Carbon skinned teardrop

[rpm750]

See I'm not so crazy for building a funky frame and covering it with F/G. I thought about the carbon fiber but that cost is not doable! I can't wait until we have some dry weather here in Hotlanta and I'll get started!

[afreegreek]

you also have to coat the epoxy with a UV resistant finish or the sun will make it look milky. ENDURA is really good and it's a lot more flexible than most automotive clear coats but they will work too.

it's a little tougher to wet out than glass. the other difficulty is not disturbing the weave.. it shows (and you want it to right?) instead of going clear like glass does so you want to keep it nice and straight. if you have a vacuum pump, resin infusion is your best bet. if I can't bag a part, I like to cover it with plastic vapour barrier and squeegee over that instead of directly on the cloth and if you're brave a wet layup is the way to go.. if you're doing a big panel consider rolling it on a rod and unrolling it onto the resin or use two rods, one on each end like a scroll, that way you and a buddy can stretch it tight and smooth and then lay it in the resin.

OH, and don't sand into it.. it will show up big time if you do..

if all you're going for is the look, get the lightest weight you can find. it's cheaper and a lot easier to work with except the keeping the weave straight part. but if you can do a nice job with epoxy and glass, you'll have no problems. however, I would strongly recommend you practice with it on some scrap pieces first and go through all the stages (layup, fill the weave and finish sand) to get a feel for it.

did I say, don't sand into it?? incase I didn't.. DON'T SAND INTO IT!

I like the thinner epoxies like RAKA too. it wets out a lot better. btw, you can get away with a lot less resin on the first application too. you don't need to fret that you didn't apply enough resin like when you're trying to get glass to go perfectly clear. just use enough to get in stuck on there, the rest of the coats will fill the weave and it will look great if you don't sand into it.

[rpm750]

No sand at all, the glass you mean? I'm planning on painting after it's right. I was thinking if it needed a skim coat over the glass I'll just use body filler and then sand that. I want it to be close when I'm done, the glassing to save on body filler after the fact. I'm sure the weave will show some I just want the panels level to begin with then I'll worry about the surface finish.

My worry is that I'll glass it and the resin will make the substrait, what ever I go with, will become limp and sag. Like you said I need to set up a test and go through the whole proccess! Will do that!!!!

[afreegreek]

No sand at all, the glass you mean? I'm planning on painting after it's right. I was thinking if it needed a skim coat over the glass I'll just use body filler and then sand that. I want it to be close when I'm done, the glassing to save on body filler after the fact. I'm sure the weave will show some I just want the panels level to begin with then I'll worry about the surface finish.

My worry is that I'll glass it and the resin will make the substrait, what ever I go with, will become limp and sag. Like you said I need to set up a test and go through the whole proccess! Will do that!!!!

you can sand the epoxy and cut into the glass a bit and it will still be fine. it's just if you want to clear coat it and have it look pretty that you have to be careful. if you just want to paint it, the first coat of epoxy is enough and then go straight to filler.. (bondo or whatever) epoxy will continue to shrink for about 30 days and then not much after that. if you wait that long before you sand, the weave won't show.

epoxy does not have any solvent in it and won't melt or soften any material you apply it to.. polyester resin (the normal fibreglass resin) does have solvent in it (styrene) and can soften some materials. people use epoxy on wood because polyester does not stick that well to wood. however it does stick well to most other materials and it is cheaper and a lot easier to use. depending on your substrate, you may be better off using polyester resin.

here's some reading material for you.

http://www.uscomposites.com/resins.html

http://epoxysystems.com/

http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/Product ... epoxy.html

[Larry C]

On small parts, I actually go out of my way to sand into the carbon. Once buried in epoxy, it really makes the carbon sparkle and jump out at you. However, I would not do that for large surfaces as it would not look good. If I was doing a window trim or edge molding, in carbon cloth, I would sand into weave to get this sparkle look. This is someones elses published method, not mine. I like the sparkle look, you may not. try a test comparison on a small job first.
Carbon Fiber is cool stuff. I'm glad to see theres some interest for Tear building. I plan to use carbon or carbon/kevlar for all trim on my build. I think a small amount of carbon on a wood strip built tear should look good and eliminate the need for aluminum or other type edge trim.
Getting the weave to look good on large surfaces is tricky. I am not confident enough to try it on the whole build, plus I am still leary of the heat build up on the black surface. Cured epoxy softens at 175* F. I do like the idea of rolling the cloth on 2 sticks like a scroll if your going to apply large pieces.

[asianflava]

Almost all the carbon that I've worked with came as a "prepreg" that means that epoxy is already soaked into it. It's stored in a freezer and used right after it's defrosted. I did do a small project with cloth and one of the problems with working with the cloth is that it is hard to wet out.

Covering your trailer in CF would look cool but it would be expensive. Probably not really worth the extra expense because your weight savings would be minimal. Especially since you are replacing fiberglass with CF instead of replacing steel with CF.

Oh and if you have to sand it or grind off an edge, make sure you wear a resparator and gloves.

Just my opinion though.

[afreegreek]

Almost all the carbon that I've worked with came as a "prepreg" that means that epoxy is already soaked into it. It's stored in a freezer and used right after it's defrosted. I did do a small project with cloth and one of the problems with working with the cloth is that it is hard to wet out.

Covering your trailer in CF would look cool but it would be expensive. Probably not really worth the extra expense because your weight savings would be minimal. Especially since you are replacing fiberglass with CF instead of replacing steel with CF.

Oh and if you have to sand it or grind off an edge, make sure you wear a resparator and gloves.

Just my opinion though.

like glass fibre, carbon fibre also available with different binders that make its use easier to use for different purposes. some is stiffer and holds the fibres in place better and some is softer making it easier to lay into curves and irregular shapes.

I agree too that carbon fibre is really only useful for the looks on a TD..

[vwbeamer]

How about fiberglass that looks like carbon Fiber???


http://www.solarcomposites.com/composit ... html#Fiber


The blue is SAWEEETTT!!!!!!

[mikeschn]

I think the Silver Texalium has potential!



Mike...

[Larry C]

Also check out carbon/kevlar in colors. I have used the red/black.
http://www.uscomposites.com/hybrids.html

I do like the aluminum fiberglass. It would reflect the sun and would look sweet with carbon trim, plus it's half the price of carbon or carbon kevlar.

I wonder if one layer would be enough to hide the wood skin. Maybe there is a silver analine dye or water based stain that could be applied to the skin before lay-up.

[vwbeamer]

maybe a layer of aluminum foil.

[Vindi_andy]

Mike if all youre going for is the carbon look then you can get carbon effect vinyl films that you can apply some kit car builders use them.

Alternatively there are companies doing carbon effect ABS sheets that you could use to clad your teardrop.

Both of these options will have there own problems but where theres a will theres a way

[mikeschn]

Mike if all youre going for is the carbon look then you can get carbon effect vinyl films that you can apply some kit car builders use them.

Alternatively there are companies doing carbon effect ABS sheets that you could use to clad your teardrop.

Both of these options will have there own problems but where theres a will theres a way

Interesting thought, but if it's black, it's going to get too hot.

I think I'd be better with G10 fiberglass. But that's outrageously priced too.

Do you have any photos of the carbon effect ABS sheets?

Mike...

[caseydog]

If I were Bill Gates, I might have a carbon fiber TD -- with titanium frame and wheels.

For the rest of us, carbon fiber is a wee bit pricey.

CD

[kennyrayandersen]

Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean that you should do a thing.

More expensive
Harder to work with
More expensive
Hot
More expensive
Overkill on the strength
More expensive

I see a pattern…

It does look cool though – like the fork on my MTB