Kz1000 Carbon Fiber Fuel Tank

Thanks Mike, that's a hell of a compliment. BTW, thanks for the kickstart cover, it came yesterday and looks great. It should look right at home on my bike All I can say is that the thermoset polymers that are epoxy resins are just another plastic, and show imperfections like any plastic cast against a mold. I have some leeway though, since anything that will show needs to be sanded and clearcoated for UV protection of the epoxy.

My supplies are supposed to be here tomorrow, but the family and I are heading to the inlaws in San Diego for the weekend. That kinda puts a damper on making a tank top by tomorrow. I'm gonna see if I can sneak my vacuum pump and supplies into the truck and work on it :dry: I might slip it past the queen.... :whistle:

I have been working on wrapping my KZ with carbon and it looks great.:woohoo:

I still have to add 4 or 5 more coats to it but I am very happy with the improvement of the looks of my parts.

My question is what should I use as a UV blocker that will repell any gas that I spill on the tank??

My greatest fear is that I complete the tank and spill some gas on it (probably the first time that I fill the tank) and ruin the tank. This has happend the passed two times that I have painted the tank (I used a regular automotive arosol clear coat). After I spent a lot of money on carbon fiber, I would hate myself if it happend again.

Have you ever used a two part polyurathane?
Do you have any suggestions??
Thanks in advance
Your greatest fan
Scotty

Thanks for stopping in Scotty. To answer your main question, use a 2 part polyurethane automotive clear. The clear must have a hardener or activator, and that chemical formulation is what makes it durable enough to withstand harsh chemicals like gasoline. Gasoline won't hurt the carbon fiber or the resin if you use rattle can clear though, so you don't need to worry about that. Any auto body supply store will be able to supply you with a decent quality activated clear.

I have a question; are you needing to add 4 or 5 more layers of carbon, or are you talking about adding more layers of resin? I ask because if you are just wrapping a part, you only need one layer, maybe two or fabric to insure complete coverage. Thanks again for your, and everyones, continued support

Thanks for the info on the clear coat.

I won't be adding anymore carbon just more coats of epoxy to make sure that I won't sand into the carbon when I try to level it all out.

Talk to you soon and am looking forward to the complete project.

Scottyboy:cheer:

Good luck then Scotty, and perhaps you can start a thread and show what you did and how you did it. I'm sure you're not the only one that would be interested in wrapping something in carbon fiber.

I finally made it home this afternoon, and was able to get back to it. I cut 4 emblem mounts on the lathe, then ran a 3mm x .5mm tap through the center. Just for insurance, I cut 4 little slots around the circumference to help lock them into the resin like so

This is my new epoxy product

Shell DPL862 resin base, with a slow curing agent Ancamine 2349 This should give me the working time I need to lay up the tank top and get it bagged. The next things I need to to is wax the mold, bolt it together and make templates for the cloth.

I got the mold waxed (2 coats) and bolted together, then set about making a template to accurately cut out the carbon fiber. I could have used a piece of newspaper, but I wanted something a little more durable. So, I taped a bunch of printer paper pages together then started cutting to fit. My wife was wondering why I was putting so much work into a giant heart :S With the heart cut out, I set about cutting up some aramid cloth.

The flash makes it look almost white like fiberglass, but it's much too expensive to be fiberglass :whistle:

I cut out small sections of the aramid, since I'm not using it throughout the tank. 2 pieces for each side cut on a 0 degree bias and 2 pieces cut on a 45 degree bias. That means that 2 of the pieces (0 degree) will have the fibers running up and down, and the other 2 (45 degree) will have the fibers running diagonal, in an "X" pattern.

I will also do this with the carbon fiber. I will be relying on 6 layers of carbon fiber plus the aramid, which will be placed on the sides where the emblems are......the place most likely to get whacked by the handlebars in a crash. I might still throw in 2 layers of 4oz fiberglass to add some more thickness to the layup, just not the phenominal extra cost. I'm not sure yet :huh:

I cut out the carbon for the tank as well

I gotta say, I was getting excited and nervous at the same time cutting the pieces out. Half of my brain was saying "holy crap, I'm actually gonna do this tomorrow!" The other half of my brain was saying "holy crap, I better not screw this up tomorrow!!"

Now it is noticable in the pic that I cut one piece of cloth for the tank. It has been my experience with this material so far, that it contours very well to simple, even complex compound curves. So I believe that one single piece of cloth will properly drape into the mold and conform without any issues.
Also, some might ask what I plan to do around the emblem mounts. My plan is to center the cloth and begin working from the center out. When I get to the emblem inserts, I'll slit the fabric with a razor blade and push it around the inserts. I'll do this with the first 3 layers of carbon and 2 layers of aramid, the remainder will be laid up over the inserts, encasing them in the tank.

Tomorrow morning I will cut out my peel ply, my bleeder fabric and my new bagging film. I decided to try a bagging film called "strechlon 200". It elongates over 500% to conform to complex curves and shapes. I didn't want to take any chances of not getting sufficient pressure in the edges of the flange, so I thought I'd give this material a shot.

Gentlemen, wish me luck

goodluck indeed sir!
although i believe that proper planning prevents p!ss poor performance.in your case i believe that you have planned it out as good as anyone would be able to.you shouldn't have any problems.
i can not wait to see the results.
i am a little nervous tho!!!!!!!!!
hahahahahahahha

leon

HOLY CRAP this was sooooo much harder than I thought it was going to be!!!! First off, the new epoxy resin, while very slow and giving me TONS of working time(I needed it), was much more viscous than I expected or am used to. What that means is, it is more difficult to wet out, or saturate, the cloth. On top of that, the pieces of cloth are so much bigger than I am used to working with, and I found it difficult to get the cloth lined up right. In reality, the first layer is the most important for cosmetics. In the end, I got the weave straight (I think), but I offset the back of the fabric a bit, so it came up short at the flange. :blush: After I got the first layer in, all but the last layer were partial pieces. I didn't plan it this way, but it worked out great until I got a better feel for laying out the larger pieces. This is what it looked like after a few layers, right before the kevlar:

So, after getting the kevlar in along the side panels, I layed in a couple more layers of carbon. I was in the zone, working my ass off so I forgot to take a pic of the aramid (kevlar). Once I got the last layer of fabric in I did remember to take another pic before starting the bagging: