MC suit made of Carbon Fiber...

[methodlimp]

Hey guys, I'm a complete noob but I think I'm going to try and make mjolnir armor out of carbon fiber. I was thinking of building the mold out of clay, and then laying the carbon fiber sheet over the finished product and laying the epoxy evenly until the shape is made, and every nook and cranny is touched by the carbon fiber. Has anyone attempted this before? Apparently the material for making carbon fiber (the sheets, and epoxy) aren't that expensive.

What do you guys think? Does anyone know where I can begin?

 

[zeronifty]

Hmmm, Carbon Fiber isnt that expensive no but you need to re-enforce it with a Plastic layering to get it to hold shape, creating CFRP or carbon fiber reinforced plastic, Which my friend...is very expensive, considering they use it on high performance motorcycles and Formula One racecars.

That and Carbon fiber wouldnt hold detail, sure you would get the basic shape and it would be very very strong but you wouldnt have much detail in the work unless you did a coat of Bondo in key areas and sanded out your details. But at that point if your going to sculpt the armor out of clay you might as well just cast it since it would prove to be easier and much cheaper.

 

[Galganaban]

Carbon fiber has to be vacume formed which would produce a not so detailed product.
While rolls of carbon fiber aren't terribly expensive, it is much more costly than fiberglass.
Another thing to consider is the way CF is woven and what it would look like as a finished product, would probably look bad next to a painted molded plastic suit.

I'm not saying its a bad idea, but cheaper materials will yield better results in the end.

Edit: You could do CF details on the suit, that could look neat

 

[darthmaddy]

I saw a carbon fiber Darth Vader helmet and shoulder armor on Ebay a couple years ago. Definitely awesome. It would be possible to make a set of Mjolnir out of CF, but I wouldn't know where to begin. Maybe look online to find out how do-it-yourselfers make CF hoods.

 

[drgon47]

If your really really, truly wanting "armor" that will provide some sort of protection ie a knife, or maybe even small arms fire, your going to need kevlar. With an underlaying body suit with soft version of Dyneema woven into the suit. Then youll probably want a layer of the hard Dyneema on the outside of the suit. And if your going to real armor, your gonna have to forget any detail. Detail = structural weakness in most cases. The MKV would make a good candidate for a real "armor" status suit because its smooth and doesnt rely on details to look cool.

It will be expensive no matter how you look at it. Good luck.

 

[tserrof]

on the topic of trying different fabrics in your armor has any one tried kevlar like on the inside ... i saw a site where you can get some

 

[methodlimp]

Hell, if it catches on, I was actually thinking of mass producing these suits based on the mold I create, and selling it to the public. You think it would catch on?

I also have no clue where to start, but it looks like it doesn't need to be vaccuformed because you use epoxy to make it harden, and details can be still found, as long as you put the right amount of epoxy on the fabric. To battle the distracting weave, I was thinking of user CF with really thin weaves, thus making ti so you can see the whole suit detial rather than wearing a big weaved quilt.

 

[dwoo]

CF has to be vacuum bagged for the epoxy to saturate the fibers, check out some of the import car DIY sites for tuts on making CF dashes, hoods, etc. Also CF is at least 10x more expensive than woven fiberglass. Finally, CF is difficult (premium price) to get right now because most of the manufactured CF is being sold to the military.

-dwoo

 

[methodlimp]

CF has to be vacuum bagged for the epoxy to saturate the fibers, check out some of the import car DIY sites for tuts on making CF dashes, hoods, etc. Also CF is at least 10x more expensive than woven fiberglass. Finally, CF is difficult (premium price) to get right now because most of the manufactured CF is being sold to the military.

-dwoo

Would you happen to know how expensive it is to get into vaccum forming?

 

[dwoo]

We are talking vac bagging for CF not the vac forming (as in vac table used by the stormtrooper crowd).

Check out youtube for Carbon Fiber how-to vaccum infusion bagging

I don't think it is cheap with the price of the CF and epoxy resin, bagging materials, and the vacuum pump. You can't get away with a shop vac for CF vac infusion like you can with vacuum forming plastic sheets.

compare prices of CF to fiberglass

-dwoo

 

[Chillah123]

it would be tight

 

[methodlimp]

You know, my mom is an excellent clay artist, so I think I'm going to have her start the clay sculpting process, and then after that I will look into the cost of fiberglass vs. carbon fiber. However, it's really a decision between something never done before, or something that everyone does... I bet you can see which one I'll end up picking

 

[Galganaban]

You know, my mom is an excellent clay artist, so I think I'm going to have her start the clay sculpting process, and then after that I will look into the cost of fiberglass vs. carbon fiber. However, it's really a decision between something never done before, or something that everyone does... I bet you can see which one I'll end up picking

I would start small when it comes to CF If your hell bent on doing it that way. Maybe the hand piece and you will see that it is NOT easy. You can mess up the weave making it look like crap, giving even less detail to what you the cf will give if done correctly plus see all of the other expences that you are going to run into. If you dont vaccume it correctly it will mess it up, if you dont let it cure properly while still under pressure it will screw up.

I admire your asperations to go big but there are ALOT more variables when it comes to CF. First thing you should do is research like crazzzy and learn as much as you can!
Best of luck to you!

 

[Master Chef]

While carbon fiber is an extremely high tech, space age, strong, flexible, and resilient, it is very brittle. It has only certain industrial applications because of its brittleness. In other words, I could put my fist through a single resined sheet, if normal wear hadn't cracked it already. There are no advantages of CF over fiberglass, besides getting to boast your armor is space age.

 

[XxHennersXx]

Didn't you get into an argument with Briars Armor on the red vs blue forum about a year ago with this subject?

 

[Master Chef]

Nope. I just joined last week, but I know alot about art, science, and life so...

 

[XxHennersXx]

Nope. I just joined last week, but I know alot about art, science, and life so...

Not you, the original poster.

 

[Galganaban]

While carbon fiber is an extremely high tech, space age, strong, flexible, and resilient, it is very brittle. It has only certain industrial applications because of its brittleness. In other words, I could put my fist through a single resined sheet, if normal wear hadn't cracked it already. There are no advantages of CF over fiberglass, besides getting to boast your armor is space age.

No composite material is ever made from one single sheet. So I'm affraid your point is moot.

 

[methodlimp]

Not you, the original poster.

Me, look at my stats... I'm a noob. Tell you what, I'll decide whether or not I'll use carbon fiber once I'm done with the sculpt. From there, I could test a small piece with carbon fiber to see if it is extremely brittle, and if the vaccum bagging process is difficult.

The reason I want to use carbon fiber, primarily, is because it hasn't been done before and my suit will be different from every other armor out there.... that's why. I want to be different.

 

[XxHennersXx]

Me, look at my stats... I'm a noob. Tell you what, I'll decide whether or not I'll use carbon fiber once I'm done with the sculpt. From there, I could test a small piece with carbon fiber to see if it is extremely brittle, and if the vaccum bagging process is difficult.

The reason I want to use carbon fiber, primarily, is because it hasn't been done before and my suit will be different from every other armor out there.... that's why. I want to be different.

With that state of mind, just make your suit out of bananas. No one has made a suit out of bananas. Or melted NES cartridges. No one makes a cloth suit. Why don't you try that.

There is a reason why everyone uses what they use. It. Just. Makes. Sense. Would you rather have a good suit or an original suit?

You're free to do whatever you want, it's your suit. I'm just saying: Why waste time