refinishing scratched carbon fiber with clear epoxy?

[jwscab]

So I'm going to restore a trinity/CC rc10 chassis......it is well used, slightly chipped up front, and I will be re-laminating, trimming to make the front look new.

the bottom and top have some scuffs and light scratches.....I was thinking of using a crystal clear thin epoxy to more or less squeegee over the surface on the top and bottom. follow that up with some wet sanding to give it a semi-gloss kind of finish, more or less like it was when it was new.

anyone ever attempt this or is familiar with refinishing carbon fiber? I see when I run water over the chassis, the scratches pretty much disappear and it looks great....thinking a layer of thin epoxy would do the same.....

the scratches appear whitish.....what about a quick dip in a black dye bath?

any opinions or suggestions?

[shane]

Let us know how it turns out.

[drbelleville]

So I'm going to restore a trinity/CC rc10 chassis......it is well used, slightly chipped up front, and I will be re-laminating, trimming to make the front look new.

the bottom and top have some scuffs and light scratches.....I was thinking of using a crystal clear thin epoxy to more or less squeegee over the surface on the top and bottom. follow that up with some wet sanding to give it a semi-gloss kind of finish, more or less like it was when it was new.

anyone ever attempt this or is familiar with refinishing carbon fiber? I see when I run water over the chassis, the scratches pretty much disappear and it looks great....thinking a layer of thin epoxy would do the same.....

the scratches appear whitish.....what about a quick dip in a black dye bath?

any opinions or suggestions?

I know many years ago I used a Loctite Superglue to reglue a section of a graphite chassis RC10 front end. I even used a clamp to gently press the delaminations back together after applying the glue. When it dried, you could see where the clamp pressure was applied, it seemed as though the Glue had "eaten" and left dimples in the carbon plate (it was no longer smooth, but rather rough).

On the On-road RC10L Fiberglass and RC12L carbon chassis, I have used epoxy to good effect in repairing holes and gouges. I had not noticed any damage to the carbon or fiberglass.

I will post which Epoxy I used, just as referrence - got to dig it out of the garage.

Best of luck,
Maurice

[Charlie don't surf]

Let's see some pics of what you have to start with! The only trouble that I can think of ( and it's a guess ) is that the resin that is used in Carbon Fiber is a liquid to solid system, and it's cured with
heat and impregnates itself within the fibers because of pressure and heat. A clear coat/epoxy etc will not "embed" itself into the exposed fibers or the finished surface, but rather-sit on top of them, normally leaving gaps as it dries/cures and pulls away from the surface leaving a hazy finish. Also without the blending of the resin and the fibers, that "shine" that you get from the light penetration
into the material goes away and the material goes dull from the refraction of the light in the new surface coating.


I think

[Jay Dub]

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17078&start=0

[jwscab]

Jay Dub, THAT was a beautiful car......I considered picking it up, just didn't have the funds.

can you elaborate on the process with the west systems clear epoxy?

[scr8p]

what i've done in the past was to build up clear in deep scratches/gouges until it's higher than the chassis plate. once dry, you can either take a fresh razor blade and shave the high spots flush, or block sand them down, then proceed with sanding to remove the light scuffs/scratches. when done, you may still be able to see the deeper scratches depending on how you hold the chassis, but the finish will be completely smooth.

it would be similar to what you said about using a squeegie to push it into the scratches. but, 9 times out of 10 the clear will soak into the scratches as it dries and will end up being lower than the chassis plate. which will lead to having to do it multiple times. building it up higher, letting it soak in and dry, it should be a one shot deal.

[jwscab]

here are some pics of what I am working with. My game plan is to use a thin epoxy, lay down some polyethylene plastic on a mirror(flat piece of glass), coat the bottom(or top) of the chassis, and then apply some weight to press the chassis flat. a few minutes later I should be able to see if I have ALOT of sanding to do, or just a little bit of cleanup.

the nose will get a thin CA treatment as the layers are clamped tightly together with some bar stock and clamps.

[Charlie don't surf]

Wow, look at that! The R & L are ground into that chassis from use Perfect test bed for sure!!!

[scr8p]

that has "worlds" front end written all over it......... if it were mine.

[jwscab]

ya, this was my most used chassis for my RC10 (this is the incarnation I drove the most), and is a perfect example of the word 'fretting', hahhah.....

the nose was just reglued, I'll give it an hour or so and see what it looks like.

Scr8p....that is an interesting idea.....I may just trim the very edge off though....we shall see how it turns out.