Ive just been to a car boot/yard sale and i managed to pick up 10 square meters of carbon fibre sheet for £2! I bought it instantly in the hope i could pick the brains of all you technical wizards about how it could be best utilised!
The carbon sheet is thin but not like cloth, it has been used to repair race cars and race boats supposedly. I have read what i can find on using CF cloth but i don’t think this stuff is porous enough to become saturated and i don’t think it will allow the resin through to the foam. So i thought “Shit, i’ve wasted two quid here!!” until i remembered that you can veneer boards to add strength without a stringer, problem is i don’t have any vacuum bags or means to vacuum anything.
So…
Can i hand lam the carbon fibre sheets on in the style of a ‘bamboo/hardwood veneer’ onto the bottom and deck of a fish under a normal layer of PE resin? or will this de’lam in ten minutes and be a complete waste of time and the wife’s patience??
It can be done without vacuum (probably not as well, but it can be done), just trim the CF to an area without a lot of compound curve (say about 1" in from the outline of your board). Tape off the area that won't get resin, then brush or squeegee some epoxy on the blank and the carbon sheet. You could lay some cloth in there for additional strength and to make sure the resin gets even distribution. Set the sheet in place and tape it down. Get some saran wrap and start wrapping it like a mummy, taking care to keep it all down on the surface you're glassing it to. Let it set and cut or peel the saran wrap.
Thanks Surfthis, next question, would i need to rough up the carbon fibre sheet at all for the resin to key too or not? I like the idea of having the carbon fibre veneer as the weave is pretty defined and it would look good under a gloss finish but i’m concerned if the roughing would take out the pattern.
Chippy61, i will try and get some shots on here for you this avo of the CF, are you UK or USA based? Let me know and if the stuff looks useful to you I will get this idea squeared in my head, make some measurements and you can have the surplus for a trade of some kind, or knock me up a set of Quad fins when you get time.
(i could cut the carbon fibre down into the panel sizes you want, stuff them in a FedEx bag, and they’ll be with you in no time)
When you look at the edge of the cloth you can see that it has been inpregnated with something, this is why i dont think resin will perferate through the CF. Is this any good to you?
..... if you put down some lam resin on a sheet of glass [brush it on ] , then laminate one layer of 4 or 6oz fibreglass cloth on top , then over that put down your carbon fibre layer [do you have a fibreglassing roller ? you'll probably need it , to get the resin to soak into / through the carbon !] , then another layer of normal fibreglass over that ...
leave it an hour or so ,
then , prise it off the glass [with a paint scraper or similar] ....
then we will know for sure if it is useable for fin panels / fins ?
cheers Brummy !
ben
yes I could send you some [fcs tabbed] fins of mine , in exchange for copious quantities of panel-sized 'offcuts' ....cheers !!!
I wish I had 10 sq.m. of that stuff judging by your photo’s… It looks like pre-preg cloth at least 6oz. that has been cured on a flat surface…
It would make fantastic deck and bottom “inlay” skins but you’d have to cut them at least 1" inside of the boards outline to avoid the compund curves Surfthis addresses above…
You could get lucky and apply these inlay sheets without a vacuum bag but it’s risky… Plastic wrap like the stuff you wrap sandwiches in might work, but it’s hard to get out the bubbles of air trapped under the veneer … A veneer roller does help though…
Save it until you get a vac, bag system or get someone who has one to bag them onto a board for you…
I would definately rough up the underside of the carbon veneer with 40 to 60 grit paper, and apply it with a mixture of epoxy and finely milled glass fibers…Be carefull though, if you damage fibers with sand paper you will weaken the cloth…Just put light scratches on the underside…
Nice one Ben, i was hoping to make a quad as my next board so some hand made carbon style quads eould go down a treat. I will test out the CF this afternoon when the boy is asleep then i will post the shots up tomorrow. If it works send me your Address (PM) and i will snd some across before i go away on hols ( south/west portugal!!).
Nice one Ben, i was hoping to make a quad as my next board so some hand made carbon style quads eould go down a treat. I will test out the CF this afternoon when the boy is asleep then i will post the shots up tomorrow. If it works send me your Address (PM) and i will snd some across before i go away on hols ( south/west portugal!!).
I’m in Canada… I lived in northern England for 2 early years of my life when I was 4 and 5yrs. old. , But I was born in Canada… My parents were English of course…
If you have a pair of Keels (Carbon or not/Fcs or glassin) lying around i would gladly take them off your hands! I am planning on making a 6.4ish egg or fish with the quads for myself, but keels would do just as good!
Could you help me out, my mate has been looking at my last two boards and has given me the green light to shape him a board, he’s around 5.8 weighing 125 - 130 lbs, 57/60 Kg’s, he’s a fleible agile little guy, beginner (but i see quick progression in him as he is a snowboarder, skater and climber) and he the surf he will be mostely riding is onshore slop/high tide chunky shore breaks. What would you suggest he rides? I reakon something like this
Maybe a bit out of my league but i think at 6.0 it would be a good board for him. I would like to put some quads into this board, but i doubt i’ll be finishing it this side of winter so don’t put a mad rush on those quad fins!!
i ask , because the keels i have may be a bit small for a 6'4 or for you , but that would depend on if you would quad it , too , because i have used them with small one tabber fins in front ....and that worked for me. [ I am more the size of the guy you're making the 6' board for , though]
i'm off to the fartsack now [early sesh tomoz] , but i'll check in here later tomorrow [friday for us in woz]
catchya and cheers mate , again ....i really will appreciate [and USE !] the fin making materials !!
I’m 5 10 weighing in at 95Kg’s. I like the idea of the keels with the one tabber fins in front (fins found mostely on kite boards and hand boards?) it’s two boards away from my ownership and i’m getting stupid about the thought of it already!!
carbon wets out easy with a squeege onto decks and bottoms...rails are a bit harder.....you can also trim it with a blade easily when the epoxy is green
Glad your chuffed mate! It’s good to have freinds in other parallel universes! And if it’s not too much trouble back to the board suitability for my friend, i think i’ve got it sussed but a second opinion would be good.
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Could you help me out, my mate has been looking at my last two boards and has given me the green light to shape him a board, he's around 5.8 weighing 125 - 130 lbs, 57/60 Kg's, he's a fleible agile little guy, beginner (but i see quick progression in him as he is a snowboarder, skater and climber) and he the surf he will be mostely riding is onshore slop/high tide chunky shore breaks. What would you suggest he rides? I reakon something like this
Maybe a bit out of my league but i think at 6.0 it would be a good board for him. I would like to put some quads into this board, but i doubt i'll be finishing it this side of winter so don't put a mad rush on those quad fins!