Carbon Fiber Bodywork

AWESOME!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

The results turned out VERY VERY VERY much improved over my first attempt. The mold surface is smooth, shiny and free of defects It will require minimal prep prior to laying up. Next I'll do some sanding and smooth out any sharp edges from molding. Then I'll polish it up and I'll be ready to laminate the first part!

Since I had to mix up some resin to coat the trimmed edges of the mold, I decided to add one last layer to the outside of the mold. This time I added the surfacing wax and I used standard polyester resin and fiberglass cloth instead of the chopped strand mat and tooling gelcoat.

The surfacing wax will leave the cured resin surface tack free, and the cloth will provide a smooth , poke free surface for the shell of the mold.
Prior to the last layer of glass and resin, I wet sanded the interior of the mold with 1500 grit. Tomorrow I'll polish the mold surface, and start prepping it for it's first layup. Like the left mold, the first layup I do in this mold will be fiberglass and polyester resin. If that comes out ok, I'll bust out the carbon and epoxy. Then I'll turn my attention to the tail.

The tail...... It will certainly be more time consuming than the sidecovers. I was looking at it the other day, and some of the complexities of reproducing it. The outer shell won't pose any issues, it's the internal structure that makes it more complicated than the one piece sidecovers. The tail will require assembly of at least 2 parts, most likely 3. There is the bottom of the tool tray, and there is the rear frame mount. Both are simple components to make, but must be added after the tail piece shell is laminated. I mention this to readers since this makes the tail more time consuming to manufacture and subsequently more expensive. I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I have plenty to keep me busy finishing and proofing the right sidecover....

Just curious, but have any readers actually used anything in this thread to make something yet?

porchev914 wrote:

Lesson number...... well, I've lost count. Another lesson I learned about using paper as a flange material. No matter how much PVA you spray on the paper, it doesn't release very cleanly. It would be good practice to cover the paper with a thin sheet of mylar, or to just use mylar all together.

After stripping most of the paper, I scraped out the rest of the modeling clay and removed the plug. I was pleased the plug released with minimal effort

and the mold.....well the mold turned out.....

I found the smooth/clear packaging tape releases/works well as far as resin not sticking to it when making molds.

Thats a good idea, thanks.
Anyone have any dreams of a carbon fiber gas tank? I did some poking around and found a thread on another forum where a guy chronicles making a carbon fiber tank for a Suzuki SV650
www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145975
I haven't read through it all, but there is some good info in that guys thread

I found a little gem today, a composite supply business down the street from my office. Their prices are as good or better than what I've found online, and you don't have to pay for shipping, and most all the stuff I need is in stock! Yay! I couldn't resist and picked up a couple of things, most notably a red resin tint and kevlar shears.

The shears were only $17, and I didn't believe the guy when he said they had a pair they used for over a year to cut kevlar off of the roll in the back. They LOOKED cheap and flimsy.....they can't possibly work. Hell, the packaging says "Dressmakers Shears" and last time I checked, kevlar wasn't a common component of some chicks skirt. But to my disbelief, the store manager gave me a pair of the shears and a sample of kevlar, and they cut through it like butter. He also said if I had any trouble with them to bring 'em back. I was sold. What this means is that the first carbon layup I make in the new right mold will be with the carbon/kevlar hybrid cloth. I'm excited to see how that turns out! They had some other cool resin additives like colored pearls, the tints (I got some red to play with) and green glow in the dark! I've gotta try that one one of these days soon! Carbon fiber by day, glow in the dark bodywork by night :ohmy:

I got the mold polished, but it's waaaaaaay too late to do a layup. Tomorrow..........or, later today actually

The wife had other plans yesterday evening which put the kibosh on any garage time. I did however layup the first right cover this evening. I used the carbon/kevlar hybrid fabric I've been holding on to for all these years :whistle: I was going to try some of the red tint with a scrap piece of cloth layed up on a sheet of glass, just to see the results, but I used up all my resin. I'll have to mix a little extra next time for experimentation. Stay tuned, I'll have pics up tomorrow

Success!! :woohoo: Mostly anyway.....I'm still getting some small air bubbles here and there, nothing I can't fix, but still less than a perfect finish. That said, this is the best sidecover I've made yet! Of course it is only the 3rd one I've made so......I have LOTS of room for improvement. This sidecover has 6 layers, and I used different materials for the layup this time than the last 2. I started with the carbon/kevlar fabric, then 2 layers of lightweight fiberglass (4 oz/cu yd), 1 layer of 2 mil coremat, another layer of fiberglass and a final layer of carbon/kevlar fabric. Also, instead of using the perforated release film, I used peel ply. The peel ply is a PITA to remove, and I ended up pulling the new sidecover out of the mold it was so difficult to separate it fromt he back! :blink:

One thing I learned about using the hybrid fabric, it is much more sensitive to handling issues. You may see in the pic some spots where the weave was slightly pulled apart. This wasn't a result of handling per say, but of placement (fabric being pushed into a wet mold). The pure carbon doesn't show flaws like this as readily. It just means I need to more practice and experience

Anyone have any questions or suggestions?

There were 2 issues I had with the last sidecover I made. One was "frothing" of the resin in corners where the resin was thicker. I attributed this to heat I was applying to the mold to speed curing. I left out the heat on this sidecover and no more frothing I have recent read about degassing resin prior to using it. This processed applies vacuum to the freshly mixed resin and removes all the tiny air bubbles that get entrapped during mixing. I'll look into what it takes to make a degassing jar.

Another issue I had was bunching of the laminate, including the core material in two spots (on the backside). It happened in the same 2 spots on both the sidecovers I made so far. I figured it was most likely a result of the vacuum bag pulling the layers down toward the middle of the mold. This time around, I made sure there were pleny of pleats in the vacuum bag so that there was only force applied perpendicular to the mold surface. I didn't have any bunching on this one, so I hope that I have that one solved as well

The peel ply leaves a nice, lightly textured matte finish on the back

And with a cut off wheel, I roughly trimmed the sidecover out, and put on 2 coats of wax. The piece weighs in at 5.3 oz. Not quite under 5 like I was shooting for, but I still have lots of room for improvement.

While I got the pattern of the fabric to follow the the angle of the sidecover, I wonder if it would look better if the fabric was rotated 45 degrees, creating more a cheveron pattern with the weave......

Very cool, look forward to seeing the final iteration!