Making carbon fiber parts

[ou812]

I'm looking into making a carbon fiber sling for my cousins wheel chair. I've worked with fiberglass before but never carbon. Right now the chair is all black Titanium with a carbon fiber back rest, but the sling he sits in is just a fabric and he wants it to be carbon to match. It would need to be visual so which is the best epoxy resin to use? Also how many layers and what weight cloth would you use? US composites has 5.7oz cloth on clearance for $16/yd would this be strong enough if I made it multiply layers? Any tips for making parts and not just reinforcing with carbon?

 

[tom21]

can you post a pic?

 

[snowxr]

He wants the sling to be rigid? Maybe carbon look fabric would be better for his application.

 

[ou812]

Yes he wants it to be rigid, as the fabric one on it now will sag over time. Its 17" wide by 18" long. I might do a slight natural curve to it.



Here's what it looks like now.

 

[tom21]

does thay chair fold? It won't when you screw the carbon to it. % think a few layers will be strong enough but you will probably want to beef up the edges where it will screw down. I f he is gonna thrash on it I would snadwhich some other layers of reg glass cloth. Or maybe just practice with thay to get it down first as far as the shape and to see if its gonna be comfortable before you go nuts on 65 per yard cloth

 

[Idok]

badass..how much lighter is it than its comparable off the shelf model?

 

[Maxumflux]

i covered my x-2 seat with a carbon fiber fabric. it feels like vynal except it is braided like carbon fiber and it looks really good. If you made the sling carbon it would be pretty hard. just wrap it in a yard of carbon fiber vynal and stitch it together. it would look just as sexy with out all the work. plus the stock sling is most likely stronger than what an amatuar could do with carbon. Imo.

Good luck!

 

[HBCwatercraft]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Genu...temZ220529238929QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f100

here u go, iv used this on many of my parts and its the best 4 wat u r doing. 6 layers of this with DERAKANE 411-350 Epoxy Vinyl Ester Resin. If u go with pure epox..its hard to work with as its thick and hard to get the weave inpreged. This # i gave u is a arospace grade ester (high impact) i have used it. its like 45 bucks a gal, so not bad. Make sure to do a test batch to see were it sets off before u do the layup. Hope this helps, Ben

 

[waterfreak]

Here's another place with the same 4x4 twill. great company to deal with !
http://uscomposites.com/carbonpage.html

 

[ou812]

The chair does not fold together. The backrest folds down and the wheels are quick release, so it still collapse's down nicely. The chair weighs maybe 15-17lbs.

I was thinking about adding aluminum washers around the screw holes for extra support also, if that's a good idea.

There is still a cushion that sits on the sling, and the reason to get away from the fabric is because it will stretch and sag over time.

 

[ou812]

Should I stay away from the 5.7oz cloth 2x2 twill from uscomposites? or would that be fine to use if I did 6-7 layers? http://uscomposites.com/shortroll.html