im interested in using carbon fiber in some up coming projects but i dont know how to use it. it seems hard to form fit without vacuum bagging. is there a way to make panels or enclosures without using that process. if i use fiberglass to get the form and then lay carbon on top how will i seal it. epoxy is what i have heard to use but how to you get the totally smoother out look? what grit sand paper would i use? what im getting at here is what do i need exactly? and what tips do you have for sucess? i dont want to throw away money for an experiment without doing my homework. thanks in advance
I have used carbon fiber for a couple projects not car related one was to build a wing for a solar powered aircraft and the other was a full fairing for a custom bicycle both for university projects. on the wing we vacuum bagged it and got amazingly smooth results. However on the fairing we laid it just like fiberglass matting however you need to work in small pieces to do this so the look will not be a uniform. What we did is lay a thin coat of resin down then laid the carbon fiber pieces then sponge brushed more resin over it, It ended up extremely strong and light which was the point but I imagine you are looking for a more uniform look so it would all need to be laid in one piece where vacuum bagging definately helps. hope this helps a little and feel free to ask any more questions and Ill try and remember it has been about 4 years since either of these projects.
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Information on Vacuum Bagging
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Information on Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP)
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Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP)
Resin infused parts generally obtain higher strength-to-weight ratios than hand lay-ups or traditional vacuum bagging. Utilizing a dry lay-up with unlimited set-up time, vacuum pressure is used to drive resin into the laminate. The process is clean, efficient, and capable of producing stronger and lighter parts
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