Making real Carbon Fiber parts (at home)!

I'm upgrading my Voron - with carbon fiber! The Stealthburner toolhead has never looked better.

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[RadioactvPanda]

Everyone, YOU MUST USE A RESPIRATOR. I cannot overstate this. Make sure your enviornment is well ventilated. When using resin, make sure you have an Organic Vapor Catridge and a particulate filter. When sanding, cutting, and trimming carbon fiber, please use a P100 filter and make sure your respirator fits right. And probably do it outside. Carbon hairs are tiny tiny and a P100 particulate filter barely has the ability to capture them. Please please please do safety research and take every precaution!

[faxxzc]

Hi Thomas, i have some experience with carbon parts.
1. since you already have the vacuum pump and bags, dry stack the carbon and do it with the vacuum infusion process. You get much better results with higher fiber to resin ratio, and no air pockets.
2. when you put the resin on the finished part and it pooled to the middle, that was because you didn’t clean and degrease the part from the mold release, also you absolutely need to sand the surface so the new resin sticks to the hardened resin. Otherwise it could just pop off.

[jothain]

Easy Composites Ltd has by far the best videos about proper techniques for very high quality production. But this kind of videos are really good to show what can go wrong in process like this and to show the methods for not having all of the fanciest tech, but for hobbyist to reach "good enough" parts. GJ 👍

[PennerFab]

Use blue painters tape on the cut line of the CF weave before cutting it. It'll keep everything in place and keep from making a mess of the loose fibers

[SarahKchannel]

Why not making a negative stamp, that fits inside the laid carbon fibre, so it compresses the shape nicer in the corners while under vacuum. Of corse some vent holes/channels would
need to be designed in to the negative.

[mr_voron]

Let Glue Dry reference to Laura’s channel was a nice touch 👌🏻 Incredible job, as always.

[notepadgamer]

a quick way to re-finish the part surface would be to sand it down till flat with your sanding sponge, then use a gloss PU spray instead of brushing it on. It should provide a very even surface and is what I use whenever I make mistakes with my CF parts

[dodger]

Thanks for another fun video Tom. For the last step instead of clear coating with resin how about using 2-part automotive clear coat? You can get the “touchup” spray cans for cheap. They’re crystal clear and hard wearing.

[gergorian]

One tip. You could try using a stabilized carbon fabric. That way it maintains its structure as its cut and laid into the mold. You wont get those edges that want to pull apart.

[riccaregio]

Tom, total newbie here, I just did few fiberglass parts for my old motorcycle, but I think a friend of mine that used to do carbon fiber for nautical items used a gloss first layer of resin called gelcoat. It's thicker and gives it that deep glassy smooth finish to the parts

[ensoniqk]

Since looking at a 3D printer for hours on end while printing is mesmerizing adding a bit of bling makes it even nicer.

[andyb]

Interesting video. When we needed to make repairs to fiberglass aircraft, works on boats or whatever, we would put a piece of plastic down, put the fabric down, pour the resin on it then another piece of plastic and use a plastic squeegee to spread it into the fabric. Its easier to cut a shape when the fabric is wet. Peel one of the pieces of plastic off, put it in the mould (wet side down) and using a wooden stick or plastic stick push everything where it needs to be. Remove the second piece of plastic, make sure nothing shifted out of place then vacuum bag and suck it down! Very good video. Thank you.

[raise-project]

Ah the good stuff! I like to tape the CFK with tape and then cut it so the edges of the mats stay in place. Also pretty overlooked is NFK natural fibers that are used mostly in Ski making because they have a nice flexibility. Together with organic resin its slightly more environmentlly friendly, even if its still Sondermüll.

[Underpntz_Gaming_Channel]

I do this for years for automotive stuff, using 3d printed molds, really awesome especially the "forged carbon" process.

[veritanuda]

FYI, you could probably line the mould with a thin layer of latex. There is some special latex for vacuum forming which is designed to release. It can be applied with a brush and should make the resin not stick to the mould while retaining all the details.


Great vid. Very helpful.

[dknight]

Now here we go. 👍. 3d printing for composites. Easy Composites' service and videos are great.

[ricknoah]

Been working composites for 5 years. I always love to watch how others work. The nice thing about CF is that, once you learn it's nuances (and there are many), you can make anything out of it. Practice and watch a LOT of other folks videos. I, personally, have been doing carbon forging. Great fun. Amazing parts.
Yeah, it's expensive, but once you get used to it, you stop wasting so much cloth.
The only true downside is handing the cloth. Yes, loose fibers will irritate and burrow into skin. Use long gloves and a mask.. always when cutting raw cloth. Same with using power tools on CF.. mask up. CF powder in the air is very bad to breathe in.

[juanesteban]

While the initial investment may be fairly low I found that, at least in my case, it grew exponentially as I was constantly trying to improve the strength and quality of my finished pieces. After less that 6 months I had a vacuum bagging setup and now, after a little under 14 months, I have an autoclave and resin infusion system. That being said, it's still a great hobby and being as how I autocross and sim race it has.practical benefits

[Chopped]

For that last coat you should really use clear coat, not resin. It will protect your resin as it doesn’t do well with UV.

[NiclasGudmundsson]

It's the release agent that makes the epoxy bunch up and not to flow out to a even surface for you. Even if you clean the part Wich acetone you will have to sand the surface to get a good adhesion of the next layer of resin.