Joined Sep 2017
595 Posts | 121+
Lansing Mi
This is my 2nd attempt at working with carbon fiber. I thought for sure this piece would be simple.......it was not. I couldn't get enough vacuum to pull the material into the tight turns that flow right back into the bolt hole indents. I decided to make 2 molds and do a sandwich with some pressure. I used mold release on both pieces as well as aluminum foil. In the end the piece locked onto both molds. After a good amount of time and quite a bit of swearing it released. It's not too bad especially since I was going to chock it up as a total loss. I havnt drilled out holes yet or decided if I want to do slots, angled slots, numerous small holes or just a couple larger holes but it's trimmed and I applied heat reflective tape to the back side. I also purchased some West Systems epoxy. This is far superior than the 2 part epoxy I recieved with the original kit. This piece has about 5 layers and is way overkill. It would have been the correct # of layers if I had used the old epoxy but the West Systems if far more ridged and will not deform under heat. To finish it off i sprayed it with flat clear paint to match the body and other part I made. You can see a few imperfections but, baby steps, I'm learning and I'm trying.
