What to do with a small supply of CF???

[Gollum]

Ok, quick background. Member here Drummingpariah recently moved back to the east coast. He was kind enough to let me help him dispose of some of the things he didn't want to both with trying to ship back east. Among the items is a sheet of carbon fiber roughly 6' by 6'. There's also some resin, which I think is epoxy (I'd have to look, which I'm not doing this late at night).

 

I've been really torn over what to do with it. Nothing will happen immediately as I'm getting married this summer, so my hands are full enough right now. But I want to have plans for it.

 

So obviously it can't be anything too big. A hood would only end up being a single layer, which would only work if I built a serious frame for it out of aluminum or something. Doable, but kinda pointless, especially considering what some people on here (ahem, johnc) can get you a CF or fiberglass hood for.

 

The thing that's been swimming around my head is an intake. I don't want to deal with the flange or injector mounts though, so I'd probably be cutting up an OEM manifold, and I just so happen to have a turbo manifold lying around.

 

I could easily cut the intake part at the injector mounting, add some runnings and a plenum and voila. Obviously it's not "simple" but the thing that worries me the most is that being my first try composite lay-up. Actually that really scares me.

 

I have some bigger and better plans for body panels, so what functional parts can I make? Please don't say flares. Someone help me get my creative juices flowing. Seat bucket? Battery tray? There's gotta be some neat things I could easily put togethe r.

 

 

 

If I can't find anything interesting to try my hand at composite layup, then I think I might just make a speaker cabinet out of it. I'm kind of a guitar nut for those that don't know. I dabble with tube amp repair/mods and I've built a few speaker cabs with success. Drummingpariah also gave me some plexigass panels and I'd love to try to make a 2 speaker semi-open back cabinet that's a plexi core with a carbon fiber shell.

[bjhines]

A single sheet of unknown weave and weight.... You ain't gonna get anything useful out of that unless you make something really small. A body panel like a hood will have 5 layers with a thick filler/core layer in the middle.

 

The benefit of CF is light weight. The problem achieving that light weight is in the resin content. Hand layup will leave you with 10 times as much resin in the part as Vacuum molding will achieve. The other cirtical problem with hand layup is that POLYESTER will not cure completely in thin layers, if it is exposed to AIR. You need to use EPOXY resin for AIR exposed hand layups.

 

A single layer of CF or Glass is not useful for making a part. You typically need 3 layers of light/medium weight composite to make even the flimsiest parts. The final thickness achieved with vacuum layup is a few thousandths of an inch per layer. Hand layup is considerably thicker but is mostly brittle glue.

 

Your best bet is to use the stuff to cosmetically OVERLAY some preformed part you have on hand.

[johnc]

Make a Condom out of it.

[palauoriginal]

^genius

[Chaparral2f]

Make a Condom out of it.

Not enough Material?

[Dan Juday]

...

 

Your best bet is to use the stuff to cosmetically OVERLAY some preformed part you have on hand.

 

Dashboard cover!

[19762802+2]

Dan juday beat me to it

Edited April 12, 2010 by 19752802+2

[Gollum]

When was the last time you guys saw my dash?!?!

 

[thrustnut]

I'm with them, a 6'X6' chunk of carbon isn't enough to do much with. Maby cover an interior piece with a single layer for looks, but thats about it. When I worked building exparamental aircraft I had boxes of scrap CF at my disposal. I made some pretty cool motorcycle parts.

[T-Bone028]

No offense, but that is one mess of a daily driver! That is if your signature is still accurate.

 

What about making a full metal dash and skinning it in CF? Might help clean up that interior a little bit. Or you can use it to make a CF "cover" for your valve cover...those apparently are worth $150 according to MSA...useless in my mind but that besides the point.

[Gollum]

It's my summer daily driver, and that pic isn't entirely truthful. It was taken in the midsts of fixing wiring problems while removing all of the OEM wiring I didn't want to keep. It's a little cleaner now, but still the same dash plate.

 

I do want to eventually make a dash, but it'll still be a very minimal dash. Just enough metal to keep my gauges and switches put, and within reach. The biggest problem with the current plate is that it"s a little far away.

 

I'm currently leaning more and more the direction of using it to add a layer to a speaker cabinet. Should be able to double layer the baffle to add a little rigidity, and a single layer to the outer walls for looks.