Carbon Fiber wrapped parts.........., My first attempts. Options

[gt_driFFter]

No pics today but I did some work last night. Trimmed the excess off the door handle bezels, put a final coat of epoxy on the ash tray cover, third coat on the passenger door switch panel, and second coat on the upper dash vent. Going to sand and clear the ash tray panel tonight, sand and re-coat the passenger switch panel, and add a third coat to the upper vent tonight. Maybe get some pics up in the process. I've got tomorrow night, all day Saturday, and Sunday nights off so I'll be hopefully finishing up several of the pieces.

If anyone is selling the drivers side dash vent panel or drivers side door switch panel or a shifter panel for a manual car, I need each one of those to complete the interior transformation on our car. TIA.

Fastbird, I've got an extra one of these. Just PM me your address and I'll pop it in the mailbox for ya. It's the one that originally was in my car, which had the woodgrain option, and when I removed it the glue had left a slight discoloration in some spots so I replaced it. Obviously you'll be covering it, so it's yours for free.

This post has been edited by gt_driFFter: Nov 13, 2008 - 1:21 PM

[Fastbird]

No pics today but I did some work last night. Trimmed the excess off the door handle bezels, put a final coat of epoxy on the ash tray cover, third coat on the passenger door switch panel, and second coat on the upper dash vent. Going to sand and clear the ash tray panel tonight, sand and re-coat the passenger switch panel, and add a third coat to the upper vent tonight. Maybe get some pics up in the process. I've got tomorrow night, all day Saturday, and Sunday nights off so I'll be hopefully finishing up several of the pieces.

If anyone is selling the drivers side dash vent panel or drivers side door switch panel or a shifter panel for a manual car, I need each one of those to complete the interior transformation on our car. TIA.

Fastbird, I've got an extra one of these. Just PM me your address and I'll pop it in the mailbox for ya. It's the one that originally was in my car, which had the woodgrain option, and when I removed it the glue had left a slight discoloration in some spots so I replaced it. Obviously you'll be covering it, so it's yours for free.

DUDE! You Rock! PM Sent

[Fastbird]

New pics coming tonight. Used the blowtorch trick on fresh resin and it made it smooth MUCH better than before and took out every micro-bubble in the thing. I may not even have to sand and clear the ash tray cover when I get home tonight, it's THAT nice looking.

Expect lots of updates this weekend. I'll be wetting out the bigger pieces, covering the upper cluster surround piece, and finishing off the door handle bezels, ash tray cover, and passenger switch panel.

[bseaman_5]

New pics coming tonight. Used the blowtorch trick on fresh resin and it made it smooth MUCH better than before and took out every micro-bubble in the thing. I may not even have to sand and clear the ash tray cover when I get home tonight, it's THAT nice looking.

Expect lots of updates this weekend. I'll be wetting out the bigger pieces, covering the upper cluster surround piece, and finishing off the door handle bezels, ash tray cover, and passenger switch panel.

Looking forward to seeing the product!!!!

[GriffGirl]

I'm looking forward to seeing it too! You're doing a great job, I really admire you taking this project on to learn all this stuff. It's totally cool to watch as you learn by your mistakes on here. I can't wait to see when your setup is all done, I think it'll look really great!

[zero07]

x2! Keep us posted with pics!

[Driveby]

Nice work mate, almost giving me the inspiration to try this myself!

[Fastbird]

Newest progress:

Cut the holes in the passenger switch panel, sanded, added another coat of resin which is still wet in this pic:


Initial wet-out coat on the door handle bezels:


Third coat of resin on the upper passenger dash vent. This one will be tricky to get the vents cut, but I think a dremel with the right bit will work:


The ash tray cover, after 400 grit sanding, Krylon thick gloss clear coat is drying on it. I'm VERY happy if it dries like it looks like it's going to:


I'd have done more tonigght but I got a late start due to business taking precedence (had to build a Corvette Line Lock and mod a set of LT1 fuel rails for -AN fittings). Tomorrow I'm planning on cutting the openings in the door handle bezels and radio trim and getting them finish wrapped, along with the initial wet-out coat of resin on each in the AM. Gotta be up early to mail off the aforementioned products, so why not make use of the day?

This post has been edited by Fastbird: Nov 15, 2008 - 1:49 AM

[tomazws]

Great job there!! Although I'd prefer plain black stitches..

[Fastbird]

Great job there!! Although I'd prefer plain black stitches..

That can be arranged.

[playr158]

what brand and type of resin + hardener are you using.

[razor7]

You truly are working with something I imagine a lot of us are interested in.

I really want to see how the red CF comes out after it's installed. Right now the pieces look great, but I'm wondering if they'll come out a little dark. Either way, you will probably have another customer once you start ordering in bulk :-D

-TC

[Fastbird]

Sorry about the lack of updates guys, my being sick came back. I didn't even crack a computer almost the entire weekend much less do anything else. Gotta work tonight but have tomorrow night off, and Fri-Sat off again.

Playr158......check back on page 1 or 2, I mentioned the resins there.

Something I found out though: The clearcoat needs to be cured at a warm temp. Cold temp (i.e. in my garage overnight) curing makes for a soft surface that scratches easily (the ash tray top). It's ok though because I've got to do some sanding down for clearancing there as that's a very tight clearance area there (front and back edges).

[playr158]

minutes and "stuff" from Michael's isn't really an answer

my question was more pertaining to brand (IE System3, Fiberglast system 2000) ect. and resin type.

[Fastbird]

minutes and "stuff" from Michael's isn't really an answer

my question was more pertaining to brand (IE System3, Fiberglast system 2000) ect. and resin type.

I haven't ordered anything major. it's this clear pour on two stage epoxy from Michaels, and I've been playing with varying little tubes of epoxy available at parts stores and wal-mart to get a feel for things. That's about as detailed as it gets. Most likely I'm going to order a 3:1 setup from either USComposites or Compositeenvisions.

[Akirad1]

you should try a whole door card that would look pimp

[playr158]

http://www.fibreglast.com/showproducts-cat...20Resins-5.html

system 2000, i like a lot

[Fastbird]

http://www.fibreglast.com/showproducts-cat...20Resins-5.html

system 2000, i like a lot

That's actually one of the ones I'm looking at. I haven't decided which way I'm going to go for the resin when I start bulk ordering for going into full production for people, but they are very near the top of my list based on customer service reputation.

[playr158]

This coupe decklid i made with SYSTEM3 UV protectant resin (its a little soft on the finish IMO)


this is with the system 2000 resin (forgive the "cloudiness" of the bit, flash at night and cold temps never good)


The system 2000 has actually been pretty easy to work with and consistent.

I'll have some pics up in a week or so of a boat i'm making for my engineering class in carbon fiber.
dont want to pic whore just give you some visuals

This post has been edited by playr158: Nov 18, 2008 - 1:48 PM

[Fastbird]

Good looking pieces man!! Nice work indeed.

Update: These three pieces are essentially finished. I'm not overly happy with the smoothness of the finish on them, so I may 2000 grit and re-clear coat and oven cure for a short bit to get it to harden up some. But, for my first pieces, I'm ok with it. My next couple of pieces I'm going to let the self leveling epoxy fully cure and see if I can get away with it as the finished surface only.

The vent........pics do it justice. I basically cut out the openings with a razor......came out ok, but a little uneven. I'm going to get inside the fins with a black paint pen and darken them up some since I scuffed the surfaces with the knife while cutting. ANyway, here's pics!







Don't laugh at the screwballed spots on the switch panel, that was my first attempt. I've also wet-out the ignition switch panel and the radio trim panel though I've still got to do some trimming and edge wrapping. More to come.

I'm also ordering some CF this week.....another sheet of Red/Black and Silver, and also ordering a sheet of standard carbon fiber and *might* order a sheet of blue/black carbon fiber if someone is interested in having some parts done in that.

How's it looking to the public?