how to make your own carbon fiber parts!!

hi guys, today i was wondering how difficult was to make a carbon fiber part and what makes them so expensive, and began to search everywhere, theres a lot of people out there making their own parts, spoilers.bla,bla,bla. and getting awesome results, obviously they are not the same quality as SOME aftermarket products but, the feeling of achieving that by yourself have to be siickk!! there are some sites that sell starter kits and the rolls of fabric to the DIY, but to the date i havent seen anyone in this forum doing this kind of stuff, why?

heres a couple of videos:

there have been some. just not a lot. and you gotta put a lot of money and time into it. there was oshin, but after i went through him, turns out he can't wrap for ****.

well, im thinking in trying this with something.

From what I've seen the ability to wrap something well is a skill. Not everyone can do it and have it turn out well. The cost of the starter kits, plus time to only end up with so-so results doesn't seem appealing to most. The cost of carbon fiber parts has also come down a ton so most people would go with a proven product instead of trying to make their own.

Tim

youre rigth, im lucky of having some experience with this stuff. i will start with something little like the airbox or something like it.

You could probably make decent money selling stuff here on the forum. Look how many people bought gruppe m intakes despite their just being a fancy filter with round intake cone. You could probably do this yourself with a carbon fiber starter kit, an extra roll of tp and a 6 pack of [insert whatever non-budweiser ale you drink here]

I've seen this done at Dassault Falcon Jet's production facility in Arkansas and I can tell you it's quite complicated. Just getting something to look perfect requires so much time and effort. If you want to dedicate a lot of time to it, you could certainly recoup costs involved in materials and training, but to do a one off part and learn in the process would be infinitely more expensive than just buying a cheap japanese version of the same part. That said, for some things (like my diffusor), you have to go custom and that naturally comes with a premium price tag.

To simplify, there is a reason Vorsteiner parts are so pricey and for a custom job, you should expect like 100 bucks per square foot of material laid/fitted. Mirrors are usually around 200/300, a diffusor would run you 350/500 depending on size, etc. Heck, to custom wrap a hood in carbon fiber would probably cost as much as the pricetag of a hood already wrapped from vorsteiner. Certainly not cheap. Marketing plus the costs of materials and manufacturing. Doing this stuff and making it look perfect ain't easy.

whats the point in having real carbon parts that cost a ton when you arent getting the real benefits of carbon fibre?

Now all you're getting is a fancy black pattern for a shitload of money.

edit: i was referring to the first video where they carbon wrap stuff, not the second one of course =)

most of cf stuff is just for looks, nobody thinks in high tensile strength, low weight, low thermal expansion when buying cf stuff.

Thats probably because not of us here are driving professional circuits or racing otherwise, where a few lbs here and there make a difference.

Originally Posted by fibonacci00782

Thats probably because not of us here are driving professional circuits or racing otherwise, where a few lbs here and there make a difference.

haha we use carbon fiber and fiberglass on school's racing vehicle, i can't tell you much since i'm not on the composites team but i can tell it's not an easy job working with carbon fiber.

BTW our car got a record 1,038 miles per gallon running on hydrogen

carbon material isnt that expensive. its the process that will be alot of hard work and time consuming, if your arent very precise with your hands and have fat fingers this isnt for you. And homemade carbon stuff probably will not be too great in quality. Vorsteiner isn't even that great, well maybe on the style field. if you want the good CF look at the cf made for formula one racing. damnnnnnnn

Originally Posted by xaviman

most of cf stuff is just for looks, nobody thinks in high tensile strength, low weight, low thermal expansion when buying cf stuff.

Originally Posted by fibonacci00782

Thats probably because not of us here are driving professional circuits or racing otherwise, where a few lbs here and there make a difference.

then why insist on having real cf parts instead of something that looks 99% alike for 20% of the price?

The other day some guy was bragging about how he had a CF trunk interior plate and how light it was and stuff. When i mentioned that while being light, it still added weight to his car (overlay) and thus bragging about the low weight didnt really matter, he just stood there.

I agree that it looks awesome and id love to have it in my car, just not when im adding weight by adding CF parts (=overlay). It just defeats the purpose of having cf imho, i'd much rather spend the same amount of money on a set of semi slicks or something like that.

i think i might tackle this come spring time and do my rear diffuser... the aftermarket ones fit like caca poopie

Originally Posted by serial

then why insist on having real cf parts instead of something that looks 99% alike for 20% of the price?

The other day some guy was bragging about how he had a CF trunk interior plate and how light it was and stuff. When i mentioned that while being light, it still added weight to his car (overlay) and thus bragging about the low weight didnt really matter, he just stood there.

I agree that it looks awesome and id love to have it in my car, just not when im adding weight by adding CF parts (=overlay). It just defeats the purpose of having cf imho, i'd much rather spend the same amount of money on a set of semi slicks or something like that.

what type of CF weight do you used? any advise on clear epoxy?
Thanks Rey

Carbon Fiber looks great if done right

Originally Posted by truekreation

carbon fiber looks great if done right

+1

One could mess around with fiberglass on scrap/extra parts to get the over all jist of it. Its pretty similar except for getting the twill on the carbon right, which you don't have with glass. Just use epoxy in place of the polyester resin with traditional glass work. Start with simple basic shapes and work you're way up. I think it would be fun.

Originally Posted by BodyMan

One could mess around with fiberglass on scrap/extra parts to get the over all jist of it. Its pretty similar except for getting the twill on the carbon right, which you don't have with glass. Just use epoxy in place of the polyester resin with traditional glass work. Start with simple basic shapes and work you're way up. I think it would be fun.

You can also get the woven E-glass or S-glass fabric. Exact same pattern as CF, still produces a very rigid part, except only 15% to 20% of the cost and your part will end up being see-through. A good alternative if you want to practice getting the weave right, and playing around with molds and vacuum bags. But the hard part is you still need to but all those one time use items like the vacuum bag, peel ply, etc...




It's definitely doable for an average joe, but like many trades, it does require money and practice to start out.

EDIT: Here's a cool CF wing a racer on bimmerforums made
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1306900

Originally Posted by eneka

haha we use carbon fiber and fiberglass on school's racing vehicle, i can't tell you much since i'm not on the composites team but i can tell it's not an easy job working with carbon fiber.

BTW our car got a record 1,038 miles per gallon running on hydrogen

One word: Hindenburg...