Can this part be skinned with ProFinish?

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Can this part be skinned with ProFinish?

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karlfranz	karlfranz posted 12 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 9, Visits: 72	I covered this part with 3M SotchPrint 1080 vinyl film to get an idea of what it would look like. Now I'd like to skin it in real carbon fiber. Do you think the curves on this panel are too complex to use ProFinish Carbon? Most recesses are fairly shallow, but a couple are about 20mm deep and the upper corners have compound curves that are even deeper. The reason I'd like to use ProFinish is because (if possible) I'd like to run a perfect seam down the center of the panel where the diagonal weave of the twill would form a "V". Is this too ambitious? If you were to tackle this skinning project, how would you do it? Attachments image.jpg (234 views, 1,023.00 KB) Edited 12 Years Ago by karlfranz
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wozza	wozza posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 688, Visits: 5.4K	karlfranz (25/08/2013) I covered this part with 3M SotchPrint 1080 vinyl film to get an idea of what it would look like. Now I'd like to skin it in real carbon fiber. Do you think the curves on this panel are too complex to use ProFinish Carbon? Most recesses are fairly shallow, but a couple are about 20mm deep and the upper corners have compound curves that are even deeper. The reason I'd like to use ProFinish is because (if possible) I'd like to run a perfect seam down the center of the panel where the diagonal weave of the twill would form a "V". Is this too ambitious? If you were to tackle this skinning project, how would you do it? First question, how much skinning/CF work have you done? Not much I presume otherwise you would not be asking the question. Carbon Copies Ltd
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karlfranz	karlfranz posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 9, Visits: 72	I've only done a few test parts so I guess I'm fairly "green" to the process but I am very handy and meticulous. I just skinned a small piece of wood (flat) a couple of days ago with ProFinish to see if I could get the V-shaped seam and it came out fairly well. I have never done vacuum bagging or created molds though and I think that's beyond the scope of what I want to do for this project. Edited 12 Years Ago by karlfranz
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wozza	wozza posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 688, Visits: 5.4K	You don't need pro finish to do the "V". My advice would be skin some more parts to get a proper feel for how the CF is to work with on compound curves before you even think about attempting the "V" It's not as easy as it looks, a flat panel is one thing, the panel in your picture is something completely different. Look at the recesses along what will be the "V" join. Carbon Copies Ltd
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karlfranz	karlfranz posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 9, Visits: 72	Here's an iPhone snapshot of the sample piece of wood to test my "seam". After I flatted it, I just polished it up to 2000 grit and then I used Meguiar's PlastX to get some shine.
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karlfranz	karlfranz posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 9, Visits: 72	wozza (25/08/2013) You don't need pro finish to do the "V". My advice would be skin some more parts to get a proper feel for how the CF is to work with on compound curves before you even think about attempting the "V" It's not as easy as it looks, a flat panel is one thing, the panel in your picture is something completely different. Look at the recesses along what will be the "V" join. Thanks for your reply. Yes, the recesses near the center are my biggest concern. Maybe I need to do a small third panel of fabric in that area perhaps with the weave horizontally so it looks like this \\\__///. I have tried making seams without ProFinish, but they always look messy because the twill wants to break apart. I have even used hairspray prior to making the cut to help keep the strands together, but it doesn't hold very well.
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wozza	wozza posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 688, Visits: 5.4K	karlfranz (25/08/2013) wozza (25/08/2013) You don't need pro finish to do the "V". My advice would be skin some more parts to get a proper feel for how the CF is to work with on compound curves before you even think about attempting the "V" It's not as easy as it looks, a flat panel is one thing, the panel in your picture is something completely different. Look at the recesses along what will be the "V" join. Thanks for your reply. Yes, the recesses near the center are my biggest concern. Maybe I need to do a small third panel of fabric in that area perhaps with the weave horizontally so it looks like this \\\__///. I have tried making seams without ProFinish, but they always look messy because the twill wants to break apart. I have even used hairspray prior to making the cut to help keep the strands together, but it doesn't hold very well. That's where hard earned experience comes in. Carbon Copies Ltd
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karlfranz	karlfranz posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 9, Visits: 72	Thanks for the replies. However, so far, I'm no further off knowing how to do this task. All I read is "keep practicing";"don't use ProFinish" and "you can make clean seams with regular carbon" but how? Care to share some of your wisdom?
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Warren (Staff)	Warren (Staff) posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Administrators Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 8.5K	As Warren says, the difficulty here is the recesses. You could use multiple pieces of profinish to achieve it, using neat cut lines around the recesses to get the neat finish, but it would be a hell of a lot of work. Some areas would need seperate pieces of fabric with cut lines on corners to aid alignment and fabric folding. Then you would need to get the surface main layer of Pro-Finish to line up neatly. IF you did tackle it, i would certainly be spending most of my time making accurate thin paper templates to ensure you only cut the carbon once. Warren Penalver Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant
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