Toymaker
Crashologist
The carbon fiber is relatively easy to work with. I used medium speed thin viscosity epoxy and PVA mold release from US compostes in Florida. The Carbon can be purchased from a lot of different places. I got mine as remnants on EBay. You'll also need rubber gloves, cheap brushes, and mold materials. For a flat plate I use transparent styrene sheet from Home Depot it's sold with the replacement glass in a separate bin. it's slightly frosted one side and shiny on the other. I tape this sheet down to a piece of particle board on the edges (I cover the boards in masking tape). Then I wax it with car wax and spray it with 2 coats of PVA mold release (1 hour in between coats). After the PVA dries (3hours) I cut the CF fabric into the right sizes. I seem to be getting about .010" thickness for every layer of CF I used 5 oz fabric. The next step is to mix up the epoxy very well by this I mean accurately and thoroughly. Then brush it onto the surface of the bottom mold piece. Take the first piece of CF and lay it onto the mold pressing it down with your fingers so the epoxy saturates the fibers. I do this until the epoxy is visible everywhere on the fabric. Then I brush on more epoxy and repeat this process until all the layers are saturated. Then I brush epoxy on the top mold piece and lay it down carefully trying to keep bubbles out. once that is down I take teh top board and clamp it carefully and evenly with many clamps. I don't tighten it enough to deform the board just enough to squeeze the whole "mess" firmly. By now you have quite the mess going on. Newspaper bed underneath this is a good idea. I have also used a garbage can with a bag to catch the drippings. If the temperature is between 50-60 you'll have to wait a couple days for everything to cure. You can help things along by warming it up. I use a floodlight and a 130 watt bulb to keep the mold warm. If you do this then 12 hours is enough. feel the "Drippings" to see how the epoxy is setting. If it's sticky at all leave it alone. Once the epoxy is set you can unclamp the molds and remove the plate that you just made. I cover it with masking tape to prevent scratches then cut it to shape with a band saw with a fine blade. It actually cuts very nicely but you don't want to breathe any dust. Please wear a respirator.
