Fibrelyte tubs no more

[kink]

I had two. I waited over four months also. The finish was the worst I have ever seen on any rc related product - by far. Mine had cracks, lumps, shoddy cut outs, even random loose cf strands dumped in the middle of the textured weave. The customer service I had from them was effectively... "tough, get lost"... literally, I have the emails. Worst rc company in history. Do not support these guys!


ps

On the opposite side of the spectrum, RC Carbon Works products and customer service are 100% perfect.

[bearrickster]

someoe need to post some pis's I want to see how bad they are. I got a rere Compisite Craft double decker chassis from CC and it was much better than the original. it was made with better materials. you would think theirs would be the same. if you cant get something right that you have been makeing for 30 years You should quit makeing it!

[Lonestar]

Rick, it's different here... it's a full tub, so it obviously requires some serious 3D manual operations, lay down the CWF sheet on the mold, put resin, lay down another CWF layer, resin, CWF, resin, there must be a handful of layers... it can't be perfect to start with. Then drill... very very manual process, that's why they cost an arm and a leg btw!

I never checked how "flat" mine was. I guess I will have to have a look now

Paul

[GoMachV]

Pic from another thread courtesy of aeiou, basic idea of the underside (side) finish

[scr8p]

when it comes to these carbon tubs, i think expectations are too high. on the tub sides (as shown in the above pic), the layers get bunched up and ends up not looking all that hot. then they hit it with some sort of sander to knock off the roughness and the low spots stay shiny.

back in '08 (i think) when they first started making these, a couple guys asked me what they could do to make the rough side look better. all you can really do is give it a sanding and shoot some clear on it. that's what i did to the fusion tubs i have and they look a whole lot better afterwards.

[GoMachV]

I guess that I just don't understand in this day and age of carbon fiber why other manufacturers/industries can have both sides be "finished" but FL can only turn out one decent side. It's not like they don't charge enough!

[scr8p]

I don't have an FL tub, but here are some Fusion Speed examples. It's just the way they are.

[RC10th]

Surely they could make a mold with a pressed die that would conform the sheets better. The resin is what gives the finish, pressed under a couple ton of pressure surely it would squeeze the resin in the mold resulting in a better finish.

[scr8p]

but you'd still probably have the stretching and bunching up on the sides.....unless you could make separate strips to run down the sides. idk.

[bearrickster]

Yea thats not to attractive. what was the point were they that much lighter or is it just the cool factor?

[scr8p]

they are quite a bit lighter than a stock rc10 tub. they also have the cool factor, but if you can't look past it's appearance, then it's not for you.

[bearrickster]

yea its not for me its a RC10 Just kidding

[kink]

Essentially it boiled down to FL not making proper moulds at all. They did not have a male and female mould and tons of pressure or any kind of quality control. They had a pile of soggy cf in a bag with a vacuum attached to it. Not quite the "mould" as they falsely advertised. Then to add insult to that they were cut out by a blind man leaving deep over cuts into all the corners (on my two examples anyway). When I pulled them up on it their response was to get very nasty indeed. In fact I think their attitude and total lack of customer care was vastly worse than their products. Which is really saying something.

[jwscab]

the problem with this is that the woven fiber is very difficult to make into complex forms. I'm guessing that the inside of the chassis is pretty straight and the finish is pretty 'flat'. So they use a buck to layup the carbon and epoxy, roughly place it into position, and then vacuum bag and autoclave the whole deal.

this is a pretty standard process. they don't use a press, rather, use the vacuum system to apply pressure evenly over complex surfaces, as well as remove voids by 'boiling' off any trapped gasses. if you've ever taken a look at other larger applications for carbon fiber cloth, you will see it's a series of patch layments to give the right strength in the right areas, it's identical to fiberglass, and also the reason they invented gelcoat finish.

I also suggest that the expectations on this is pretty high, and given how small this part is in relation to the flexibility of the cloth, this is what you are going to see. Since the outside of the tub is what you normally see, maybe the right thing is to make an internal cavity mold rather than a buck, so the 'finished' side is the one you see. the inside of the tub doesn't need to be perfectly flat.

of course, beyond just the mold characteristics, the quality on the final fit, trim and drill can also turn the lumpy mess into something decent, or utter garbage.

[Charlie don't surf]

#1, if it don't go fast...Chrome it. If its faster...I give a rats rear what it looks like. CF is only aestheticly pleasing by chance....not function. This is like someone buying a 10k bicycle, and moaning that they didn't win the race because the bike was junk. You have to.know what it is...and what you can do with it first. Carbon fabric is the same way. Function...not decoration-