How to make carbon plate with both faces finished

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How to make carbon plate with both faces finished

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quinn	q quinn posted 7 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
q Group: Forum Members Posts: 155, Visits: 992	Infusion seems to be the way to go, but you only get one finished face with peel ply texture on the other. What's the best way to get 2 finished faces? I tried a small 150mm square by just clamping 2 peices of aluminum tooling plate together and it worked perfect with really good fiber to resin ratio, but I need some larger 500x500 plates (2mm thick). I could use 2 plates of glass backed up by something else like mdf maybe, but I imagine just clamping around the outsides is not going to squeeze the middle well enough unless I get tricky with the clamping. Maybe some thick peices that span across with clamps on outside to hopefully put enough pressure in the middle. Any other good way to do this other than clamping? If clamping is the best option, what's the best choice of clamping plate material and method for doing it?
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oekmont	oekmont posted 7 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 550, Visits: 27K	The easy cheaty way is to infuse two plates of half the thickness and bond them together. Achieving equal pressure over 0.5mx0.5m isn't that easy. But you can vacuum bag two thick glass plates. This will give you 2.5t of distributed pressure. Does it need to be solid carbon? if sandwich fits your needs, you could use a flow media core, like soric, and infuse between two glass plates. Or less recommentable, just regular flow media between the carbon layers (not for structural use).
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quinn	q quinn posted 7 Years Ago HOT Post Details
q Group: Forum Members Posts: 155, Visits: 992	+x oekmont - 8/26/2018 6:26:35 PM The easy cheaty way is to infuse two plates of half the thickness and bond them together. Achieving equal pressure over 0.5mx0.5m isn't that easy. But you can vacuum bag two thick glass plates. This will give you 2.5t of distributed pressure. Does it need to be solid carbon? if sandwich fits your needs, you could use a flow media core, like soric, and infuse between two glass plates. Or less recommentable, just regular flow media between the carbon layers (not for structural use). Best possible strength to weight ratio is needed so a sandwich probably wouldn't be best. I'm thinking maybe I don't really need perfect finish on the backside so maybe I'll just do regular infusion and live with peel ply texture on the inside. It's visible in a few places, but there's electrical components and things mounted to it. This is side frame material for my rc helicopters. Out of curiosity, how are larger manufacturers doing this? Any time I buy 2mm plate, it's glossy both sides.
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scottracing	scottracing posted 7 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 460, Visits: 5.2K	+x quinn - 8/26/2018 6:34:57 PM +x oekmont - 8/26/2018 6:26:35 PM The easy cheaty way is to infuse two plates of half the thickness and bond them together. Achieving equal pressure over 0.5mx0.5m isn't that easy. But you can vacuum bag two thick glass plates. This will give you 2.5t of distributed pressure. Does it need to be solid carbon? if sandwich fits your needs, you could use a flow media core, like soric, and infuse between two glass plates. Or less recommentable, just regular flow media between the carbon layers (not for structural use). Best possible strength to weight ratio is needed so a sandwich probably wouldn't be best. I'm thinking maybe I don't really need perfect finish on the backside so maybe I'll just do regular infusion and live with peel ply texture on the inside. It's visible in a few places, but there's electrical components and things mounted to it. This is side frame material for my rc helicopters. Out of curiosity, how are larger manufacturers doing this? Any time I buy 2mm plate, it's glossy both sides. larger manufacturers use prepregs in a heated platen press.
	Reply Like 5