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Group: Forum Members
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I plan to remake the entire interior of my Evo of carbon fiber. Ceiling, floor, dash, door panels, and everything else except the seats. I may, however, make carbon fiber seat covers. It's mostly for cosmetics, but saving weight would be a plus. I'd also like to sell parts since I will have the moulds anyway, so quality is definitely a high priority. I would also, as much as possible, like to avoid doing anything to the part after it comes out of the mould. Spraying a clear coat, for example. I've been scouring your site, watching the videos, and reading the forums for weeks. I've found answers, but they have lead to more questions. Questions, issues, and concerns: As you probably know, interior panels of a car clip into or slide on to other panels. I know that I would have to make two sides of each panel and bond them together. The unseen "bottoms" of these panels are extremely complex.    I've made two moulds so far. One with chopped strand mat and one with carbon fiber with very limited success. Neither of which I feel are useable.    I don't like working with chopped strand mat on these small parts and carbon fiber seems to be the most expensive of choices. I therefore plan to use your epoxy mould making putty. How do I make the actual part? I imagine I would use a casting resin, but which one would be the best to use for my goals? I'm guessing I should use the epoxy casting resin, but am unsure. Is it possible to make them with carbon fiber somehow? My idea was to stuff the complicated and thin parts with scrap fibers. Weight and cost, in that order, are my priorities. There are some parts made of metal that I would like to make with carbon fiber, however I've been lead to believe that gel coat on metal may crack with heat. How would I accomplish this task? I'd like to tint some of the carbon fiber. I understand there may be structural issues when doing so. I am not too concerned with that as these are interior parts.  I have tinted carbon fiber previously and found that one layer snaps in half quite easily and two layers seems to be quite rigid. I'm not sure exactly what the tint was made of, but it is a liquid with a similar viscosity to acrylic paint made for models. I mixed it with the resin before adding the hardener and used it with every layer in a hand lay, and whilst skinning. Is it in any way possible to tint pre-preg? I want UV protection, but do not want to spray anything on a de-moulded part. Can I use the epoxy gel coat with the pre-preg? With that question, can I tint the gel coat? If I tint the gel coat only, will it achieve the same look as if I wet-out the fabric with the tinted resin? I've yet to apply the tinted resin over a previously laminated carbon fiber part and have depleted my materials. Curing pre-preg: 100 is the suggested optimum temperature. Does this temperature need to be maintained EXACTLY, or will some fluctuation between the suggested parameters be OK? Do I NEED an oven, or do I just need to achieve the recommend temperature? My oven is not big enough for some of the parts I want to make, but I do have HPS lights that get pretty damn hot and I believe I can achieve the recommended temperature with them. I currently can't measure the exact temperature because the view screen of the LCD thermometer I have cannot handle temperatures past 60. Will the epoxy mould making kit be able to handle the temperatures needed for pre-preg curing? If I choose to skin parts, can I vacuum bag or infuse them? Will epoxy bond with leather? I wish to skin the top of my steering wheel. As I've stated previously, I wish to produce fully-cured carbon fiber seat covers. There are many dimples in the seat and I'd like to reproduce them as accurately as possible.  How would I make a mould for this? My idea is to use release film as a barrier and use epoxy putty to make the mould. And the weirdest for last.......Is epoxy safe for food stuffs? I want to make a dining set for no other reason than "just because". Lets face it, I'm on a carbon fiber kick and want to make everything I can find out of carbon fiber!
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