Hello everyone,

 

I am picking up the gear this weekend to start learning carbon fibre resin infusion. I am have a bunch of cheap fabric to learn with; and plenty of nicer material including carbon Kevlar etc for when I start building final parts.

 

My aim is to create some gorgeous looking and strong aftermarket but oem shape parts for both the interior and exterior. I have searched some previous threads and sites and would like to compile a list of what is currently available and what people would like to see made. Seeing as some of this will require moulds to be build I would intend to be able to build the parts to order eventually (at which point a trader account would be in order).

 

Currently I would like to try:

 

Interior

- door handles

- double din centre facia

- possibly steering console pods

- speedo surround/backplate

- door sill covers

- front windscreen/bonnet plastic thing where the windscreen wipers are.

 

Exterior

- Wing mirrors

- Front/rear splitters/lip

- 99spec wing

- plenum cover

- fan shroud

- Cam belt cover

 

So, if people are currently offering these for sale please feel free to post pics here as I don't need to build things that are readily for sale.

 

Also if there are items you would like to see built then comment and I will add to the list! Nothing bigger than already stated though due to space in my current place.

 

Also it is likely I will be giving away some of my initial experiment parts if they are of any use to people.

 

Best regards, William

Edited May 20, 20169 yr by wchestnutt

I am having a go at this with my students at school for our School Race car.... This is a great company to get stuff from. http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/ They have vids and guides etc. I have ordered and received the starter carbon kit and mould kit. Ill let you know how it goes.

 

Cool good luck with it, and show pics as you progress always helpful to share advice. Let me know if you need help with anything. The stuff I use is all from easy composites which is he same company :D. Their tutorials are a great starting point but boy is there a long way to go when you actually do it for real. I have a few of their starter kits and some things like a degassing chamber and bigger pump to remove air from the resin before infusion.

 

Also I never had a good finish using their plastic release film with the holes in it. Never let through enough resin to the part. I picked up some fabric peel ply instead and it made a work of difference.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I agree, iirc the finished result should have a thin layer or resin over top so it is completely flat and can be buffed a bit to create that smooth finish. If you have uneven carbon that can't really happen. Correct me if I'm wrong :innocent:

 

Yeah it should effectively have a complete covering in resin which you then buff and then spray a clear coat over to gloss it up. The trouble is when I got back from yours yesterday it has been not under vacuum for quite a while so lots of air had got in at which point you can't get a good finish as there will alway be pockets of air. And then when you reintroduce the vacuum you end up sucking out some of the resin and end up starving it, so lose lose situation!

I am having a go at this with my students at school for our School Race car.... This is a great company to get stuff from. http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/ They have vids and guides etc. I have ordered and received the starter carbon kit and mould kit. Ill let you know how it goes.

Can I come to your school [emoji38]

 

This is the design I am doing for my A level project as a centre console

Either out of carbon fibre or fibreglass, whichever one f**ks up the least lol

Edited October 15, 20169 yr by Alic

Can I come to your school :lol:

 

This is the design I am doing for my A level project as a centre console

[ATTACH=CONFIG]101747[/ATTACH]

Either out of carbon fibre or fibreglass, whichever one f**ks up the least lol

 

Cool, I teach design and engineering at my school. Last year I had a student design a car for Jaguar (concept). I love design.

Cool, I teach design and engineering at my school. Last year I had a student design a car for Jaguar (concept). I love design.

 

Yeah one of our teachers was a designer at jaguar land rover, but I lost respect for him when I said I should get rid of my orange lensed indicators for clears and he said keep them because it's an old car and its part of the dated style...

 

Anyway, off topic :oops:

Yeah one of our teachers was a designer at jaguar land rover, but I lost respect for him when I said I should get rid of my orange lensed indicators for clears and he said keep them because it's an old car and its part of the dated style...

 

Anyway, off topic :oops:

LOL, we are not all that boring.

Attempt two... 25g more resin but I think it may even be a little too much this time. I purposefully clamped the pump line first and let a bit more resin flow into the part, trouble is if you let too much resin into the infusion you will lose vacuum pressure.

 

 

Update: 2 hours in and no air leaks

Edited October 15, 20169 yr by wchestnutt

more lessons:

 

the infusion worked a treat now it didn't have an air leak. the part is strong as anything.

 

unfortunately i had a mechanical lock which means i couldn't remove the part without killing my mould. so I will now finish one part including polish and clearcoat, and see if it works. if it does then i will build a new mould with a better design which allows the part to be knocked out from the bottom.

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 20169 yr by wchestnutt

Success!! Haven't added cl at coat yet, but this looks alright so far so will continue to build them

 

 

Do they glue in to the leather? Either way it looks really nice, just a shame you have to remake the mould i guess.