Thread: Anyone have experience in carbon fiber fabrication?

I have been thinking about making some carbon fiber tongues for a while. Especially now that I have tlt5's and find the tongues to be whimpy at best.

I am just looking for anyone who might be able to provide a little guidance on the process.

So far what I'm thinking is make a silicone mold of the tongues I already have. then start layering up carbon and resin (obviously a little more complicated than that).

I have a few questions if anyone out there has experience and can provide guidance.

Is there a particular weave that I should be using?

Are some resins better at flex/fatigue than others?

I want to make them stiff any idea how many layers?

Is prepreg worth the extra money?

What is best for finishing the final product?

Are there any tricks to the fabrication process that will make my life much easier?

Is there anything I am missing?

Is there a "go to" supplier or should I just find a local composites store?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide. For now this is no more than an idea but if it works out I might be able to turn into an available product.

TECHNICA COCHISE PRO-LITE. and a gym membership

easy peasy.

rog

Have you seen this?

http://www.wildsnow.com/6494/maestrale-tongue-stiffen/

So you want an engineer to design these for you, for free, so you can turn it into a product. Gotcha.

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

So you want an engineer to design these for you, for free, so you can turn it into a product. Gotcha.

Really adding value with posts like this Hugh. I'm sure that's exactly what Allen meant. Way to police the boards and keep people honest.

There's tons of youtube videos and other resources on the web that answer pretty much all of your questions. I think the best way is to just do some research, buy some shit, and experiment. You could make 10 tongue variants in a day once you have the stuff.

I bought one of these kits to fab some small guards for my motorcycle. Company is easy to deal with and straight forward. They have some youtube vids to help you out.

Good luck with the tongue business, be sure to charge Hugh double.

go find a local prosthetics/orthotics shop (Cascade O&P is close IIRC) that is about the scale you're looking for, and maybe someone would be willing to help you along with the molding/fabrication for materials cost... they've got the resins you need too.

Hugh - it's not like he asked how to use a photog's work to enter some other contest, sheesh...

Originally Posted by Power_Sauce

I'm sure that's exactly what Allen meant.

It's exactly what he asked.

Buy some carbon kit listed (like the one above VT mentioned, or eBay has them cheap) and experiment. VT: my back of the envelope suggests that these won't list for what I'd pay anyway.

Done lots of this sort of stuff when building kayaks. Key points:

1) carbon costs a fortune - consider glass fibre unless weight is really an issue. Glass is likley to be plenty stiff enough and much less likley to fracture. Kevlar only any use in tension so fine on the inside of the tongue (as per wildsnow) but no use on the outside where it would be in compression.

2) Use epoxy resin - not polyester. Dont get it on bare skin - you become sensitized to it.

3) How much? I used 7 layers of 200g/m^2 carbon fibre to make some footbeds to stiffen my teleboots. They were stiff as you like. I'd guess ~4- 5 layers would do you but you can always add a layer by sanding down the previous surface. Thickness is important here - if you used a layer either side of an existing tongie that was say 1mm thick then that would be way stiffer than 2 layers on their own.

4) Mould - you could use the existing tongue to make a mould, but stiffening the existing tongue is likley to be a lot easier (as in wild snow). You could add some 1 or 2 layers at a time until you are happy. Just make sure that you sand the surface well to get a good bond.

Good luck. Happy to answer a PM for more details (and yes I am an engineer).

G.

or, you could just click in, point yer skis downhill, smile if yer not too serious, and enjoy the perfect snow that so many folks move out west for.

hi

rog

I have been playing with carbon fibre a bit lately and learning a few things along the way. Just a few thoughts to help with your project:

* Try a few layups with thin layers. Make 1 layer flat piece, then 2 layer, then 3, then 4, until you get the right flex. You will be surprised at how fast it starts to get stiff, and then really stiff, and then stiff as sheee-it.

* Resin is all very stiff when cured. Let it cure a few extra days and then it is stiffer still.

* G/Flex (West systems) is resin that also has some of the flex of glue. Try G/Flex and compare it's flex to your standard layup.

* To make a good quality tongue you will need to vacuum mold the carbon layers together in your mold. That means buying all the vacuum sheeee-it. That means $$$$.

* Carbon fibre is a pain in the ass to work with. Pre-preg solves some of that. But pre-preg may need special lcure temperatures.

Good luck and I hope we get to see it when it is done.

Thanks for the help gritter and canwif!

Hugh, you clearly have too much free time. I suggest taking up a hobby that doesn't involve the internet. Needlepoint perhaps?

It sounds like adding to the existing tongues might be the easiest thing to do, but the purist in me is really leaning towards making tongues from scratch. I probably wont get much done on these til the fall when there is nothing but time and darkness to work with out here.

I need to experiment, I'm just trying to minimize that if possible due to the cost of materials. It also sounds like playing around with fiber glass might be a good starter before moving into carbon. That would also help solve the initial cost issue as well.

Thanks again everyone

most prosthetics shops have vacuum-molding setups FWIW.

Originally Posted by allenataylor

Hugh, you clearly have too much free time. I suggest taking up a hobby that doesn't involve the internet. Needlepoint perhaps?

allen - I suggest you call your business "cunt tongues" it fits on so many levels.

I do like the irony of you making fun of me when you are looking for cf advice on a ski board. it's like the rest of the famous internet douches getting butthurt

jfost - we don't need to hear about your prosthetic penis experience

Jfost, thank you for the helpful advice. I know the guy I got a knee brace from a few years back does carbon molding so he probably has a pretty nice setup. Something to think about.

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

...jfost - we don't need to hear about your prosthetic penis experience

well, ok, but it is a reeeeeallllly good story. and I would never use Carbon Fiber, I need impact resistance.

strange that about 50% of the people who hear the word "prosthetic" think of that?!?

I know of at least two diehard shredders who are E-Tech majors at WWU who could probably let you make it with them or if you give them a design, they can fabricate it. I can put you in touch with them and you'd probably only need to pay for materials, if that.