darkwatch

So i have seen all of these people wrapping things in carbon fiber and i wanna give it a try.
Anyone know were i can get a step by step low down on how to do it properly and a source were i can get everything i need to do it?

stealthx32

Ricer.

If you're gonna spend the effort, make the actual part out of CF. At least then you can claim to your buddies that it's lightweight, y0!

http://www.fiberglast.com

ace123

typically it's just like you say: wrapped in CF, not CF. that means it may as well be fiberglass--its probably no stronger (for sure no lighter) than whatever you wrapped up.

to properly do carbon fiber, you get prepreg (this is the easy way), then wrap it on whatever, ideally a disposable core. pull a vacuum, hold temp at ~375F and pressure at ~80psi uniformly (make sure the epoxy doesnt aggregate into waves -- thats what happens if your pressure isnt uniform) and keep it there for several hours. you can do a post cure again but that would be good enough. usually people use an autoclave for this process--a big pressure cylinder that holds high temp high pressure air. and it costs a fair bit of money to get one.

if you dont get prepreg, you have to suck the epoxy through the material before you begin as an additional step.

theres a reason the crap is expensive. but if that sounds ok to you, then google fiberglassing. the procedure doesnt have to me much different for carbon fiber--you just cant do it at room temp if you have a good epoxy. and if you have a garbage epoxy, why are you paying for carbon? buy glass. its cheaper and just as good. if you just want cool factor you can throw a few CF and kevlar strands in the glass because CF and kevlar sound cool.

stealthx32

I disagree - there are plenty of room temperature cured epoxies that can achieve 75+% of the strength of your standard prepreg. It won't be the lightest part but if done properly, resin infusion will let you achieve a pretty good fiber to resin ratio. You could even do it as a standard wet layup too, as long as you're carefully measuring the amount of resin you're laying down.

Glass is a lot cheaper (by a magnitude of 10), but it isn't just as good; the resulting part with require a lot more layers to achieve the same strength.

darkwatch

I have have done alot of fiberglass work in many different forms so it is nothing new to me... The reason i would be wrapping the parts, mostly interior parts, would not be to achieve the amazing strength that carbon fiber is known for but for the amazing way it looks...
So with that said, could i just glue form it and wet it out like i would fiberglass? Also i understand that you usally use a epoxy resin for carbon fiber since it is a stronger resin, but since i am not constructing these parts for strength could i use a polyester resin that i use for fiberglass? Considerign that it is natually UV resiestant, or do i HAVE To use a epoxy resin with carbon fiber?