Carbon fibre sheets

AlanRatcliffe

Anyone have a contact for (or access to) carbon fibre sheets? Specifically the ready-made, 2 mm thick, basket-weave stuff with gloss finish on one side. I want to make a few bits 'n pieces...

AlanRatcliffe

Also possibly things like:

Anyone interested by any chance?

govendl3

i would def take 1
thats the coolest
stick an F1 logo on it somwhere
?

AlanRatcliffe

I would wait until you find out what the price is before committing yourself, LOL! I haven't got a price on getting the CF locally yet, but if international prices are anything to go by, it's not cheap.

Gearhead

What's the difference in construction between the decorative stuff like on the photo and the carbon acoustic tops? I've read about those tops but never really tried to find out how they're made.

AlanRatcliffe

I haven't looked into it in any depth either. I know Rainsong use a rigid CF skeleton with carbon fibre top back and sides, but I have no idea how they are structuring their tops - whether it's something like nomex honeycomb in the middle of two thin panels or if they are laying up solid panels. The decorative panels are merely layed up with a clear resin as the top layer, which gives them the gloss and depth.

I'm actually going to look into it further now.

AlanRatcliffe

Composite Acoustics:

inflames

Alan, that carbon fiber scratch plate looks kick ass!
I'm pretty sure that It is going to be expensive, but just imagine a white strat with that on ?

aubs1

inflames wrote: .................but just imagine a white strat with that on ?

That thought crossed my mind when I saw it!! 8)

inflames

Aubs, If Alan pulls this off (which he will), I will buy myself a squire strat in white and get that carbon slapped right on!

lightspeedchili

hey alan

u can order CF sheets in whats called prepreg form. its basically a sheet or roll of CFalready set in an uncured epoxy(or similar) matrix. u just need to lay out the sheets flat and then give it a blast with a heat gun. i'm not sure where to get them locally but it doesnt require the resin bath or vacuum clave. hope it works

Gearhead

@Alan: out of curiosity, what would you hope to pay for a piece big enough to cut a pick guard out of?

I used to shop with these guys, here's a link to the product if you want to preg the cloth yourself: http://www.polyservice.nl/Koolstofkeperweefsel-200--p-16394.html
All it will cost on top of that is 1:1 mass ratio of epoxy: http://www.polyservice.nl/Poly-Pox-THV-500--200-gr-epoxyhars-p-16173.html
You also want to have something to make sure you don't stick it onto anything: http://www.polyservice.nl/Lossing-B-film-250-ml--p-16289.html

Then, you take two sheets of glass, wax both, put the one down, brush epoxy on, put the cloth on, chaff more epoxy in, put the other sheet on top, push bubbles out, clamp evenly and let it cure. Shouldn't cost you more than R1000/m2...

AlanRatcliffe

That pickguard picture is just a mock up I made in Photoshop. I have a trans red mahogany body for the fretless I am building and thought the CF would work well with that. Tried the mock-up on a pic of my Strat, but don't think it works as well with a burst. I'll try it with pic of the body and see what happens.

Gearhead wrote: @Alan: out of curiosity, what would you hope to pay for a piece big enough to cut a pick guard out of?

I'm hoping that I can get 12" x 9" x .090" sheets for under R500 (I've found Quality 11" x 11" for $50 from the US). That would make it viable to make Strat plates under R1K. Tele plates would be easier/cheaper as not only is it smaller, but .060" thick works better for the thickness of the bridge and control plate.

I'm not into making up the sheets myself (or not yet) I don't see enough of a demand. I know it will work out cheaper, but I'd rather have blanks.

Of course, I could get veneer sheets and glue to .060" thick black pickguard material, but that's cheating.

selbydoodl

A client of mine weaves this product locally.

It is exported to be used for Helicopter blades etc...

I am sure I could get him to part with some for a reasonable fee.

How much would you need?

you can PM me on: -
[MOD: Email Removed]

AlanRatcliffe

Thanks Selby, will do.

BTW - I removed the email address from your post to protect you from spam.

Banditman

There's a custom bike builder up in Gauteng who makes any carbon fibre parts to spec - can't remember the name offhand - but it'll be in Bike SA's ads.

Rudolf

I've also pondered making a pickguard with a CF finish. I've done alot of composite work with the models and it's really not that difficult, especially cheap working with Fiberglass if you do it yourself. Because in the case of the pickguard it would be purely cosmetic you can really really do it cheap IMHO. You do not want the primary element being CF in this case cause honestly it'll be a real dog to work with (CF is incredibly hard when done right), increadibly expensive for a good quality product. I would shoot for the simplest, maybe a wood core or whatever the case and just a CF finish layer as mentioned. You can use a stupid light weave carbon (Cheap cheap) with a nice gelcoat or 2K finish over it to create the 3D cosmetic effect. Maybe even lay up fiberglass for a base which is cheap with the final layer being carbon. Slap that between two pieces of mylar and viola, won't take 30 minutes to lay up something like this. You can even put a black tint in the resin so the fiberglass looks carbon around the edges.

You don't need any expensive resins, or hard to work with resins for that matter because in the pickguard's case it doesn't have any elements to deal with. Note carbon does in fact bounce certain frequencies, but I doubt it'll be a factor or problem in this case.

Alan maybe give AMT Composites a call? They have branches everywhere and know their stuff. The will have everything you need, maybe even an off the shelf ready product for your purpose.

racman

Have you tried Donald Williamson who owns Produx in Killarney Gardens. They used to manufacture bicycle frames and now also do motorcycle bits and pieces. I have no idea if they are still in operation but the website seems to be - see link below:

http://www.produx.co.za/

AlanRatcliffe

Thanks for all that Rudolf - That's a lot of the info I've been looking for. I had run across AMT's site already and bookmarked as a possible supplier.

Yeah, the laminate idea does seem attractive, but pickguards do influence tone a little and I want to try an all CF guard before I try laminates.

inflames

but pickguards do influence tone a little and I want to try an all CF guard before I try laminates

I agree Alan, I have never seen a carbon fiber pick guard, so doing it right the first time is important. Even if it is a bit more expensive.