Made a start to the CF Roof panel...
Discussion
Well finally doing some more work on the car. I borrowed a mold for a composite roof off my Lotus mechanic who insisted I have a play. So have accepted his kind offer, yay! My first attempt was a sham and rather expensive exercise, but have learnt from it and getting some results now.
As I can't gaurantee my workmanship I wont be doing another until I find out how good this one performs.
It has the mirror like finish on the outer side but have not got the same finish on the inside. But have tried to keep it as flat as possible while putting the layers down. I put down about three layers of plain weave fibreglass and three of CF. I havent got to the stage of drilling holes or sanding and final coating yet, but am glad to get the tricky stuff out of the way. My gut feel so far it feels a bit thin, so may add some more epoxy systems to strenthen it further.
This is the mold for the composite roof.
A close-up of the corner , note the indendation of how the actual gass has some shape to miss brackets.
The mat goes in for curing.
Will keep ya updated. Oh have also made a start to making a CF dash too. Rather tricky I might add but having fun and thats what its all about.
Kylie
A close-up of the weave.
As I can't gaurantee my workmanship I wont be doing another until I find out how good this one performs.
It has the mirror like finish on the outer side but have not got the same finish on the inside. But have tried to keep it as flat as possible while putting the layers down. I put down about three layers of plain weave fibreglass and three of CF. I havent got to the stage of drilling holes or sanding and final coating yet, but am glad to get the tricky stuff out of the way. My gut feel so far it feels a bit thin, so may add some more epoxy systems to strenthen it further.
This is the mold for the composite roof.
A close-up of the corner , note the indendation of how the actual gass has some shape to miss brackets.
The mat goes in for curing.
Will keep ya updated. Oh have also made a start to making a CF dash too. Rather tricky I might add but having fun and thats what its all about.
Kylie
A close-up of the weave.
Hi Kylie,
I sent you a reply yesterday but it came back undelivered. I've sent it again. Please let me know when you get it.
As for your mould. I have to have two made. They make two seperate mirror finish skins take them out of their moulds then bond together. We tried the way you're doing now and we couldn't get the right results. This is why it's taken so long to develop. Apart from also the guy being so laid back he's almost horizontal!!
When bonding them together, he used clamps.
It's a bit difficult to appreciate what amount of ork goes into a product like this. You'll soon be pulling your hair out.
Lets hope not and you soon get good results that you're happy with.
Good luck,
Dave Walters
I sent you a reply yesterday but it came back undelivered. I've sent it again. Please let me know when you get it.
As for your mould. I have to have two made. They make two seperate mirror finish skins take them out of their moulds then bond together. We tried the way you're doing now and we couldn't get the right results. This is why it's taken so long to develop. Apart from also the guy being so laid back he's almost horizontal!!
When bonding them together, he used clamps.
It's a bit difficult to appreciate what amount of ork goes into a product like this. You'll soon be pulling your hair out.
Lets hope not and you soon get good results that you're happy with.
Good luck,
Dave Walters
Gassing Station | Esprit | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff