Barks Posted 3November, 2016 Report Share Posted 3November, 2016 I decided to laminate my 987 centre console with carbon fibre. I was umming and arring about what to do - vinyl wrap or maybe painted body colour but as its a black car it wouldn't have really stood out too much. I also couldn't justify paying $1600 to buy one already done. So I turned to youtube and watched a few how to's and thought "what could possibly go wrong!" To that end I ordered a kit from Playing with Carbon. For $200 I got 1.5m x 1m of Carbon Fibre Twill, epoxy resin and hardener, mixing cups, brushes and gloves. I also brought a second hand console from SteveC (thanks mate) so I had a backup plan! I then decided to start with something easier than a console to get some experience. The trim piece that runs across the bulkhead behind the seats in my car is covered in that rubberised plastic and was a bit untidy - its also a relatively simple shape (not!)First thing is to prep the piece by sanding (roughly) for better adhesion and filling in all the holes and cutouts.The Carbon twill is seriously fragile and you have to work carefully to not disturb the weave. I then used spray adhesive (not enough!) to fix the carbon to the part, wrapping the edges under and taping them. Once all prepped I mixed the resin and gave it a light coatLet it set overnight, and give it another coat - then let cure overnight!Next give the part a light sand to take off some of the high spots and apply a thicker coat then let cure overnight.[URL=http://s1030.photobucket.com/user/barks9183/media/IMG_2020.jpg.html]Then sand (using 360 paper) then another coat!I then used a drill and dremel to cutout the holes and openings as well as the excess off the back.Then more sanding progressing from 360, 600, 800 then 1200. You can then polish to bring back the shine but I chose to apply a couple of coats of clear laquer.Then re-install..So there you go...centre console next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whytar Posted 3November, 2016 Report Share Posted 3November, 2016 That looks great... and certainly beats buying the parts in carbon $$$... Allow the slippery slope to commence :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
symsy Posted 3November, 2016 Report Share Posted 3November, 2016 Looks great ..carbon fibre everything in my escort now As a matter of interest how many hours of work ??When you say the material is fragile , is more that when you pull it tight and tape you twist the uniform we've or it breaks , tears ??Hows about edges , when you cut do they come apart or do you hot knife or something..Again looks like fund and great result.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barks Posted 3November, 2016 Author Report Share Posted 3November, 2016 Looks great ..carbon fibre everything in my escort now As a matter of interest how many hours of work ??When you say the material is fragile , is more that when you pull it tight and tape you twist the uniform we've or it breaks , tears ??Hows about edges , when you cut do they come apart or do you hot knife or something..Again looks like fund and great result..Not too many hours of actual work...maybe 4 or 5 but a long time between steps. The weave is fragile - cant pull it around or you lose the uniformity. The weave on mine is a bit wonky but as its behind me I wont be looking at it all the time. That's why I did this part first, I want the console to be better. - I found that when you cut it the edge frays straight away - you need to tape it first then cut in the tape with ordinary scissors - next time I'll also use spray adhesive on the back of the fibre as well as the piece - that helps hold everything in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted 3November, 2016 Report Share Posted 3November, 2016 Very interesting, does anyone know how it would fair against a 3M type of vinyl wrap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonN Posted 3November, 2016 Report Share Posted 3November, 2016 First off, it looks great.The above methods work well for "decorative" pieces, but if it is more than that, you need to take a rather different approach. Make sure the clear coat is UV stable. Using masking tape for the cut is exactly what the pros do. Consider buying the lightest weight cloth you can and be warned, the type of cloth makes a big difference to "drapeability", which is important with complex shapes if you want to keep the weave constant. Twill is far better than "standard' woven. The tip of using spray adhesive is spot on, but I would usually use one designed to work with epoxy resin.Finally, there are a number of sources of material in Oz. I usually go to Nuplex for my supplies and although they don't do "kits", I think you should be able to save a fair amount of money.As for the difference between this and vinyl wrap, the best way I can describe it is that it's the same as buying vinyl wrap to give a surface wood effect. The vinyl will only ever be 2 dimensional because it is basically a photo of the real thing. IMO, vinyl carbon looks truly pathetic while this looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barks Posted 4November, 2016 Author Report Share Posted 4November, 2016 Well said Simon - good points made there. I will check out Nuplex in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Kay Posted 4November, 2016 Report Share Posted 4November, 2016 Looks fantastic there @Barks and the pulled weave is not noticeable once coated with the resin. The clear coat really makes it pop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted 4November, 2016 Report Share Posted 4November, 2016 Nice work ,,,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted 4November, 2016 Report Share Posted 4November, 2016 @Barks where are you based in Melb wouldn't mind having a look and getting some advice ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barks Posted 5November, 2016 Author Report Share Posted 5November, 2016 JB I'm in Beaconsfield Happy to meet up somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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