Have u ever made something that sucked sooo bad to do? We did

General Composites Discussions Showcase
#1

Well, a customer wanted carbon fiber frame for his race hood and me never doing one under clear gel I was hesitant. I mean all our hoods have carbon fiber frames but they are under black gel coat and made with many cut pieces to fit in the mold. To top it off he wanted it “v’ed” as well. Geezzz… Well i took on the challenge. It took me 2 hours just to lay the fabric for the first layer to make as good as weave as I possibly could. Then adding vaccum i spent another hour just making sure the bag was down everywhere. Scary moment was the first 3 minutes of infusion we had a leak!!! we found it but it got a little air in the front section that was easy to repair but it still sucked!! It still needs fine sanding and also needs to be shapped more but here is the finished product thus far.

2 layers of carbon and 1 layer of kevlar is the laminate and infused with VER resin.

I even made a carbon fiber mounting plate for the bracket

#2

also I have been playing around with mixing fabrics

Here is a spark plug cover that has a kevlar top and carbon sides

I just finished a large 100pc order and I AM SO SICK OF DOING THEM!!!

most recent project just finshed. It is for a dodge stratus hahahahaha

#3

Incredible…so this is only two large pieces V-ed to meet at the middle?

#4

yeah 2 pieces of carbon put together at differnet angles to create the V look. Talk about a pain in the arse to do :slight_smile:

#5

A hood skeleton is a waste of time and weight on a composite hood.
But good job on satisfying the customers wish!

#6

i agree, but that’s what he wanted

#7

DT: Nice work. That hood looks great.

To date, still working on them, and my least favorite job is:

3’ x 8’ toriod buoy’s…4 total. And one has to be filled with floatation foam in a single pour!

24oz woven roving and chopper gun for the lose!

here they are in all there glory:

#8

Fantastic work DT, that hood is awesome. Hats off to you for the hood frame it looks a real pig to do, a bridging nightmare waiting to happen.

Baz

#9

as always AWESOME work! but, how do you cut the kevlar so good at the end? or the carb/kev mix.

#10

lightly spray glue wax paper to the carbon/kevlar before you cut it. Then place it in the mold and remove the wax paper.

#11

with these ones I used black masking tape behind the carbon and cut the strait line. Then I put that in the mold and then just laid a piece of kevlar over the top of the whole piece so I did not have to cut the kevlar for a strait line

#12

ahhh … i meant outside when its done?

#13

just normal sand it down then either just attack it with snipers or I will mix some hot resin, flare the strands out and saturate them with the resin. Let green stage then just cut them right off. Sometimes I leave them. All depends how much the customer paid for the part

#14

I got the shop a new garud dog yesterday

her name is twill :slight_smile:

she is half shih zu half maltise

she is pretty funny, she sleeps on her back and when she breaths her legs twitch

here is a vid of the twitching hahaha … Sorry it is a little dark
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OsFNvJLyOLs

#15

forgot to put the vid, here it is

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OsFNvJLyOLs

#16

Beaut of a job on that very tough dry lay-up ! I have 2 hood styles that require the same techniques and are always a bitch.Luckily,mine have fewer windows than yours did.Geez.
Your skills are getting way up there regarding car parts.Props!
Vinny

#17

Nicely done!!!

#18

Those hood parts look fantastic! I take it you used the steel underframe of the stock hood to do your lay up?

#19

as far as the mold yes I used the normal OEM frame but my layup of the composites part was did with my normal processes with infusion. There is no metal in the part other then the mounting. I finished the hood today and it weighed 9.9lbs which was heavier then expected. my normal race hoods without the frame are only a couple lbs.

#20

Sweet baby JeZus!

Man that is just too much work!

Tell me about the resin placement lines…I know you had to have about 15 of them…