Another diy carbon fibre stock, Round 2!

[Ice-kub]

That looks great!

I was worried it would end up as you mentioned previously with a bunch of wrinkles but I figured out that because the bag is so large you can pull partial vac, stop and pull push the bag material around and get it shaped nicely before givin'er the beans and pulling the last of the air out. We'll see how it goes for the second side when I get the flash of the first pull all cleaned up.

Edit: all sanded up and ready for the next layer.
After the next layer covers the other side I plan to measure and cut the bolt cutout and ejection port and vac bag again.

 

[Ice-kub]

Got both sides covered with cf. Came out fairly well, couple small wrinkles on the back of the grip and bottom of the grio/toe area. It's not quite as pretty as I hoped but it's damn close.

Had a bit of sanding to do on the first side as quite a bit of epoxy squeezed around the bottom of the bag. Got the few wrinkles and extra epoxy all sanded down and ready for another layer.

Not sure if the next layer should be a sleeve or keep adding layers in the same fashion I have been.

Currently weights 18 Oz with no barrel channel or inletting.

 

[Ice-kub]

Welp... A step or two back... Decided to be the measure once, cut twice guy and figured it'd be easier to cut the ejection port and bolt knob out now and lay up some more cf in those spots before doing the inletting. Realized it was about 1/2" too far forward so I filled it back in and slapped another layer of cf over top the mistake.

Had the best result so far with the space saver vac bags. This time will be very little sanding before adding the final layer on the right side.
I think the XXL vac bags I got are definitely a super affordable way to do this. The bags are so big that there is plenty of bag material to move the bag around before pulling the last bit of air out of the bag. This allowed me to get the bag to confirm into all the little curves and contours, make sure the little clay bits in the tight spots are positioned nicely and then pull the last bit of air out of the bag and cross my fingers. Third time and it's the best yet.

For the next layup on the right side I will try to take more photos of the prep before hand including the shape and release cuts of the cf before laying it up.

Not sure if it's the "correct" way to do this process but I put a very thin layer of resin on the stock and let it "tack up" as if I was going to "skin" the stock, this allowed me to carefully place the carbon and wrap it nice and evenly before wetting it out and vac bagging it. Letting it tack up seems to be a great way of holding everything in place on those pesky little contours and curves like the little curve on the bottom of the forend, wrapping around the grip and area behind the grip.

Gambled and used 205 fast hardner and almost lost it. I would advise against fast hardner.

Unless you're a professional. I will most likely be steering clear of fast hardners for any layup of this size in the future.

I was planning on doing a "forged" carbon layer as the final layer but it currently weighs 19.5oz and I think that would add quite a bit more weight. One more layer should bring me to about 21oz. Now I'm tossing around the idea of a "carbon tear" paint job after stumbling upon a photo in one of @RepeatPete threads where I believe he sanded through the primer in a spot by accident. I didn't realize that's how easy it would be to achieve that look.

 

[Ice-kub]

Added the final layer, by my count, the way the layer have been placed, the top and bottom of the forend have 4 layers each, sides, grip and butt have 3 layers each that over lap on the bottom. It also has 4 layer running the length of the stock laminated between the 3 layers of foam, 2 layers of cf between each layer of foam. I can't believe how solid it feels for the weight. The thinnest part of the stock, behind the grip has the 12mm carbon tube between the four layers running the length of the stock and the three outer layers on each side for a total of 10 layers plus the 12mm carbon tube.

The first photo is off the carbon fabric cut to shape with some relief cuts that may be hard to see.

Edit: not sure why this photo is corrupt, will try to figure out and repost. Fixed



Below is the stock brushed with a very thin layer of epoxy, waiting for it to tack up, took about and an hour and twenty minutes to get tacky where if touched, finger prints are left but the epoxy does not transfer to your gloves. Forgot to take a photo of the dry carbon wrapped around it before wetting out but I took my time lining up the diagonal relief cut where the grip/forend meets and working from there forward and back "sticking" the carbon down to the stock. At this stage the epoxy is tacky enough to hold the carbon in place once pushed down, a roller would be awesome for this but I can't find mine currently. Once the carbon is positioned and tacked down, I wet it out generously with west systems 209 extra slow hardner. Wrapped the Peel ply and breather up around it, placed the clay blocks and placed it in the bag. Not sure I mentioned it previously or if it makes a difference but I roll a rag up and place it from the valve to the breather cloth as a path for air to travel to the valve.



Cat's in the bag, let it sit under vac at room temp for two hours and then placed it in my "oven", old ten tray food dehydrator at 120°F for 4 hours before getting impatient and yanking it out.


Cat's outta the bag, best pull yet minus the lack of peel ply coverage at the back of the grip area. This pull will probably take 5-10 minutes of sanding to clean up. Next to no wrinkles.
Weighs 20.63 Oz/585 grams.

Time for a barrel channel/inletting and a boat load of steps backward!