The Carbon Fibre/Composites Thread

[Con]

Have been tinkering with Carbon for a while now and have to say is very interesting once you get into the different fabrics and weave orientation.

The majority of part on the market are Chinese made Single layer of carbon over fiberglass open mould for visuals.

Where as proper McLaren type is Pre Preg Carbon out of Autoclave- Dry Carbon

Here they use same fabric but already has the resin boned on, so when the fabric is heated the resin and fabric melt together into one matrix structure i.e the part

A happy medium in between is Resin Infusion or RTM

Where the dry fabric is laid into mould and the resin injected under vac and pulled through the mould and creates the Resin Matrix of the part.

This gives the optimal strength weight ratio once cured.

The newer type is chopped or forged carbon this has less strength and is more for looks

Post up some pics of Carbon P*rn

 

[Con]

 

[quattro Rick]

Carbon porn you say

 

[Con]

Carbon porn you say

Was there much weight saving with that bonnet over OEM @quattro Rick

These front wings I done were 100% carbon RTM with around 60% weight saving over OEM Metal

 

[MarkM]

Forged carbon is just bloody horrible imo, looks like bird crap!
M performance stuff is proper dry pre preg carbon, not a fan of the twill and fibreglass eBay stuff but sometimes no choice.


Dry carbon…..

I have some interior carbon skinned bits too, no hydro dipping here!

 

[saxo_man]

My trip to Pagani - there was a lot of CF

 

[Con]

Excellent pics Adam, Pagani and Koenigsegg are top level and saving every gram of weight is important while using visually stunning pieces.

 

[ALN]

Fair play to you @Con. I produced some fibreglass parts last year for a project and got me quite interested. Haven't found an excuse to do anything in CF bit I will!

 

[quattro Rick]

Was there much weight saving with that bonnet over OEM @quattro Rick

These front wings I done were 100% carbon RTM with around 60% weight saving over OEM Metal

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I never got a weight for either, but having lifted the OEM bonnet off and moving the seibon one around a few times i assume there's about 50% savings at a rough guess. Hard to tell with such a bulky item without weighing

But she goes well on track

Those wings look really well!!

 

[Con]

@Gaz or @Cooper can you change to title to Fibre not Fiber please

 

[Tufty]

Some of my bits..

 

[Tufty]

I have more planned bits planned but ultimately it comes down to ££ and also do I want to paint it or leave my car looking like a patch work quilt.

On the list is..

Doors
Wings
Arch extension’s
Front spoiler
Rear diffuser

If I could find someone willing to make 1/4 panels that didn’t cost the earth id do them as well.

These are the doors I’m getting but they will be done in the same weave as my boot.

 

[Tufty]

Also my wedding ring as well just for good measure.

 

[Con]

I have more planned bits planned but ultimately it comes down to ££ and also do I want to paint it or leave my car looking like a patch work quilt.

On the list is..

Doors
Wings
Arch extension’s
Front spoiler
Rear diffuser

If I could find someone willing to make 1/4 panels that didn’t cost the earth id do them as well.

These are the doors I’m getting but they will be done in the same weave as my boot.

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That spread Tow carbon on the spoiler is the ticket.

Since the fabric is woven this way it has a slight stiffness increase over on a spoiler made of 2x2 diagonal weave.


Since the flex will be uniform VS the slight flex in one direction and stiffer in the other with 2x2.

For doors that's interesting and I never thought would probably have an increase in safety

It's funny that a Carbon part is literally plastic and not some mystical dark magic

 

[ChrisR]

I’ve been in a carbon fibre factory in Taiwan which makes high end bike parts, pretty cool to see how it’s all done!

 

[Tufty]

That spread Tow carbon on the spoiler is the ticket.

Since the fabric is woven this way it has a slight stiffness increase over on a spoiler made of 2x2 diagonal weave.


Since the flex will be uniform VS the slight flex in one direction and stiffer in the other with 2x2.

For doors that's interesting and I never thought would probably have an increase in safety

It's funny that a Carbon part is literally plastic and not some mystical dark magic

Your the only one to actually notice the spoiler. It’s built for a purpose and it works.

The doors is something I’ve always wanted and I found a guy in Germany who makes them complete both inner and outer skin in-fact all his carbon work is on an other level his Mk2 Golf roof skins are top notch as well if money was no object I’d let him build my full car in carbon.

It’s cool that you know much about carbon you really have done your homework and aren’t some guy who skins parts for a few quid. Do you work with carbon a lot or is it more of a hobby/when you get time?

 

[Con]

2015 I think I got a part that was skinned by the dude near Abbey Centre...think it was Fibreworx iirc

This part last a few weeks and degraded terribly so I went about doing my own.

2016 It was either Welding or Carbon I was going to teach myself so I bought a load of materials and skinned some interior parts.

*The problems with that part was it was just a layer of carbon hand laid on top of plastic and cheap resins.

To effectively skin a plastic part you need a few crucial steps.

Stanley blade key in about 10,000 scores to get a mechanical lock for the tinted Black Epoxy resin

at B stage lay on fabric and the secure, then layer up 3 or 4 coats of UV resistant resin and then......Vac Bag it until cure.

Trim the excess fabric and sand ready for more layers of resin. usually around 8 or 10 to get the low spots....then 2k clear lacquer.


with 1.25 hours in between each layer of resin and cure times of 24 hours is a balls...then time sanding and cleaning every speck of dust is a pain .

To make 1 part skinned is about 24 hours labour on a small part isnt worth it so...

After a year or 2 eventually I went onto to moulds and parts from moulds via resin infusion.

This quickly escalated into doing similar parts for others Del Sols in US.

Obviously spent a fortune on scrap parts or mistakes but is handy enough now.

Took 2 years off teaching for Carbon but went back to teaching last year after lockdown as it was a melt.

Can usually answer any questions if needed

 

[Tufty]

I bought a few bits from a fellow VW nut who took to carbon skinning as a side line to make a few quid and while some bits where good others where very poor and it put me off the whole skinning process.

It is something i have interest in and I’d love to learn more about and maybe even try my hand at making door cards to finish the inside of the Golf.

It’s clear to see you have put the time in and do it right.. Do you still make bits or have you took a break from doing things.

The company in Germany I’ve been speaking with is Baltic Carbon they seem to be on the ball and have made some impressive bits.

They have built a wide body S4 in complete Carbon and it’s simply stunning.

 

[Tufty]

This was a plan for my Golf back in 2018 before the money ran out. This kit was designed by Lewis at Prototype22 and was going to be full carbon but the cost for one kit was a lot and I didnt have it so it was shelved. I still would love todo it but my eldest Girl isn’t well at the minute so cars as a hole will have to wait.

 

[Con]

@Tufty

I would avoid skinning the door cards tbh...make a mould and carbon copy 100%

I done 3 set of these ones for Del Sols and never ever again.
the more curves means more resin and sanding. Epoxy laminating resin is quite runny i.e viscosity...so a lot is wasted in drippage so needs more layers and sanding which equates to more hours.

The rear quarter panel I had welded on to the Sol, I took a mould of before hand and made an over fender style using scraps for the visual...turned out sh!te but will be interesting in carbon. Making a mould i generally Vinyelester Black Gelcoat and reinforced with fiberglass with coupling resin and tooling resin.

Make a fiberglass one and build up with foam and shape for a tailored wide body but that is not in my plans atm.

I have one of the very last set in Europe of BNIB OEM quarter panels for Del sol that were £750+ VAT each side, 15 years ago they were discontinued.

So I am planning to make a mould of them and Carbon copies, which I will post up.

This will need to be a 3 piece split mould, A: main face, B: top along boot line and C: door jam

These where similar to the front wings they drop down under the bonnet....so a 1 piece would have a mechanical lock and the part will be in the mould FOREVER, or have great trouble releasing.

I have tons of footage for You-Tube and no time to edit an organise like these LHD Wiper Cowl/Scuttle panels which are class compared to OEM

Easy Composites are one of my suppliers...they have a class youtube that was invaluable.

Also it was @Bronk posted about a site Carbon Mods about 8 years ago on here about a video that planted the seed.

Carbon Mods turned into Easy Composites around not long after. They have everything needed.

Materials, equipment and training for advanced composites with next-day shipping and expert technical advice. - Easy Composites

Easy composites manufacture and supply materials, equipment and consumables for advanced composites including reinforcements, prepregs, resins, vacuum equipment, ovens and much more. We offer next-day shipping within the UK, fast shipping word-wide and free expert technical advice on all products.

www.easycomposites.co.uk

 

[Con]

One thing folks don't realise you can actually 3D print a mould and use that to make a carbon part...and it works well.


If you really want to get your Carbon NERD hat on check out Opera Performance in Japan..aye the ones from Gran Turismo

They have started doing "Carbon Doubling"

S2000 Carbon Tub and front arches and tubs.

The Carbon adds soo much to the car they don't need the strut brace between the L & R shock towers



Built by legends Spoon featured them on the Ultimate EG6 Civic build being done

 

[chrisd1]

Active Garage R32 GTR...

And of course, our own Impulse Carbon AE86 and another in the making for this year's Tokyo AutoSalon...

Lastly, the Carbon roof also fitted to Tsuchiya's own 86 a few years back now...

 

[Con]

Awsome @chrisd1

Any chance you would have a pic of the door jams of them carbon rear quarters or do they cut off at the seam.

I have a similar project in mind and debating whether to add the split on the mould here or just not have the door jams area at all

 

[chrisd1]

Sure dude, tonnes of pics, these are from the show/demo build at the moment .. hope they help

 

[Con]

Sure dude, tonnes of pics, these are from the show/demo build at the moment .. hope they help

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Thank you so much, that has made the difference for me.

They really do look better with the whole door jam done as well.

By any chance would you know the adhesive bond used pretty sure it will be 3M

I use VuduGlu VM100 which is class for Carbon to Carbon or Carbon to Metal purposes