Carbon Fiber Sword "The Reaver"

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

This is a project I have been working on for quite some time and its very close to final mold making time. I am at the point where I need to make the decision to make this a 2 piece sword (top side and bottom side, then match and bond them) or a 3-4 piece sword ( top and bottom of the hilt and 1-2 pieces to a removable /replaceable blade). The thing is because of the shape of the hilt I cant use a solid tool, it has to be silicone. The silicone will be a good 1/2 inch thick or so, so I dont think it will suck into the CF mesh and stop the resin infusion. I did see there was another post about this but it seemed unanswered and about 2 years ago so I don’t know if anyone has made an attempt since then.
I have other forums where I have been posting to on the progress of this sword but they are not a CF forum. I do have a few questions though, like where do I purchase more resin? I got my first batch from that easycomposites website from the vac bagging video found in these forums, but being over seas the US customs don’t like allowing things labeled hazardous and toxic to smoothly so I need a US distributor for infusion use. Also I need the name of a good epoxy to bond the 2 halves of the sword together since I have had no luck finding one for mating CF good yet.
Here is a link to my work so you can see what I am doing here. ( tried putting pics directly in this post but it would not let me ) http://www.flickr.com/photos/livebyhonor/sets/72157605050336900/


#2

Congrats…you are the only person that has posted a negative refractive message.

#3

Ah, now I can see the message. :slight_smile:
1: I was going to say, do the blade as a single piece, but looking at the pics, I guess that would be too hard. Hysol makes many different adhesives for bonding. Do each side, add enough epoxy to the sides, clamp and finish. You can add milled CF fibers (1-3mm) to the epoxy if you like to keep it very light.
2: if you want a blade used to hit things, I would still go with a 1 piece blade, a 2 piece blade will crack sooner or later.
3: infusion epoxy in america? Everywhere. Fiberglast, fiberglasssupply, derakane, API, Huntsman, etc. I think even Norther Fiberglass Supply, Airtech, and Coastline have resins. West systems seems to be popular. I had a batch of Endurance Technologies ((800) 755-8568) is good stuff.
4: as for the silicone mold, you can get a harder silicone, or reinforce it with a thickener so it doesn’t suck into the weave as much.

#4

Did anyone else get this joke? I feel like a nerd for laughing :sad:

#5

Yea I would really like to make it a 1 piece blade but cant think of a even slightly easy way to do it. The only way i came up with so far is since I plan on using a custom silicone bagging for the infusion I could try this. Take my final blade design and coat it in the silicone bagging material, a few coats anyway, then roll it off the blade then unroll it. Now i would have a blade shaped balloon I could fit inside the blade that I could possibly inflate inside the mold then do the infusion. But that would make the use of peel ply, breather fabric and the breather mesh really hard to get in and out.
So yea I think its just going to be a 2 piece deal epoxied together. I am thinking since the blade will be a 2 piece, and due to the 4 layers of CF = about 1mm, I think I may make the blade holder in the handle 2 mm thicker. The reason being that if I cut the excess CF off the finished product, due to the CF going outside the intended mold by those 4 layers that it would be difficult to trim or sand off that excess 1mm of thickness before I bond it. Its just a thought anyway. As for the clamping it together I am considering putting a bead of epoxy on the seams to be mated then putting the parts back in the molds and seal up the molds again and wait for it to harden. It would provide even pressure through the entire bonding process.
As for the resin I guess I just haven’t used the right search words or terms because all I usually find is fiberglass resin and that not the really good stuff for CF.

#6

It was a joke? :stuck_out_tongue:

#7

Things arte not completely clear to me yet:

is this a fighting sword, being used to chop heads of gnomes, plorks or whatever you run into? (RPG)

Should it be lightweight? Either for handling or balance?

If both are true I would probably hand laminate, wet bag or infuse both sides of the blade seperately, then clean them up and glue them with black thixotropic epoxy or with black MS polymer.

As for epoxy type: West had a nice range, their Pro-Set epoxy being suitable for infusion.
Or try MAS epoxy, they have something for everything as well, a much wider range than West.

#8

Yes canyon, I’m glad SOMEONE got it. ps: I read A LOT of Phontics Spectra and Laser Focus World…so I have been reading about meta materials and neg. refrac. designs since they came out. It’s amazing!!!
Herman, negative refraction, meaning I couldn’t see it. The text was laid out in a way that light curved around itself so it became “cloaked”
:smiley:

or the server messed up and hid the message from me and Rotor.

#9

Well, not sure how your molds are for the 2 halves, but really, you can just make each have, join them together, and then trim off the excess flashing. Or, if you can figure out how, trim first, bond the 2 halves, and then just sand down the edge to get rid of the oozing epoxy. I’m sure you can put the 2 sides in the molds (taking it you have 2?) and clamp them together. That would work as well.

#10

Seems to be good at carving shapes so why not just carve a foam core out and do an overlay?

Riff is right about the server. The first night this thread was up I could see it then the next day I could only see riffs response. I guess I’m not nerdy enough yet cause I didn’t get it. :frowning:

#11

Yea this sword is not a usable deal other than as a wall decoration or Halloween use really. Being CF I’m sure it will easily be wield able but not for actual destruction of anything ( besides my wallet). As for the foam idea I am way ahead of you, though in a slightly different way. I plan on having a expandable foam poured into it so it has some extra strength. The skull and wings hilt will be hollow so the light saber parts (lights and sound) will make the eyes glow as it does in the game.
If you want to see my other forums and see more on this project here are a few links.
http://nosgoth.yuku.com/topic/5926

http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=32347.0

#12

Looking at your pics…why not close the mold after you fill the inside with the 2 part plasticy stuff? Or do you need the halves separate to finish the sword?

#13

What they do with daggerboards, rudderblades and paddleblades is laminate both halves, then pour in epoxy foam, then close the mould.

Here is a (dodgy) video. Sorry for the synthesizer greatest…

[ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pm3EC0YpM4”]Sicomin - YouTube[/ame]

#14

Strangely enough I didn’t think about using my 2 part plastic as a 2 haves sealer idea, and strangely enough I do that all the time for this project. Why I didn’t think about using it in that spot blows my mind. As for why don’t I fill the blade with the plastic, well I want to keep it as light weight as possible and I think foam will do quite fine. One of the things I am considering since I plan on putting lights in this thing I am considering putting some lit up runes on the blade that only show up on a battery level check, but that’s for another day.

#15

The 2 part epoxy foam is available up to 170 kg/m3 (some 10 lb/ft3). I guess that is light enough, unless you wish to slash it around all day, then it can be tiresome.

#16

Well I ordered some 2 part foam to make the foam core and it should be here in a few days. I am hoping that the blade mold will be ready to go by then. However I realized that since the blade is essentially flat ( no interlocking contours) that I could just make a solid tool for it instead of using up a few gallons of silicone mold making stuff but I have no idea what would be the best way to do that. My first thought would be to get a large enough piece of plastic, cut out the blade shape and drop the blade in. Then make a fiberglass layover and do an infusion of that so that I make separate tool for both halves. Is that the way you would all suggest I do it or is there a better way to make a infusion tool.

I am guessing this would be the wrong way to do it but I could be wrong.

#17

That would work for a infusion tool. People have used everything from metal flashing, to a deck of cards, to separate the 2 halves. If you use something THICK, then you will loose that thickness in the final part!
But yeah, use the foil/cards/whatever as a flange for one half, SEAL the crap out of your sword and flange material, layup a gelcoat, and then fiberglass tooling/resin. Do it twice if you want 2 mold halves. (maybe for bladder one piece part later. (if so, add tooling marks/holes so you can line up the 2 halves later)

#18

Well it looks as if the order I placed for the foam and other materials never even processed, Which is a good thing since I ordered more silickne rubber in that order. And if I am going with a laminate tool no I wont need the rubber. I guess now I just need to track down and order the tooling laminate. my usual place has it but there is no mention of a release coat or separator agent needed. That just didn’t sound right to me, is there something I am missing or is it just assumed I would use a release wax or something?

#19

For a composite tool, yes, you need a release!! There are waxes, PVA, and semi-perms. I live by semi-perms, because they are wipe on, let dry, repeat a few times, and you are good for many parts. Just touch up once and awhile with a new coat. Doesn’t leave a mess, nothing to wash off, nothing to buff clean. Waxes work for many people, and sometimes help seal the mold as well.

#20

I am a complete novice about composites, all though I have made molds and prototypes from metal, any way I have made 3 composite swords,2 katana’s and a claymore that I am trying to finish. I was at a surplus store in San Diego and I noticed some sheet material, it was fairly cheap( 7.00 for .050x12"x 72")turned out to be some 0 degree directional sheet. I laminated 2 sheets with suitable metal blade between them with some 3m 8115 epoxy. I have sliced through 1 1/4" green bamboo probably 10 times so far. I learned that I don’t care for carbon dust in my shop and having to where all the protective gear, found out I can wet sand it. It was something different to try but I think I will stick to sheet metal on vintage race cars. I also made a few machete’s they chop 2x4’s easy