OK so I get to necro my own thread lol.
I'm sorry for the lack of updates. My project experienced a tragedy and I honestly haven't had the emotional energy to post about it or think about how to move forward. You'll see what I mean...
So where we left off I had just done the leveling coat of epoxy and used a textured peel-able cover on it so the next layer would stick well (called Peel-ply).
The piece already has more than enough stiffness and strength. This last layer adds more stiffness and strength, but really the point is to make a nice looking final layer with a nicer weave than the strong-but-a-bit-ugly 12k plain weave pictured above. So I went with 3k twill weave of the absolute top quality. This fiber comes from the same manufacturer where companies like McLaren, Koenigsegg, etc. get their CF.
I don't want to use any more than is absolutely necessary, so I very carefully measure out how much I'll need and cut it accordingly. I contemplated a drop of super glue at the corners to make it easier to handle but in the end it was okay without.
I decided to finish off the piece by first epoxying only the main flat part (bottom) and leaving the sides without epoxy. Once the bottom is fixed then I will wrap the CF around the edges and epoxy the rest. The theory was sound, but it was really hard to get it right.
Here is the back in epoxy, under smooth finish vacuum bag (no vacuum bagging here because I want to control the spread of the epoxy):
Corners OK:
And afterward folding the CF over the edges, with a ruler cut to length inside and secured by several high-tech clamps :-) :
This part was really, really hard to coordinate all at one time. Making sure I got all the carbon fibers, had them straight and saturated with epoxy, then covered with the bagging material, then the ruler, and then also putting on all the clothespins was just too much at one time. One side turned out really nice, the other side was meh.
Really nice side:
Meh side:
CENSORED
If I ever do any more of these, I won't do it this way. It's just too hard to get it right, and I don't think the edge is much nicer than a cut, routed, and sanded edge.
So after it all cured, now comes the finishing and polishing stage. Not so great at this, as you will see...I'll post that in the next few days along with the (tragic) ending.