around with carbon fiber. My friend and I have some extra money that we can throw around and we were wondering if it could be profitable to start doing custom carbon fiber ---- for people at cheaper prices. I know you need the fabric and the resin but after that i'm pretty lost and i have only found one site that offers info on this ---- which is probably why it's so expensive. If anyone can give me some guidance on some diff types of applications that would be cool. Thanks Dave

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

the way that i know it you lay it out in sheets like fiberglass and go from there with the resins and such just as if it was fiberglass, can anyone confirm this?

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

My brother does his own carbon fiber stuff. I can get info from him if you want.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

that would be cool trance, thank you

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

I used to do carbon-fiber stuff. Best place to buy stuff from is http://www.uscomposites.com/ The 4x4 is the most expensive and heaviest but it looks the best. You also need a vacuum bagger to get it to look real nice

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

If i remember corectly to get the strength from it you have to impregnate the carbon fiber with the reson, not just paint it on. You have to have a vaccum mold and suck all the air out for it to be strong.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

go for it but I would just make astetic pieces. not things that need to be really strong, because thats probably alot harder.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

yayo feel free to contact him through email at: impreza_rs_2.5@lycos.com His names Kevin and could proibably help you out with any info you might need to get started etc.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

For anything structural you definitely need a vacuum bagger.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

whitey i was just reading a thread that you replyed to in sept 2003. Lets say i was to cover a flat piece of platic...like the plastic center consol. If i applied the Fabric to the top and then put resin over it will the finish be shiney? Or will i need to sand and clear coat?

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

and trance thanks bro i'll email him in a while-whats your real name so he knows i know you. or should i just say my buddy trance told me to hit you up :P

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

Without a vacuum bagger its tough to get the carbon to stick to whatever your trying to cover so you gotta keep playing with it till it gets tacky enough to attach to the piece. You lay the carbon on the piece than you paint on the resin. After it dries it'll look like complete ----. Than you'll need to add clearcoat, sometimes a couple coats and than you'll need to sand in order for it to look good. After you sand it you'll need to polish it for it to look good. Its alot of work and there's alot of stuff you need to do to get it to look good so good luck.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

yayo my names Steve. I Informed him you'd be contacting him sometime so he knows, lol ;)

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

alright nice thank you guys...
whitey you ever use gel coating? and just pull the CF piece off of the ---- you molded it around?

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

In order to pull the piece off the original mold you need to buy ---- called "mold release" and from my experience the original always kinda gets fucked up cause there is always a little bit of resin that won't com off. I did a carbon fiber piece of the inbetween the taillights and to this day I still have yellowish resin around the edges of it.



And no I never used gel coating, thats more for boats.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

All cf is fiberglass with a black dye addit to the resin.
To make a cf part u need the black dye and fiberglass kit and a mold to copy from. The places that make the parts spray the mold with resin then add the cloth then they spray the riped mat and resin mix to make it thick.
That is how they make cf.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

My head almost exploded from reading this cause it is as wrong as you can get. Carbon Fiber is NOT fiberglass, there's a huge huge huge difference and I don't feel like explaining the whole engineering aspect behind it so just believe me that they are completely different

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

my friend works at a boat molding company he said that is how they make it. no one said there is only one way to make cf.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

If Carbon Fiber is the same as fiberglass than Titanium is the exact same thing as copper. Your comparing apples to oranges. True carbon fiber is a cloth and fiberglass comes in a cloth but thats the only thing the same. They are both different materials and carbon weaves are alot different than fiberglass.


Again, they are not the same

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

hay like i said that is how they make it. there is many ways to make it. like i said that is one way they make it.
like they say there is more then one way to skin a cat.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

bro carbon fiber maybe similar to fiberglass but it's not woven like it.....
They're just applied the sameway....

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

If you want to think that but this statement you made is 100% false. Carbon fiber has absolutely no relationship to fiberglass. They are not the same. There maybe different processes to make CF cause there's different weaves but in the end its CF which is made from different material than fiberglass

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

What is the boat making company your friend works at, so I can be sure to not buy any product that they make, fiberglass, "carbon fiber" or anything else for that matter. They may make something that is carbon fiber look, but it's NOT carbon fiber.

Whitey, not sure if you or anybody else that responded has seen or used a liquid plexi, but it is another alternative to carbon fiber apoxy or resin. Select products sells it. It is pretty cool, you use the liquid plexi in the same manner that you use the resin, but to make a long story short, when it is done you can polish it up to a high shine. I have seen a demo on it and it was really slick. Anyway, they have the products and how to video's available at www.selectproducts.com

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

your friend and you are complete ------- idiots ::)

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

select products rocks I got a lot of ---- from there when I worked at circuit city. I got 50% off though.

Re:How to on Carbon Fiber....
 

That is the dumbest thing I have heard in a while. You need to go sit alone and think about what you said.

What you should say is, "that is how they make black fiberglass"