you can purchase kevlar that is black: http://www.solarcomposites.com/composites/compositearamid.html#Kevlar
Kevlar/Aramid is availeble is several coulors, I have some dark blue coloured Kevlar here. But why don’t you like the yellow kevlar look, yes it is different to carbon, but I like it.
Bear in mind if anyone goes kevlar, try to build the mould to net shape, not that the piece is big and it is a huge concern, but cutting kevlar is not the same as carbon. it smokes like mofo when you cut it.
You can also use black coarse cotton. No coating, easy to cut, cheap etc. I’ve used old jeans for chain-slap guards on bike frames.
Hello,
This is how he came out of the mold, little bridging on the corners. I think i had to cut the peelply in the corners for a better fit. Next weekend I wil try again.
Gr Henk
@ datas_br, thats a mice tip for fabrick like clothing:rolleyes:
Isn’t your mold inverse of what you’d want. Looks like the finished side of your part will face to the inside of the phone and you’ll see the unfinished side with peel ply surface. Unless thats what you’re going for.
I am confused about that too. The problem I ran into with a “female” mold compared to the “male” or plug mold that he made is that the case wraps back around the phone so making a female mold locks the part in and the only way to get it out is to break the mold.
This method seems to work and gives you a smooth surface for the phone to rest against but you will need to so some finish work on the peel ply side.
My question then is, how do you make a plug mold like this?
I made a mold from an already existing cover and made flanks on the cover (sorry, I forgot to make some pics). To make sure that I could get the part out of the mold, I made some kind of bridges at the top and the bottom (the metal pieces)of the mold, so you can pop it right of the mold. Only this way you have to finish the outside, I brushed 2 layers of clearcoat, sanded and polished it.
I think a 2-piece mold won’t work, because the top of the cover clamps around the Iphone/on the upperside next to the screen of the Iphone. The sides will get very thick I think, and I don’t like that. (I’m not sure if I translated my thoughts well.:wondering:)
Gr Henk
It doesn’t look like ther is any lip on the case. How does it grip the iPhone?
It can be done in a press mould with inserts (removeable sections), but that’s a lot of work for an iPhone case…Typical small moulds like this do well CNC cut on a light metal stock or ren board.
OP, do you plan on selling these or this a one-off type scenario?
pour a wax plug layup directly on it. stand it further off the table. use pva sheeting and stretch it. you might need to get creative with your resin and vacuum. such as a resin inlet port through the plug from the underside of the table and perimeter vac.
I wouldn’t worry to much about the faraday shielding. The carbon fiber component in this case does not provide the neccesary requirements to perform. Flop it on a phone and check it out for obvious reception issues. I have my doubts…
I’m actually quite shocked that there are some many real carbon fiber cases for iphones. As one who builds things that house instruments that send and receive radio signals I can promise you that carbon blocks, or at best degrades, reception.
See the last paragraph of the review of this real carbon fiber case. Carbon Iphone Case
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this case because it has a fatal flaw. It completely degrades your signal. While using the case I was getting the “No Service” message everywhere and as soon as I removed the case my phone immediately got all its signal back. I’ve heard of this problem with other carbon fiber cases and it appears this one suffers from the same fate.
It’s crazy that these manufacturers are not testing their products.
Here is a video of the before and after placement of an Iphone in a carbon back. The signal is degraded significantly. [ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC78nNSVb7A”]Carbon & Iphone[/ame]
So use some black dyed glass… Or perhaps basalt fiber, if you like the look.
Also cool would be glass fabric, with randomly placed strings of aramide, carbon or even coloured polyester yarns (pulled from normal fabric).
About the press mould: I guess you could get lucky with high shore silicone rubber for the inner mould.
Few years back I tried it on my nokia. looked cool, but the phone was useless. Nokia’s aren’t known for their bad reception 
seconded. I used to build carbon fiber parabolic radio dishes…metal mesh helps sometimes, but other times we didn’t bother. Don’t even ask what happens when you get random fibers of carbon in a quartz/CE antenna system structure that pumps out 30kw…not pretty.
What frequencies? Carbon Fiber is extensively in medical imaging since it doesn’t attenuate signals, or so I thought?
Hey,
Composites are new for me, so I learn a lot from this forum and want to try it myself. I was just wondering if I could make one, because it looks cool :). When I made the first one, I noticed the radio signal on my iphone, and the signal for calling dropt one dot, but that’s ok for me. Some of my friends does want one, so they can get one and they’re telling everyone that I started to make these kind of things too, next to my dailey job of restoring, painting and customizing cars and bikes.
I am learning a lot about carbon fibre by making this cover, and it is not very expensive and I can do this at home so my girlfrend and my children are happy 
.
Here are some pics of the fitment…
Everyone thanks for the responds at my topic :bigsmile:
Gr Henk
I know for a fact that carbon fiber will attenuate 42 MHZ, 72 MHZ, 2.4 GHZ, and 5 GHZ. The UAV and RC industry can attest to the fact. Since carbon is conductive I would think that it would effect any frequency. Modern high frequency spread spectrum systems that are enclosed in CF need multiple exterior antennas at varying orientations to ensure a solid link between transmitters and receivers. In early RC and UAV applications the antennas where run internally inside GFRP structures. There were a lot of initial crashes once people started using carbon fiber and internal antennas. Often there still are as RC hobbyist fail to orient the antennas correctly. Now many applications use carbon in critical areas and then create aramid or glass “windows” with multiple internal antennas to reduce the drag over external ones.
I also happen to know that carbon fiber shows up brilliantly on radar which is a sure sign that the carbon is reflecting the radio waves rather than letting them pass through.
It seems to fit good and I see you have a lip to grab the phone. I am still curious as to how you made the mold, or in tho case te plug. I seems like you would have to mold the inside of the case and then somehow pull it off.