Skinning a painted metal car panel

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Skinning a painted metal car panel

Author	Message
marc37i	marc37i posted 13 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 16, Visits: 566	Hi, I was wondering what the best method would be for preparing the surface of a painted metal car panel for skinning with carbon fibre cloth? I have done one panel using the following method but would appreciate some feedback or advise on if you think there is a better way of doing this. 1. I keyed the painted surface with 400 grit wet and dry. 2. Applied a coat of epoxy primer to panel. I used black epoxy primer because the panel was white and I did not want any of the white to show through the carbon fibre. I used epoxy primer because I was using epoxy resin for the skinning and I believed this would give me the best bond between the panel and the resin, would you agree with my thinking on this one? or could I have used ordinary primer(automotive) and achieved the same level of bonding? 3.I then laid the carbon fibre cloth over the panel and laid on 2 coats or epoxy resin, sanded, clearcoated, sanded, clearcoated, sanded clearcoated... you get the picture :-) I did not apply a layer of epoxy resin to the panel prior to laying down the cloth because the panel had some curves that could have easily distorted the weave, so I thought I would lay the cloth down dry to ensure the weave would be perfect and then wet the cloth out on the panel(hoping it would penetrate thoroughly and bond well to the surface, it seems to have done the trick) So, your thoughts on the above please Also, I have been wondering is it really necessary to use epoxy resin? could I get away with a polyester resin? and if so what would be the best way to prepare the painted metal panel for the maximum amount of adhesion? Many Thanks Marc
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Matthieu Libeert	Matthieu Libeert posted 13 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 955, Visits: 3.4K	Hi, Wow many questions I would have done it just like you did but: you tell the panel was still white, so you didn't sand it till the metal? you could have used a lower grid 80 for example to make more scratches so the Epoxy can stick better on the metal... I've never skinned metal with epoxy but thats how they do it to paint car parts... Hope you degreased/cleaned the panel after sanding? After putting on the epoxy primer I would have sanded it again to make create a better grip for the following coat of epoxy. Then I would have brushed some epoxy on it before laying the cloth of Carbon, just to be sure the carbon is fully saturated both sides... But if all of this worked out just fine for you everything looks perfect About the polyester, Polyester is generally less resistand for heat and impact, so for a carpannel I think you made a good choise Matthieu Libeert Founder MAT2 Composites X Sports website: www.mat2composites.com
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