Carbon fiber work that I had on my website

CARBON FIBER

I’m attempting to duplicate some Ducati parts in carbon fiber. I’ve decided to work with fairly simple shaped parts until I perfect the technique or give up- (hardly unlikely, given my personality). After doing hours of  internet researching and asking anyone with any knowledge of fiberglass, carbon fiber and vacuum bagging techniques, I decided to jump in. The supplies: West Systems Vacuum Bagging Kit. West Systems Resin System, 6 0z Fiberglass cloth and Loose Strand Fiberglass, CF cloth, also various throw-away brushes, foam brushes, mixing sticks/cups.  Here's the instructions for the West Systems bagging kit. Click on the photos to enlarge them. The West System Resin and Hardener comes in different temps- the 205 is a fast and the 207 is a slower hardener, but more importantly is a high gloss finish that is able to be clearcoated. The importance of this will be explained later. Various shop supplies and equipment.   The kit comes with a vacuum generator (the black unit in the lower right of the picture) - this creates a vacuum from the air supplied from a air compressor. I've got a good size air compressor that would run for approximately 30 seconds every 5 minutes or so to create the pressure needed to make this happen. Note also, that the compressor and vacuum generator has to be on during the complete resin curing time...something the consider if the parts are curing overnight and the compressor is noisy-and, or- in the house. Below: West System vacuum generator with working inlet pressures. Note: I eventually bought a cheap Harbor Freight vacuum pump, to replace the vacuum generator. Included in the kit is Peel Sheet, Breather cloth, Bag material, mastic tape and instructions. You'll also need Mold Release Wax, PVA, Fiberglass cloth/ resin, and of course Carbon Fiber cloth. Below is the first pieces I attempted, they are aluminum heel guards from my Ducati ST2- it’s a simple shape with very little curves and positive draft angles, making it an easy part to duplicate with a mold. After smoothing out the rough areas of the part (it was really beat up, cracked and scratched- but I’m not experimenting with new parts) and cleaning thoroughly I mounted them to a thick piece of tempered glass. I then decided I had to seal the open areas under the parts to stop the fiberglass from getting sucked underneath and making it difficult to remove. I also wanted to have a nice positive draft angle for a “flange” around the perimeter (so much for a simple part)—This took way too much time, but I was never able to find a better way to get around it. Below  I sealed the area with modeling clay. The PVA is brushed on the part and around the area of the glass where the fiberglass will go.  Above is the first attempt with the pieces on glass and no sealed areas (flanges). Above: Here the parts and glass is shown in a envelope made from the bag material and mastic tape. The circles and "X"'s show where the vacuum suction cups will go. This is just for demonstration purposes only as the peel sheet and breather cloth will be over the parts once the fiberglass is applied and the vacuum process begins. Below: I’ve sealed the edges and mounted the parts on a nice flat piece of artist’s board (MDF) Note the sealed edges done with modeling clay. The parts then get 10 coats of Mold Release Wax. And then a coat or two of PVA as a final release agent. Now here is an optional step that I learned about when I found a local expert who offered it up to me to try. It’s called a surface coat and it is used to coat the plug before the fiberglass is laid up. It forms a hard shell (it’s a two part epoxy coating) that will stay on the outer surface of the female mold (hopefully) giving the mold a nice hard, smooth surface with no “print-through”. It gets carefully brushed on the surface of the plug, sets up in 2 to 4 hours and then can be covered with the resin and fiberglass. Once the fiberglass has cured in the vacuum bag the mold can be carefully seperated from the plug bringing the Pro-Set coating with it. The wax and PVA should prevent the parts from sticking together. The female mold. The surface should be hard and smooth, it can be carefully wet sanded to finish if it isn't, but I found this will most likely eat through the finish....it's best to work on the plug and try again. Once I'm satisfied with the mold I prepare the surfacein the same way as the plug. First waxing it, then applying the PVA- No Pro-Set coating, of course. Lay the first layer of CF cloth in the mold making sure to leave enough around the perimeter to cover the flange area (this will be trimmed back later). Cover it with the release fabric and then the breather fabric, put it in a bag and slowly bring the vacuum up making sure the bag gets sucked down into the mold without too many creases or seams, you may have to release the vacuum and smooth it back down. Just do one layer now to make sure it conforms to the mold. Below: a few layers of CF have been done and cured and I'm preparing the next layer. After the first two layers, multiple layers can be done at once until the required thickeness and stength is obtained. I usually remove it from the mold after a couple of layer, check it's apperance and strength, then continue adding layers. The heel guards ended up being five layers. OK, now a discussing about CF cloth- the pieces above and below are made from 2X2 twill weave in 3K weight (or tow). The 2X2 means the tow (groups of filaments- in this case 3,000 per tow) run over tow others than under two to make the pattern. It gives a look of a twill material and is IMHO the best looking pattern. Click on the pic to see a larger image. This is also a bilateral cloth which means the fibers run in both directions (vertical, horizontal), so there's no need to lay the cloth crisscross to obtain strength in multiple directions---BUT that get's into anotherdiscussion all together that is above my pay grade!! The other type of cloth that I've begun to play with (there's many, actually) is Plain Weave. Above: TOP- 2X2 Twill, BELOW- Plain Weave. Both in 3K weight. Ducati and many aftermarket manufactures of carbon parts tend to use the plain weave for most parts. The twill, although looking really nice, can be a bear to work with on parts with a lot of curves and angles (like I discovered during my attempts at a full clutch cover). First it is very loosely woven which makes handling and cutting a delicate operation, just putting a slight pressure with a finger will distort the fibers and create "holes" in the weave! Then when attempting to "wet in" a piece, especially around a corner, it "smushes" out and ends up wavey. On realatively flat pieces like the heel guards it's not much of a problem, but I just couldn't get it right on the clutch cover which is basically a bowl with a lip at the top that has precision bolt hole locations!!! So, after studying an aftermarket CF cover I had and realizing that it was made with Plain weave, that's what I ordered for the cover. Alright, enough of that stuff---back to the heel guards. Once the piece has been laminated with enough CF and has cured in the vacuum it's time to trim and polish (optional step) the part. Here it is ready for trimming. Notice the resin "void" in the tip? This can happen if the vacuum bag does not conform tightly enough during the cure. I ended upmaking another part. Now a very important disclaimer: Many of the steps above are my "attempts" at perfecting parts without the proper knowledge to do it the right way, hence the lousy quality of the finished product! I'll explain more as I go forward. My next adventure was to attempt making a Ducati dry clutch cover. After a few crappy pieces pulled from lousy molds I decided to bug the hell out of my local expert. And what I came away with was the fact that I absolutely had to build the perfect mold before I even attempted to pull a part from it. When I say perfect I mean perfectly flawless, glossy and hard with no flaws what so ever!! This is what has been keeping me busy for the last two months and has just about done me in. So let the frustration begin........ First you need a perfectly flawless, flat surface to mount the original part on. He told me I had to make one out of built up layers of fiberglass cloth, this also should have a small wall attached to the perimeter. Following are pictures of my attempts at making the mold. I will have to continue this page on another link as I've reached the limit allowed for posting pictures.   All the pictures above are from my attempt at a mold for the Ducati clutch cover. After many hours of work, I thought I had built the perfect mold only to discover holes in it while polishing. I also found more holes after filling them, sanding and polishing again.  The holes are from air bubbles trapped between the gelcoat (Pro-Set) and the fiberglass used to form theshape of the mold. I had trouble getting the "chopped strand" fiberglass to form tightly around the cover especially at the radii of the flange. (I didn't vacuum bag this step, probably should have!!) Also when I poured the gelcoat over the cover it ran off and the surface had a very thin coat, so when the air got trapped between the gelcoat and fiberglass it weakened and broke through while buffing!! This is the most frustrating part of this work---I reallythought I had made every mistake in the book, only to find out---at the end---I had made another!! So right now, I'm left with a nice shiny mold with holes all over it. I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt to fill them with more gelcoat and sand and polish again, or just give up.....................