As a writer of technical manuals and probably one of the few remaining on the planet, I am relieved to see that there are still some companies in the market that are prepared to take the time and trouble to craft excellent "How To" tutorials for those with the need to know about such matters.
In this series we're showing how a *real* carbon fibre part would be made. This is epoxy infused 100% carbon fibre. Sadly, most of what you'll find on the market (and get sold as 'carbon fibre') is mainly fibreglass, often using polyester resin and (horror) chopped strand mat with a single layer of carbon on the surface. The steel original weighed 18kgs, the so-called carbon ones you can buy weigh about 10kg. Our part? - 3.25kg. To the people this is aimed that, that matters a lot.
I used to make hand laid fingerless body panels you could stand on that weighed less than “carbon fiber” body panels from NOPI and similar. They weren’t as exciting to look at, though.
To those watching that may have missed the comment on the first video, Easy Composites Ltd provided an excellent breakdown of the costs associated with a project like this (I won't be able to answer any questions regarding the following information I'm just copying and pasting it): The exact amount of materials you’ll need will vary depending on the size of your hood so I’ll base this on a bonnet of standard dimensions, you can then scale the quantities up or down depending on whether you hood is larger or smaller than an average 1.5m x 1.2m bonnet. Also, some of the steps (like the gelcoating) are optional and other steps (like the bonding of fasteners) will depend on what you need to bond so I’ve broken these down separately at the end. *Complete List of Materials for Making a Carbon Fibre Bonnet Measuring 1.5m x 1.2m* Mould Making Materials: The outer mould and inner mould will be approximately 1.9m x 1.5m in size. This is about 3sqm per mould. Quantity Product Unit £ Line £ 10kgs Uni-Mould Tooling Gelcoat 52.50 105.00 10kgs Uni-Mould Coupling Coat 46.60 93.20 50kgs Uni-Mould Tooling Resin 114.00 228 15m 80g Chopped Strand Mat 1.70 25.5 14kgs 450g Chopped Strand Mat 2.19 69.66 1 Laminating Roller - 75mm 5.20 5.20 5 3” Laminating Brush 2.00 10.00 100 Nitrile Gloves 4.99 4.99 100g Number 8 Release Wax 6.50 6.50 500ml Easy-Lease Chemical Release 16.50 16.50 330g Yellow Fileting Wax 6.17 6.17 1 roll 50mm Release Breaker Tape 6.95 6.95 TOTAL 577.67 Equipment & Consumables Quantity Product Unit £ Line £ 1 Resin Infusion Starter Kit, 357.00 357.00 With Pump, 5kgs Resin TOTAL 357.00 Materials for the Bonnet Itself For a bonnet measuring 1.5m x 1.2m you would want a surface plies measuring 2m x 1.5m. Based on a an outer skin of 200g carbon, 2mm Soric, 200g carbon this means you'd need 4m of 1.5m wide carbon fibre and 3m of Soric for the outer skin. For the inner skin 2m of 1.5m wide 200g Quantity Product Unit £ Line £ 6m 1.5m Wide 2/2 200g Carbon Fibre 35.00 210.00 200g Carbon Fibre 3m 650g 2/2 Twill Carbon Fibre 25.00 75.00 3m Lantor Soric 2mm 8.14 24.42 1 PT326 Adhesive 400ml Tube 48.41 48.41 TOTAL 357.83 This gives a grand total of £1292.50 (ex VAT) for all of the essential materials and equipment to make the carbon fibre bonnet/hood. Remember than most of the equipment can be re-used forever and that the moulds (the most expensive part) can be used to make hundreds of parts if you wanted to. Optional Equipment & Materials If you want to spray the outer skin with a UV protective gelcoat directly into the mould before infusing then you would need a cup-gun and gelcoat but I would not recommend you do this because it’s an added step of complexity. Instead, I would suggest you infuse straight into the mould and then, if the parts comes out right and you want a UV protective coat, that you just lacquer it afterwards. Quantity Product Unit £ Line £ 1 Gelcoat Spraying Cup Gun 130.50 130.50 2kgs GC50 Polyester Gelcoat 11.75 23.50 TOTAL 154.00 If you don’t have abrasive tools for trimming and finishing the parts then consider: Quantity Product Unit £ Line £ 1 Perma-Grit Sanding Block Small 13.96 13.96 1 Perma-Grit Bosch Jigsaw Blade 3.54 3.54 1 Mirka Combination Pack 19.95 19.95 1 Perma-Grit 32mm Rotary Disc 8.33 8.33 Likewise, if you don’t have a dispenser gun for the adhesive or you need the smaller adhesives to bond fasteners in they are listed here: Quantity Product Unit £ Line £ 1 400ml Adhesive Dispenser Gun 52.50 52.50 1 50ml Adhesive Dispenser Gun 19.95 19.95 1 ET515 Epoxy Adhesive 10.17 10.17 It’s worth remembering that in composites, the most expensive bit (apart from the equipment) is the moulds. In the above list you’re buying a lot of equipment for the first time which you’ll be able to use over and over and you’re also making a mould which, if you wanted to, you could also use over and over. If you only use it to make one part then it pushes the cost of that part right up but having a mould does give you options for making other parts and selling them, or making multiple copies for yourself (rally car use for example!).
Hey FM I thought your breakdown was amazingly good and I appreciate it. I would amend the Bonnet list though as it didn't include the resin and release agents, that's assuming you have all the tools and the mold is already made. You had the best answer to "How much does it cost". I think the cost actually could be zero if you made several and sold them. Then you would have all the molds and tools to make as many as you would want. Me if I did this I would make one for my 1969 Pontiac GTO. I think it would look absolutely stunning on my Black GTO. Thanks for taking the time to do the research for everyone, as I'm sure you spent some time doing it. Best Wishes n Blessings. Keith Noneya
Thanks for a detailes list and expected costs.. still intenede to go thru with my plans however. seeing the companys that does it to. just dont deliver to my expectations xD! or in carbon at all lol
Not to bad actually. If you have something other then a honda or bmw, carbon parts can be hard to come by. If you find a couple of other people interested in the same specific part on your favorite forum or whatever you can just make 3, have the others pay for all the materials and yourself doing the manufacture. In the end you have the part for free as well as a free mould and the others have their unavailable parts pretty much at costprice. Everybody happy and a good deal.
Lol, that is so wrong, you really think fiberglass is stronger than carbon fiber with the same weight? ROFL! Carbon fiber is stronger, lighter and more rigid.. The only reason you would ever use fiberglass over carbon fiber is if you need more flex in the application or if the application cannot have conductive properties in it (ignoring cost...).
Actually there was some research done for making sailboats and they found that (Keeping in mind it's for a boat hull so impact forces won't be the same,) a combination of fibreglass and carbon fibre has better impact resistance.
It is possible to laminate the hood fastener into the bonnet. You have to consider a number of things, like thickness of laminate, void space between upper and lower skins, access to finish it off, alignment etc. You can always add extra reinforcement if you are worried about strength in that area.
This entire series was really incredible. I just recently got interested in how laying Carbon Fiber works and this video answered pretty much every question I could think of about how these sorts of carbon panels are made. The length of the videos just goes to show how detail oriented a project like this is. The more time you spend the better the result. Skip any steps or don't take your time and everything you've done has been wasted. Tons of skill and knowledge involved here, great job. The panel looks absolutely incredible.
Why did I watch a 3 part series for making a carbon fiber bonnet when I KNOW i'm never going to make one? I guess I just appreciate watching other people laying down carbon fiber for some reason.
Me: "Oh man i would love to make my own, they are so expensive." *watch all 3 videos* Me: "You know what, I'll just pay someone to do that and now I understand why they're so expensive."
All night I've been watching fiberglass videos, and this is the only video I've seen that does Lamination Proper. Thank you for putting my nerves at ease and doing good work.
Spectacular series. As a car enthusiast my hobbies have grown to include body work as well as several types of welding. I do believe this will be the next skill set i would like to gain experience in after watching several of the posted videos. Thank you for sharing! !
I've recently looked up how carbon fiber is made and this is the best video and now I can do the same and make carbon fiber in mostly all heavy panels on my car
I would never have guessed the amount of labor and sacrificial materials needed. Huge amount of skills and labor on top of the premium materials needed for a good result.
Could you use sandbags (as long as your bags had a polythene lining so as not to leak sand) as they would follow the profile of the sub-frame to the main panel?
Scott Watrous Just so u know buddy that brick doesn't hurt the carbon at all, mostly because he used vacuum bag material to cover the carbon. That bagging material is very strong, it doesn't puncture easily. Yeah u could use anything but I believe the biggest reason for the bricks are so u could see if the part is actually pressing down to the part, and make sure it isn't moving. The reason for me saying this is because I have experience.
Buying a CF part might be expensive, but after seeing this video I understand that it takes a lot of knowledge and patience. There are many stages in the build that will screw up the whole process if not done perfectly (especially if done by a novice), leading to a very very expensive fail. Thanks for the video, it helped me understand that certain jobs are better left to the professionals.
This was the best tutorial that I have ever seen. I'm building a 2007 Crown Vic Police Interceptor and replacing the large hood and trunk lid would remove a considerable amount of weight.
Sure, to make a high quality carbon fibre part there is a lot of work. It's this amount of work, plus the cost of the materials, that explains much of the cost of finished parts. Remember though, if you can go from 21kg to 3kg (the weight saving of this part) and you're racing your car then a saving of 18kg on a single panel can be very significant.
on this quality of work, it would be on the 2k USD mark.For my car, quality carbon fiber hoods cost over 2k, the cheap ones cost about 800-1200bucks but the fitment/quality of the structure is questionable.
Actually, this is very easy thing to do, not hard at all. The only thing is that you have to be very patient precise during the whole process of the making. I will try this with smaller parts so i can get used to it and then i will begin with the bigger parts and maybe start designing parts by myself. Thank you for the 3 great video tutorials! :)
Just brilliant even i am Never going to need to do this at my old age watching a master craftsman is always a pleasure with amazing results great job mate very well done who does not admire craftsmanship like this?
I just couldn't hold it after I saw the bricks, otherwise nice tools and work space, and suddenly bricks appear :D Nice work still! I hope I have propper space to make carbon fiber parts for my car(s) some day. Man gotta have hobbies!
I'm waiting for a full double-sided carbon bonnet for my car now and I was quoted 'at least 10-12 weeks' (obviously they're making others too). I can see why it takes a lot of work and expertise.
@@aemravan In many cases there are enough hoods available that it doesn't matter if a hood gets sacrificed. If you're concerned about your own hood, then find an auto wrecking yard with a hood and use that one.
@@TWX1138 a) a hood doesn't have to be sacrificed, that was my point. b) It wasn't my concern about sacrificing a hood or not. c) lets see you sacrifice an MKIV supra hood that you found a junkyard :)
Hi Easy composites. I've understood the techniques you showed in this series for quite some time, but never have I heard or seen it explained so well. This series is a credit to you and your team. Having said that, I do have a couple of questions. Given that the original metal thickness would have been of the order of 0.8mm Question 1. With the thickness of the carbon fibre, the honeycomb layer (sorry, forgot the name), and the next, thin layer this will make the bonnet thickness 'appear' to be quite a bit thicker than the original. I would estimate possibly around 3mm. Not neccessarily a problem if you stop there, but now Question 2. Similar to the above, now for the build up of the underside skin, the layers will be coming out in excess of the original metal thickness. Again possibly around 2+mm Are you are not now bonding these two layers together and assuming or expecting them to match original the bonnet dimensions? I mean, if you were to measure the distance between the two skins of a given part of the original metal bonnet, it would not be the same as the same part on the plastic bonnet. Perhaps this is why you had to add bricks to the underside skin to achieve a suitable join line. Question 3. In view of this, how do you begin to attempt to 'control' each layer thickness so as to avoid this issue? Question 4. Given the strength/rigidity of the mould that you showed, is it not possible that the addition of x number of bricks could end up distorting the bonnet? I would sincerely be interested to hear your reply, and I would like to say that even though you posted this video series nearly 2 years ago, I'm asking the above questions because I see that you replied to another comment from approx' 2 weeks ago. Depending on the answers to the above, I would honestly consider this system for making car body panels. Regards Mark in the UK
the inner hood should be redesigned (re plasticine the edges so it lifts the inner hood with the extra thickness of the material) or the hood will sit 1 cm too high.
a great tutorial, a great surface, great craftsmanship. This is really a whole lot of work with some risks especially while infusing and trimming the final product.
To be fair, the final trimming is not difficult, it just takes a bit of time and patience! but it is right near the end when the finished part is almost in sight, so the temptation to rush it is quite high and must be resisted.
Easy Composites Ltd Did You try a multimaster or another vibrating and not rotating tool? These fast rotating lightweight tools have the disadvantage of easily jumping around and making a lot of dust.
Yes, we've used most types of tools. Each have their advantages. In our production environment we normally come back to using rotary cutters but we have good localised extraction and air-fed masks.
I always wanted to buy a car, pull it completely apart and turn it into a Le Mans GTE-style race car, just as a weekend project over a few years. I never knew that you could actually make carbon fiber parts this easily, that's amazing. How long did it take for the entire part? A week?
nj4ck Hi Nick, yes, it was probably something like that. There's a bit of waiting between stages so it's certainly not a week of solid work; the part itself is only maybe 3 hrs start to finish, once you've got the moulds. Making the moulds is always more work than making the part but you only need to do it once :)
Easy Composites Ltd Thanks! By the way, do you plan on making more of these videos in the future? This is by far the most informative and well-made tutorial on making carbon fiber that I have seen so far.
starting from making the mold? to finished product? 3 days since you gotta wait for cure times and whatnot. First day you can get mold done and the next morning its ready. 2nd day you can get the actual part done wait til next day to fully cure then the 3rd day is cutting it to size and whatnot. And if you want a carbon fiber look lay a clear coat on top of it.
Excellent series of videos, I never realized just how much work goes into making a carbon fiber bonnet! Can you tell me how many times (if at all) you can reuse the same mold? i.e. how many bonnets could you make from that one mold? Many Thanks again for a very educational series of videos
You can reuse the moulds dozens if not hundreds of times. You will find over time the surface gloss will dull and you may get scratches in the gel, but in most cases these can be polished out to return the part to its original gloss.
Great job. I've watch from part 1 straight to 3 and I must say after watching it I can see why carbon fiber is so expensive because it's a lot of time and effort and once done right, looks fantastic.
Such a detailed video and explain so easily that anybody could understand, but I think people will eventually be asking you to make them a bonnet, instead of purchasing every tool that you used.
Well, we do get asked occasionally but that's not something we can help with unfortunately. However, have also supplied hundreds (maybe thousands) of individuals and startup companies with full sets of materials, equipment and support and many of these startups have gone on to become established manufacturers which is always great to see and hear.
When you do the final trim and edge sanding it appears that you would be sanding right into the joint where the two panels are adhered together. Wouldn't that leave a pretty crappy looking edge? On commercially produced carbon fiber bonnets their edges appear to be rounded or have the carbon fiber wrapped from the top around the bottom piece. Is there another coating or something that further protects the piece?
Hi Scott, actually the edge still looks quite tidy because it is just solid carbon fibre. This can either be polished (just by compounding it) or you can choose to further seal the edge with the application of some resin onto the cut edge or finally you could choose to clear-coat the whole part which would do the job of sealing and glossing the edge at the same time. I would be very surprised if any commercially produced parts wrapped the carbon around an edge like this, no matter how you make a part you still have to have a cut edge somewhere!
Easy Composites Ltd I think he’s referring to the polypropylene joint between the top and bottom halves of the bonnet, which I think is 35mm inside the cut edge ure referring to. Either way I think ure right it’s gonna hold up fine and there’s no cause for concern
ASTONISHING! And yes, I think it will be much easier to get a brand-new part rather than making it buy yourself. Buying all the chemicals and carbon fiber itself will cost you around 70% of a new bonnet. And I am absolutely sure that you have to be a well experienced to gain such ASTONISHING quality.
You would be surprised at the good results many of our customers achieve with a little practice. The advantage of resin infusion is it is a process very highly focussed on closely following the procedure and steps to the letter. If you do so you will almost always get good results. Other techniques such as wetlay often rely on the laminators skill and experience to get a great finish.
A great set of video's that have de-mystified the manufacture of carbon fibre car body panels. Thank you very much Easy Composites Ltd. I'm keeping this short as my mind is racing with ideas as to just what I can do to both with the interior and exterior of my 350Z
Well done! Very impressive. I'd really like to attempt a large hood duplication using the same techniques you have applied here. I just need to try and figure out how much material I would need. The problem is that this hood I want to replace is not just big, but it is very heavy. I need to pick up a couple of your kits and do at least one or two smaller projects to perfect my skills first. Thanks for you great video series! Mark
Many of our customers have done just that. Some working in less than ideal conditions. As long as you can keep your working conditions clean and have a suitable temperature environment for curing, then with a bit of practice and experience, anyone with a basic bit of common sense should be able to achieve good results. We know of one customer who does smaller parts in the kitchen and bigger parts on the dining room table!!
It wouldn't surprise me if for premium vehicles, they have double-layer moulds where they don't have to use a bagging and vacuum process, but instead can use a squeeze process. That would cut down dramatically on the consumables and would probably yield nicer finishes on both sides of the part.
I am on a very ambitious project to build my own car and start a car manufacturing company. one of the greatest challenges was doing the body parts. either from CF or aluminum these tutorials have been of great help.
Well, yes, both of those would have been a better idea. Actually we would normally vacuum bag it with a vacuum regulator keeping the vac level low but we're trying to use as little unnecessary equipment as possible. If it's *possible* to do it with simpler household items then we will (plus we had some handy, didn't have any lead-shot handy!)
Ever use a dremel? they only skip out if you dont hold it steady, and when it does catch, it pops up and forward only a couple inches (5cm)...notabigdealyo
@@dh66 accidents always happen, especially with complacency, cutting towards yourself if never a good idea no matter how confident or experienced you are.
@@dh66 yeah, and I still cut away from myself its not hard and it prevents injury from an accident. Why are you so adamant on cutting towards yourself ? Lol
I have to say this was an amazing set of videos, seeing a Pro do this is much like watching an artist. I have been wanting to do some carbon fiber projects for a while, I seen on another video when they just brushed on the Epoxy, doing this "Suck" method was ingenious! I also read the forum msg about making an entire car, hell of a first project!
Thank you for a brilliant introduction to CF production. So here's a rookie question: I thought ALL carbon fibre production involved baking of the product to cure it. Were these bonnet parts just left overnight on the bench and they cured?
Anthony Bowe Most typical epoxies will cure fine at room temperature although a postcure at elevated temperature will produce stronger parts. Also a postcure can be useful for bonnets or hoods which may be exposed to high temperatures either in hot sun or from the engine. By postcuring the parts, the part will not soften the first time it is exposed to heat.
***** Postcuring is where you bake the carbon part at a higher temperature. If your part cures at room temp, taking it up to something like 150 degrees will make it soft and rubbery. If you postcure it at 150 degrees, it will stay stiff at that temp. The parts and molds I make I usually postcure at 200 degrees for 8 hours. The reason for that is I use prepreg carbon that is cured at 190 degrees.
GunsNpolitics Ah ok thanks. So if I make a hood out of carbon fiber, I need to cure it at the temperature the inside of my engine bay would be while running?
I built some wings for a UAV.. The process is actually kind of fun.. Might want to note that radio waves and CF are not exactly the best of friends (enter learn mode).. A proper mold is important when bonding so that the pieces do not flex while being bonded (weight holding pieces together can distort the mold).. Best video series yet of how to do this in clear and simple terms... great job!
starting up it would cost more than buying a quality finished product, thing is doing it like this gives you the mold at the end which you can make another piece which you can sell :P I do this on interior trims, haven't done a big part like a hood since I don't have the place to do so but for the interior trims I've made I got my money back off the materials and tools I used and more. it does take experience tho to get a perfect looking piece, this video he made it look easy but its not that easy. It is not that hard either, just experience.
nobody does a quality job like in this video, they use fiberglass inner layers.. This video shows actual 100% cf part (apart from gluing 2 parts with glue)
Rum Reach - there is no 'apart from here. Bonding parts together as was done in the series is exactly how all complex carbon fiber parts are made. From McClaren cars to Pagani's- they're all made from simpler panels bonded together. And if you're concerned about strength, don't be - these aren't your standard 'glues, but are designed for this purpose- the bonds are actually stronger than the base materials most of the time.
Apparently you never saw how the urethane glue looks in 10 years, it becomes very brittle and starts to fall apart. Not the case with epoxy, when the part becomes one solid epoxy/cf piece, so why not spend a little extra and do the right thing? Whats the point of doing all this work just to put glue in there and screw everything up.
Rum Reach - I'm confused now... From what I saw, they did use epoxy in these vids. He used a mixing nozzle, but he was using a 2 part epoxy to bond them together...
Yes, if you want to make the part stronger, just add more layers. You can also glass in lengths of metal to strengthen wide areas. The videos you saw people curing their parts in an oven were probably because the CF or glass was prepreg. Prepreg already has resin impregnated in the weave, but it does not have any catalyst. The catalyst makes a chemical reaction that creates heat.. and it's the heat that cures the resin. So when using prepreg, the part must be baked to cure the resin. Cheers!
I enjoy all your videos. They're really informative. You make it look easy, but that was a crazy amount of work and skill. I'd really like to make a small boat mold, but I have no experience with any of these techniques. The only thing I've ever done is cover a plywood boat with fiberglass using a roller.
Hi Brian, well, we’d certainly encourage you to give it a go. Start with something small, it keeps the costs down whilst you make mistakes, but you still learn the same amount. If you get your materials from us then we can help you through the process too.
Resin infusion (as demonstrated in this video) makes stronger, lighter and more cosmetically perfect parts that way-lay. The reason is a lower resin content (higher fibre content), bubble/void free laminate (because of the vacuum infusion), high performance resin (wet-lay often uses polyester, this process uses epoxy) and lack of disturbance to the weave that is often caused by rollering/brush application of resin. It's a lot more complicated but the results are very different.
@csgtfaught Yes, definitely. If you know from the start that you're going to clear coat it then you would skip the stage where we use the clear gelcoat (in the second video) because this effectively does the same thing as the lacquer would. It's actually more common to make the part without a gelcoat and then clear coat it afterwards.
Would love to try this, even when the first hood would take two weeks to finish in total. I am amazed by the craftmanship and the detail work (beside the usage of bricks :)) ), because I am a detail freak myself.
Why even bother cutting out the center section of the inner part? It would be easier to glue together/Look better (IMHO) and be stronger ...without much added weight.
It's personal choice. We were looking for a close copy of the original so cut the centers out. Even without them, this bonnet is plenty stiff enough even for road use.
This is a great video that I had to go back and watch it again. I wish I could do this to build a dash for my 2001 dodge truck. The old one broke in 50 pieces like regular glass would do. Thanks again for this video 👍👍👍👍
this is really incredible. thanks so much for putting this out there. i feel like i know so much about vacuum bagging that i am going to start bossing other people around on the subject.
With Resin Infusion, a few minutes letting the resin pot stand will get rid of most of the big bubbles and all the small bubbleswill be drawn out by the vacuum pump during the infusion.
You're welcome, I hope we've given your some good tips and ideas and if you needed it the confidence to think that you can take on a large project like this and get success.
Just used thier steps. It works. I did my 1998 Crown-Vic's hood. That shit is light as hell. My hood weighed almost 85lbs. Now only 25. Next up fenders.
Honestly this is great! I wanted to try to make a hood for my car, but the $1500-2000 hoods are expensive! That’s not even counting freight costs 😢 but this shows WHY the craft is so expensive & I respect the people who put the time and effort to make em!
I'm pretty sure those costs are inflated to reflect the various profit margins of the producer of those hoods. Looks to be primarily labor intensive, which makes the final highly flexible. The maker can put whatever value on their workmanship that they choose. While there are a number of these carbon fiber part producers worldwide, the actual quality depends on the maker themselves and the skills used in making them. Might actually be worth it to produce it yourself if you find the prices objectionable. It's a relatively new industry, and quality will vary widely.
Yes, it is paintable! Scuff the surface lightly with 320grit sand paper first though. I use paint that is designed for use on plastics. I would suggest priming the part with a primer for plastic, and then paint with whatever base color of standard urethane or acrylic you want. Happy glassing!
I'm not sure a plastics based paint would be the universal solution for an automotive panel, as that paint may not be designed to handle the sort of environmental challenges that an automotive body panel will experience (road debris, road salt, extreme heat and cold from seasonal environmental changes). Then there is the additional challenge of matching a color to an OEM paint code in case a customer wants that carbon fiber panel to match the rest of the vehicle. The more limited variety of pigments available for plastics based paints may not make this an ideal match for OEM paint colors.
As a writer of technical manuals and probably one of the few remaining on the planet, I am relieved to see that there are still some companies in the market that are prepared to take the time and trouble to craft excellent "How To" tutorials for those with the need to know about such matters.
In this series we're showing how a *real* carbon fibre part would be made. This is epoxy infused 100% carbon fibre. Sadly, most of what you'll find on the market (and get sold as 'carbon fibre') is mainly fibreglass, often using polyester resin and (horror) chopped strand mat with a single layer of carbon on the surface. The steel original weighed 18kgs, the so-called carbon ones you can buy weigh about 10kg. Our part? - 3.25kg. To the people this is aimed that, that matters a lot.
Your videos are the absolute best. The highest quality content.
Well done and easy to understand, very interesting... Need to know more🙏🏻
Can a similar process be applied for forged carbon to make a hood?
I used to make hand laid fingerless body panels you could stand on that weighed less than “carbon fiber” body panels from NOPI and similar. They weren’t as exciting to look at, though.
To those watching that may have missed the comment on the first video, Easy Composites Ltd provided an excellent breakdown of the costs associated with a project like this (I won't be able to answer any questions regarding the following information I'm just copying and pasting it):
The exact amount of materials you’ll need will vary depending on the
size of your hood so I’ll base this on a bonnet of standard dimensions,
you can then scale the quantities up or down depending on whether you
hood is larger or smaller than an average 1.5m x 1.2m bonnet.
Also, some of the steps (like the gelcoating) are optional and other
steps (like the bonding of fasteners) will depend on what you need to
bond so I’ve broken these down separately at the end.
*Complete List of Materials for Making a Carbon Fibre Bonnet Measuring
1.5m x 1.2m*
Mould Making Materials:
The outer mould and inner mould will be approximately 1.9m x 1.5m in
size. This is about 3sqm per mould.
Quantity Product Unit £ Line £
10kgs Uni-Mould Tooling Gelcoat 52.50 105.00
10kgs Uni-Mould Coupling Coat 46.60 93.20
50kgs Uni-Mould Tooling Resin 114.00 228
15m 80g Chopped Strand Mat 1.70 25.5
14kgs 450g Chopped Strand Mat 2.19 69.66
1 Laminating Roller - 75mm 5.20 5.20
5 3” Laminating Brush 2.00 10.00
100 Nitrile Gloves 4.99 4.99
100g Number 8 Release Wax 6.50 6.50
500ml Easy-Lease Chemical Release 16.50 16.50
330g Yellow Fileting Wax 6.17 6.17
1 roll 50mm Release Breaker Tape 6.95 6.95
TOTAL 577.67
Equipment & Consumables
Quantity Product Unit £ Line £
1 Resin Infusion Starter Kit, 357.00 357.00
With Pump, 5kgs Resin
TOTAL 357.00
Materials for the Bonnet Itself
For a bonnet measuring 1.5m x 1.2m you would want a surface plies
measuring 2m x 1.5m. Based on a an outer skin of 200g carbon, 2mm Soric,
200g carbon this means you'd need 4m of 1.5m wide carbon fibre and 3m
of Soric for the outer skin.
For the inner skin 2m of 1.5m wide 200g
Quantity Product Unit £ Line £
6m 1.5m Wide 2/2 200g Carbon Fibre 35.00 210.00
200g Carbon Fibre
3m 650g 2/2 Twill Carbon Fibre 25.00 75.00
3m Lantor Soric 2mm 8.14 24.42
1 PT326 Adhesive 400ml Tube 48.41 48.41
TOTAL 357.83
This gives a grand total of £1292.50 (ex VAT) for all of the essential
materials and equipment to make the carbon fibre bonnet/hood. Remember
than most of the equipment can be re-used forever and that the moulds
(the most expensive part) can be used to make hundreds of parts if you
wanted to.
Optional Equipment & Materials
If you want to spray the outer skin with a UV protective gelcoat
directly into the mould before infusing then you would need a cup-gun
and gelcoat but I would not recommend you do this because it’s an added
step of complexity. Instead, I would suggest you infuse straight into
the mould and then, if the parts comes out right and you want a UV
protective coat, that you just lacquer it afterwards.
Quantity Product Unit £ Line £
1 Gelcoat Spraying Cup Gun 130.50 130.50
2kgs GC50 Polyester Gelcoat 11.75 23.50
TOTAL 154.00
If you don’t have abrasive tools for trimming and finishing the parts
then consider:
Quantity Product Unit £ Line £
1 Perma-Grit Sanding Block Small 13.96 13.96
1 Perma-Grit Bosch Jigsaw Blade 3.54 3.54
1 Mirka Combination Pack 19.95 19.95
1 Perma-Grit 32mm Rotary Disc 8.33 8.33
Likewise, if you don’t have a dispenser gun for the adhesive or you need
the smaller adhesives to bond fasteners in they are listed here:
Quantity Product Unit £ Line £
1 400ml Adhesive Dispenser Gun 52.50 52.50
1 50ml Adhesive Dispenser Gun 19.95 19.95
1 ET515 Epoxy Adhesive 10.17 10.17
It’s worth remembering that in composites, the most expensive bit (apart
from the equipment) is the moulds. In the above list you’re buying a
lot of equipment for the first time which you’ll be able to use over and
over and you’re also making a mould which, if you wanted to, you could
also use over and over. If you only use it to make one part then it
pushes the cost of that part right up but having a mould does give you
options for making other parts and selling them, or making multiple
copies for yourself (rally car use for example!).
Hey FM I thought your breakdown was amazingly good and I appreciate it. I would amend the Bonnet list though as it didn't include the resin and release agents, that's assuming you have all the tools and the mold is already made. You had the best answer to "How much does it cost". I think the cost actually could be zero if you made several and sold them. Then you would have all the molds and tools to make as many as you would want. Me if I did this I would make one for my 1969 Pontiac GTO. I think it would look absolutely stunning on my Black GTO. Thanks for taking the time to do the research for everyone, as I'm sure you spent some time doing it. Best Wishes n Blessings. Keith Noneya
thx for saving me time and money
Thanks for a detailes list and expected costs.. still intenede to go thru with my plans however. seeing the companys that does it to. just dont deliver to my expectations xD! or in carbon at all lol
Not to bad actually. If you have something other then a honda or bmw, carbon parts can be hard to come by.
If you find a couple of other people interested in the same specific part on your favorite forum or whatever you can just make 3, have the others pay for all the materials and yourself doing the manufacture.
In the end you have the part for free as well as a free mould and the others have their unavailable parts pretty much at costprice.
Everybody happy and a good deal.
u forgot to add the essential bricks he used at the end,
JK thanks a lot for ur time!!
We have had customers making large body panels straight off and achieve good results despite no previous composites experience.
Do we get these products in India.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why carbon fiber body panels are so expensive.
Lol, that is so wrong, you really think fiberglass is stronger than carbon fiber with the same weight? ROFL! Carbon fiber is stronger, lighter and more rigid.. The only reason you would ever use fiberglass over carbon fiber is if you need more flex in the application or if the application cannot have conductive properties in it (ignoring cost...).
Actually there was some research done for making sailboats and they found that (Keeping in mind it's for a boat hull so impact forces won't be the same,) a combination of fibreglass and carbon fibre has better impact resistance.
Yes, there are of course more acceptions when choosing between the two, but I was just giving a broad reasoning for the application.
Just thought I would mention it because it's interesting and might be useful for some people.
Ryan Dukes i honestly had no clue this much went into it. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW
It is possible to laminate the hood fastener into the bonnet. You have to consider a number of things, like thickness of laminate, void space between upper and lower skins, access to finish it off, alignment etc. You can always add extra reinforcement if you are worried about strength in that area.
This entire series was really incredible. I just recently got interested in how laying Carbon Fiber works and this video answered pretty much every question I could think of about how these sorts of carbon panels are made. The length of the videos just goes to show how detail oriented a project like this is. The more time you spend the better the result. Skip any steps or don't take your time and everything you've done has been wasted. Tons of skill and knowledge involved here, great job. The panel looks absolutely incredible.
Why did I watch a 3 part series for making a carbon fiber bonnet when I KNOW i'm never going to make one? I guess I just appreciate watching other people laying down carbon fiber for some reason.
Me: "Oh man i would love to make my own, they are so expensive."
*watch all 3 videos*
Me: "You know what, I'll just pay someone to do that and now I understand why they're so expensive."
You spend a lot of time and money for this project, but not surely we are success hehe.
hahaha exactly my thoughts !!!
i think doing your own carbon one off would make a ride that much better.
Yeah, but all of the molding, you'll only do once
@@Gendo3s2k Well actually if it works out well, u can make more and sell them i guess
Now I understand why carbon costs so much, a lot of work and detail goes into the making of these things👍
Why do I have the feeling that it would take me 3 years to do this?
I tought so to.. :)
I HAVE MORE CHANCE IN LUNCHING A SPACE SHUTTLE THEN DOING THIS
Saif Al-Janabee Hehehehehehe... :)
if you just had all those tools,chemicals and vacuum pump stuff it would be easy
Riksa Kerssi hold my beer....
All night I've been watching fiberglass videos, and this is the only video I've seen that does Lamination Proper. Thank you for putting my nerves at ease and doing good work.
Put it back on to the car. want to see that
No kidding!
Pretty shure doesnt fit after that unsupported mold twisted by bricks.
@@4486igi are u sure? that cf does bending but it will stay with the shape. that's why cf is better than pu or fiberglass.
Spectacular series. As a car enthusiast my hobbies have grown to include body work as well as several types of welding. I do believe this will be the next skill set i would like to gain experience in after watching several of the posted videos. Thank you for sharing! !
"and with the information we've given you in this tutorial, so can you."
You sir are a master at your craft.
I've recently looked up how carbon fiber is made and this is the best video and now I can do the same and make carbon fiber in mostly all heavy panels on my car
I just love how high tech this is and then BRICKS
I would never have guessed the amount of labor and sacrificial materials needed. Huge amount of skills and labor on top of the premium materials needed for a good result.
Three people in a garage could make 20+ a day that would cover anything you need for the rest of your life
@@jeffreymoffitt4070 never man
@@MrDanielsahne one maintaining or remaking molds, one laying fiber, and the other pulling and trimming.
@@jeffreymoffitt4070 you are talking out of your ass, to make 20 per day you'd need 20 molds for starters.
İn this video I can afford just bricks
Lol!!! Me too!!!😂😂👏👏👏 you make me the day.. May be in the afterlife
Me too. Those are easy to steal.
You can always use Burt Rutans method and use sand bags. They are DIY friendly since you can use old t-shirts and sow them and sand is everywhere.
@@davidcordes9283 Don't remember using any sand bags to build the Long EZ. Are you talking about for stress testing?
Oh... stealing them from the neighbour's fence ...
LOL.. all that 21st century technology and then.... BRICKS
BAHAHAHAHA
I was expecting lead weights myself.. but yeah bricks are cheap too...
Could you use sandbags (as long as your bags had a polythene lining so as not to leak sand) as they would follow the profile of the sub-frame to the main panel?
I think you could use just about anything heavy dude.
Scott Watrous
Just so u know buddy that brick doesn't hurt the carbon at all, mostly because he used vacuum bag material to cover the carbon. That bagging material is very strong, it doesn't puncture easily. Yeah u could use anything but I believe the biggest reason for the bricks are so u could see if the part is actually pressing down to the part, and make sure it isn't moving. The reason for me saying this is because I have experience.
It's the best performance I've ever seen on carbon fiber works. Amazing results. Congratulations!
Thank you Jordi, that's praise indeed :)
One of the best instructional videos I have ever seen.
Buying a CF part might be expensive, but after seeing this video I understand that it takes a lot of knowledge and patience. There are many stages in the build that will screw up the whole process if not done perfectly (especially if done by a novice), leading to a very very expensive fail. Thanks for the video, it helped me understand that certain jobs are better left to the professionals.
@Thomas Mulloy From memory, I think the original is around 18kg and this is around 3.5kgs.
@easycompositestv these videos are the best. I am sure every FSAE body/aero lead has seen these. They are the best.
Watched all 3 part videos. Simply amazing! Thanks for sharing your work and finished piece!
This was the best tutorial that I have ever seen. I'm building a 2007 Crown Vic Police Interceptor and replacing the large hood and trunk lid would remove a considerable amount of weight.
wow ive seen less work in open heart surgery videos!!
Sure, to make a high quality carbon fibre part there is a lot of work. It's this amount of work, plus the cost of the materials, that explains much of the cost of finished parts. Remember though, if you can go from 21kg to 3kg (the weight saving of this part) and you're racing your car then a saving of 18kg on a single panel can be very significant.
on this quality of work, it would be on the 2k USD mark.For my car, quality carbon fiber hoods cost over 2k, the cheap ones cost about 800-1200bucks but the fitment/quality of the structure is questionable.
@@erickrayos BMW sell a very very small carbon fiber parts for 2k usd, i dont think 2k usd is enough for this big panel
Actually, this is very easy thing to do, not hard at all. The only thing is that you have to be very patient precise during the whole process of the making.
I will try this with smaller parts so i can get used to it and then i will begin with the bigger parts and maybe start designing parts by myself.
Thank you for the 3 great video tutorials! :)
Amazing video! I found this information very fascinating to watch as a fan of carbon fiber car parts!
I love the one handed hood pickup. This series is over the top.
Still far cheaper to do it this way than pay someone to make moulds and then produce a bonnet for you.
Easy Composites Ltd so what was the weight difference?
About how much does it cost based on products ?
@@barryfields2964 it seems their videos are only now trending.
what was the total material cost for this bonnet?
is this hood stronger than an aluminum hood which car producers make?
Just brilliant even i am Never going to need to do this at my old age watching a master craftsman is always a pleasure with amazing results great job mate very well done who does not admire craftsmanship like this?
I just couldn't hold it after I saw the bricks, otherwise nice tools and work space, and suddenly bricks appear :D Nice work still! I hope I have propper space to make carbon fiber parts for my car(s) some day. Man gotta have hobbies!
I'm waiting for a full double-sided carbon bonnet for my car now and I was quoted 'at least 10-12 weeks' (obviously they're making others too). I can see why it takes a lot of work and expertise.
WOW! brilliant series - very informative - thank you 😍👍
I was planning to make my own DIY carbon fiber hood but after watching this, I might just need to buy 'cause the time and hustle is worth every penny.
Let's see what I need for this project:
a hood to sacrifice + all the materials + tools + the guy in the video to do the job.
Yeh, that's all.
Seriously, this is one of the best video tutorial I have ever seen. Even if I don't need a carbon fiber hood, it was worth watching. Well done!
i don't think you got the point of making the mould.. lol. you dont sacrifice the original hood.
You don't have to sacrifice the hood. ;-)
@@aemravan In many cases there are enough hoods available that it doesn't matter if a hood gets sacrificed. If you're concerned about your own hood, then find an auto wrecking yard with a hood and use that one.
@@TWX1138 a) a hood doesn't have to be sacrificed, that was my point.
b) It wasn't my concern about sacrificing a hood or not.
c) lets see you sacrifice an MKIV supra hood that you found a junkyard :)
Hi Easy composites.
I've understood the techniques you showed in this series for quite some time, but never have I heard or seen it explained so well. This series is a credit to you and your team.
Having said that, I do have a couple of questions.
Given that the original metal thickness would have been of the order of 0.8mm
Question 1.
With the thickness of the carbon fibre, the honeycomb layer (sorry, forgot the name), and the next, thin layer this will make the bonnet thickness 'appear' to be quite a bit thicker than the original. I would estimate possibly around 3mm.
Not neccessarily a problem if you stop there, but now
Question 2.
Similar to the above, now for the build up of the underside skin, the layers will be coming out in excess of the original metal thickness. Again possibly around 2+mm
Are you are not now bonding these two layers together and assuming or expecting them to match original the bonnet dimensions?
I mean, if you were to measure the distance between the two skins of a given part of the original metal bonnet, it would not be the same as the same part on the plastic bonnet.
Perhaps this is why you had to add bricks to the underside skin to achieve a suitable join line.
Question 3.
In view of this, how do you begin to attempt to 'control' each layer thickness so as to avoid this issue?
Question 4.
Given the strength/rigidity of the mould that you showed, is it not possible that the addition of x number of bricks could end up distorting the bonnet?
I would sincerely be interested to hear your reply, and I would like to say that even though you posted this video series nearly 2 years ago, I'm asking the above questions because I see that you replied to another comment from approx' 2 weeks ago.
Depending on the answers to the above, I would honestly consider this system for making car body panels.
Regards Mark in the UK
the inner hood should be redesigned (re plasticine the edges so it lifts the inner hood with the extra thickness of the material) or the hood will sit 1 cm too high.
a great tutorial, a great surface, great craftsmanship. This is really a whole lot of work with some risks especially while infusing and trimming the final product.
To be fair, the final trimming is not difficult, it just takes a bit of time and patience! but it is right near the end when the finished part is almost in sight, so the temptation to rush it is quite high and must be resisted.
Easy Composites Ltd Did You try a multimaster or another vibrating and not rotating tool? These fast rotating lightweight tools have the disadvantage of easily jumping around and making a lot of dust.
Yes, we've used most types of tools. Each have their advantages. In our production environment we normally come back to using rotary cutters but we have good localised extraction and air-fed masks.
I always wanted to buy a car, pull it completely apart and turn it into a Le Mans GTE-style race car, just as a weekend project over a few years. I never knew that you could actually make carbon fiber parts this easily, that's amazing. How long did it take for the entire part? A week?
nj4ck Hi Nick, yes, it was probably something like that. There's a bit of waiting between stages so it's certainly not a week of solid work; the part itself is only maybe 3 hrs start to finish, once you've got the moulds. Making the moulds is always more work than making the part but you only need to do it once :)
Easy Composites Ltd Thanks! By the way, do you plan on making more of these videos in the future? This is by far the most informative and well-made tutorial on making carbon fiber that I have seen so far.
nj4ck I could'nt agree more with you!
+Easy Composites Ltd Awesome, be nice to see some more tutorials on other parts you make.
starting from making the mold? to finished product? 3 days since you gotta wait for cure times and whatnot. First day you can get mold done and the next morning its ready. 2nd day you can get the actual part done wait til next day to fully cure then the 3rd day is cutting it to size and whatnot. And if you want a carbon fiber look lay a clear coat on top of it.
In one week my new job starts. I am gonna make all kinda stuff of this materials. I'm realy exited
Good luck in your new job Oscar!!
I'm here in 2018 and loved every second of this tutorial. Thanks guys!
Excellent series of videos, I never realized just how much work goes into making a carbon fiber bonnet!
Can you tell me how many times (if at all) you can reuse the same mold?
i.e. how many bonnets could you make from that one mold?
Many Thanks again for a very educational series of videos
You can reuse the moulds dozens if not hundreds of times. You will find over time the surface gloss will dull and you may get scratches in the gel, but in most cases these can be polished out to return the part to its original gloss.
Great job. I've watch from part 1 straight to 3 and I must say after watching it I can see why carbon fiber is so expensive because it's a lot of time and effort and once done right, looks fantastic.
just absolutely fascinating skillful and professional work.
Wow this process is amazing! It's so beautiful! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Now I understand why it's so expensive, well worth it. :)
So I watched all 3 tutorials and I'm now curious how much would a project like this cost including all chemicals and tapes used?
+cro508 Just what I would know too... I know it is not cheap, but just a rough prize.
+hfranke07 he said in another video, 1000£ (1300 usd or so) not including resin or carbon fiber so I would say around £2000 total
Wow. Might as well just buy a carbon hood. Cheaper than making it yourself.
BandXTube yup, but some cars don't have that
ACTIVEGAMER298
True. I feel like if my Jeep Wrangler has carbon fiber parts just about every other car does though.
Such a detailed video and explain so easily that anybody could understand, but I think people will eventually be asking you to make them a bonnet, instead of purchasing every tool that you used.
Well, we do get asked occasionally but that's not something we can help with unfortunately. However, have also supplied hundreds (maybe thousands) of individuals and startup companies with full sets of materials, equipment and support and many of these startups have gone on to become established manufacturers which is always great to see and hear.
When you do the final trim and edge sanding it appears that you would be sanding right into the joint where the two panels are adhered together. Wouldn't that leave a pretty crappy looking edge? On commercially produced carbon fiber bonnets their edges appear to be rounded or have the carbon fiber wrapped from the top around the bottom piece. Is there another coating or something that further protects the piece?
Hi Scott, actually the edge still looks quite tidy because it is just solid carbon fibre. This can either be polished (just by compounding it) or you can choose to further seal the edge with the application of some resin onto the cut edge or finally you could choose to clear-coat the whole part which would do the job of sealing and glossing the edge at the same time. I would be very surprised if any commercially produced parts wrapped the carbon around an edge like this, no matter how you make a part you still have to have a cut edge somewhere!
Easy Composites Ltd I think he’s referring to the polypropylene joint between the top and bottom halves of the bonnet, which I think is 35mm inside the cut edge ure referring to. Either way I think ure right it’s gonna hold up fine and there’s no cause for concern
ASTONISHING! And yes, I think it will be much easier to get a brand-new part rather than making it buy yourself. Buying all the chemicals and carbon fiber itself will cost you around 70% of a new bonnet. And I am absolutely sure that you have to be a well experienced to gain such ASTONISHING quality.
You would be surprised at the good results many of our customers achieve with a little practice. The advantage of resin infusion is it is a process very highly focussed on closely following the procedure and steps to the letter. If you do so you will almost always get good results. Other techniques such as wetlay often rely on the laminators skill and experience to get a great finish.
I wanna see the bonnet fitted to the car it was from :( haha
this series was amazing. I am so down to do this one day (Y)
Live Wire fiat 500 lol
A great set of video's that have de-mystified the manufacture of carbon fibre car body panels. Thank you very much Easy Composites Ltd. I'm keeping this short as my mind is racing with ideas as to just what I can do to both with the interior and exterior of my 350Z
Well done! Very impressive. I'd really like to attempt a large hood duplication using the same techniques you have applied here. I just need to try and figure out how much material I would need. The problem is that this hood I want to replace is not just big, but it is very heavy. I need to pick up a couple of your kits and do at least one or two smaller projects to perfect my skills first.
Thanks for you great video series!
Mark
the cleanest composite lamination video I've ever seen, very professional good job!
That was awesome. I do suspect you have made it look simpler than it is for a laymen though :)
fabulous and I will never question again the price of Carbon parts, knowing I long it take and the skills required...well done:)
Now I realize why it is so expensive... Great job
Many of our customers have done just that. Some working in less than ideal conditions. As long as you can keep your working conditions clean and have a suitable temperature environment for curing, then with a bit of practice and experience, anyone with a basic bit of common sense should be able to achieve good results. We know of one customer who does smaller parts in the kitchen and bigger parts on the dining room table!!
Didn't show the bonnet on the car!
probably didn't fit
:d :d :d
It was made as a demonstration not promoting the hood.
It did not line up
They’re still moulding the entire car
This is why premium vehicles are sooo expensive!! Thanks for this very informative tutorial.
It wouldn't surprise me if for premium vehicles, they have double-layer moulds where they don't have to use a bagging and vacuum process, but instead can use a squeeze process. That would cut down dramatically on the consumables and would probably yield nicer finishes on both sides of the part.
Easy composites you say...
I am on a very ambitious project to build my own car and start a car manufacturing company. one of the greatest challenges was doing the body parts. either from CF or aluminum these tutorials have been of great help.
Thanks Edwin; yes - that's an ambitious project but all great things start somewhere. I wish you all the best with your venture.
Great series!
Jay Williams Seems like a lot of work lol
John Wilson with a great pay off
Well, yes, both of those would have been a better idea. Actually we would normally vacuum bag it with a vacuum regulator keeping the vac level low but we're trying to use as little unnecessary equipment as possible. If it's *possible* to do it with simpler household items then we will (plus we had some handy, didn't have any lead-shot handy!)
As he finishes talking about safety precautions, he begins cutting, pulling a 35k RPM sawblade towards his other hand.
Ever use a dremel? they only skip out if you dont hold it steady, and when it does catch, it pops up and forward only a couple inches (5cm)...notabigdealyo
But hes a pro obviously
@@dh66 accidents always happen, especially with complacency, cutting towards yourself if never a good idea no matter how confident or experienced you are.
@@ipsyop ever use a dremel?
@@dh66 yeah, and I still cut away from myself its not hard and it prevents injury from an accident. Why are you so adamant on cutting towards yourself ? Lol
I have to say this was an amazing set of videos, seeing a Pro do this is much like watching an artist. I have been wanting to do some carbon fiber projects for a while, I seen on another video when they just brushed on the Epoxy, doing this "Suck" method was ingenious!
I also read the forum msg about making an entire car, hell of a first project!
Thank you for a brilliant introduction to CF production. So here's a rookie question: I thought ALL carbon fibre production involved baking of the product to cure it. Were these bonnet parts just left overnight on the bench and they cured?
Anthony Bowe Most typical epoxies will cure fine at room temperature although a postcure at elevated temperature will produce stronger parts. Also a postcure can be useful for bonnets or hoods which may be exposed to high temperatures either in hot sun or from the engine. By postcuring the parts, the part will not soften the first time it is exposed to heat.
Easy Composites Ltd Thank you!
Easy Composites Ltd What is postcuring?
***** Postcuring is where you bake the carbon part at a higher temperature. If your part cures at room temp, taking it up to something like 150 degrees will make it soft and rubbery. If you postcure it at 150 degrees, it will stay stiff at that temp. The parts and molds I make I usually postcure at 200 degrees for 8 hours. The reason for that is I use prepreg carbon that is cured at 190 degrees.
GunsNpolitics Ah ok thanks. So if I make a hood out of carbon fiber, I need to cure it at the temperature the inside of my engine bay would be while running?
I built some wings for a UAV.. The process is actually kind of fun.. Might want to note that radio waves and CF are not exactly the best of friends (enter learn mode)..
A proper mold is important when bonding so that the pieces do not flex while being bonded (weight holding pieces together can distort the mold).. Best video series yet of how to do this in clear and simple terms... great job!
I wonder if the cost in materials would equal that of an aftermarket carbon fiber body panel.
starting up it would cost more than buying a quality finished product, thing is doing it like this gives you the mold at the end which you can make another piece which you can sell :P
I do this on interior trims, haven't done a big part like a hood since I don't have the place to do so but for the interior trims I've made I got my money back off the materials and tools I used and more. it does take experience tho to get a perfect looking piece, this video he made it look easy but its not that easy. It is not that hard either, just experience.
nobody does a quality job like in this video, they use fiberglass inner layers.. This video shows actual 100% cf part (apart from gluing 2 parts with glue)
Rum Reach - there is no 'apart from here. Bonding parts together as was done in the series is exactly how all complex carbon fiber parts are made. From McClaren cars to Pagani's- they're all made from simpler panels bonded together. And if you're concerned about strength, don't be - these aren't your standard 'glues, but are designed for this purpose- the bonds are actually stronger than the base materials most of the time.
Apparently you never saw how the urethane glue looks in 10 years, it becomes very brittle and starts to fall apart. Not the case with epoxy, when the part becomes one solid epoxy/cf piece, so why not spend a little extra and do the right thing? Whats the point of doing all this work just to put glue in there and screw everything up.
Rum Reach - I'm confused now... From what I saw, they did use epoxy in these vids. He used a mixing nozzle, but he was using a 2 part epoxy to bond them together...
Yes, if you want to make the part stronger, just add more layers. You can also glass in lengths of metal to strengthen wide areas.
The videos you saw people curing their parts in an oven were probably because the CF or glass was prepreg. Prepreg already has resin impregnated in the weave, but it does not have any catalyst. The catalyst makes a chemical reaction that creates heat.. and it's the heat that cures the resin. So when using prepreg, the part must be baked to cure the resin.
Cheers!
I got carbon splinters just watching this. Cool shit though.
Wow, excellent, definitely doable but so much skill and precision required.
I guess it would take me less time to go onto the Mars on foot and come back again than it would take me to accomplish this process, lol.
I enjoy all your videos. They're really informative. You make it look easy, but that was a crazy amount of work and skill. I'd really like to make a small boat mold, but I have no experience with any of these techniques. The only thing I've ever done is cover a plywood boat with fiberglass using a roller.
Hi Brian, well, we’d certainly encourage you to give it a go. Start with something small, it keeps the costs down whilst you make mistakes, but you still learn the same amount. If you get your materials from us then we can help you through the process too.
1:58 looks like a Stanley kubrick movie lol
Learning something is always good, thanks to easycomposites for explain.
Sand bags better then brick stones maybe?
if you have some, yes of course
Resin infusion (as demonstrated in this video) makes stronger, lighter and more cosmetically perfect parts that way-lay. The reason is a lower resin content (higher fibre content), bubble/void free laminate (because of the vacuum infusion), high performance resin (wet-lay often uses polyester, this process uses epoxy) and lack of disturbance to the weave that is often caused by rollering/brush application of resin. It's a lot more complicated but the results are very different.
Ohhhh Hi-Tech bricks... 7:00
He should make carbon fiber bricks.
but carbor fiber bricks have no weight
@csgtfaught Yes, definitely. If you know from the start that you're going to clear coat it then you would skip the stage where we use the clear gelcoat (in the second video) because this effectively does the same thing as the lacquer would. It's actually more common to make the part without a gelcoat and then clear coat it afterwards.
I actually watched all 3 parts to see how you bonded the inside and outside together...and you just used bricks.
Yeah, he should have asked models to sunbath on the thing! or even better, weigh it down with double Ds (No time-lapse for that though).LOL! :-)
Would love to try this, even when the first hood would take two weeks to finish in total. I am amazed by the craftmanship and the detail work (beside the usage of bricks :)) ), because I am a detail freak myself.
The bricks are just there to bring some real science to the process! ;)
Why even bother cutting out the center section of the inner part? It would be easier to glue together/Look better (IMHO) and be stronger ...without much added weight.
It's personal choice. We were looking for a close copy of the original so cut the centers out. Even without them, this bonnet is plenty stiff enough even for road use.
Thanks for the reply,
I'm just worried...If I build one....it won't hold up to the Underhood temps without a Post oven curing?
a pleasure to watch very well explained am getting ready to do MGA fenders
Now I know why is so expenssive :p
Its been a long journey, but ive finished watching this. Such a great video, might try this out one day in the near future.
The way he pronounces adhesive really bothers me but I'm just a stupid American.
I was thinking the same thing.
What? Properly you mean..
This is a great video that I had to go back and watch it again. I wish I could do this to build a dash for my 2001 dodge truck. The old one broke in 50 pieces like regular glass would do. Thanks again for this video 👍👍👍👍
this is really incredible. thanks so much for putting this out there. i feel like i know so much about vacuum bagging that i am going to start bossing other people around on the subject.
I would get myself small bags filled with sand that will have a soft non scratch outside material. Fantastic video by the way.
Thanks and yes, good tip.
With Resin Infusion, a few minutes letting the resin pot stand will get rid of most of the big bubbles and all the small bubbleswill be drawn out by the vacuum pump during the infusion.
You're welcome, I hope we've given your some good tips and ideas and if you needed it the confidence to think that you can take on a large project like this and get success.
Just used thier steps. It works. I did my 1998 Crown-Vic's hood. That shit is light as hell. My hood weighed almost 85lbs. Now only 25. Next up fenders.
Honestly this is great! I wanted to try to make a hood for my car, but the $1500-2000 hoods are expensive! That’s not even counting freight costs 😢 but this shows WHY the craft is so expensive & I respect the people who put the time and effort to make em!
I'm pretty sure those costs are inflated to reflect the various profit margins of the producer of those hoods. Looks to be primarily labor intensive, which makes the final highly flexible. The maker can put whatever value on their workmanship that they choose. While there are a number of these carbon fiber part producers worldwide, the actual quality depends on the maker themselves and the skills used in making them. Might actually be worth it to produce it yourself if you find the prices objectionable. It's a relatively new industry, and quality will vary widely.
Yes, it is paintable! Scuff the surface lightly with 320grit sand paper first though. I use paint that is designed for use on plastics. I would suggest priming the part with a primer for plastic, and then paint with whatever base color of standard urethane or acrylic you want. Happy glassing!
I'm not sure a plastics based paint would be the universal solution for an automotive panel, as that paint may not be designed to handle the sort of environmental challenges that an automotive body panel will experience (road debris, road salt, extreme heat and cold from seasonal environmental changes). Then there is the additional challenge of matching a color to an OEM paint code in case a customer wants that carbon fiber panel to match the rest of the vehicle. The more limited variety of pigments available for plastics based paints may not make this an ideal match for OEM paint colors.
A real pro, amazing work mate!
Excellent! And without any raucous 'music' trying to compete with the explanation!
Hi David, yes, we moved away from any background music a long time ago, thankfully :)
Makes me want to go buy everything and get started immediately!
Well, there's a plan Kris :)
Nice expert job. I don't understand the dislikes. Surely somebody who disliked the first in the series would stop watching long before now.
Haha, yes, you'd think. Well, that's the internet for you. We're happy that most people watch and enjoy. You can't please everyone :).