how to wrap your tank in Carbon Fiber
 

Okay... so i wanted to try this an thought it came out pretty good so far and wanted to share. I have done composite work before, but not on a tank. (i will be adding more pictures tonight)

I am working with a damaged CBR600 tank. the beauty of this is that the Carbon fiber will not only blend minor imperfections, it will also protect the bondo. Plus, because there is metal underneath you dont have to worry about making sure it is gas-proof and crash proof.

I got the tank dents all worked out and the sprayed it with primer. Some wet-sanding to get it smooth and then a gentle cleaning with soap and water. as with painting, in order to get a good end product you have to do your prep well.

So... #1 clean the surface you are going to bond to.

then.. #2 you cut your overlay material to size. this keeps you from wasting valuable time and material while your resin is mixed.
in this case i am using carbon
Attachment 53347

then, #3 you make sure that alllll your stuff is in order. that means brushes, gloves, solvent,
or anything else you spread that resin. (no pic.. sorry)

#4 Coat the entire surface FIRST. this allow you to get better adhesion as well as giving the cloth something to "stick" to. (keeps the pattern pretty too)
my hands were messy, so no pic of this stage. imagine a primer colored tank covered in resin

#5 lay the cloth down and smooth it evenly (symmetrically too if possibly) so that it stick to the surface. the resin i was using had a pot life of 12 minutes so i got my sister to help lay the resin. (this is why preparation is key)

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#6 brush the rest of the resin on the smoothed cloth and continue to monitor how well it is adhering to the curves of the part. certain areas will want to pull away or bubble... just just brush it back down. the resin in the fabric will take longer to set up that in the mixing cup (due to the volume)
so here you go...

Attachment 53350

you are done.... sorta

you will want to trim the excess off before it cures too long. You can cut it off with scissors with a low layer count and semi-hardened resin (prolly your best bet) then... put another layer of resin on. and it looks like this:

Attachment 53351

Now, you do not want to leave the tank like this.. (or maybe you do) but it will need block sanding just like other body work, and prolly another layer of resin, but that is really all there is to wrapping a tank. not so hard.




Now... if you want to make something not stick, you would do what i did for the under-tail panel

#1 prep/clean... just make sure it is smooth and clean.. ( i have also added material extending past the edges to make sure i get all of the part that i want, no ragged edges.)

#2 Wax. i use car wax first, then after buffing that out, i use some bowling ally wax. works great. technically at this pint you could put resin on it and it would most likely not stick, but use some PVA (poly vinyl Alcohol) and that will make sure it doesn't stick.

Attachment 53352

#3 Cut you material.. this time you have to cut your layers. depending on how thick/heavy/flexible you want it.. cut out your layers. I used i thin layer of carbon one very heavy layer, three heavy fiberglass (for thickness and expense) and one more thin carbon fiber.

#4 Get ready.. materials layers "mold"

#5 Now, you want to mix the resin and again, apply the resin first to the "mold" then lay your first layer of glass or carbon. this is the most important as it is the one that you will see (usually.. ) then, smooth the cloth down spreading the resin through it evenly. repeat for each layer.

i didnt leave those globs of resin on there.. i promise.
Attachment 53353

again, i apologize for lack of pictures. messy hands. i have more stuff to do, more pictures to come.

#6 let it cure before attempting to remove it. i really wanted to try and take the part off as soon as it looked cure. DONT DO IT! until the resin has fully cure (overnight is usually good) even if you manage to remove the part successfully without destroying it, your part can warp or deform after removal.

save yourself some heartache go drink a beer find someone better looking than yourself to hit on, and come back later... (much later if you are lucky *wink*)

anyway, till next time yall!
thanks for reading.
~Chris

Effin sick, dude.

kewl

What u need to do is the "not stick" deal with the tank covers and sell them badboyz and make some money with your handy work. Its pretty badazz lookin! I have an 1999 F4, make me one?? Id give you $150 for one. Let me know if you could tackle this or even want to??

hey! thanks guys! when you say tank covers, i would assume you mean they are removable, right? if that is what you mean, they would need to be in two peices. I would need a tank to do it with, but after doing the tail, i might be interested. got a tank i could use?

and... I also have more pictures!

the undertail is cured:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...t87/CBR041.jpg

It came right off the waxed mold:
Attachment 53339

Weight comparison:
Steel 22 gauge
Attachment 53340
Carbon fiber 3 layers of carbon 3 of fiberglass
Attachment 53341

I still have some trimming and fitting to do
Attachment 53342

I also got started sanding the tank
Attachment 53343

more pictures soon!

thanks for reading guys!
~Chris

Looks very nice, i'm waiting for more pics!!!

very cool, now if i only had a darker colored bike...

WOW!!
That is some work !

First and most important - photos of the bike!! :D

I do have one question, what cloth thickness did you use, and what resin, epoxy or something other ?

Thats awesome!! Ive been wanting to do this on some other stuff.....where do you get your CF sheet?

hey
sorry for the long time between updates.. been super busy, however i have done some work to the bike. i dont have any daylight pictures of the body work on and the engine in yet.. but i have these:
Attachment 52450
Attachment 52451

as for what i used.. i used a 2k twill cloth (about $30 per yard (56 inches wide)) and i uesed west systems epoxy. 105 resin and 206 hardener. about $50 shipped for a quart of resin and a pint of hardener

you can find the the sheet easily anywhere on the net, but ebay has it and is a good source. you can also get colored fiberglass for those without dark bikes...

Lookin good

Thats awesome, great job.

i like... where did u get the cloth from

Very nice

Thats a sick looking bike. What kind of tail is that?

i usually buy it off ebay. but i just search for the best price. i can usually get 36" x 50" of high grade twill for about $25-30

it is a custom tail. i made it from sheet steel and then made a copy ing carbon fiber. it looks like this now:
Attachment 51094

Wow... this makes me want to attempt to wrap some stuff... Have you tried wrapping plastic yet?

yes... it really doesnt like to stick to glossy plastic. so it is better to lay up several layers and use it as a mold. or you can rough up the surface to get it to stick.

Nice work. But cant understand why you would wrap a tank in beautiful looking carbon fibre and then paint over it? You should invest in some vacuum bagging equipment. That way you could make moulds of the plastic parts with chop strand then lay up the carbon into the moulds and vacuum them. Well, you know the potential seeing as you have worked with composites before. Once again, nice job dude.

molds
 

you should be able to make easy molds by laying tin foil down over the object you want to mold and if you want spray some cooking spray on it first than put foil over than it may come off easier as well .

works i do speaker boxes in trunks like this to get perfect molding backs on the boxes .

[quote
Attachment 50244
Attachment 50245

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See, bike looks awesome here but painting it is like saying you got your bike gold plated before painting. Don't understand why. If you manufactured a complete tank out of carbon fibre then I'd understand but you've covered an already existing steel tank. Only reason I'd do that is for it to look carbon. Sorry, still confused about the paint part? Clear or gel coat maybe?

See, bike looks awesome here but painting it is like saying you got your bike gold plated before painting. Don't understand why. If you manufactured a complete tank out of carbon fibre then I'd understand but you've covered an already existing steel tank. Only reason I'd do that is for it to look carbon. Sorry, still confused about the paint part? Clear or gel coat maybe?[/QUOTE]

right. it will be a clear-coatr for gloss and uv protection. it wil have a whote racing stripe, but the rest is gonna be clear

Attachment 50219

Sorry dude, saw this pic and could have sworn you painted the tank matt black. Even looking carefully I couldn't see the distinctive look of the carbon. It's gonna be one kick arse looking bike when you've finished. Keep up the good work.

lol lol im sorry but that bike looks fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. damn you are going to have a blast

what grit did you use are teh c/f cured on the tank? did you spray a clear on it too?

it looks sweet. good to see people get creative. thats why i love this sight.

how much weight did that add?

it added 0.23 lbs. that pushed me over the edge of my wieght limit. =( i am can no longer accelerate. it is a single later of carbon with just enough resin to saturate it, the layer is about 0.02" thick.

and i did get it painted.
Attachment 49398

and installed on the bike. first start up this weekend hopefully.
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looks pretty neat bro...want to try this myself...

thats sick....how much would you say the piece to do the tank was? for the c.f., resin, and whatnot? do you think itd be a cheaper route than buying a perfect tank and getting it painted?

it was about $30 for the carbon fiber and about $20 for the resin. you would want to paint it... but it is certainly cheaper than buying a perfect tank...

why paint it? it looks awesome unpainted on yours.

painted=clear mine has been cleared. you will want to clear it. haha.. that would really be a pity. "there is carbon fiber under there... i swear!" however, you could get away with not painting it. i just wouldn't recommend it.

im starting to think i should just do the same with fiberglass. im planning on white and black knock off oems with white wheels, i dont know how well a CF tank standing alone would look lol

Def nominating you for ride of the month next month. Really nice job.

thanks dude! i am hoping to get it running tommorow.. so very exciting. and the exhaust is done now too.
thanks!
~chris

ok so the bike that is going to become my main ride has the silver with flat black lower fairings on each side. It I was thinking now that this could really set it off as i have a darker color scheme going on. the silver is not bright, more deep i would say. Exhaust is carbon fiber styled, the honda logos are like a grey anyway...

What would you recommended as far as fitting the plastics together after it's coated? Is it thin enough to fit do you think? would the right angle be a problem area? and for where the screws go would you just drill it out? Plus where the front part meets the header cover piece there is a tab that i would need to save. I feel like this would really set the bike off but idk it it could happen...since you've worked with it just wondering what you think of the situation. its not going on the bike pictured below

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/4836/img1050i.jpg

this is how it fits, so the lip is covered by the middle fairing. going on this bike.
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/2406/img1051gs.jpg

Oh man, I want to see the pictures but they are all gone!

Not sure if I would want to wrap the whole tank but there are some bits I was planning to wrap on my F4. Where are the pics?