nigelpheron
Quarry Creeper
Here is a way to make yourself, some custom carbon fiber parts, without using high-tech, complicated proceedures. Sometime for the size and quantity of the part desired, complicated proceedures are a complete waste of time and money.
We will be using glass fibers, carbon fibers, epoxy resin, and some powdered resin additives. I will detail the Plug's construction, making the Mold off of the the Plug, and then using the Mold to make the desired part.
Materials list:
-Room-temp cure epoxy resin and hardener.
-5 to 10-min epoxy glue and hardener.
-Various weights glass fiber woven cloth, mostly 2oz. 4oz. and 6oz. weights
-6oz. 3k carbon fiber woven cloth.
-Cabosil (Like flour for baking, used to thicken).
-Q-cell micro balloons (micro glass bubbles, to make light-weight, easily sanded mud.
-Graphite powder, to add blackness, hardness, and slickness to your resin.
-Honey wax mold release agent.
-Poly Vinyl Alchohol PVA mold release agent (insurance! LOL).
This tutorial will focus on the tranny floor cover, for my 1.9 scale build
First thing to do, is to make a Plug of the part you want to produce. It can be made from what ever material you can find, but keep it cheap, because this plug is sacrificial. For this part, I used scraps of balsa wood and blue foam
Preparing some reinforcement to go on next. This skin will act as a hard base, to be built up into a smooth finish. The smoother you make the Plug, the smoother the Mold & Part will be. Unless you want a different finish on the final part, like a mat-finish or a texture of some sort.
Pre-shape your reinforcement (6oz. glass fiber 0-90 cloth in this case), over the plug. This will make it easier to drape, over the sticky Plug to come. Using this technique helps big time with complicatedly-shaped items.
Next to do is to wet the Plug with epoxy; either in resin form, or fast-drying glue form. The resin method is slower but stronger, and the glue method is just the opposite.
Resin method. Mix up some epoxy resin, and paint it on to the Mold. Add graphite powder in the resin, to add blackness and hardness to the Mold. This will make it easy to see, trapped air bubbles when using glass fiber to make your parts out of, when the Mold is ready. Doesn't apply with carbon fiber, because unlike glass, it doesn't go clear when you wet it out. Room-temp epoxy resin, cures hard enough to sand in 24-hours. At about 3-hours or so, the resin is at a sticky stage. The reinforcement cloth can then be pressed onto the Plug, and the sticky resin will hold it firmly in place. The resin should be soft enough that the cloth really sticks to it, but not so soft that resin comes though the cloth and gums up your fingers. Messing with this method over time, will help you learn the resin you're working with, and help you know exactly when the resin is ready to stick the cloth into it.
Glue method. The same thing can be done with epoxy glue, but you have to have your steps perfected, because you have to do this method fast. There is a very small window, for when the resin is at a stage, to stick the cloth on to it.
After the cloth is stuck onto the sticky Plug, let the sticky resin harden a little longer, to really hold the cloth in place, so that when you wet out the cloth, it doesn't come off the epoxy underneath. About 1/2-hour longer with the resin, and about 1-min with the glue.
Wet the cloth out with some epoxy resin.
When hardened, sand the edges of the cloth surface, to clean the Plug up and get it ready for fairing. Coat the the Plug's glass fiber surface with a fairing compound, so you can sand the Plug smooth, ready to cast a Mold off of it. My fairing compounds are made from epoxy resin, thickened with Q-cell for ease of sandability, Cabosil to thicken and add thixotropic properties, and sometimes Graphite powder to add blackness, and to aid in seeing what you're doing, or for hardness and slickness.
Nice and slick: For the last step on the plug below, I quickly mixed some 5-min epoxy glue with graphite powder, and rubbed it all over the plug with my finger. It's thicker viscosity makes it settle really smooth.
To bring the surface to a really good class "A" finish, wet sand with 400grit, then 800, then 1200grit. Now time for compounds. Use a medium cut cleaner, and rub the hell out of the surface, then buff with a clean towel. Now do it again with 3M hand-glaze, and that sucker will really shine!
Now to cast the Mold. You have to prepare the Plug, so that nothing sticks to it. There are all kinds of release agents on the market. I find it's not the product that makes for good results, it's the routines and step by step methods that make for good consistent results. I use Honey Wax, an Poly Vinyl Alcohol. I wax the Mold one good time, making sure to not miss any where (The reason the instructions say to do multiple wax coats, is cause people like to rush, so many time makes up for lasiness. Once pores are full, ya cant fill them more, so one propper coats is all that is needed). Some wax multiple times so the Mold can pop out many parts, with out waxing in between casts. I've witnessed many times, when Molds have gone too long with out waxing, that has caused the Part to stick to the Mold, causing damage to both. I wax and PVA my Molds once; everytime I use them, and in nearly 25 years, I have never had a part stick in the Mold. Consistent repetition is the key!
For the PVA, apply some to the Plug, and rub it all over with your hands. It's safe on your skin, but if you have Mary-hands wear gloves. As the achohol evaporates, you will feel the PVA getting thicker. Now it feels like the part is greasy. Then leave it let it settle and dry. If it starts to get to dry and your fingers start sticking during the rubbing, just wet it with more PVA and continue. PVA is water soluble, so if ya really mess it up...I'll make a vid on this, to show the desired method.
When the Plug is ready, mix up some epoxy resin, with graphite powder, and cabosil powder to thicken it a little. Thick enough like runny cake icing. This will make a thick base layer, that will be the surface of the Mold.
When that gets to the right sticky stage, put on the first layer of cloth. After it hardens a little longer, wet out with epoxy resin / graphite, and wait for that layer to sticky and put another layer cloth, repeating until you have reached the desired number of layers for your Mold. Rull of thumb is 4-times the thickness of your Part. This sticky / apply cloth / wet-out method, is good for tricky shaped items. For a shape that is simple like a flat plate Mold, ya just do the sicky part once on the very first coat of epoxy. For the rest of the layers, you can do them all at once...glass-layer / wet-out, glass-layer wet-out, until the thickness is reached.
Release the Mold when dry (min 24-hours). Start with working the edges loose, and using a plastic wedge (used up Timmies or similar plastic cards work awesome), to seperate the Mold from the Plug.
Edge-sand and clean the Mold, and prep it for casting the Part. Same as with the Plug, wax and PVA it...
For the tranny piece, I used the glue method for the first layer. 2-3mins later at the right sticky stage, I jammed the pre-shapped 6oz. carbon fiber plain weave cloth into the Mold.
When the glue hardened 1-min later, I wet out the carbon with resin. 3-hours later when it stickied up, I put on a layer of .75oz. glass cloth, to act as the minimum second layer, which will help seal the carbon cloth. 1-layer carbon, 1-layer fine glass is the minimum amount of layers for a Part. If I wanted this Part strong enough to jump on with a work boot, 6-10 layers of carbon would make it indestructable.
.75oz. glass cloth stuck on:
Wetted out:
Cured, released, edge-sanded, hole for slipper adjustment, and washed. It's a little resin-rick in some spots, but this piece was done for quickly for the tutorial, and the parts will be painted anyway.
Mock-installed:
"thumbsup"
We will be using glass fibers, carbon fibers, epoxy resin, and some powdered resin additives. I will detail the Plug's construction, making the Mold off of the the Plug, and then using the Mold to make the desired part.
Materials list:
-Room-temp cure epoxy resin and hardener.
-5 to 10-min epoxy glue and hardener.
-Various weights glass fiber woven cloth, mostly 2oz. 4oz. and 6oz. weights
-6oz. 3k carbon fiber woven cloth.
-Cabosil (Like flour for baking, used to thicken).
-Q-cell micro balloons (micro glass bubbles, to make light-weight, easily sanded mud.
-Graphite powder, to add blackness, hardness, and slickness to your resin.
-Honey wax mold release agent.
-Poly Vinyl Alchohol PVA mold release agent (insurance! LOL).
This tutorial will focus on the tranny floor cover, for my 1.9 scale build
First thing to do, is to make a Plug of the part you want to produce. It can be made from what ever material you can find, but keep it cheap, because this plug is sacrificial. For this part, I used scraps of balsa wood and blue foam
Preparing some reinforcement to go on next. This skin will act as a hard base, to be built up into a smooth finish. The smoother you make the Plug, the smoother the Mold & Part will be. Unless you want a different finish on the final part, like a mat-finish or a texture of some sort.
Pre-shape your reinforcement (6oz. glass fiber 0-90 cloth in this case), over the plug. This will make it easier to drape, over the sticky Plug to come. Using this technique helps big time with complicatedly-shaped items.
Next to do is to wet the Plug with epoxy; either in resin form, or fast-drying glue form. The resin method is slower but stronger, and the glue method is just the opposite.
Resin method. Mix up some epoxy resin, and paint it on to the Mold. Add graphite powder in the resin, to add blackness and hardness to the Mold. This will make it easy to see, trapped air bubbles when using glass fiber to make your parts out of, when the Mold is ready. Doesn't apply with carbon fiber, because unlike glass, it doesn't go clear when you wet it out. Room-temp epoxy resin, cures hard enough to sand in 24-hours. At about 3-hours or so, the resin is at a sticky stage. The reinforcement cloth can then be pressed onto the Plug, and the sticky resin will hold it firmly in place. The resin should be soft enough that the cloth really sticks to it, but not so soft that resin comes though the cloth and gums up your fingers. Messing with this method over time, will help you learn the resin you're working with, and help you know exactly when the resin is ready to stick the cloth into it.
Glue method. The same thing can be done with epoxy glue, but you have to have your steps perfected, because you have to do this method fast. There is a very small window, for when the resin is at a stage, to stick the cloth on to it.
After the cloth is stuck onto the sticky Plug, let the sticky resin harden a little longer, to really hold the cloth in place, so that when you wet out the cloth, it doesn't come off the epoxy underneath. About 1/2-hour longer with the resin, and about 1-min with the glue.
Wet the cloth out with some epoxy resin.
When hardened, sand the edges of the cloth surface, to clean the Plug up and get it ready for fairing. Coat the the Plug's glass fiber surface with a fairing compound, so you can sand the Plug smooth, ready to cast a Mold off of it. My fairing compounds are made from epoxy resin, thickened with Q-cell for ease of sandability, Cabosil to thicken and add thixotropic properties, and sometimes Graphite powder to add blackness, and to aid in seeing what you're doing, or for hardness and slickness.
Nice and slick: For the last step on the plug below, I quickly mixed some 5-min epoxy glue with graphite powder, and rubbed it all over the plug with my finger. It's thicker viscosity makes it settle really smooth.
To bring the surface to a really good class "A" finish, wet sand with 400grit, then 800, then 1200grit. Now time for compounds. Use a medium cut cleaner, and rub the hell out of the surface, then buff with a clean towel. Now do it again with 3M hand-glaze, and that sucker will really shine!
Now to cast the Mold. You have to prepare the Plug, so that nothing sticks to it. There are all kinds of release agents on the market. I find it's not the product that makes for good results, it's the routines and step by step methods that make for good consistent results. I use Honey Wax, an Poly Vinyl Alcohol. I wax the Mold one good time, making sure to not miss any where (The reason the instructions say to do multiple wax coats, is cause people like to rush, so many time makes up for lasiness. Once pores are full, ya cant fill them more, so one propper coats is all that is needed). Some wax multiple times so the Mold can pop out many parts, with out waxing in between casts. I've witnessed many times, when Molds have gone too long with out waxing, that has caused the Part to stick to the Mold, causing damage to both. I wax and PVA my Molds once; everytime I use them, and in nearly 25 years, I have never had a part stick in the Mold. Consistent repetition is the key!
For the PVA, apply some to the Plug, and rub it all over with your hands. It's safe on your skin, but if you have Mary-hands wear gloves. As the achohol evaporates, you will feel the PVA getting thicker. Now it feels like the part is greasy. Then leave it let it settle and dry. If it starts to get to dry and your fingers start sticking during the rubbing, just wet it with more PVA and continue. PVA is water soluble, so if ya really mess it up...I'll make a vid on this, to show the desired method.
When the Plug is ready, mix up some epoxy resin, with graphite powder, and cabosil powder to thicken it a little. Thick enough like runny cake icing. This will make a thick base layer, that will be the surface of the Mold.
When that gets to the right sticky stage, put on the first layer of cloth. After it hardens a little longer, wet out with epoxy resin / graphite, and wait for that layer to sticky and put another layer cloth, repeating until you have reached the desired number of layers for your Mold. Rull of thumb is 4-times the thickness of your Part. This sticky / apply cloth / wet-out method, is good for tricky shaped items. For a shape that is simple like a flat plate Mold, ya just do the sicky part once on the very first coat of epoxy. For the rest of the layers, you can do them all at once...glass-layer / wet-out, glass-layer wet-out, until the thickness is reached.
Release the Mold when dry (min 24-hours). Start with working the edges loose, and using a plastic wedge (used up Timmies or similar plastic cards work awesome), to seperate the Mold from the Plug.
Edge-sand and clean the Mold, and prep it for casting the Part. Same as with the Plug, wax and PVA it...
For the tranny piece, I used the glue method for the first layer. 2-3mins later at the right sticky stage, I jammed the pre-shapped 6oz. carbon fiber plain weave cloth into the Mold.
When the glue hardened 1-min later, I wet out the carbon with resin. 3-hours later when it stickied up, I put on a layer of .75oz. glass cloth, to act as the minimum second layer, which will help seal the carbon cloth. 1-layer carbon, 1-layer fine glass is the minimum amount of layers for a Part. If I wanted this Part strong enough to jump on with a work boot, 6-10 layers of carbon would make it indestructable.
.75oz. glass cloth stuck on:
Wetted out:
Cured, released, edge-sanded, hole for slipper adjustment, and washed. It's a little resin-rick in some spots, but this piece was done for quickly for the tutorial, and the parts will be painted anyway.
Mock-installed:
"thumbsup"
Last edited:
