Carbon Console Overlay

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by fallguy, Nov 13, 2020.

  1. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I want to overlay my console with a piece of carbon just for looks.

    The plan was to lay the carbon/aramid ?5 oz on top of a 6 oz woven and use petG 0.030" plastic as a caul of sorts to make sure to get any bubbles out and to keep it flat.

    The plastic has been in the roll for months and is fairly round and I am nervous it will not hold the material flat or even be hard to debubble.

    Any advice on how to get the petG flatter? Could I vac press it?
     
  2. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I took the petG to my friends vac/heat press and we got it flatter, but some ripples on one edge...

    I will post a picture of the final work for the forum.
     
  3. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Well, I laid 6 oz woven on peelply and used a petG top and made a vacuum breather border and am trying this table side up. I was able to really make sure no bubbles this way; although there may ne a couple..

    Red carbon with a petG blue plastic on it. I removed the plastic from the carbon side. Saw little reason to do so topside so it might be a bit dark. 3F96B732-CED1-4D6B-8532-5E0F185D6558.jpeg
     
  4. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    944907D9-EE05-4884-8FCF-1471BBB2F32E.jpeg 387A53B3-2468-4A00-BC7E-4ACC157FB6E1.jpeg 529F833C-A605-4B9E-A73A-3D048BFF88EA.jpeg 9EAC4C67-B6B8-4FF7-8C5E-97096ACC7C72.jpeg
    Today, I took the petG off the part and was a little sad with a couple bubbles and some waviness, so I did another lift and vac again.

    Tomorrow, I will probably sand it with 400 grit or down to 220 and back to 400/600. It will need uv protectant spray.
     
  5. ondarvr
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    ondarvr Senior Member

    Sorry I didn't say something sooner.

    Normally for a panel like this you find an old window or glass door big enough, then use it as the mold surface. This gives a perfect cosmetic surface to work with.

    You start with Sunshield as the in mold coating, then your carbon epoxy laminate behind. This way there is zero work other than drilling holes and mounting switches and gauges.

    You can sand the part you have now, then apply Sunshield and then sand and polish the Sunshield.
     
  6. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    so, the air is pulled out of the back?

    I am on a vac table on this pic. My table might need a little work to be perfect, but not bad.

    I already have a couple cans of very expensive aerosol on the way...
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2020
  7. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Also, I plan to epoxy glue it onto this surface. Needs a few more holes cut first.

    I have cold weather epoxy. I plan to attch it over thickened resin and then recut the opens.

    Any advice also welcomed.

    I plan a teak border for a minimal brightwork plan for the boat.

    151CB719-8DA1-450C-9810-491659B26511.jpeg
     
  8. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Well, I pulled the part today and sanded for like an hour and it looks pretty poor. There are a gazillion small holes and even under alcohol (to resemble paint) looks bad.
     

    Attached Files:

  9. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    So, Sunshield. Can I pour epoxy onto it?

    Roll over it some?
     
  10. ondarvr
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    ondarvr Senior Member

    You can use it in many different ways. In-mold or post applied.

    Carbon tends to have a poor surface if you don't use something like sunshield as an in-mold coating.
     
  11. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I ordered more carbon.

    I am going to try to vac mould the carbon with 6 oz woven on the top, peelply and release film. Then spraypaint with clear the face. For some reason, when I sand all the holes fill with epoxy dust and it looks terrible and won't clean up.
     
  12. ondarvr
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    ondarvr Senior Member

    For the best results, spray a sheet of glass with sunshield and lay up on that. It will give you a perfect finish with no pinholes that need to be repaired.
     
  13. ondarvr
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    ondarvr Senior Member

  14. Mark C. Schreiter
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    Mark C. Schreiter Junior Member

    I've been building parts in "forged Carbon fiber" for my M3 with decent results but the trick is to not judge your parts until they are finished. i have a roll of carbon that I cut up into 1/4 inch chunks, lay out some resin and let it tack up and then sprinkle the chopped carbon the part, add a little more resin, peel ply, bleeder cloth and vacuum. there soooo many pin holes and low spots when i pull the parts out of the bag that i get sick, but........

    pel ply under vacuum is a good start but it will give your part a slight texture that you'll need to sand off.
    the best option would be resin infusion on a glass plate with PVA, this would give you probably the nicest finish out of the box.

    Do not trash your parts, i guarantee they can look as good as you expected, you would be amazed at what you get away with using epoxy. 220 sand scratches will disappear, pin holes get filled in and you can even use it to fill in and level out divots or at lest hide them from the eye very well.

    I would sand your part as much as you can without busting through the weave, wash it with water and dry it with compressed air making sure to get all the sanding dust out of the pin holes. then apply a layer of resin, let it cure, sand it, wash it and do it again until you build up a glassy finish. every stage in between will look like garbage and you will be discouraged. just make sure you sand out any hard edges, like the one in the pic where it looks like the resin didn't quite make it to. just sand it with a slight tapper and you'll never notice it.

    good luck
     

    Attached Files:

    Cnhman2008 likes this.

  15. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    The pelply goes on the reverse or backer side. Carbon will be down on my table


    I can't get the white spots out.... I think it is microbubbles broken by sanding and now filled with dust. They won't wash out or blow out with 140psi air...the part was built with petG on the top and that entrained air, I was gonna test to see if epoxy would wet the dust out, but I have a sense the powder will be trapped white forever
     
    Mark C. Schreiter likes this.
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