[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZrOxQ1V6bQ”]YouTube - BMW CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) Manufacturing Plant and Process[/ame]
thats really cool!
Ut… oh… ah huh… child labor … CIVIL RIGHTS!! 
That is very cool. i wonder how long it took that press to cure the laminate? And another interesting thing… THEY USE FIBERGLASS!! BUSTED! lol
When i heard BMW was building a cf plant in the US… i did not realize it could be so automated. Gives insight into how Plasan probably makes their body panels so fast.
Thats real neat! But I bet any one of us would be able to build an equal quality hood and save forty million dollars.
Man, I thought the whole thing looked wasteful and extremely complicated for such a simple part. Ya’ll sure that isn’t a government plant.
Ro Yale…no, not government…it’s just BMW! Why do you think their cars are bloody expensive? AND their bikes! Tons of scrap…oi!
You could make 10 of those per day? And quality would be that high and consistent, at a relatively low price?
BMW has a great automated composites system. If you think their vehicles or parts are expensive, you don’t understand what goes into it.
I agree, its very difficult to have a consistent part at high volumes when human hands get involved. This automation provides a very consistent quality part at higher volumes. And as far as scrap, just go to any shop and see how material gets waisted. It can be a challenge trying to manage scrap material.
I think the whole idea is it takes out the human element… the main problem in making high quality cf parts. We all know with carbon fiber lay up… you change one little tiny thing or forget one little tiny thing… the results can drastically change.
Looks like the SGL group from this thread http://compositescentral.net/showthread.php?t=4484 is the supplier for the BMW plant in the video above. They say they get their carbon from America which is interesting since in the SGL thread you can see they make their own carbon… 
Maybe their plant is in the states? Or can only a certain level of quality in carbon be produced over seas?
[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCs3biH-NsY”]YouTube - BMW and Carbon - State of the Art Car-Making | Made in Germany[/ame]
No, they make their own fabric, not carbon fiber. Still, didnt know there WAS a US CF plant.
Now I am confused.
The first video I posted from the SGL Group shows them starting with the precursor to carbon. And then you can see them turn the white fiber into the black carbon. Atleast that’s what I thought my eyes where seeing. What was that?http://compositescentral.net/showthread.php?t=4484
And you say you didn’t know there was a US CF plant? Being a hobbyist I don’t know much about the industry when compared to you guys. But I would have thought there would be a bunch. What do they all have corporate headquarters here in the states and manufacture out of the country?
Hexcel and Zoltek produces carbon fiber
That is just a release paper for each layer of uni-tape…not precursor. What they are doing is laying down a wide tape of exacting fiber count to stitch into their fabric. I deal with weavers and pre-preggers…i never pay attention to where the fiber was made. Most of the time, Asia is the cheap place to make it, so they do it there.
+1000000:d
SGL is breaking ground in a $100M plant in Moses Lake, Washington (thats on the east side of the mountains). They will be adding two more phases to the plant over the next decade, and that plant will be the sole (thus far?) supplier of carbon to the BMW citycar project.
Here is a video of the Moses Lake plant.
[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaoq8Mc4xxw”]An Inside Look at BMW’s Carbon Fiber Manufacturing Process - YouTube[/ame]
Cool video…
Don’t try this at home…
Interesting read about VW/BMW/SGL. I find it most interesting that sales were only at a $1.9million level, I just thought they would be much higher for a company of that caliber. http://wot.motortrend.com/bmw-vw-angling-to-buy-controlling-shares-of-carbon-fiber-manufacturer-sgl-126881.html I guess when you are only suppling prototypes the revenue wont be there, I’m sure when full production of the cars kicks off the revenues will sky rocket.