Been playing with the modeling clay. Almost have the shape I want. Will post a few pics of the progress this evening. Once I have the shap the way I want. I'm going to pour a latex mold. From there I will make a resin plug an super smoth out the shape then pour the final mold halves. Found a local placed that has gallon jugs of the latex for 42 bucks. And there are several places I found on the net that have various weights of carbon fiber cloth.

 

Have you worked with carbon fibre before?

My experience is limited, but I can see why a vacuum bag/autoclave system is used...

If you have very much compound curving or tight radius bends in your mold shape, the stiffness of the CF can be a beyotch to deal with as far as conforming to that shape while the resin cures.

I just did some simple lay ups on my upper fairing last summer, and damned if the CF edges did *not* like to be bent around sharp curves...

All I can suggest is to let the epoxy set up a wee bit longer prior to application, or mix in a tiny bit more accelerant hardener than you would for fibreglass. Experiment before committing to the final mold!

 

I am going to get the finest weave available and if I have to I will cut it into strips. I think it would give it a interesting look. Doesn't need to have a lot of strength here. Purely astetic.

 

Please, please, pleeeeeaase do a write-up and take lots of pics when you do it!

I've done a fair bit of fiberglass work but never dabbled in CF and I'm very interested in seeing how it goes for you!

 

Same, I chose the finest weave I could, and it came in available widths of 1", 2", and 4" I believe. The cool thing was, the edges were pre-woven in such a way that they didn't fray. (think binding on carpet runner edges)

Where I *did* have to trim to fit, the stuff unraveled brutally fast, though.

 

After some research and talking to a few people...I am going to use a ca
rbon kevlar hybrid. Its a 2x2 twill weave. 5oz weight....drapes a bends very well

 

Awesome, the local place I get my stuff from sounds like it has the same selection. I eyed the carbon/kevlar stuff too but it just wasn't the right look for where I wanted.

Can't wait to see your final product

 

just waiting on payday to get the latex mold material and casting resin......then I get the carbon/kevlar. Will post some photos of clay mock up this evening sometime.

 

photos as promised:








will start fabing the mold box and come up with some thing for a fill tube and air vent

 

still waiting for the latex and casting resin....