When you say ‘wet-out’, are you actually wetting-out the carbon with Duratec? Or are you wetting out the carbon with resin, letting that cure, and then spraying the Duratec?
The first.
Usinf clear UV gel coat with duratec to wet out a piece wrapped in carbon…instead of wetting it out with resin or infusing or any other typical method
just mix up what you need for each coat. Theres no reason you need to mix up enough for every coat all at once. flush your gun out between coats with acetone.
I decided to try and brush the gelcoat on. It filled a few pin holes. But most of them opened back up. So i took a small artist brush and tried to fill them. They just opened back up no matter what I tried.
The surface was wiped down with wax and greese remover.
Im lost as what to do now.
Why are you trying to do it with gelcoat rather than with resin? You’re definitely making life hard for yourself…
I definitely feel like I’m making this harder than it needs to be.
I tried resin 1st. And I had pin holes and air bubbles trapped. I figured I must of been putting the resin on too thick.
I thought if I could spray something on ot would be easier and avoid those problems.
Well now I’m right back to the same problems.
Any suggestions Hanaldo?
Can I kindly ask how you would make carbon wrapped or carbon covers for a car center console?
Im doing this for a buddy and gotta fix his center console. Its for a pretty expensive car too.
I wouldnt mind making a mold for the center console piece.
Im not a composite expert…obviously. so I hate making fiberglass molds.
Anybody ever made a mold using a plastic vacuum forming machine and then reinforced the thin plasic as a mold?
Sounds like you had better pay a professional to do this job?
Everybody had to start somewhere.
This spraying gel coat technique was suggested to me on here as a relatively easy way to make a cosmetic piece wjen something is wrapped in carbon.
So I was trying it out.
I think it must be your general process is wrong. For overlay, heres a general process that I have found works well: 1. Sand your original part with 180grit. 2. If your part is not black, make it black with a black PE primer. 3. spray a topcoat like duratec on the surface, very thin coat. 4. let this come to a tack level, then drape your carbon to this surface completely. 5. wait until that resin has almost cured, then spray duratec as previously said. Try not flooding the part, this makes things worse as it traps gasses. better to let it slowly build up in thickness over several spray cycles. Use a brush to break the surface tension. After sand part flat and smooth with 180-600, and clear coat (unless it is deemed you need more top coat because too many pinholes, in which case you just repeat the process)
Spraying Duratec over a wrapped part is definitely a solid way to do it, but you don’t wet the carbon out with it. You wrap the piece in carbon, wet it out with resin and let it cure, then sand it down and spray Duratec.
When you say duratec, which duratec do you mean?
Ive been using duratec high gloss additive mixed 1:1 with clear gel coat.
Either or. Gelcoat doesn’t tend to spray nicely, it’s quite thixo so it holds orange peel. Duratec topcoat levels out better and will give you a better finish off the gun, but the way you’re doing it will work.
Try watching the Easy Composites tutorial on skinning and copying that method. Except instead of doing the three coats in a row, just spray your Duratec/gelcoat after de-nibbing/rubbing down the carbon.
Thanks Hanaldo,
Im familiar with the easy composites videos, it how I skinned a fiberglass dash.
Although it was a long process.
So I figured I’d try another technique that would hopefully prove to be less labor intensive and quicker.
Im going to continue to do test pieces using this technique and maybe even try switching to duratec top coat.
In the mean time, I am going to figure out a relatively easy way to make a mold of this part while I still have it not covered in carbon (i since ripped all the carbon off).
One strange idea that came to my head was using a plastic vacuum forming machine. I see they can be made prettt easy amd cheap. I know where a big vacuum table for a cnc router is thats not being used. So all I’d need to do is make a drame to hold some thin acrylic and find a way to heat it up. Then draw the heated plastic over the part and then hopefully have a mold I could use.
Another idea is to 3d scan it and 3d print a mold. Then use some filler primer to smooth it all up.
Any of you guys heard of people doing this with any luck?
Is the original dash made of steel or ali? If it’s plastic or composite then you will very likely find that the heat distorts the original.
In all honesty, there’s a reason the most common way to make carbon fibre parts is with fibreglass moulds - it is by far the most straightforward and economical. I can understand why you find it an unpleasant process for sure, but I honestly think you’re going to spend much more time, money and effort on trying to find a short-cut.
Thanks. An old guy I know… (my dad) said the same thing.
I reckon I’ll just do it the tried and true way of making a fiberglass mold.
And the original center console part is plastic.
I don’t think Fasta was being sarcastic when he suggested paying a professional. Considering it is someone else’s expensive vehicle, I think your process and knowledge is so far wide of the mark that you would save money, and keep your friendship intact, by paying a professional. A pro is going to use the basic techniques that you are trying to avoid. Get back to the basics instead of trying to re-invent the wheel.
Thanks. I totally believe he was being serious and both of you have a good point. Although I’m fairly confident I could of just wrapped his car console piece and made it look good. But I wanted to try another method that was suggested to me. I tired it out on a test piece. And even though I had to put a little more gelcoat on than I wanted to get pin holes to fill, I was confident I could repeat the process on the actual part.
…well it didn’t go as planned.
I have since come to terms that I will just go ahead and make a fiberglass mold with tooling gel coat and practice my infusion technique.
I can certainly relate to wanting to find quicker and easier methods of making cosmetic cf parts. I wasted a lot of time, money and enthusiasm doing just that in the early days when I started learning. I can’t tell you how much cf and resin I wasted…
There are no real shortcuts. Every time you try to save time and money by missing a step, rushing, using inappropriate materials etc, you will end up throwing it all away and starting again.
Making cosmetic parts is the most difficult kind to get right because they allow little to no room to correct your mistakes. They can be difficult even if you follow all the instructions. If surfaces cure with lumps or voids etc, you will not be able to fix them by sanding them smooth like you could with wood or plastic.
Making a proper mold is the way to go for most cf parts imo. I currently prefer to make them using cf with epoxy and an epoxy based gel coat. No nasty mek based resins to deal with so I can work indoors.
If you are going to skin a part, the EasyComposites video is not a bad one to follow for beginners. They make it look easier than it really is but it is a sales tool for them. It should work for simple shapes though.
in other words, start again, follow all the steps exactly and cure the cf with a proper laminating resin before applying any clear coating products. Don’t try to apply clear coat unless the part has cured correctly without any issues on the surface. Clear coat will not hide major mistakes. It’s only job is to provide UV protection and maybe improve the gloss level.
Avoid any parts with 90 degree angles or sharp tight corners. Use a good quality epoxy resin - it will make your life easier.
If you don’t have the time, money and patience to do each step properly and if this is just a cosmetic project, consider using a self adhesive vinyl with the cf look instead. Even a simple cf skinning project requires patience and learning curve… it’s very satisfying when you eventually get it right but it drove me crazy while I was learning…
Just my $0.02.
I plan on making a fiberglass mold using epoxy resin. I’ve been using adTec resins. I have black room cure tooling gel coat from acp composites. I plan to vacuum bag a mold using this. I may try and add some duratec high gloss additive to the tooling gel coat.
I’ve had issues with my Freekote 770 nc repelling any gel coat I’ve tried using as an in mild coating before. I hope by switching to PVA will allow that process to work correctly for the first time.
I also have yet to get an infusion process to work perfectly. Hopefully I can get an in mold coating along with infusion to work and that would totally be worth all the headache I’ve gone through so far.
I’ve definitely spent slot of time and many headaches as I’ve been learning.
I’m going on my 3rd year of doing this in my free time from engineering college and there’s been many times where I’ve thought it just isn’t worth it anymore. So much head ache and time.
I sure appreciate all the comments and opinions.