I'm having a bit of a hard time conceptualizing how I would go about creating a mould for making a one-piece carbon fiber louver panel such as the one I have pictured.  

The flange around the perimeter is easy enough, but I can't quite reason how I would work out the open transition between the vane edges without making a solid transition then cutting out the opening.

Does anyone have a better idea for handling the louver vanes in a way that wouldn't require cutting out large pieces of the part during postprocess?

...has anyone made composite louvers before? What was your mold process?

Thanks everybody.

Generally speaking, your mould would be made as a solid closed vent item.  In terms of lay up, you will need some overlap to give neat edges to trim back to. If you use pre-preg or a stabilised fabric like our ProFinish carbon cloth, you can cut the edges quite cleanly so you would only need an overlap of a mm or so to give something to sand smooth against. 

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

When you make the pattern, you will need to block the vents, mould off it thus giving a mould with no vent holes in it.

You create the vent holes when you lay up the fabric. In simple terms you do not lay fabric over the vent hole areas except around the very edge so you have something to trim. You want a small bit to trim as no matter how neat you are, the carbon raw edge is always a bit rough. 

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

     

I made something similar for e46 m3 gtr vents. Making CF part is simple but the finishing is a bit frustrating......a lot of precision cutting and triming (one wrong move and you can bin the part). 

My vent mould

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Yeh for some components there is really no shortcut to the amount of trimming you will have to do. 

That "forged" carbon effect has come out well.

Depending on how the vents are cut, you can usually make it all as a one piece mould as well. We did a pair of similar vent moulds using our high temperature putty for OOA pre-preg.  You  can see the video tutorial here: Hand Laminating a High Temperature Mould

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Updated the link above for you.  You can also find it here: 



Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant