Making a carbon fiber fender

Unfortunately, those voids, when filled post cure, never blend quite right.

Wet lay your first couple layers in the mold, and roll the shit out of it. Make sure it is good and saturated.
 
J-Rod10 said:
Unfortunately, those voids, when filled post cure, never blend quite right.

Wet lay your first couple layers in the mold, and roll the shit out of it. Make sure it is good and saturated.

What do you roll carbon with? I would think an aluminum roller like you use on csm or fiberglass would have the potential to grab or ruin the weave on the carbon.
 
I have one of those, also have enough of everything to do another fender. I'll see how this one looks after some resin, if it doesn't look good I'll try it again
 
J-Rod10 said:
Unfortunately, those voids, when filled post cure, never blend quite right.

Wet lay your first couple layers in the mold, and roll the shit out of it. Make sure it is good and saturated.

When you wet out the first couple of layers are you also wetting the mold or laying the wet carbon into a dry mold?
 
Hmmm, that's exactly how I did it the first time. Guess I need to take the roller to it
 
Finished

finishfender_zpsc91b2kh9.jpg
 
Looks great! I am going to be attempting the same thing... How are you mounting it to the fork? Old mounting arms bolted or riveted to the fender?
 
Hi i am also new to creating composite molds and my question is by using the vacuum bagging technique why are there still air pockets? If he used a stronger vacuum would it decrease the chance of having an air pocket? Thanks

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jojobara said:
Hi i am also new to creating composite molds and my question is by using the vacuum bagging technique why are there still air pockets? If he used a stronger vacuum would it decrease the chance of having an air pocket? Thanks

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Yes.
 
Do you use resin or epoxy with carbon fiber? I have read you are supposed to use epoxy but the OP says resin to fill in the voids. Wanting to do something like this since my bike was a junker when I bought it and has no fenders at all.


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Ply318ci said:
Do you use resin or epoxy with carbon fiber? I have read you are supposed to use epoxy but the OP says resin to fill in the voids. Wanting to do something like this since my bike was a junker when I bought it and has no fenders at all.


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They are all resins, just a matter of which one- epoxy, vinylester, or polyester.
 
Ply318ci said:
Which one for carbon fiber. I have polyester.


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Epoxy. It's the strongest of the three and bonds very well with carbon, kevlar or fiberglass. Vinylester also bonds well, but is a third as strong. Polyester has a poor bond with carbon.
 
Glad I found this thread. I want a smaller fender for my project but the factory fender is pristine so I'd rather sell it than cut it down. I'm going to give this a try but with fiberglass.
 
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