DIY carbon fiber for beginners

[rm406]

I've seen a few posts elsewhere on the internet about making your own parts with carbon fiber sheets and epoxy. The posters made it look pretty doable and surprisingly affordable. It got the gears turning and made me think I could start making my own CF parts working up to rifle stocks.

Does anybody in here have firsthand experience working with carbon fiber? Is it pretty reasonable or am I over estimating my abilities again?

 

[Jtenkink]

Carbon fiber isn’t terribly hard to work with if you’ve worked with fibreglass or anything like that before. And there are lots of tutorials on the internet to get you going.

Just make sure to wear gloves, a lot of the chemicals in the epoxy or “glue” part of the equations can cause allergic reactions. Not always the first time but repeat exposure will often cause a worsening allergic reaction. I know guys that used to work with it but now can’t even touch wet carbon fiber or they basically go into anaphylaxis.

Having said that, carbon fiber is awesome stuff and the pre-preg sheets are pretty easy to work with. theres a learning curve and some set up required but it’s definitely doable by a motivated DIY’er.

 

[rm406]

Carbon fiber isn’t terribly hard to work with if you’ve worked with fibreglass or anything like that before. And there are lots of tutorials on the internet to get you going.

Just make sure to wear gloves, a lot of the chemicals in the epoxy or “glue” part of the equations can cause allergic reactions. Not always the first time but repeat exposure will often cause a worsening allergic reaction. I know guys that used to work with it but now can’t even touch wet carbon fiber or they basically go into anaphylaxis.

Having said that, carbon fiber is awesome stuff and the pre-preg sheets are pretty easy to work with. theres a learning curve and some set up required but it’s definitely doable by a motivated DIY’er.

Thank you for input. Do you need to wear any sort of respirator to work with it or does gloves in a well ventilated area cover it?

 

[Jtenkink]

Respirator probably not necessary for most stuff, although it never hurts to be careful. Gloves would be the big one to minimize skin contact with the epoxies.

 

[Bluefish]

Carbon cloth is pretty much just like fiberglass. If you are familiar with using fiberglass, carbon is the same, just a lot more expensive. For epoxy, system 3 and west systems make good stuff and readily available. Often carried at woodcraft. buying local avoids the shipping costs.
usual cloth is a 5.9 oz 3k twill weave, used to be about $60 per yard, no idea what it runs now. Fwiw glass was $15/yard. I used to use plasticare inc in denver for supplies. They do ship.
respirator is always a good idea although not required. Epoxy is a sensitizer and you may eventually become allergic, so reducing exposure is always good.
vacuum bagging is the way to go. I use a food saver for most of the small parts. Just cover the part with peel ply and breather cloth, then stick it in a bag and seal it up. Wait 6-8 hrs and remove peel ply and breather. Light and stiff.

 

[dmm08300]

I work for an industrial coatings company and when we do carbon fiber wraps on piping, tanks, etc. our guys all wear breeder sleeves from a vet supply under the nitrile gloves, keeps the resin off your arms becaus inevitably it seems no matter how hard you try it gets on you. also another thing they do is vaseline your skin first to fill up your pores and acts as a release agent so if gloves tear or it gets on you it is easier to take off. Be sure to clean any skin prior to the resin drying. Gojo wipes work really well or else you have to use a solvent such as denatured alcohol to take it off which also isn't good for the skin. As far as respirator, never a bad idea and depends a lot on the resin technology. All of ours are 100% solids and safe to use in confined space but many are not.

 

[Gobber]

Rm406-

Brand new here, but I’ve done a few on the cheap over the last few years and it’s surprisingly do-able with a bit of research. A word of warning- making a stock that does exactly what you want will spoil you to them. Then it’s like Lays chips…. You can’t stop with one.



My favorite toy is a suppressed Izhmash 7-2 basic biathlon.

 

[Gobber]

The carbon fiber pseudo-chassis fourth from the top is the most used of the bunch. The receiver area is a section of Coosa board, the stock is CF hockey stick shaft, the grip is CF over a foam core shaped to my hand, the comb holds an extra magazine and the butt is adjustable on the fly using a bicycle cam lock. It is all locked in with a layer of 12k CF. A bit of a kludge but it’s tough, fits great and the whole stock weights 1 kilo.

 

[htlt_surfboards]

I worked in the surfboard building industry for a long time and have done full carbon fiber boards. As most others are saying its pretty similar to fiberglass and not very difficult to learn to work with. I have found that its a little more sensitive to sanding and easier to burn through the resin than fiberglass so be careful of that. Im seconding some of the other points brought up that 1. vacuum bagging is the way to go if you can pull it off. 2. wear full sleeves when sanding it as the little fibers get in your arms and then itch like crazy.

 

[Jimbee]

What do folks use for foam? Is it stout enough for the action area?

 

[Gobber]

HTLT - Guessing for surfboards, you were using some pretty thin layers of CF. That would be very easy to sand through. What kind of issue did folks have with prolonged exposure to sun and UV.
What type resin additives did you use to cut back on UV damage?
What is the advantage of CF in a surfing environment (other than the factor) to make it worth the extra effort?

I do need to get some disposable sleeves - as I scratch my wrist from forming a CF trigger guard for my latest project...


Jimbee - The foam typically used in CF fabrication is simply to hold the form of the 'plug' or inner core if the CF is being layered on top and vacuum bagged. It will not hold up to the recoil of a hunting rifle. To manage the energy pulse of a gun shot, the inlet area is built from a rigid core or inner shell of CF or resin structure that is hard mounted to the outer shell structure. For mold built stocks (very expensive setup but good for numerous copies) the inlet area still has to be hard-mounted to the outer shell to disipate/transfer the recoil energy to the shooter. The foam helps kill the hollow sound without adding much weight.

All that being said, I really like the Smooth-On 2 part foam because you can choose what density you want.