Good morning All from Gloucestershire

I am new to this forum but not new to composites as I had worked for over 10 years at a Motorsport manufactures composite shop ( prepeg only and rather large Autoclaves)

I have on the road a 3.5 litre Dax Rush Kit Car and have decided to dabble with some home made composites and start to upgrade some part on the car.

My first project is to remake its bonnet scope in carbon fibre, I have purchased a Uni-mould kit from easy composites which I intend to lay up the scoop mould over the bank holiday weekend.

I am starting on the cheap first and will see if I can wet lay up a carbon skin or two first (once the mould is finished) to see what sort of finish I can get as I don't have access to ovens for curing and before investing in vacuum pumps and resin infusion etc as funds are a little tight.




So I am looking forward to asking for advice and welcoming comments on how to produce some good carbon parts for my car.




Regards

Ian

Welcome ian i would suggest having a look at what davro is up to with his dax rush project in the project forum.

Hi Ian,

Good afternoon Gaz and David

I have not done much lay up before as my job in composites covered Composites controller, purchaser, and kit cutter but did have a go laying up and bagging a few simple products from time to time during there busy periods.

Did a lot of lay up work on mould making for their chassis moulds (from prepeg carbon fibre) but never bagging them up, left that to the experts as FAR too costly for me to make a mistake on those.

I do intend to invest in the vacuum kit etc but probably not until I am happy with the moulds when made, also Probably do a few pulls of cheap glass plys in the moulds as practice before wasting carbon cloth

Have been following Davro youtube channel and his post on here after finding them whilst searching for carbon fibre Dax parts, and these are what's given me the bug to have play myself, as I did enjoy my time when I worked in composite and also lucky enough to have a separate workshop with electrics away from my Garage/house to utilise which is where I built most of the car in the first place

I will enjoy taking the photos and posting as this is something I regret not doing now during the original car build.

I have started to make a pattern/buck using my scoop which is now bolted on some white board and next I am about to fill in the front hole of the scoop also now that my block of wax has arrived from easy Composite I can fillet all the edges that might undercut when laying up the mould.

I then have a uni-mould kit ready to go but need to check it large enough to cover the job.

Will keep yo update and thank you for the comments and advice.

Regards

Ian

Hi Ian,

HI Matt

Thanks for the reply / offer of support, and I must say I am impressed with service I have had so far with my first couple of small orders from Easy Composites.

I must admit I was not aware of your initial business on the kit car side but sound like I'm in good hands then !

Regards for now

Ian

Hi just thought i would add a quick couple of photos to show my pattern/buck ( work in progress ) using my existing dax scoop.

All screwed together ready to have some filletting wax added to the undercuts and flash tape added at the front wood infill block then i will be ready to clean, wax and realease agent then ready for scary bit the uni-mould kit.

will add more photos as i go

But have to go out and clean up work shop first

regards
ian

Looking good the flange on the back end of the scoop is looking a little small but that could be the picture.

I usually aim for about a 4/5 inch flange to give plenty of room for layup | peel ply | infusion mesh and the infusion lines

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David Stevens
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Composite Projects
Body Package for Dax Rush
RC Car Touring Body 1/10 Scale

Hi All

Just a quick update have just made and broken out my first mould and must say am very happy with the results see photos test 1 & 3.

I was worried that it would stick & never come apart again loosing my original scoop but followed instructions / advice given me on here and came apart so easy with an excellent finish and shine for main component area, apart from flanges .

Only one little bridge / loss of gelcoat say about 60 to 70mm long on a edge (might try and fill) as shown in photo test 2

Thanks again for help

Regards

Ian

Nice job the surface finish looks good !

When you are fixing up the small bridging on the gelcoat get some wax additive to mix in with the gelcoat as they are designed so that they do not cure properly or fully when they are exposed to air. 

https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/solution-mw-wax-gelcoat-additive

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David Stevens
YouTube: Comment | Rate | Subscribe
Instagram

Composite Projects
Body Package for Dax Rush
RC Car Touring Body 1/10 Scale