Making Homemade Carbon Fiber Parts

reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Before I moved on to the vacuum bagging setup I trimmed the edges a little so everything was a little more uniform. Its also because I needed to wrap it with the peel ply and breather element.





So the bagging setup is as follows. First you need to put on a peel ply. This layer allows the resin to pass through it and onto the breather element. Its a real pain to work with and almost drove me crazy getting it to lay down right. I had to end up taping it down to the back side of the mold.



Next you add the breather element. This is whats used to absorb all of the resin that squeezed out of the layup.
 
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reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Once you have the breather on, and taped in place its time to stick it all in the vacuum bag and start sucking all the air out.
 
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reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
So after about 4 hours of sitting in the bag in front of a heater, I pulled it out and began the daunting task of peeling back the peel ply layer.









I finally had to call in some help from my Brother In law. He made quick work of it.
 
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reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Once the peel and breather was off i started to pry the bottom from its mold.



After quite some time and effort it finally came apart and here it how it came out. Not bad for my first bagging attempt. A very usable carbon tank bottom. Not perfect but not too shabby.
 
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justchilllin

justchilllin

Member
I have to give it to you, you are very talented tackling something like this. I wish i had much more time to work on my bike. With a two year old, work, College, and wife i barely have time to do much. HATS OF to you Great job this is really going to look neat. In about a year i might try doing something like this. I have some new stuff going on with my bike will keep you posted. I saw your bike on the other website i wont say which or i would break a promise with pony express but anyways i know the site is coming along i have seen many of you bike pics of your Gorilla SWEET bike i love what you guys are doing i cant wait to be able to get my hands on some of the stuff i see you guys are getting.
 
Mikey

Mikey

Member
That looks great. I would definately say it calls for one of those wine bottles in the background of the last picture to be opened to have a toast to your excellent workmanship. Thanks again for sharing! :D
 
justchilllin

justchilllin

Member
Yeah thats it but what model is the bike that is categorized as a monkey gorilla? is that a specific model or just nicknames. Anyways i love you your bike looks great. I have seen that carb popping up more often in different sites that is a sweet carb how does it perform any different? or just for looks..
 
reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Mikey said:
That looks great. I would definately say it calls for one of those wine bottles in the background of the last picture to be opened to have a toast to your excellent workmanship. Thanks again for sharing! :D
Click to expand...

My Wife would not be happy about that. Those bottles on the downstairs rack are the ones we are aging. We keep all the drinkers in the rack upstairs. ;)

Ill be opening a good one when the tank is done for sure. But with the holidays going on right now I fear there is just too much going on and i wont be able to get to the top of the tank until the new year.:rolleyes:
 
reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
justchilllin said:
Yeah thats it but what model is the bike that is categorized as a monkey gorilla? is that a specific model or just nicknames. Anyways i love you your bike looks great. I have seen that carb popping up more often in different sites that is a sweet carb how does it perform any different? or just for looks..
Click to expand...

Ide call it a monkey bike as the style of the tank is the monkey z50 type. technically mine is not actually a Honda Monkey however as i started that project with the Jincheng panda (monkey clone from china) I chose that route as it was already plated here in CA and i knew i was going to replace just about everything anyways.

Here is what my panda started like when i first got it.


and here is what it looks like now.




However not to get too far off topic ill save Monkey stuff for another thread.
 
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reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
ok back to the carbon stuff.


now the top of the hardtail tank is finished as well. the process was the same as the other parts. lots of cleanup to do still and then i can start bonding the mounting points, cap and petcock.
 
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reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Well work projects and other home projects have really slowed this one down. So the other day feeling pretty unmotivated I asked a friend to help me set the bike down on the ground so I can have a look at how things are taking shape from a more natural perspective. It was just what I needed to see. It really made me feel better about all the time thats gone into it.

I hope to get more garage time come mid Feb for the time being all i have enough time for down there is to take pictures.

B
 
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reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Got my gas cap test mounted in the cf tank. its just laying in there right now as i still need to clearence some area under it to make it sit more flush.

its a flush mount design that is normally sold to the custom cruiser market. Its designed so then you push down and twist and it pops up so you can spin it open. the first picture is how it looks when its sitting flush and the next is when its popped up and ready to open.
 
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T

Thursday

New Member
Brad,

Wow, you have skills! I've been searching the net high and low to find someone who knows a little about carbon, and the process. You've done a very good job in documenting all this, and I thank you very much. However I'm totally new to carbon and mold making, and I do have a few questions.

Everything with the front fender I understand. Because it's a fairly simple mold and layup. No need to cut the carbon up, just one full solid peice. Lay in mold, epoxy, trim excess.(that I think I can do)

Here's where I start doubting myself. In post #22 you have to start cutting peices. How do you keep it looking good, and not the scrapped together look? Does the weave stay in the same direction? Could you post some pictures of a seam?

Also in post #36 your first two pictures show you laying up the carbon, but shouldn't those be on the inside?

Sorry for the long, and annoying post.

Thanks,

Matt Miller
 
reynolds_brad

reynolds_brad

Member
Thursday said:
Here's where I start doubting myself. In post #22 you have to start cutting peices. How do you keep it looking good, and not the scrapped together look? Does the weave stay in the same direction? Could you post some pictures of a seam?

Also in post #36 your first two pictures show you laying up the carbon, but shouldn't those be on the inside?

Sorry for the long, and annoying post.

Thanks,

Matt Miller
Click to expand...

Well Matt when it comes to seams you really have to keep in mind that only the very first layer you put in the mold realy matters. For me i did the first layer of the hardtail tank upper in two pieces. I did this for ease, and i know that i will have some paint down the center to hide the seam. Ill try and get a picture of this for you. now in post 21 what you are seeing is the patterns for the bottom of the tank. Now for the bottom im not all that concerned that someones going to be looking that closely at the under side of the tank for a seam. what you have to do is visualize the direction of the carbon and really work to keep the edges trimmed up well so they dont fray in the layup. Where there is overlap the frayed edges really look bad.

For the most part the more you play with it the better you get at laying it in the mold. Im pretty cure now that ive gotten a little better with it i could have done the first layer in one big piece. 2X2 twill 3k Carbon is pretty darn forgiving I just did a tail cowl for my ZB50 over last weekend and its not as complex as a tank but i was able to do the first layer in one big piece. for the tail cowl i also used a vacuum bag.


http://honda50.com/brad/ZB/CF-Tail3.jpg



http://honda50.com/brad/ZB/CF-tail4.jpg

Here are some pics from today after some clean up work and the mounting bracket was finished. I didn't like the old style mount that had a bolt going up through the center of the cowl, so i bonded in a bolt to the underside and made up a bracket out of fiber glass. Now all the mounting is hidden.

http://www.honda50.com/brad/ZB/Brads-4-12-08-6.jpg

My neighbor had his small frame vespa out so i dragged it over for a few shots.

http://www.honda50.com/brad/ZB/Brads-4-12-08-4.jpg

the nose cowl is off for the time being cause im in the process of making a mold for it.
http://www.honda50.com/brad/ZB/Brads-4-12-08-3.jpg



http://www.honda50.com/brad/ZB/Brads-4-12-08-2.jpg
 
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Z

Zelig

New Member
How dis you got the pieces together?

Congrats! Inspiring job!
can you help me figuring out one thing. You had 2 pieces from the molds. One upper part, one bottom.
How did you got them together???
Thanks.

Z.
 
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