Infusing a Carbon Fiber Motorcycle Side Cover with Epoxy - First Part Fail
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- In this video tutorial we infuse the first part out of the mold we made in the previous 2 video tutorials. We are infusing a carbon fiber motorcycle side cover using Pro-set INF114/INF210 epoxy resin and hardener.
We did have a failure on this part related to not having the carbon in direct contact with the mold and bridging. We talk about that at the end of the video and we'll do some more videos where we use alternative methods to hold the carbon in place and avoid that.
The process is:
Apply release agent to the mold.
Apply sealant tape around the perimeter of the mold
Place the laminate into the mold, in this case one layer of camouflage carbon and 1 layer of 11.1oz carbon.
-Place the processing materials, peel ply, flow media, resin feed and vacuum manifold in the mold.
Seal the mold shut with the vacuum bagging film and pull vacuum
-Vacuum Check
-Infuse part
-Demold
In this video we used:
Chemlease 15 sealer
Chemlease R&B release agent
Sealant Tape
Camo Carbon
11.1 oz Carbon
Bleederlease B Peel Ply
Redflow Flow Media
1/4" vacuum cup
1/4" spiral wrap
1/4" feed hose
WL7400 Vacuum Bag
Proset INF114/210 Infusion resin and hardener
Resin Line Clamps
This series is probably the best composite video I’ve seen on UA-cam. I was trained by the U.S navy on composites and this so close to aircraft grade composite process. A few mediums and heating and epoxies are different but I’m definitely impressed on the quality y’all are doing! Good job guys!
Thank you for leaving in the fail, we know you didn't need to.
leaving in the fail is the mark of true professionals, excellent work, I'm thinking of making moulds for 1964 Triumph 650 thunderbird half skirts, I have original steel ones, but they are really rare to find.
I want to do some old Honda window visors in carbon. It has raised letters that I hope I can capture. Thank you for the great ideas to get going.
Great video, thanks for uploading, that camo carbon looks awesome, shame the part failed though, this is a great video for people that think carbon fibre parts are overpriced, very labour intensive, very wasteful and very hard to do, looking forward to seeing you produce a successful part from the mould 👍
I thought about trying to replicate fenders for 1973-1987 Chevy dual rear wheel trucks. They are large compared to your demonstration and with many complex angles. Would I need to make a split mold to get the part out?
Hi Matt, I wonder how you recrate the tabs on the inner side of the side cover? Most of motorcycle side cover has tabs
I was hoping to see how you trimmed the piece to accurately restore the various elements that you filled in order to get a good seal with the melamine base. I suppose that you could make templates from the original piece. I was also hoping how to use an original piece non-destructively. Removing cured body filler might be destructive, no?
super helpful ! Thanks for sharing this !
Glad it was helpful!
Is bridging still a problem if you use prepreg and an oven / autoclave ?
Yes it can be, but if you have done your ply placement properly it shouldn't be. With prepreg that is a little easier to do as it should have some tack and it won't move around on you between placing it and getting the bag on it.
As for the release agent is it possible to use the wax and the PVA in the same process as to how the mold was made to make the finished part?
Yes- sort of. We didn't because we did not use a surface coat or gelcoat for the part and without that we would have most likely damaged the pva film in the process. The other reason is the PVA usually gets some dust or other impurities in it and doesn't come out as nice as a well polished and released mold does.
Do you think it would be cheaper to purchase a fiberglass hood for a 95' GMC Suburban or remove the dents on my original hood and make a fiberglass hood with vents myself? Thanks for the very informative videos.
If you just need 1 hood it will be less expensive to purchase it than to fix up the existing one, modify it, make a mold, and then make the part.
@@FiberglassSupply Thanks!
WHAT ABOUT A PART WITH TABS? HOW DO YOU MAKE THE TABS AS PART OF THE MOULD?
What kind of carbon fiber did you use as 2nd layers?
It's been so long I don't specifically remember but chances are we used style 613 which is an 11 oz carbon to back up the surface layer.
How do you get the gum tape to come off so fast and easy?
Good question. It is a tricky balance of just the right amount of release agent. On this mold we are using R&B release agent and we only get 1 coat of it where the tape goes down. More than that with this release agent and you might not get the tape to stick at all.
The bubbles are not the bridging issue, it is the epoxy feed speed was too fast, epoxy was not degassed and vacuum probably was not deep enough. You have to feed epoxy really slow at the beginning of infusion to not trap the air. You also have to degas epoxy prior infusion. You also have to maintain deep vacuum prior infusion, as close as possible to 1 atmosphere. If the technique is right those bridges would be filled with epoxy with no bubbles.
I am going to politely disagree with you. Our experience through a number of different projects of various sizes and complexities has shown that most corner voids in infusion are from bridging. I will agree that with a slower feed speed perhaps an area that would otherwise void might fill, but there are other issues that arise from having that area resin rich, including the part weighing more that it should, the resin rich area being prone to cracking or chipping, and the aesthetics being compromised. We have done extensive infusions with both degassed and non-degassed epoxy and have found that in general degassing does little to help an infusion, it definitely does nothing for corner voids, in some cases with some systems it may help with porosity but there are many other factors that contribute to porosity, including resin front ratio, speed, viscosity, temperature, geltime, and vacuum level. It is somewhat complex how those all interweave to potentially cause issues and more than I want to go into here but in general to reduce/eliminate porosity a slower feed with a short resin front, and a geltime within 1/2 hour of wetout will give the best results.
Would adding some small pleats /ears along the female corners have helped ?
I'm surprised how much waste there is after the mold is done setting up.
Right! Not exactly a good process for mass production. And labour and material intensive for a one-off.
Great though if your selling the necessary materials ;-)
How did you not slice you self de molding without wedges 🥵
Annoying music. No need but thanks for video
you cound not get more easy part total fctup and this just your folt but ...well basick
Daniel Pycel - That is some great constructive criticism you have provided. Im sure your words have inspired some better procedure and practice for their next try. Unless they decide not to ever try this again, thanks to your sage wisdom. Man, I bet they won't even learn from this!! Gosh its nice of you to take time out of your, what I'm sure is, very busy day of depositing tid-bits of encouragement to those you deem worthy.
Thank you on the content creators behalf.
Sincerely,
GFYSelf
Spelling is not your strong point Daniel, You could not get an easier sentence to say yet you totally fucked it up.
Daniel Pycel did you once work for muehlan wind service a couple years ago?