DIY: Carbon Fiber Overlay

[99PreludeSh]

Found this on h22squad and it's pretty rad.

This is a DIY guide on overlaying parts with carbon fiber...

What is a carbon fiber overlay?
A CF overlay is a part that has CF overlayed on the outside of the part for aesthetic value.



Safety
------------------

***Epoxy resin should be respected at all times. Keep the kids and animals away from it! Do yourself a favour and wear a respirator(white paper dust masks will not cut it)!

***Cutting/Sanding laid up cured carbon fiber IS very dangerous. ALWAYS wear a respirator, eye protection and a long sleeve shirt.

***Keep kids and animals away from everything that has to do with carbon fiber!


1. hand protection (I get mine from Wal-Mart)




2. Respirator
Please do yourself a favor and dont cheap out on this.. its your lungs that youre protecting! Even though epoxy resin doesnt smell near as bad as polyester resin you should still use one during layup/cutting/sanding




3. arm protection aka. old long sleeve shirt (optional for layup but not cutting/sanding)
Some people are allergic to epoxy resin and it causes there skin to break out in rashes...


4. eye protection (optional for layup but not cutting/sanding)
wouldnt want epoxy resin in your eyes... you ask.. can this really happen, the answer is yes...



Materials
-------------------------

Most of my materials come from: http://www.uscomposites.com
I highly recommend this site.. great products and service.

1. 635 Thin Epoxy Resin System (http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html)
I use the 4:1 Ratio Fast Epoxy Hardener due to winter conditions, you should pick the hardener that is best for your climate.



2. 5.7oz Twill Carbon Fiber Fabric (http://www.uscomposites.com/carbonpage.html)
This is the most common weave.. obviously you can use anything you want..



3. Mix & Measure Buckets(quart) and brushes (http://www.shopmaninc.com/containers.html)

I get my brushes at wal-mart but you can also get them from uscomposites..




4. 3m Multipurpose Adhesive (I get mine at Wal-Mart)




5. Shop-Line JX101 Wax and Grease Remover (I got mine at a local paint shop)

This stuff is great to clean parts with before painting/overlays/etc..



6. clean mixing sticks (free from local Home Depot/Lowes/paint shop)


7. Clear Coat (rattle can will do but, i recommend spraying it out of a paint gun)
This will be the final layer on your part.

8. Sand Paper (60-1500 grit)

9. angle grinder or another tool with an abrasive wheel to trim parts



Process
----------------------

Here is what I started with.. some good ol' pillar trim from a prelude.. junk yard special





Step 1: Sand your part with some 60 grit sand paper.. this is to rough up the surface to help the resin/carbon fiber to adhere to it better..



Step 2: This step should only be preformed if you have a light colored part to begin with. If you leave the part a light color the light color will show through the weave in the carbon fiber in some places and makes it look really bad. So, if you have a light colored part spray paint it with black paint.

first coat


second coat.. you can also see the entirety of my sweet paint booth in this picture.. lol




Step 3: Cut out a piece of carbon fiber for the overlay.. I usually lay the part on it and cut it. I leave quite a bit of extra as you can see... ALWAYS handle carbon fiber mat with extreme care.. it is very easy to mess up the weave and once the weave is messed up youve basicly wasted all of it.. When cutting it use very sharp scissors..

example of how much extra to leave around the part


two pieces ready for some overlay action




Step 4: Use the 3m spray adhesive and spray a mist over the whole part (more is not more).. once you have the part sprayed lay the carbon fiber over it and form the carbon fiber over the part.. I just run my hand over it and make sure its all flat and conformed to the part nicely.. make sure your weave is not all wavy/nasty.. this is a vital step to a nice looking overlay...

should be able to see all the contour/outline of the part


trim off alot of the excess.. it will relieve alot of the stress on the tight bends/corners




Step 5: Now its time to apply the resin... before preparing resin your parts need to grow legs (see pictures).. then get the brush ready, the biggest thing with the brush is make sure there is no loose bristles (dont want bristles in the cured resin).. now mix your resin/hardener to the correct ratio (should have ratio on hardener bottle) for me its going to be 4:1 (4 parts resin to 1 part hardener).. mix is for a good 3-5 min, avoid whip/beating it(it will cause lots of air bubbles).. once the resin has been mixed apply the resin to the part, make sure you wet out the carbon fiber thoroughly. you may want to put something under your parts because the resin will drip.. once the part has a nice layer of resin its time to wait for it to cure.. if you have any air bubbles on your part once you have applied resin use a heat gun or hair dryer to apply heat to the bubble and it will pop..

my parts have legs!


mixed resin (mine has alot of bubbles.. thats bad)


wetted out carbon fiber.. this is the point that you need to pop the air bubbles with the heat gun/hair dryer






Step 6: At this point you just want to apply 2-3 layers of resin. Make sure before applying more resin that the previous layer is completely cured (should not be tacky at all)... refer to step 5 for step by step resin applying. The reason for applying layers like this is so we have some to sand off to get it all smooth, so you can kinda judge how many youll need by that. I would also recommend trimming the part at this point too..

layer 2


layer 3


part all trimmed up.. i used an angle grinder




Step 7: sand the resin smooth.. If youve never sanded before its something you do in steps.. starting with lower grit sand paper and working your way up.. you want to start at something like 220 and work your way up to 1500... be very careful not to sand through the CF material, you WILL completely ruin the part if you do this.. if you have low spots that can not be sanded out without cutting the CF material clean the part with rubbing alcohol or Shop-Line JX101 Wax and Grease Remover and add another layer of two of resin. once you have the part completely smooth/flat/no low or high spots you can move on to step 8..

sanded resin.. it looks like youve ruined the part but really you havent so dont get scared at this point


i had to add more layers due to low spots




Step 8: apply clear coat, wet sand (1000-1500 grit), buff/polish

photos coming soon!



Step 9: install part and enjoy the feeling of built not bought parts

Remember, post pictures of your finished parts for everyone to see.

[Story Worm]

nice find!

[99BlackHatch]

I need that for my roof, lol

[Black95gsr]

Carbon fiber tow hitches, and sub box sound badass. lol

[delslo]

aesthetic Carbon Fiber FTL!
your not saving weight (obviously)
prolly just me on here but for the most part I hate carbon fiber. Its over glorified, and only looks good on a few cars (exterior)
Carbon Fibering your trim is about the same as rattle canning it yellow, white, green etc.

On the flip side it can look pretty decent if its not over done.


just my 2/100 dollar

[muha22752]

cool may be for my arm rest

[luvmyhondas]

funny thing is I've had a roll of CF and 2 gallons worth of resin/hardener in my garage for a long time. I was going to wrap the sunroof panel on my CRX so it would match the hood.

I tried wrapping the door sashes with CF and made the mistake of using the resin in too cold of a temp range and screwed it up. Resin looked like it was 'sweating' after it cured, weird.