Working with Carbon Fiber
 

Here is a link from Makezine that details how to work with carbon fiber.

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol...rity&cookies=1

This should be useful for making the aero mods. Light weight and very sturdy of course.

I have been thinking about carbon fiber a little, We could totally take 100 pounds off our car with c/f but It's just really expensive... About $600 for a hood that will only take off 30 pounds or so

Hi,

Let's hope that chicken feathers --> carbon fiber starts happening!

Chicken Feathers for Hydrogen Storage and Wind Power? | Hypermiling, Fuel Economy, and EcoModding News - EcoModder.com

I can't open that link, but carbon fiber is like a $5,000 bicycle - you don't need it unless you are already a champion at handling the cheaper fibers. For most purposes, tough materials with hollow or cored sections are better.

Hi Bob,

The link I posted is a blog post right here on EcoModder -- maybe you can browse back for it?

The cool thing about converting chicken feathers into carbon fiber produces nano-tube fibers. The chicken feathers are naturally hollow -- and they are very cheap! The cost of making this quality carbon fiber from chicken feathers is just a small fraction of traditional methods.

Thanks, Neil. I meant the make-digital link, which does not like my open cookie jar, for some reason.

Bicycle Bob -

Try this :

Make - Volume 09

I just removed the "&u1=texterity&cookies=1" from the end. Youtube also adds that junk.

EDIT: It seems you need to purchase the article.
EDIT #2: I have the hardcopy, but I don't think I can legally post the article.
EDIT #3: Duhhhh, just use the embedded back/next page buttons like Bicycle Bob said.

CarloSW2

Yeah I have seen the bicycles that were c/f and were really expensive, I have also seen c/f rims for your car, also very expensive...

It opened fine for me, and I found the hidden "zoom" buttons too. I didn't read the whole thing, but that's about the amount of fuss it takes to get a high fiber content. The first page does not really make the point that the strength of a composite is considered to lie in the fiber direction; the resin is just there to maintain fiber alignment. Like mortar, it is never given a tensile load to handle by itself.
The last page fails to caution against the safety hazard of carbon fiber dust. It will stain your hands as well as your lungs, in car-part quantities.
I'd recommend that anyone should practise their technique using fiberglass, because you can see your mistakes better and learn to avoid them.
Using expensive fiber makes us more inclined to use advanced construction techniques, but they can also more than double the performance of cheap materials. Swiching to carbon mostly adds stiffness at the expense of toughness. The overall challenge is to arrange the fibers the way a tree would, using just enough in each area and keeping them very straight and even, and packed with the minimum amount of resin.
If you don't like the waste from pre-impregnated material with multiple layers of resin blotter, etc. try dry-bagging for car-size parts. The beginning of Velomobile project 2004 With just a makeshift vacuum pump, that can get you very close to the properties of the best autoclaved aerospace parts.

you can find used cf hoods for cheap sometimes (under $400)


(depending on your make/model of course)

carbon fiber safety
 

Some believe carbon fiber is the "new asbestos".Concentrate on safety and prevention if you choose to work with it.

Unfortunately, that original link is no longer working.

Our advanced composite consultant told me that carbon fiber is somewhat affordable, when compared to traditional fiberglass. He said that since we would be using much less CF yardage verses multiple layers of fiberglass to get the same strength, the difference would not be too bad.

So we are looking to do the entire cab of our new truck out of CF. I should have the full quote next week.

The nice thing about carbon fiber is that it can provide exceptional rigidity compared to most other fibers, without the compression weakness of Aramid or Spectra. However, rigidity is the enemy of toughness, and in the real world, that is the way to light weight with durability. Realize that everything is a spring, and design your parts to distort in harmony.
Carbon fiber is still very energy-intensive to make, and is far too often applied for cosmetics or sales purposes, rather than being concentrated where needed. The reason F1 quit using a carbon/kevlar mix was so that when it broke, it could be patched back together like ceramics. With mostly Kevlar in a crash, you just get a bag, but the contents are safe.

What about Carbotanium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I know that it is even more expensive than normal carbon fiber, but it seems to have solved every limitation except for price.

Much depends upon the application, so there will be a niche for carbonatium, but cost won't be the main thing keeping it exotic. It does not solve the energy intensity of carbon manufacture, nor lend itself to efficient recycling. I'd like to write volumes on the topic, but J.E. Gordon has already done so, in some of the most readable, pleasant english ever written. If you only have time for one book by him, I'd start with "Structures."

Bicycle Bob -- What do you think of the method used by the Local Motors Strati?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ng_details.jpg

The 3D printed carbon fiber/ABS would be isotropic, but the cellular qualities are baked in at the 3D model level.

No details are given regarding the properties of the finished material, but it can't be as good as a continuous-fiber material. There are no magic bullets, and material choice is a big decision. If you want to judge exotics, read the book. If you want to build a one-off, choose from the common options the one you enjoy working with.