# Carbon Fiber Sail Panel Build Scion xB



## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

First off, I want to say big thanks to Tcandey for his help and direction on my first carbon project. To start I was tired of having my tweeters completely off axis. So, enter these pods. I built the structure to house my Polk/Momo mm400 tweets. I started with a slice of pvc pipe that my mounting cup fit into nicely. Then using hot glue and ca glue I mounted the support. Once dry I used hot glue to attach the cloth to the form. 






























After glassing the form TCandey offered to help me wrap it in CF. So I finished the form with a few layers of gorilla hair and Bondo. We used epoxy resin (which is the shizznight if you haven't used it yet). We applied a layer of epoxy to the form and let it sit about an hour.



















Then we laid the carbon fabric onto the form; here is one of the reasons epoxy is awesome. After an hour it is similar to contact cement, so when you lay the fabric down it sticks, basically the same technique one uses to wrap fabric onto panels. Then another layer of epoxy is laid down, and after dry sanded to an even level.










Finally clear coat and a butt load of sanding nets you these beauties:



















I realize this is sort of a how-to post, but since it was my build I figured I would post it here. If the mods think it should go to how-to then sorry and please move this :blush:

-Brad


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## Coheednme13 (May 10, 2008)

I wish I knew how to do that


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## Aznattic (Jul 4, 2007)

^ Word, is it hard working with the carbon fiber cloth?


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

sick fabric job


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## "that boy asad" (Feb 15, 2008)

carbon fiber looks badass... looks really nice!!!

i really thought about doing that to my tweeter pods, but i dont have anything else in my interior to match with it


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## lyttleviet (Sep 11, 2008)

Hmm.. I've worked with CF before but I have a question for you... So you used epoxy instead of resin... I just realized that...

That is genius... it will actually stick instead of waiting for resin to dry.... You only one layer of epoxy on top though?


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## DaveRulz (Jun 22, 2006)

ummmm, I believe he means epoxy resin


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## circa40 (Jan 20, 2008)

The pods look great.

Can you leave some links of resin used?


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

DaveRulz you are correct. It is epoxy bassed resin and not polyester resin. 

To answer questions about difficulty, I had someone who built prototype vehicles out of CF helping me so it was very easy since he realy knew how to do it. I think it is easier than exact FG jobs. 

I do not remember the resin name, I will try to get a link set up soon for it. 

The epoxy resin has virtually no smell, 1-2 hour gel time, and if wet can be washed off hands with just soap. Mix the 2 parts similar to poly, and go. We "painted" the parts with a layer of the epoxy, let it sit for about an hour, then it was tacky and almost solid. You just press the material (cf cloth is like fiberglass cloth) onto the form and it sticks! then another layer of epoxy and dry for 24 hours. I did this in doors with no problems from fumes or smell. It changed how I will be doing future projects for sure.

P.S. Thanks for the compliments!


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## moosejuice (Oct 5, 2007)

Nice job, These look great..

B-


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## lowpoke (Jun 1, 2008)

Oh man, they look cool.


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## $rEe (Jan 15, 2008)

You applied the last layer of epoxy resin with small brush or roller made specially for the application of carbon fiber?


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html#epoxhard

What we used is similar to 635 slow.


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## yeldak99 (Mar 5, 2008)

so, no vacuum bagging involved?


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

We were going to however with such a small support structure (I did not intend to do CF originally) we were worried that it may collapse. We could have reinforced the form but that extra work to do less seemed unnecessary.


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## W8 a minute (Aug 16, 2007)

Looks great. I've been wanting to try some CF projects myself.


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## lgvenable (Sep 26, 2008)

uh guys..
we use epoxy resins all the time in the aerospace industry to lay up the CF cloth. The wings on the F35 are CF-epoxy laminate.....

aerospace grade cf is available commercially from places like Cytec Engineered Composites.....

nice job on the sail panels

larry


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## Irishfocus06 (Sep 11, 2008)

Awesome job. I really want to try my hand at fiberglassing and maybe even do the carbon fiber like you did as my car came factory with a lot of carbon fiber interior parts. I just wish I had the time to do so.


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## Mr. C (Oct 17, 2008)

Nice work. The end result is beautiful.
Would love to wrap all my interior pillars in cf.


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

$rEe said:


> You applied the last layer of epoxy resin with small brush or roller made specially for the application of carbon fiber?


Sorry I missed that question. I just used a regular paint brush. Laid it on thick and after it dried sanded it with 400 and then 800, and then 1500 grit sand paper. After that the clear coat. 

Thanks for everyone's compliments! It is not too hard to do these non-structural pieces. If you have a few extra dollars pick up some scrap cloth from a retailer and a small amount of the epoxy resin. Like I said you really can do it in your house (great for us northerners through the winter!)


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## $rEe (Jan 15, 2008)

stalintc said:


> Sorry I missed that question. I just used a regular paint brush. Laid it on thick and after it dried sanded it with 400 and then 800, and then 1500 grit sand paper. After that the clear coat.


Sanding in water?


Thanks and great job!


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

stalintc said:


> DaveRulz you are correct. It is epoxy bassed resin and not polyester resin.
> 
> To answer questions about difficulty, I had someone who built prototype vehicles out of CF helping me so it was very easy since he realy knew how to do it. I think it is easier than exact FG jobs.
> 
> ...


The lack of fumes is what makes the price worth it !

Very nice looking !!


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

$rEe: Wet sanded at 800 and 1500 grit levels. Then on clear coat used #m Rubbing compound and then finishing wax.

Again thanks for all compliments. Fell free to ask me any questions if you have them by pm or on here, I am not a pro but I will help out with what I can.


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## tcandey (Sep 17, 2008)

lgvenable said:


> uh guys..
> we use epoxy resins all the time in the aerospace industry to lay up the CF cloth. The wings on the F35 are CF-epoxy laminate.....
> 
> aerospace grade cf is available commercially from places like Cytec Engineered Composites.....
> ...


Larry, couldn't help but notice... are you at one of the BAE facilities?


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## tcandey (Sep 17, 2008)

stalintc said:


> http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html#epoxhard
> 
> What we used is similar to 635 slow.


The exact resin we used was Plasco PCR 3212 w/9302 hardner. It's a combination of a laminating resin and a surface coat hardner that I chose for a specific combination of characteristics like workability, tack, thickness, pot life and cure time.

Try www.pfdresin.com for more info. I don't know if they ship or not, they are local to us here in the D.


--todd


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## tcandey (Sep 17, 2008)

$rEe said:


> You applied the last layer of epoxy resin with small brush or roller made specially for the application of carbon fiber?


One thing that wasn't mentioned... after the outer coat of epoxy was sanded, it was then clear coated with a high solids PPG urethane clear. That clear is what was wet sanded to 800, then 1500, then rubbed with finesse it....

-todd


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## douggiestyle (Apr 29, 2008)

I hope this will still reach the OP since it's going on 2 years now... does the base form need to be perfectly smooth before beginning the CF work? Or will the CF fabric mask minor imperfections. (As opposed to just prepping the surface for paint or vinyl that might expose imperfections)

Great looking pod


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

This depends on the cloth you are using and the number of layers. For my pods they were sanded to a level of what I would call primer ready. There were a few pin holes, but no serious valleys. I smoothed out everything with 400 grit paper, to give you some sort of an idea.


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