My next evil project.....

[L.B.S.]

Thanks for all your great posts, ebrabaek


May I ask a slightly hi-jacking question? (but sorta kinda on topic still )

Do you have a suggestion for any high-heat clear coat applications for carbon fibre?

My once shiny Giannelli CF muffler is looking rather dull and tired after several years of wear and tear. Any way to make her all pretty again?

cheers

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by L.B.S.

Thanks for all your great posts, ebrabaek


May I ask a slightly hi-jacking question? (but sorta kinda on topic still )

Do you have a suggestion for any high-heat clear coat applications for carbon fibre?

My once shiny Giannelli CF muffler is looking rather dull and tired after several years of wear and tear. Any way to make her all pretty again?

cheers

Absolutely......
As far as your muffler...... Do this....ride it...then idle it for a few minutes...to ensure max heat is going through the muffler..... then shoot it with an infrared thermometer. It is pretty accurate with CF.... if you see under 250 deg.F. use the 1618 from Polymer composites. It is the epoxy I use for about 80% of my projects...... Thin flowing....uv property's....just fantastic. I think you will see in the sub 200.F. but yet again..... I don't know all the pipes out there...better be safe.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EPOXY-RESIN-...item4843191d5c

When you get it... Post it in my other thread.....

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...=603891&page=9

I will help you and show you how.....

Erling

[L.B.S.]

Awesome! I'll check that out

Thanks again

[ebrabaek]

You could ...of course just make it from a pipe of aluminum.... But that'l take all the fun away......... So first...clean the work station of all the debris left over from the foam cutting.....etc. Then measure each turn ( circumference) and multiply it with the amount of layers you deem necessary. In my case.... 4 layers of 5.7 oz ( 3K) twill is plenty. so 18 times 4 is 72....by 18 inches wide ( 1 inch overlap on each end). Roll the fabric up neatly to be ready to be applied. Be ready to needing to cut the fabric on each turn with the indentations I made..... Otherwhy the fabric will flip flop and make folds. Then on to the resin. The cut fabric weighs in at 180 grams....so to comply with the 1 to 3 ratio ( one resin....3 fiber) I will need 90 grams of epoxy...... I will mix 100 just to be safe. Bigger projects I tend to use a foam roller....as seen on the left. This way you can easy manage the resin....and be quick about it. I also added one layer of release agent. It is not a necessity, but it does seal the pores somewhat....and makes the appearance looking better..... Just for the gremlins living inside the pipe.....


Layup time.....

Erling

[ebrabaek]

Phewwwwww..... I deserve an extra shot of espresso. I managed to lay up all four layers with out cutting anywhere. That might not seems like much.... But trust me it is. You see... once the contour changes like the two small flat spots on the plug... they compound them self and you can have a hand full if not careful. The trick here is to first use a brush to lay up epoxy on the plug.....nice and thick.... Or at least thicker than the roller... That way it will hang on... then you just roll the plug.....like your wrapping a Christmas present..... Using the roller to roll the fabric on....then saturating the top ready for the next layer...... Note the electrical tape..... Due to said fabric stressing.... it tends to relax...sort of like a wet noodle...... Little trick I found it to have a strip of tape in the ends....... to lock up the stress in the fabric. Careful though.....because of too much, and you are now pulling on it....and you will cause more harm than good. VERY....LITTLE.... TENSION here. Just enough to lock the fabric. But it works very nice.



This will now room temp cure for 2 hrs.... to turn into flypaper...tacky.... Then I wanted to set it out in the sun.... But the desert southwest are expecting 50 mph dust storm..... So a careful step with the heat lamps are in order.... at then 100....then 150....then 200....etc F. that is.
Starting to look like a muffler ehhhhh.....

Erling

[L.B.S.]

Originally Posted by ebrabaek

Little trick I found it to have a strip of tape in the ends....... to lock up the stress in the fabric. Careful though.....because of too much, and you are now pulling on it....and you will cause more harm than good. VERY....LITTLE.... TENSION here. Just enough to lock the fabric. But it works very nice.

Auugh!

That's ingenious. Dammit!

When I did a small overlay of CF patches on my other bike's fairing, I had a bastard of a time with the stiff material coming "unbent" from around the curved edges I wanted to wrap around, before the epoxy resin set up. The end result had the edges way thicker than looks nice, and really bummed me out.

Electrical tape would have worked brilliant, I bet.

Love your lathe

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by L.B.S.

Auugh!

That's ingenious. Dammit!

When I did a small overlay of CF patches on my other bike's fairing, I had a bastard of a time with the stiff material coming "unbent" from around the curved edges I wanted to wrap around, before the epoxy resin set up. The end result had the edges way thicker than looks nice, and really bummed me out.

Electrical tape would have worked brilliant, I bet.

Love your lathe

.... Yeppers.... It properly would.... After all the fancy tools went away..... I became master of unorthodox'icity....
Last time around it was this......

I like this lathe muuuuuch better as well...


Erling

[ebrabaek]

While the pipe is now curing at 250 deg.F......per side for one hr...


I though I'd start making the pipe inlet from the mid pipe.... So mold release...and covering of the mid pipe....


Then 3 mm of Carbon fiber tape saturated with high temp epoxy........ and then ...wait for it.....wait for it..... Electrical tape to act as a compressor... This time a high wrap is needed to squeeze all the resin out and get a good cured matrix...


Then an outer layer of aluminum tape.......and in the oven it goes.....




Erling

[ebrabaek]

Knock it off...... Well.... really.... Mid pipe has cured....then in the freezer, for the metal to shrink just a bit more than the Carbon..... Then knocked it off....and One pipe piece please....


Until tomorrow.....

Erling

[drroccostein]

You sir have mad skills, when your pipe is done I would like to buy your Leo. As they say in Robocop I'd buy that for a $1.

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by drroccostein

You sir have mad skills, when your pipe is done I would like to buy your Leo. As they say in Robocop I'd buy that for a $1.

... Thanks.... I will let you know if I decide to sell it......

Erling

[ebrabaek]

Just turned off the heat lamps..... That's enough curing for now..... Once this epoxy reaches full strength.... It is soooooooo hard to sand.... So when sanding is needed..... I stop here.... then bake the whole thing in the end. Also...I approached 250 deg.F.....and that's about all the foam can take...... This is obviously not a quick and easy job..... But I wanted to illustrate some different composite techniques....as they can be applied to all sort of carbon fabbing....

Erling

[LukasM]

Looking good so far Erling!

Have you ever tried the non-shifting type of fabrics for your layups?

E.g. something like this:

http://shop.r-g.de/en/Reinforcement-...ft-finish.html

The fabric is coated on one side with an EP-Binder, backside is smooth.

The EP binder prevents slippage, so cut pieces do not lose threads. Heat (pressure mould) can be used to preform the fabric before impregnation with resin. Specifically for carbon designs in automotive engineering.Even an iron on the surface (eg during coating of surfaces) is possible. The fabric will be formed only and has additionally to be impregnated with resin.

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by LukasM

Looking good so far Erling!

Have you ever tried the non-shifting type of fabrics for your layups?

E.g. something like this:

http://shop.r-g.de/en/Reinforcement-...ft-finish.html

Thanks Lukas..... I have not tried that. Would like to try that sometime, as it per spec's would be a great thing when laying up crazy shapes. I just cant see how it would stick when you saturate. You see.... ( perhaps you are already familiar with this) Before you lay down a sheet of composite..... You need to wet in the fabric you are about to lay on top of... Then wet in the new piece through the bottom. Lot's of people think you put a dry piece down....on another dry piece.... then brush resin....and whilst it is possible to do so....... You will not be able to have good saturation.... And with the resin in place... I just don't see how the adhesive will hold.... But I would be interested in trying. None of the vendors I buy from here stateside has this...... Hmmmmmm.... Thanks for bringing this to my attention....

Erling

[ebrabaek]

Both ends was sanded down to the foam. There was a few places where the fabric had pulled a little.....



That is really good, when you factor in the heat cure and all. It is very hard for wet fabric to stay in place while elevating from 75 deg.F...to 250 deg. F. If you don't like the minute pulloffs.... you can just sand off another 1/8'th of an inch.... and it will be straight..... Now hammer....drill....chisel....out the foam and have a look....Time for a mountain bike ride....

Erling