Making cool stuff out of Carbon Fiber

[jmglenn]

I wanted to make car parts and bodys out of the stuff. just wanted to get som insight...
i'm convinsed i can get the stuff faily cheap.

I do have concerns about the heat my nitro engin will produce.

Also if I can I want to make a body out of it (using a lexan body as a mold) but the concern is smackin the boards or anything else w/ the car will result in a shatered car :(

PS "save speedvision"

[ 07-18-2001: Message edited by: jmglenn ]

[Interstate]

I'll bet you could make a "show" body if you're too concerned about accidents. Just Keep the chassis and a motor mount aluminum, If it wre all CF, the egine would definately over heat.

[Gokou]

I work in Aerospace, and where I work we generate a TON of carbon fiber scrap, both off-fall, prepreg, and cloth. The problem isn't making the parts-- curing and laying up the carbon is rather simple. The problem lies in tooling, both the difficulty in manufacturing it and the sheer cost. For something as complex as a body you would probably need to utilize an RTM process (Resin Transfer Molding) to produce accurate definition of the contours of the body. You could also do female mold and vacuum bag it, but then the inside wouldn't come out very nice.

I've made quite a few little pieces here and there from scrap carbon, but most are for applications where I simply have to cut a piece out of plate. For more complex shape, you could take a splash mold of the object you wish to duplicate and do a single side mold/vacuum bag cure to produce the part, but the bag side of your part would be pretty ugly. As I said, to get a part that has great definition on both sides you would need an RTM process, which not only requires expensive tooling but a method of injecting the resin under pressure. Also, do you happen to have a vacuum pump, oven, or autoclave at home to cure the stuff?

If you just want to experiment, go down to Tap plastics-- they sell carbon cloth, carbon/kevlar cloth, and resin. You can produce some pretty decent looking stuff even with the materials from tap-- the hard thing will be to get a decent surface finish, but for that you can just layer epoxy on the outside then sand it smooth once it cures.

[jmglenn]

it sounds like a lost cause.
I dont have an autoclave
i'm assuming that my oven and
vacume cleaner won't work... :( :(

[Gokou]

You can still give it a try using dry graphite cloth and "painting" the resin on yourself. The results won't be as good as a vacuum bagged autoclave cure, but after some wet sanding it will still look very good. It's just that when you apply resin by brush or by pouring it on, chances of resin voids are much greater and the overall part won't be as strong as a vacuum bagged part. It should still be more than adequate though-- I encourage you to give it a try. You could probably get a nice display body made-- line the inside of your lexan body with the fabric and pour/brush the resin in, and let it cure. It certainly won't hurt to try, except the few bucks it will cost to buy the cloth and resin.

[hfracing]

i made some part out of carbon plate. i think the guy that made it for me(a friend made the plates, i cut them.) didnt use a vacum, but i looks good anyway, and it works good too. http://dvoeglazov.com/hfracing/html/hf2/pics/radioplate.jpg :D
i now love carbon, and i am in the process of cutting a radioplate for my impulse too..
i have a website too, with more pics og y projects. http://www.geocities.com/harald2002
take a look and tell me what you think.

[very low budget racer]

Where can one purhase carbon fiber sheet's online? I want to make CF braces for my 1/8 buggy once it comes in.

[dm76]

Hey Hfracing-

Cool Carbon Fiber stuff. A while back I bought a sheet off ebay hoping to do something like what you are doing i.e. radio plates, transponder mounts,etc.

How thick is the plate on the car in the photo. My plate is a little too thin.

Did you use a Dremel tool to cut it , or????

[maxxxracer]

u can have the chasssis all carbon. IT will not overheat the engine. They have them for the serpent impulse. One of the guys in the serpent impulse has one. I think his name is Rookie Solara

[Rc1oGtMaN]

VLBR, you can buy carbon fiber here (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p.pgm?Q=1&I=LXA277&P=7).

Mark O.

[GTman]

try www.mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com)

even if you cant find carbon fiber plate, they have a lot of other cool things to make rc cars out of!

[ 07-21-2001: Message edited by: GTman ]

[hfracing]

dm67

the plates used for that project were 2,5mm everywhere but the rear shock tower wich is an (at my track)recordbreaking 5mm!!!The tower is impossible to flex even if i try hard !!! (i once said that i would quit rc if it broke..)
i used a jigsaw with a thin bled used for cutting tiles.. it doesnt chip the edges like the other blades.. then i used dremel for the last finish... and small files..
just finished my impulse radiotray an hour ago..2,5mm carbon..
insanely much stiffer than tha plastic stock part.. :)

[CBlakeNS]

HF---That looks awsome!

[jmglenn]

are their other materials to use as a core, other than graphite?
I asume all tha manufactures us graphite b/c it's the strongest?