Laying Up the
Carbon Fiber
Panel
Our composite instructor asked a
couple others in the class to help
out with the project. Here is Piam
(From Iran) beginning the carbon
preg work. He mixed the resin
and is pouring.
This is the second of two layers of
carbon fiber. The panel ended up
with a total of 4 layers of fiberglass
and the 2 carbon layers. Should
be quite strong.
The instructor watching on as I
Preg (impregnate) the fiber cloth
with the resin. You can see the
fiberglass on the table that was laid
up behind the carbon. As I will have
aluminum bracing, etc...  behind
the panel, I needed to use the
fiberglass as a barrier to the
carbon fiber. Aluminum and carbon
will react if left in contact and
corrode.
Here Tom is getting the vacuum
bag ready. Quite a process.
The vacuum bag consists of at
least one thermo-couple and a
couple of vacuum lines. The box in
the foreground is a combination of
the vacuum pump and a monitor
that will regulate heat and shut the
system down when finished. The
cooking process for this lay-up was
a little over 2 hours @ 180 degrees.
We started with these heat lamps
and ended up using heating mats
that sat under the project. Here
the vacuum is applied and sucks
things down quite tight.
Kinda like watching water boil at
this point. :>)
Everyone paying tribute to the
composite god.