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Fastskiguy
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Hello, Beginner here, I'm trying to put carbon fiber over a block of foam about 1 X 3 1/2 X 6 1/2 inches in size. I thought this would be easy.....but getting it to stick down to the foam and all of the corners....I'm making a complete mess here! Is there an easy way to do this? What am I missing there? Thanks  Joe
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Fasta
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Group: Forum Members
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+xHello, Beginner here, I'm trying to put carbon fiber over a block of foam about 1 X 3 1/2 X 6 1/2 inches in size. I thought this would be easy.....but getting it to stick down to the foam and all of the corners....I'm making a complete mess here! Is there an easy way to do this? What am I missing there? Thanks Joe Getting carbon fibre around corners can be tricky if the corners are too sharp. Often we work with a vacuum bag or similar process where the fabrics are held in place nicely but a hand laid wet type laminating using brushes etc can take some experience or tricks to get things down. Assuming this is like a box with corners you might consider adding a layer of light fibreglass over the top of the carbon, the fibreglass is typically more flexible and can assist in holding down the carbon underneath. Or you could try adding a peel ply on top which would also do the same in helping to hold down the carbon. The peel is later removed and leaves you a smoother textured finish than the raw carbon weave and misbehaving fibre corners. Maybe you can make the corners larger to make the job easier? Or you can consider using vacuum bag but if this done in a fully enveloped vacuum bag then you should be wary of potentially crushing the foam as it can be pretty powerful. It depends on your foam strength.
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torsten Ker
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that one may gives you the idea https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/learning/cover-parts-in-carbon-fibre-by-skinningEasyComposites use a black epoxy primer coat to glue the cabon fibre on, you may try as done in the video
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Fastskiguy
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I think some rounding of the edges will help so I'll give that a shot. Wrapping the fabric onto a tacky base coat....that makes perfect sense. I didn't quite understand how he wrapped and created butt joints.....is it tacky enough that you just sorta smush the stuff around the foam and it sticks? Here's the block, attempt #2 
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torsten Ker
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I would suggest to mix about 15% carbon powder into fast setting eopxy for the base coat if you can't get hold of Eay's
apply that a bit thicker, then wait until the base coat starts to gel, you can still put a fingerprint in it without the base coat sticking to your glove
I did made a composite front door for me last year, the edges were very sharp and that way it worked perfectly with 200gsm
The but joints are not really "Butt" you let the fibre overlap a bit while trying to match the fibre directions
After applying 1 or 2 layers Epoxy Coating Resin /highbuild Epoxy varnish/topcoat, you can sand the overlapping joints back a bit the rest is hidden by the following top coat, ready for final sanding and plosihing
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Fastskiguy
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Group: Forum Members
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+xI would suggest to mix about 15% carbon powder into fast setting eopxy for the base coat if you can't get hold of Eay's apply that a bit thicker, then wait until the base coat starts to gel, you can still put a fingerprint in it without the base coat sticking to your glove I did made a composite front door for me last year, the edges were very sharp and that way it worked perfectly with 200gsm The but joints are not really "Butt" you let the fibre overlap a bit while trying to match the fibre directions After applying 1 or 2 layers Epoxy Coating Resin /highbuild Epoxy varnish/topcoat, you can sand the overlapping joints back a bit the rest is hidden by the following top coat, ready for final sanding and plosihing A little thicker base layer makes sense and so does the overlapping joint. How did you do the ends of the door?
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torsten Ker
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I did one side at the time with overlapping the fabric on the flanges, then sanding them flat, then coating them The style of the door was like the European doors and frames with double seal I would do the same with your cube with the fabric folded around it like a cardboard box overlapping on the shorter sides and corners for 1cm You could even do a paper cut template for the fabric first before cutting to shape basicallt fold like this 
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Fastskiguy
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Group: Forum Members
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+xI did one side at the time with overlapping the fabric on the flanges, then sanding them flat, then coating them The style of the door was like the European doors and frames with double seal I would do the same with your cube with the fabric folded around it like a cardboard box overlapping on the shorter sides and corners for 1cm You could even do a paper cut template for the fabric first before cutting to shape basicallt fold like this Awesome! A picture is worth a thousand words thanks!! Just one more question....how do I keep the fabric from falling apart when I cut that?
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Dentex
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+x+xI did one side at the time with overlapping the fabric on the flanges, then sanding them flat, then coating them The style of the door was like the European doors and frames with double seal I would do the same with your cube with the fabric folded around it like a cardboard box overlapping on the shorter sides and corners for 1cm You could even do a paper cut template for the fabric first before cutting to shape basicallt fold like this Awesome! A picture is worth a thousand words thanks!! Just one more question....how do I keep the fabric from falling apart when I cut that? You can use masking tape where you need to make cut so something holds fibers in place. Use it on both sides of fabric and remove them before applying epoxy. There are also fabrics especially made for cosmetic parts that are somehow binded together to resist separating
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Fastskiguy
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 11,
Visits: 18
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+x+x+xI did one side at the time with overlapping the fabric on the flanges, then sanding them flat, then coating them The style of the door was like the European doors and frames with double seal I would do the same with your cube with the fabric folded around it like a cardboard box overlapping on the shorter sides and corners for 1cm You could even do a paper cut template for the fabric first before cutting to shape basicallt fold like this Awesome! A picture is worth a thousand words thanks!! Just one more question....how do I keep the fabric from falling apart when I cut that? You can use masking tape where you need to make cut so something holds fibers in place. Use it on both sides of fabric and remove them before applying epoxy. There are also fabrics especially made for cosmetic parts that are somehow binded together to resist separating OK I'll give the masking tape a shot, thanks guys!!
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