Made a carbon fibre hood today, and video'd the process

[lshobie]

Hi Guys, I wanted a light weight hood for my sled so I decided to go with carbon fibre - old hood weighed 15 or more pounds, new hood weighs 4 - wicked savings! Here's how I did it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybyh6Q9MBgE

 

[milehighassassin]

Good job there! I have thought about making some carbon fiber (fibre! LOL) parts as well. Probably not a hood but more like airbox and stuff to play around.

Where do you get your material from?

 

[lshobie]

I made an airbox as well - going to make a bunch of stuff out of it - pretty fun to work with actually.

got the supplies here:
http://www.solarcomposites.com/

 

[tudizzle]

Pretty sweet.


whats the weight of that sled down to now?

 

[SledsWest]

cool

 

[m8magicandmystery]

good vid

 

[HDEMWET]

Great job, no worries about small imperfections, looked awesome for a first time and in the cold besides that. your sled is probably going to be one of the funnest machines around. can't wait to see vids of you tearing it up.

 

[lshobie]

Thanks Guys, not sure what the weight is yet, just welding up the pipe this week, cutting vents, making the windshield and some fairings, then I am cutting the back of the tunnel off and putting a CF tail on it. It should be under 350 wet but at this point I have no idea, I can easily one hand the back of the sled in the air - with no effort at all.

 

[Coldfinger]

Is C.F. easier to work into the corners than fiberglass woven mat?

 

[Steelman]

Hi Guys, I wanted a light weight hood for my sled so I decided to go with carbon fibre - old hood weighed 15 or more pounds, new hood weighs 4 - wicked savings! Here's how I did it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybyh6Q9MBgE

I think you did a fine job for first time out. Thanks for sharing

 

[POLZIN]

Pretty cool! I always been curious about the process. I cut CF parts from sheet on my Waterjet but i have always wanted to do more that 2D parts .

Elite motoring is another good source of materials thats where i get most of my sheet.

Im jealous you have the time to do that stuff besides the time for the video.

 

[lshobie]

CF works into odd shapes and corners very easily but you need the right weave - ask when you buy it. I work 24hr shift at the fire hall so I have lots of free time

 

[RMK7SledHead]

Great job for a first try! Looks like you've learned a lot about working with wet layup carbon.

I'm sure you were doing this on the cheap, but if you decide you want to do it even better, without using pre-preg material (and therefore having to cook the parts), look into infusion techniques. It combines wet layup with vacuum bagging, but at roughly 1/4 the weight from the epoxy. Basically it's pre-preg without the oven. It has it's tradeoffs (when compared to pre-preg), but it's infinitely better then just wet layup, or wet layup with vacuum bagging.

Good luck, next thing you know you'll be building an airplane.

 

[lshobie]

I'll look in tot hat thanks!

 

[rockdog2112]

Outstanding Dude!. I've done a bit of fiberglass work and one tip I might give you is that when you are applying the resin to the cf there is a technique called "stippling" to help impregnate the cloth. You use the bristles of the brush to push the resin into the fiber by lightly poking it with the bristle ends. It's very effective. I helped a freiend build an airplane years ago and that how he showed me. Never an airbubble.

 

[lshobie]

That makes sense, I'll try it today - making a bunch of parts. Thanks!

 

[sledrat403]

I laughed when I saw you are all masked and gloved up and made your brother in law go with nothing. I would have done the same!

 

[lshobie]

lol, ya well the big bastard was only in there for 5 mins and the epoxy was tacky, i had to spend the next 3 hours in the goo

So I hate the look of the cab with the imperfections - I sanded it for about 6 hours today and have it ready for a coat of epoxy tomorrow - going to make it nice and shiny.

 

[keeton]

Thats pretty rad. Is that a johndoo?

 

[lshobie]

No it's a yamelan.