Carbon Fiber Veneered Overnight Sensations

[jimlg]

The mailman dropped off my delivery from US Composites. I highly recommend them for fiberglass and all types of resin. I will be using a Surfboard resin as I am looking for a clear finish, and not necessarily strength.





I am building a mockup to see if I will need to round over or chamfer the corners. I am not sure how the CF will bend around a sharp crease. I also want to test a few different finishes under the CF, and see how they affect the final color.






I also played around a bit with crossover layout. I am obviously influenced by WWWJD's design in layout 1, but since I am not going to be pushed for space, the other would work as well. Which do you like better?

Layout 1


Layout 2



Hopefully, I can get the mock-up done this week, and get these built in a week or two.

James

[greywarden]

Sweet, can't wait to see that.

[J.Lee]

I like layout #2. Anal retentive here.

[Paul Carmody]

Layout #2 gets my vote, because I can understand it. Mark's crossover layout was brilliant, but it's too 3-dimensional for my puny mind. Therefore I am in no position to comment on any derivative works

I am looking forward to seeing how these come out with a carbon-fiber veneer. Great idea!

[Wolf]

The affects of the coil on the internal cap have not been evaluated, so I'd probably go with number 2.

Later,
Wolf

[jimlg]

There's a chance I will do a window into the crossover, as I am thinking of something like that on the mavericks. My wife picked up the water holding flower foam rather than the dry stuff, but actually, it may have a good purpose. As you stick the components in, you can compress the material quite easily for a nice partially flush look. I will see how it reacts to a bit of fiberglass resin, maybe i can input the component in a thinner sheet, coat it with resin, and then paint and it could be the crossover board.

James

[ckmoore]

Can you post a link to exactly which fiber you ordered? I am interested to use in a project I am working on.

[jimlg]

Following is the link. I am using the 5.7oz x 40 inch wide , 2x2 Twill Weave Carbon Fiber.

http://uscomposites.com/shortroll.html

It is not a high tech website, but I have had great service from them. The resin I am using is the Silmar 249 Clear Polyester Surfboard Resin. It is not the strongest structurally, but dries clear. They also have rollers, mixing buckets and other accessories at great prices.

James

[fastbike1]

A question please. Since the CF doesn't seem to be structural, did you also consider 3M Di-Noc? I've seen a couple of applications and it can be pretty convincing. Application would seem to be much easier and I would guess less expensive.

Just curious if you had other reasons? I do recognize that as always, it's builder's choice.

[jimlg]

I have looked into Di-Noc, but it is pretty pricey, and I would be a bit worried about adhesion in 5 years. Also, I want a bit more gloss that I can get with Di-Noc. I did seriously look at it though.

James

[evilskillit]

That is going to look sharp, I can't wait to see the results. Sure you could just go to your local speed shop and buy some stupid carbon fiber print decal and wrap the speaker in it. It would probably look fine, but theres something cooler about the real deal.

[Steve Henry]

Someone here posted a project using the Alsa PSA Carbon Fiber - it looked incredible. http://www.alsacorp.com/products/she...rbon.fiber.htm

[J.Lee]

I can't determine how thick this stuff is as regards 1/8 of an inch, 1/32 etc.

Wondering if I'm doing math correctly? Looks like about $90 for an average MTM box?

Not bad compared to many wood veneers.

[WWWJD]

Cap in coil isn't necessary.



Anxious to see how you dress the seems. You gonna do a bottom and top cap in some other material / finish? Either way, these are gonna look killer when you're done with them.

[jimlg]

*Update*

The resin went on the model very easy.







Lesson 1: It really does not like to bend sharply, so I think I will need to roundover any corners. The Chamfered side ended up looking more like a roundover so even a small crease does not work well. I think I would need some type of vacuum bag to make sharp edges work.

Lesson 2: It hardens REALLY fast when you put extra MEKP in the resin to speed it up.

Lesson 3: I need to handle the fabric carefully as you can easily pull the pattern out of line.


The color is really cool. The white looking pattern is simply the reflection of the light when the fiber is a certain direction. All the fibers are the same color otherwise.

James

[greywarden]

Awesome, I've got an inkling to use metalized fiberglass on a future project now...

[erikb]

very cool project! Is that a 2x2 weave you got?

[jimlg]

Yes, 2x2 Twill Weave.

James

[jimlg]

'Anxious to see how you dress the seems. You gonna do a bottom and top cap in some other material / finish? Either way, these are gonna look killer when you're done with them.'

Right now the plan is to wrap the top, sides and bottom with one continuous piece, and have a seam on the bottom. I think any seam is going to be pretty messy as you can't really cut it before application. Maybe we paint a nice black stripe over the seam before the clear goes on??

[evilskillit]

I'll be curious to know how you cut it after it dries. Can you flush trim route it, do you need a dremel cutting tool, or what?