Working with carbon fiber

**HHdesign** · 08-28-2005, 12:38 AM

I dont like telling stories so I wont go into the background I'll get right into it.

I have some carbon fiber I aquired in body shop class. I've searched the forums, and noticed some helpful threads regarding making carbon fiber bezels (schweet), and dash trim. But I was wondering along the lines of something greater in size, a carbon fiber hood.

I know this is a car-computer place, but my shop teacher knows nothing of working with carbon fiber. Here's my best understanding of it, feel free to add any input or prove me wrong.

Get the carbon fiber, lay it on a clean surface, preferbly covered with a resin, then lay down some clear epoxy resin on top of it. Seems pretty simple, not too different than fiberglass.

Here inlies my question, if I wanted to make a carbon fiber hood, and I had all my meausrments completed, how would I get it to take shape of the hood? Should I make a "mold" of the hood out of some material that the resin will not adhere to? and then proceede from there, or is there some other way to do this, any input is appricated,

**markland556** · 08-28-2005, 01:16 AM

I looked into this a while ago and from what i found is that its pretty much impossible without the industrial tools. Professionals form it to a mold then seal it in an airtight bag and cook it in a huge oven. Doing it the way you said wouldnt work because the resin would pool when you apply it on the top. You also will destroy the weave of the carbon fiber when you are applying the resin (it done with a brush). Most carbon fiber already has resin in it and all you have to do is bake it. I guess you could just wrap your current hood in tape and foil, then apply carbon fiber and use some sort of heat gun. But all in all its really a great DIY project.

**djmickyg** · 08-28-2005, 02:27 AM

to do it in a garage. u'll first need a spare hood.. then u'll have to lay some fiber glass on top of it to make a mold.. first remebering to put some realiease agents (car wax) on it to get it off.. then.. once u have a negative mold of the hood, sand back the inside slightly and make sure its all nice cus this will detrmin the finish..
then.. get some more release agents on the mold then lay a coat of top coat resin to the mold and let it dry (this will provide a smooth top)
then lay the carbon fiber the same way u would fiberglass.
paint a little resin down.. put the fiber on it and paint some more.. and rember to get urseld a metal roller! it will make all the difference.. this is the laminating proces
if u dont use it u will have a whole heap of air bubbles trapped under the fiber and from the top it will look ****..
there is plenty of info on the net about it.. search around