does anyone know of any good write up on creating your own carbon fiber items

 

There is a book called "Competition Car Composites" that is an excellent instruction manual/reference guide/teaching tool that will work you from your very first project all the way through vacuum bagging and heat treating. It also mentions pre-pregs, but obviously doesn't really go into them as most people don't have access to the kind of autoclave you would need for them.

Also, here's a few sites that have some info, but I'd really recommend the book:

http://www.fibreglast.com/contentpag...ction-170.html

http://www.uscomposites.com

If you have any questions, I might be able to help. I've been doing a little playing with this myself.

 

awesome sights man. These are some things i've been searching on as well.

 

hey thanks those sights were great and i'm going to go find the book tonight hopefully booksamillion will have it

 

There's a little bit of a learning curve to some of the stuff. You can use a polyester resin instead of an epoxy resin, but you need to be very careful about the percent of catalyst you use because it can start a ridiculous reaction and harden really fast and smoke and stuff. Also, I would play with chopped strand mat fiberglass first, because it is cheaper and you can make more mistakes with it and not feel so bad. However, it does shed fiber like a bitch, so it doesn't completely mimic carbon fiber. Also, when you make a mold, make sure it isn't a super porous material like mortar or something because it will suck up resin like crazy and can also cause the piece to stick to the mold. Start small and work your way up. The concepts seem really simple so it is easy to get in over your head.

Sorry, I'm kind of rambling so I'll quit for now.