Carbon Fiber Bodywork

looks good...you saw how it was just messy but complete with all the goodies attached...i've seen em go 70-100 in not shiny but complete....i got that for like 9.99 and 10 ship.....

so as long as the goodies dont get lost ..i could care less...paint it pink......

while a classic piece is always a good tail...

lately as i get older i really appreciate the modern tails more and more...the sport ones...

That was pretty cheap for a good tail! :woohoo: I must agree, taking a sporty tail for a ride always looks cool, but some of them don't ride as well as you'd hope

I finished patching the little nicks and the injection molding divot on the top and put a handful of coats of primer on the tail. Word to the wise- don't paint in poor lighting. Even if you think you know what you're doing (me) it's easy to screw up when you can't see. I got a run in the final coat of paint. Not a big deal, as I'll just sand it out, but it still makes more work than is necessary
:S

porchev914 wrote:

I finished patching the little nicks and the injection molding divot on the top and put a handful of coats of primer on the tail. Word to the wise- don't paint in poor lighting. Even if you think you know what you're doing (me) it's easy to screw up when you can't see. I got a run in the final coat of paint. Not a big deal, as I'll just sand it out, but it still makes more work than is necessary
:S

good advice. its so easy to take the short cut. but its quicker in the end if u take the time to set up good lighting. been there done that.

i have faith in u bud. we all know that u will do a great job.
good luck.

Yeah Mark, had I actually been painting something I wanted other people to see, I wouldn't have done it in my driveway.....at night....without any direct lighting This final priming will be smoothed out with 1500 grit and waxed in prep for molding. Afterwards I'll semi strip it back down and reprime it before sending back to Craig.

I sanded the tail with 600 grit. I would have done it in 1000, but I didn't have any. That, and some of the runs were substantial enough that 1000 grit would have taken longer than I wanted to spend hand sanding this tail. When I primered it the last time, I alternated coats of black and white. This gives the best contrast so I know when I'm finished sanding without having to dry the part off and look for any remaining orange peel.

Now the tail is ready for a flange and to be waxed. I am going to do this mold a little different though, so I have to wait until payday to order some graphite powder.

Whats the graphite powder for you say? When I was at Taylormade, I noticed all of their molds were not only all carbon fiber, but the surface of the mold was darker....like it was smoked. I asked them why that was, and they said it was graphite powder added to the first coat of resin during mold making. I had so many other questions that I didn't persue the reasoning.....until now. After a little research, it appears that graphite added to epoxy resin impoves it's toughness and reduces surface friction. In other words, perfect for a tooling coat! Graphite is pretty cheap (about $15/lb) so I figured I'd give it a try.

Don't worry Craig, you'll get your tail back with all of the little bits and bobbles

Ooh baby, now your talking, adding graphite to your mold. All the kayak builders would be jelous of you for that one. I know lots of home boat builders claim that it does improve the toughness of the bottom of a hull. Just don't drag that stuff in the house. I'm slowly learning all the bodywork tricks from this thread. It took me a second to realize that you changed the title. "Hmm how did I miss 19 pages? Oh, Adam changed the title." Duh.

dude, you start putting graphit powder into your product and i might have you make me a helmet.:laugh:

wow adam, you really have the knack man. awesome to watch. thanks for sharing.

Yeah Josh, I changed the title of the thread. Somehow "carbon fiber side cover" no longer truly applied to the content of the entire thread :laugh: No dragging graphite in the house, although I do wait intil Marina is in bed before I drag out my carbon cloth and start cutting out patterns on the kitchen floor :ohmy:

To clarify Joe, the graphite powder is an additive that I will be using in the mold layup to increase toughness and surface "slipperiness". I hope that this will aid in separation of the part from the mold. If I wanted to laminate a carbon part, and downplay the carbon weave, I would use a resin tint to smoke the resin. That would look cool though....

porchev914 wrote:

Yeah Josh, I changed the title of the thread. Somehow "carbon fiber side cover" no longer truly applied to the content of the entire thread :laugh: No dragging graphite in the house, although I do wait intil Marina is in bed before I drag out my carbon cloth and start cutting out patterns on the kitchen floor :ohmy:

To clarify Joe, the graphite powder is an additive that I will be using in the mold layup to increase toughness and surface "slipperiness". I hope that this will aid in separation of the part from the mold. If I wanted to laminate a carbon part, and downplay the carbon weave, I would use a resin tint to smoke the resin. That would look cool though....

i understood half of what you said.:laugh: and thats why i am here.