carbon fiber!

[PBR Allstar]

I was laying up some carbon the night for a totally unrelated project and up on the bench I had a dynotech tail tank, for the heck of it I grabbed a scrap of cloth (the fibers were a little messed up on it, hence it being scrap) and tucked it in the tail with a little bit of epoxy, this is what I popped out of the tail tank yesterday. It came out way better than expected, I think I'm going to try a hood and a tail and see what happens?

I don't think it would be very good to race with as I don't think it would have the durability of lexan, but would probably look pretty cool on a "no expense spared" type of build.

[drbelleville]

That is pretty cool, did you just let the sheet and Epoxy sit in there and just use a brush to smooth out all the air, as I see no air pockets. That is so sweet though.

By the way where do you get the carbon sheet fabric from?

[vintage88]

that looks sweet...

[Erich Reichert]

Badass!!!

[PBR Allstar]

it came out pretty bubble free, the trick to getting the carbon to "lay" without bubbles if you don't have access to any vacuum bagging equipment is to brush a layer of epoxy in the mold, and let it tack up really nicely, then the carbon will stick to the sides and corners, once you get all your fabric worked in, then use a brush with a little more epoxy and gently work it in (try not to use much of a brushing motion as it will pull the fibers apart, and pull the material from the corners.

just for giggles I put it on the scale and it weighs about two and a half grams less than a painted lexan tail, not that I really cared what it weighed, I was actually surprised it weighed less!

[Johnboy72]

Is it pretty stiff? Can't believe I'm asking a grown man that! But compared to lexan? I thought carbon was tough ___ stuff?

[PBR Allstar]

Is it pretty stiff? Can't believe I'm asking a grown man that! But compared to lexan? I thought carbon was tough ___ stuff?

carbon is tough, but it doesn't have the same impact absorption qualities. I don't know if you've ever had a peice of thick polycarbonate (lexan) in your hand but if you had a piece that was an eighth inch thick, and a piece of carbon the same thickness, you could probably bend the lexan in half without it breaking, the carbon would deflect a couple degrees, the splinter. granted it would take a lot more effort to bend the carbon, but I think you can see where I'm going with this.