Hi all I've recently become interested In learning to make carbon fibre parts having seen many tutorials and finished products. I'm totally new to this and hope you will be able to give me some advice.

Looks like you got a long way to go,I mean learn,if I was in your shoes I would start with basics a really good start is a book from blue gee all about boat building which I would recommend before you spend and waste expensive materials,its really hard to explain over text,if you lived anywhere near Bournemouth I could save you years of trial and error,good luck.  

Hi Jay

I would recommend you try something small and basic, even as simple as a food bowl etc. If you have used EC products study the training videos and you cant go far wrong.  Just a suggestion that may help is only mix the resin when every other aspect of the work has been carried ie mould prep and material cut out as you can run out of time and the resin can start to activate, sounds simple but it has caught me out a few times

Regards Chris

Thanks for your advice Shaneer22, bartonphoenix750.

Hi Jayy

You will have some sharp angles in the Iphone case, i would think you would need to vac bag it or have a male and female mould. What size boat do you wish to make ?

Regards Chris

Hi Bartonphoenix750 since my last post I haven't made an progress with making a part, however have taken a picture of the part I want to replicate.

The iPhone case is made completely from plastic with a slight overlap so that the case snaps onto the phone when attached to the back.

As you said now seeing the picture would you recommend a male and female part to achieve a usable part? Do you think one layer of CF would be sufficient?

Any further tips advice will be appreciated.

Hi Jayy

It would be difficult to create the lip to make it snap fit to your phone, you could make the sides parallel and use a double sided tape to secure it to your phone. A male and female mould would work well, regarding how many layers of carbon i would measure the cover shown in you above image and replicate it in carbon and as i understand one layer of 200 gram carbon = .25 mm . I am happy to be corrected on any of the above

Chris A

Thanks for your help Chris. 

While a carbon-fibre cover for your Iphone may seem like a very nice gadget, in fact it is not --- real CF is electrically conductive, and will dampen or "attenuate" the near Gigahertz radio transmissions that makes your Iphone work ...

Been there --- tried that, but actually copying the part in black Diolen "carbonfibre-look-alike" will probably work fine :-)

For my first try i simply used the actual Iphone as "plug" just wrapped it tight in shrink wrap...   (old 3GS phone)  the result was great looking but caused very poor reception in marginal areas ... I used the very light 90 g/m 1K "mini-roll" for the wraparound part, and some ordinary 200g twill for the back.

After curing the part snapped off easily, and after trimming, sanding and a layer of clear laquer  it looked great... but it ended up being cut up to use for some small parts for an RC - car ...hmmm ....

I have made quite a few CF covers for metal cups (camping gear) Very simple to make, almost always come out very nice ..  Also made a few boxes for (sun)glasses. Use a cheap plastic one for parts and the two halves for "plugs" ... makes great gifts ....

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