Hello I'm new to composites

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Hello I'm new to composites

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Splay	Splay posted 8 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 3, Visits: 65	Good morning, I am Wes and reside in Panama City Florida. I am soon to be 41 a Father of 2 boys and a step father of 1 girl. My wife and I have celebrated our 4th year of marriage and we're going strong. I am a huge car fan and have worked on my own cars since I was 16. I am currently working on trying to start my own business as an automotive customizer. I have don stereo upgrades, dash and door panel painting, headlight and taillight housing swaps and more. Now I am looking to actually do it professionally and want to be able to offer custom carbon fiber parts as well. I look forward to getting going and hope I can get help when needed to understand everything. I do have 2 project vehicles that I think I will start making parts for once I can get everything in order. The one I will probably start on first is my 1982 Toyota Supra. Since it is in pieces already lol. I do have a couple questions I would like to throw out there. 1) I see alot of CF hoods in the market place but alot of them I notice warp really bad once they get hot or yellow or the top coat peels really bad. Is this common or are they sub-par parts? I do not want my parts to be this way how would I keep this from happening? I am planning on starting with smaller parts than a hood to get the knowledge and practice before I do a hood. Like I am planning on doing the headlight covers of the supra first. They are not big and are mostly flat. 2) Is CF strong enough to use to make brackets? For example an alternator bracket? 3) I have seen people make valve covers out of CF but I wonder how they get them to stand up to the heat of the engine bay? Thank you in advanced for any an all advice and assistance you all are willing to give. Thank you for having me here, Wes
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Warren (Staff)	Warren (Staff) posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Administrators Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 8.5K	Hi and welcome to the forum. The problem with many parts is they do not have enough heat resistance for engine bay parts and sometimes also lack suitable UV protection. You can also get warping the first time a part is exposed to red hot sunshine if the part hasn't been post cured before use. Most of the problems can be limited or avoided with reasonably careful thought. If you lay up your parts carefully and have a good post cure, warpage shouldn't be a problem. You can protect from UV with a good automotive lacquer although panel prep is key to getting best adhesion and preventing the horrible peeling you mention. You can use higher temperature resins for parts which are exposed to more heat. eg that cam cover. Warren Penalver Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant
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Splay	Splay posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 3, Visits: 65	Thank you very much Warren. When you say post cure are you speaking of baking it in an oven? I know that may be a simple question but I am still in my early learning process. As far as the UV protection with automotive laquer I'm assuming you are speaking of a clear coat? I always thought that carbon parts were just the carbon and the resin. Thank you again in advanced for the assistance, Wes
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davro	davro posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 300, Visits: 2.2K	Hi Wes, Welcome to the forums. I use 2K clear coat on all my products mainly because I use epoxy infusion resin and this does not have any UV protection so adding a clear coat give the product some UV protection. Looking forward to seeing your projects. Davro David Stevens YouTube: Comment \| Rate \| Subscribe Instagram Composite Projects Body Package for Dax Rush RC Car Touring Body 1/10 Scale Edited 8 Years Ago by davro
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Splay	Splay posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 3, Visits: 65	Hey Davro, Thank you very much. I am assuming you just have to prep the part like you would paint? With a really good wet sand? How does it hold up? I just want to make sure I put out there a product I would buy.
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