Collection of composite information and guides (Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass)

Since we don't have specific collection of composites I will start one.

This is some good info for those that are curious. It seems that every time I find a really good composite method or tutorial the link goes down, so a collection will be nice as a reference for myself as well.

For the inevitable question about "Dry" and "Wet" Carbon Fiber.

Dry carbon is pre-impregnated with a resin and baked under high pressure and high temperature in an autoclave to achieve a final product. This is a specialized and often very expensive process. Dry carbon is often 10 times or more the cost of wet layup CF.

Wet carbon fiber is much more common and uses brushed, rolled, or vacuum infused resin to harden the Carbon cloth and give it substance.

You yourself can make carbon fiber parts if you put forth the effort to. You can make them in your basement, your garage, or even in the back of a greyhound bus if you have a long enough drive and good ventilation. It is not wizardry.

Where I purchase my CF supplies from - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Some of my favorites. All of these videos deserve a watch.

Videos:
A very good beginner introduction to making your first wet layup part.





Resources and tutorials:

A great starting point for more info.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Great for the beginning CF guru.

A simple guide showing how to make a carbon composite tube. In this case, a charge pipe for a Honda. Very sweet.
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Fiberglass & Other Composite Materials book. Available at low cost on Amazon. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Vacuum bagging. This is typically for those already comfortable with wet layup.

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A very good video showing some of the details of wet layup vacuum bagging.



A slightly more complicated take on the vacuum process. Infusion of the resin.



I am neither a professional in the business of composites nor an engineer. The information I have on the subject has been gathered online and learned through several great composite books.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me. There are no stupid questions and I am not going to scold you for asking something that is obvious to me.

Please note that this was copied and adjusted slightly from my original post. I will do my best to correct any errors. Original post - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

A good picture showing the basics of making a simple female mold from a current part. This is the way you could take a current hood scoop in this case and make a mold to allow you to make copies.

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A good video showing how you make a mold for making duplicate parts from a current part (They call the current part a plug).

A great video detailing how Ferrari makes their carbon composite brakes. Very, very sweet!






A decent video showing how a fiberglass bucket seat is made.

Again for good luck.

I am working on my draping and contouring skills for the cloth. When wrapping a round or complex object you need to make reliefs and remove material as the contours demand.

My simple card table set up in my office.

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I made a carbon fiber wrapped lightbulb just for kicks.

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Also trying a new method of making matte finish CF on a non stick poly cutting board.

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Matte side.

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Twill side.

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Another new method. I have been looking for a cheap, flat template to make flat sheets on. Wal-mart has a 98 cent baking pan that works beautifully.

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Cleaned up some loose edges and now I have a new 2x2 twill mouse pad. It's too long, so I think I'll chop off a hunk and make a light switch plate out of it.

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Made some more wet layup parts. The large sheet was made on a sheet of glass, and the 4 layer piece was made on my great little 98 cent baking pan. I am still a little annoyed at the bubbles showing up as surface irregularities. Also using a 99 cent bondo spreader to spread and appropriate the resin out.

The glass like surface. Very smooth, weave came out great too.

Two ply 2x2 twill.
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This one is thick enough that I physically cannot break it by hand. I held it off the edge of a table and set my 20lb dumb bell on it and it didn't even think about deflecting.

Four ply 2x2 twill.
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Composites as a functional form of art. I am in awe..

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Yes, these are wheels actually made of CF. They are becoming used more often on vehicles.

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High pressure forged CF chassis. I love the engineering behind this car!

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Go ahead and browse through the UScomposites site and look around at the sweet stuff. If you have any questions about anything PM me. I will make a personal step by step tutorial to help you make your first CF/FRP part if you guys would like.

This site is an expensive alternative to USC. Good stuff, likely made in the same factory too. They have more vacuum bagging things available here.

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BTW CF stands for Carbon Fiber, and FRP stands for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, or fiberglass for short.

The epoxy that you slather on the cloth is basically a two part liquid plastic that later hardens.

You can use this same process to patch holes or make repairs on things you need held together. Yes, if you have a rust spot you can chop it out and patch it with CF in about an hour's time.

An interesting article on how GM set up their tooling to make the C6 'vette Z06 front CF fenders. Didn't know they were 8 plies thick. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's all I've gotten written up so far. I promised lssilvia I would make a guide earlier, so here it is.

Any questions just ask!

Very cool, I've been thinking about making a URAs style vent out of a 12K or large checkerboard carbon for my DDrug hood because it interferes with the front of my RB26.

nice write up, when i have more time ill read it more and chck the videos and maybe fuck around and wrap my blow up doll in cf

I'm surprised there aren't more questions or comments in here. This is prime info...

it is good info.

Great stuff , i sure will be reading it.

so do u have a step by step video of how to wrap an item in carbon fiber and give it the luster look?

^^^make it easier... Do u wrap parts and charge cheap for forum members??? Lol jk jk

shit ill go with that! do u? i know id make u some money!

lssilvia wrote:

so do u have a step by step video of how to wrap an item in carbon fiber and give it the luster look?

If I find myself with some free time I will whip something up now that I have a decent camera. What would you like to see wrapped?

lssilvia wrote:

shit ill go with that! do u? i know id make u some money!

I dunno, never considered doing work for anyone besides making flat panels. Those are hard to screw up.