Carbon Fiber

[hfcmemberblade]

Well I started it and as soon as i have a bit of the acrylic baked I will post pictures. I built the flying squirel HD helm and what I did was taken carbon fiber sheets that I had left over from a motorcycle race fairing creation I did and I used the sheet fiberglass resin method but in place of the fiberglass I opted for carbon fiber. with this process what I will be doing is laying sheets of carbon fiber material as i would the fiberglass the placing batting foam over the carbon fiber sheets and inserting the entire thing into a vacuum pressure bag to absorb the excess acrylic hardener that i used. once i have finished that process i will bake the entire peace at 450 degrees for about 5 hours which will harden my acrylic and also leave a glossy coat over the top of the armor. then i will be sanding it down and spraying it with high grade commercial boat clear coat which will polish it to a mirror shine. Once complete this should be one of the most durable peices of armor built as of yet. I am also working an a liquid cooling vest self contained within the armor with a fluid pump and radiator that will be mounted in the back of the chest peice. if you have any questions about my setup feel free to e-mail me at Crypticmind03@gmail.com.

 

[NZTK]

Sounds like an interesting project, I hope it works out, looking forward to the pictures

 

[hfcmemberblade]

Sounds like an interesting project, I hope it works out, looking forward to the pictures

thank you I appreciate the encouragement i need to also add that this process should not be attempted by beginers i have been molding carbon fiber race motorcycle fairings fo 9 years now and the materials are extremally expensive. if this is your first rodeo please go the fiberglass method first.

 

[NZTK]

I'm interested to see some picture of the bagging process, I've never done that before. Can you put some pics up of your bike fairing work? Id like to see

 

[rvb4life]

carbon fiber, eh? thats gonna be...like...super strong.
good luck.

 

[hfcmemberblade]

I'm interested to see some picture of the bagging process, I've never done that before. Can you put some pics up of your bike fairing work? Id like to see

Yeah I can post some pictures of my bike fairing work no problem i have some finished motorcycle peices that are ready for paint and prep " although i would rather keep the black carbon fiber but whatever my customers want!" the bagging process isnt hard at all but before you bag you want to make sure that you have a hardened base coat of acrylic pre-carbon fiber before you bag it or you will lose all shape and deffinition of your project that being said what i use for the bags is a high grade vinyl tarp kinda like what they use on construction sites and heat seal the edges then get a vacuum pump that can maintain about -8 to -10 psi vacuum hold process normally takes about 15-20 minutes of sustained vacuum pressure to make sure that you have all of your excess resin bled through onto your batting foam it also helps get those nasty air bubbles out of the mix and give you a smooth all around finish.


This is a picture of a simple bagging setup

what the peice looks like when removed from bagging and a little rubbing compound after that

and the finished peice mounted

 

[NZTK]

Thats looks great, does it have to be baked? or is there a way to skip that step? also do you mean 450 Celsius or Fahrenheit?

 

[hfcmemberblade]

Thats looks great, does it have to be baked? or is there a way to skip that step? also do you mean 450 Celsius or Fahrenheit?

The peices dont have to be baked but if your in a colder/ wetter climate the i recommend baking them it helps extremly well with the curing process of the acrylic. If you feel comfortable with your particular climate the by all means you can skip that step but it does take about 5 days for the resin to completally harden before you can begin sanding if you do intend on baking it the i use fahrenheit as thats my home countries unit of measurement "please dont ask me to convert or my poor math skills will show and i will have to go and hang myself in my shop" if its a small peice of course the baking time will take less ammount of time as the 5 hours i qouted earlier in this post was for a full bike fairing thats about 3 and a half feet long and 3 feet tall and about 3/4 inch thick i actually have one of the hand plates baking right now and im experitmenting with the times on baking these peices. but as soon as i know something i will post it and get back to you.

 

[NZTK]

Its fine, dont go out of your way for me, I was just wondering was all. There is a small part on a helmet I'm working on that I think might look quite cool in carbonfiber, so Its nice to see t can be done at home with good results. I was thinking about htis the other day (hence my interest in your thread) I was considering buying some of that cheap patterned vinyl stuff instead, but If it can be done properly, I'll give it a go.

 

[hfcmemberblade]

Its fine, dont go out of your way for me, I was just wondering was all. There is a small part on a helmet I'm working on that I think might look quite cool in carbonfiber, so Its nice to see t can be done at home with good results. I was thinking about htis the other day (hence my interest in your thread) I was considering buying some of that cheap patterned vinyl stuff instead, but If it can be done properly, I'll give it a go.

just be carefull i would practice on sheet fiberglass first the cloth kind until your get the whole process down and because the real stuff runs about 80 bucks a square yard remember messure twice cut once or in my case messure 13 times still screw up and end up drop kicking the peice across the shop

 

[NZTK]

I think I might actually have some spare that was given to me somewhere, it was left over from a repair job on a car body kit. I'll have to have a hunt. does it matter what type of resin gets used with it?

 

[hfcmemberblade]

I think I might actually have some spare that was given to me somewhere, it was left over from a repair job on a car body kit. I'll have to have a hunt. does it matter what type of resin gets used with it?

I usually go for 2 pack laminating resin but ive seen it done with almost all types of resins i even know a guy that has made it with the bondo clear resin but of course in his case he ended up having to go and reform everything for some reason the bondo resin seems to cloud up after it dries i think he might have used a little too much hardner but again i wasnt there for the process just there for the end result but i digress in my opinion any strong vehicle grade clear resin should work but check with the manufacturer about drying and baking times " if needed" they tend to vary from product to product but any other questions you have please feel free to ask me i will be sitting here for the next few hours waiting on pieces to bake and working on my HD Chest so i will be on for quite a while today

oh and heres some links that will help you its where i get most of my materials
http://www.resin-supplies.co.uk/resins.htm ~ For resins
http://www.soverel33.com/Quicklinks/Composites/Links.html ~ some good info on do's and dont's with resin and whats right for you
http://www.fibretechgb.co.uk/ ~ God of all Gods for Carbon Fiber sheets
http://www.holdich.demon.co.uk/chemical/epoxies.html ~ more info on epoxy resins and things of that such
http://www.boatowners.com/paints.htm ~ where i get almost all of my paints and different clear coats and such

 

[rvb4life]

wow.....you seem to be a semi-expert at this!


I kind of dont want to use carbon fiber though, it seems too expensive for my budget (which dosent exist)

 

[hfcmemberblade]

wow.....you seem to be a semi-expert at this!
I kind of dont want to use carbon fiber though, it seems too expensive for my budget (which dosent exist)

Hey i appreciate the compliment i dont consider myself an expert but i do know a lot about the subject wasnt it a wise man that once said that the failure to learn is the failure to progress? also i got to say RVB ROCKS! and now for my favorite RvB quote : My name is Michael J Caboose and I hate babies!

 

[hfcmemberblade]

Okay status update i did the left hand plate and the bake time was too long so im gonna have to tweek it

 

[Spartan 051]

do you have a picture of what came out and what happend to the cardstock when baking?

 

[Seno Ypsamee]

Its fine, dont go out of your way for me, I was just wondering was all. There is a small part on a helmet I'm working on that I think might look quite cool in carbonfiber, so Its nice to see t can be done at home with good results. I was thinking about htis the other day (hence my interest in your thread) I was considering buying some of that cheap patterned vinyl stuff instead, but If it can be done properly, I'll give it a go.

If you need Celsius, it's approximately 232

I can already tell this project is going to look sweet! Can't wait for pics of the armor!

 

[Toby]

You seem to know what your doing, but isn't carbon fibre brittle? i know it's got great strength if you compress it along the fibers grain, but i always thought it cracks if you drop it (not very shock proof)... No doubt it's going to look like $$$ though and it's way out of my league...

 

[hfcmemberblade]

Okay I didnt snap any pictures of the ruined piece because i dont like taking pics of bad jobs i am a perfectionist. but i am working on another hand plate today. to answer another question the cardstock armor is not used in the final product i just use it as a negative mold to lay the carbon fiber sheets on once the resin has hardened enough for me to remove the cardstock it is removed before baking. and as far as the durability of the carbon fiber its very tough stuff but with out the acrylic resin its useless once you soak it with the resin and bake it your basically taking the attributes of the carbon fiber and strengthening it and making it more stable by impregnating it with the acrylic resin. as soon as i get the bake times and tempratures down for this project i will post pictures of the end result but it may take some time before i post stuff up because not only am i doing the armor but i am still running a business making race fairings for motorcycles and car fenders and hoods so i do it in my free time.