Hi I have been building things from glass fiber for years and carbon more recently. And finally got round to joining this forum - Hello all. I wonder if anyone can offer some advice? Having been given a mould by a friend I am trying to make some carbon parts. The size of the part is approximate 20 - 10cm and is an internal car door escutcheon.  I originally though I could infuse the part but it is too small and fiddly for that (the problem I was having was holding all the reinforcement in place while i make it). So I was thinking a hand layup and then vac bagging - but then most of the time that would result in pinholes in the surface and possibly bridging from the non flexible nature of the peel-ply. How have others approached similar problems? 

If I had these moulds laying in front of me I would go for infusion to get the best results, or prepreg if you have the infrastructure for that.

Thanks Matthieu, I think to do that I will need to make the flanges bigger on the mould and give it a go with the infusion as I am not set up for prepreg (which probably would be the best idea).

You should have enough flange on there, just trim your materials after you get it fixed into the mold.  Using tape and a thin coat of spray adhesive will work great.

if used in good amount, which mean as less as possible, and not spraying on the mouldside you shouldn't have problems

Matthieu Libeert
Founder MAT2 Composites X Sports
website: www.mat2composites.com

yes, less is more when it comes to spray adhesive.

Thank you for the replies, it all makes sense. I am adding an extra flange to the mould though, as the was only a couple of centimeters space between the part and the edge and it made it really awkward to get the stack of reinforcement in position. Once I have made the part I will let you know.

 It has taken a while!!  So after extending the mould edges and using fusionfix I have been able to get pretty reasonable results. But I am having the age old problem of slight voids, where the reinforcement is not flush to the surface. Perhaps with some practice this will lessen.

They possibly used a tinted polish like Turtle Wax Colour Magic or Pai Crystal Easy Gloss. These can help to disguise voids quite well.