Hey, I’m new here and completely new to carbon.

My aims/ambitions/targets etc - to be able to carbon skin pretty much anything but nothing on a grand scale. My main focus will be car interior panels.

I’ve bought the starter kit off easy composites and ordered the vacuum bagging kit aswel which based on a few videos it just looked useful for holding the carbon really tightly to the base cost once it’s first been laid.

Will I end up going to a bigger scale? Probably so - I get bored easily and this will merely be a hobby to begin with done from home and I’m having one of my big bedrooms in the house made into my carbon room. . Just need ideas on a work station? The whole house has just had new carpet but that room I’ll get a vinyl floor laid now instead as easier to clean of dust etc. It’s got an en suite which I’ll turn into somewhere I can do all the wet sanding.

Exiting times!!

I'd avoid making any dust inside. Not only is it very unhealthy in an enclosed space, but it will migrate throughout the house and it is conductive, so the possibility of destroying TV's and computers and any other electronics is very real. Wet sanding is obviously fine.

You dont need much really, just a workbench or two and some wall racks for storing fabric. Couple of drawer units or other storage solutions for things like scissors and knives and you're ready to roll.

+x

 

Hanaldo - 10/13/2018 2:43:05 AM

I'd avoid making any dust inside. Not only is it very unhealthy in an enclosed space, but it will migrate throughout the house and it is conductive, so the possibility of destroying TV's and computers and any other electronics is very real. Wet sanding is obviously fine.

You dont need much really, just a workbench or two and some wall racks for storing fabric. Couple of drawer units or other storage solutions for things like scissors and knives and you're ready to roll.

Thanks so much for the reply. I was going to get an extraction system built in so that any sanding it would have a moveable tube and extract it outside as I do my sanding and would make sure the door to that room was sealed ? It could be done in my garage I suppose but will have other things going on in there (kitchen resprays business).

Work bench is my main thing I need. The bedroom has the en suite which can convert to the wet sanding room and it’s got two big cupboards built in either side too which would be perfect for storsge.

I found out about the conductive properties of carbon when my TIG welder exploded!
Although low, the stuff used still has a smell and will pervade the whole house. A friend (owns Carbon Weezel) worked in a shed and only kept finished parts in his house but it still stunk of resin.

+x

 

Steve Broad - 10/13/2018 8:32:25 AM

I found out about the conductive properties of carbon when my TIG welder exploded!
Although low, the stuff used still has a smell and will pervade the whole house. A friend (owns Carbon Weezel) worked in a shed and only kept finished parts in his house but it still stunk of resin.

Ah this is a big problem for the plans I had . I do bodybuilding and when you go for your tan they have a big extracter fan that takes all the overspray and smell in the massive room out of the window. Surely something like that would be sufficient? Obviously don’t want the house to smell. I did spray my kitchen cupboards recently in the garage with cellly paint and the WHOLE house stunk of it and actually had overspray in every single room somehow lol

If you're only working with epoxy then it really shouldn't stink the house out. You will be able to smell it in the same room while it is curing, but you must have a VERY sensitive nose to smell epoxy after it has cured.

Polyesters and vinylesters, very different story as they are solvent-heavy.

+x

 

Steve Broad - 10/13/2018 10:27:40 PM

+x

 

Kieren1234 - 10/13/2018 9:45:39 PM

+x

 

Steve Broad - 10/13/2018 8:32:25 AM

I found out about the conductive properties of carbon when my TIG welder exploded!
Although low, the stuff used still has a smell and will pervade the whole house. A friend (owns Carbon Weezel) worked in a shed and only kept finished parts in his house but it still stunk of resin.

Ah this is a big problem for the plans I had . I do bodybuilding and when you go for your tan they have a big extracter fan that takes all the overspray and smell in the massive room out of the window. Surely something like that would be sufficient? Obviously don’t want the house to smell. I did spray my kitchen cupboards recently in the garage with cellly paint and the WHOLE house stunk of it and actually had overspray in every single room somehow lol

Do you not have space for a small shed? A large fan and sealing the room from the rest of the house will make a big difference, but can't guarantee no small escaping into the house. I guess it depends on how sensitive your, or your guests', noses are :-)

I could build one no problem but did want it in that bedroom. It is only epoxy that I’ll be using.

Start in the bedroom and see how it goes. You can always move out if the smell is too much :-)

Welcome to the forum!  working in the house can be difficult.  Epoxies have a very slight odour when in liquid form and while curing and it does depend how sensitive the nose is.  Despite working with resins everyday, I can still smell it in a room but rarely further than that.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant