ok i want to design and make my own custom molds but i have no idea how to or where to even start. do i make it out of wood first and go from there, or do i carve it out of clay or something. i have no idea. *sadface*

Can...you...DIG IT?!

Hi

Well I mean I want to make car body panels such as hoods, trunks, doors, ect. But I want to start making auto frames too. Plus anything else that comes to mind. Just to try to make new things that no one else would think about. The only thing stopping me is how to make the actual mold/shape I want. 

Can...you...DIG IT?!

there are some great video tutorials on here about making hoods. That would be a great place to start getting information. Its not something I would recommend jumping into and after you feel you have read enough start small. There is a lot to learn before you go and make car frames, esp at an engineering and safety stand point. Search monocoque style builds on youtube. I know konigsegg touches base on how they build there chassis this way out of cf and such. once you get up to the level of making factory hoods that already exist and feel that custom stuff is the next adventure you will already have a ton more knowledge just from your own mistakes let alone what you have learned from this site and others.

http://easycomposites.co.uk/Learning.aspx

As above the videos should help you get an idea what is involved.

If you are still unsure or worried about a large investment, then just start with a small piece.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Building good usefull structures with "advanced Composites" like Carbon-fibre reinforced polymers is a Skill ... It must be aquired over a period of training, either on your own or through courses.

It helps immensely if you already have some skills in working with wood, metals or plastics. These skills will help you in making "Patterns", "Plugs" and moulds from existing parts.

To avoid costly mistakes, get some of the smaller "kits" from EC   and make some small parts first, using straight forward wet-lay and compress the layup with bags of sand, hot water (speeds up the cure a lot), shrink tape or other ways of compressing the pieces you make.

I "trained" a lot using just glass-fibre weave -- saves a lot of expensive CF ...

Good luck!!

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sweet thanks everyone!! ill start as soon as i can. ive already watched the hood and the air box videos. they helped out a lot. i gotta say they are some of the best teaching videos ive seen.