Carbon Hood

[talonXracer]

I decided on the summer time project, a new CarbonFiber hood. dont worry, I am not going with the typical low quality commercially available hood, but will mold my own.

I just recieved my new Carbon order for the hood. I found a manufacturer that will sell me the end pieces off their large rolls of carbon fabric, these are perfectly fine as far as length and width for small stuff like hoods etc(they make blade skins for huge wind turbines and hydrofoil wings). This cloth is far cheaper than what I can get commercially because I dont need a full bolt, even with a bulk discount the commercially available stuff would be 25$ per linear foot for a lesser grade, I paid 18$ per yard length for a better grade. It is what is called a 5 harness weave, several times stronger than the conventional over under weave or the twill weave(cosmetic appearance carbon) commonly found on aftermarket parts. It is not really meant as an appearance carbon as it has yellow kevlar tracer threads every 2" of width running the full length with a tracer placed every 12" across the width, as I plan on a "painted in the mold" carbon hood, the tracers are of no consequence for this project. As soon as the camera has working batteries i will take a pic and post it up of the bare cloth.

The plan is to block out a stock hood and pull a mold from that. I have had several commercially available carbon hoods through the years and they are seriously pure crap, regardles of "who" made them. I have yet to see one that isnt full of stress cracks in the resin, especially around the hood hinges and the hoods corner points. The commercial hoods have excessive resin, a SINGLE carbon cloth layer that is so thin it has little strength, just moderate stiffness. This hood will be vacuum bagged to control resin content and post cured to produce a part that is significantly stronger at a lower cost.

I may in the future pop a few more out, but at this time there is no plans to offer these commercially......

[civictype_r04]

Can't wait to see this get starter!!!

Sent from my HTC THUNDERBOLT using tapatalk

[KaeDu]

Dope, will it be an OEM style hood using the larg vacuum method or what?

[talonXracer]

It will be OEM style as far as the exterior goes. The underside will not have the conventional hood skeleton that is formed seperatly and then suspended on the hood with putty, but will be formed directly onto the underhood surface by sections of Rohacell(think the foam equivelent of honeycomb) to form built up areas with a layer of carbon over that.

This will be formed using vacumm bagging and then followed by a postcure.

AND, I just found that my favorite(and least expensive) epoxy has just been re-released, Jeffco. Epoxy components use well known and understood chemistries, So when the same chemistries from different companies have such large differences in prices, you just have to ask why? (a subject for the political section)

[usedep3]

can i be your apprentice?

[ShadowEP3]

subscibed..sounds like its gonna be an awesome hood

[Hasbro]

I'm disappointed to hear that all the commercial ones are crap as lightening the front is my next endeavor. Should you decide to make the extras available I would like to sign up now. They save over 20 lbs., correct? I only have about about -52 lbs. off the front with a total goal of -120+ iirc.

[vicx52o]

can i be your apprentice?

x2

[talonXracer]

I'm disappointed to hear that all the commercial ones are crap as lightening the front is my next endeavor. Should you decide to make the extras available I would like to sign up now. They save over 20 lbs., correct? I only have about about -52 lbs. off the front with a total goal of -120+ iirc.

The commercially available hoods are a single layer of carbon with fiberglas mat under that(still lighter than steel). The fiberglas mat used does not provide any real strength, only mass. But the strength in a carbon composite comes only when multiple layers of the proper type of fabric are used in the proper orientation, the fibers need to be orientated in different directions to create the strength, ie a layer with the fibers running at a 45 degree angle and the next layer at 90 degrees and the final layer at 45 again.


I will use approx 7 yards of cloth, it weighs 8.3 oz per square yard. The Rohacell is 3/8" thick and weighs 4.5 lbs per cubic foot and will use approx .6 cubic feet. Proper resin content is 60-70% fiber and 30-40% resin, I will try to ballpark it, LOL. The resin is approx 1.4 % times the weight of the carbon. 3.6 lbs of carbon, 2.7lbs of Rohacell, and 2.02lbs of resin = 8.32 lbs, I think the stock hood is 30lbs ballpark.

Finally snagged a pic of the carbon

[Kerby]

this is gonna be awesome to watch.

[team ERA 5]

Subscribed.

[Hasbro]

I will use approx 7 yards of cloth, it weighs 8.3 oz per square yard. The Rohacell is 3/8" thick and weighs 4.5 lbs per cubic foot and will use approx .6 cubic feet. Proper resin content is 60-70% fiber and 30-40% resin, I will try to ballpark it, LOL. The resin is approx 1.4 % times the weight of the carbon. 3.6 lbs of carbon, 2.7lbs of Rohacell, and 2.02lbs of resin = 8.32 lbs, I think the stock hood is 30lbs ballpark.

The number I have for the commercial hoods are about 23 lbs. so your numbers sound good - a bit heavier and much stronger. Cool beans.

[RedSiBaron]

i wish i had pics of when i worked for the snowboard company out in vermont...we were using a trick aerospace tri-axial fiberglass, and every other diagonal stringer was carbon. both of my custom boards i made while working there are rocking it...stiff and light and holding up after 7 years of riding.

[talonXracer]

The triax stuff has uses, but alot of the composites designers are going towards the uniweb stuff now. It is carbon tow all oriented in one direction with a light fibril stiched/adhered to the surface to keep it together. These straight fibers have no crimp as seen with woven fabrics and therefore far stronger in a layup.

[02TWSI]

i wish i had pics of when i worked for the snowboard company out in vermont...we were using a trick aerospace tri-axial fiberglass, and every other diagonal stringer was carbon. both of my custom boards i made while working there are rocking it...stiff and light and holding up after 7 years of riding.

That's so sick...awesome job