Originally Posted by BoostedBoogie

ok guys this is for you OT. there will be more installments of tutorials that will get a lot more advanced. this tutorial is as basic as the hobby gets. there are easier methods than this, but they don't turn out with a glossy finish. anyways, enjoy OT.

what we're going to be working with here is a front fender from my pocketbike. you can use anything you want to practice, all you need is a good mold of the piece (made from fiberglass or the underside of the piece depending on shape). here is the checklist of what you'll need and where you can purchase these parts:
- disposable brushes (home depot. note i said DISPOSABLE. once used, you will have to trash from the hardened resin and there is NO way to get this off before it dries)
- disposable gloves (you can get a box of 100 for $4 from icancomposites.com)
- carbon fiber (any type is fine. the best prices and fastest shipping i've ever experienced: icancomposites.com)
- epoxy or polyester resin (uscomposites.com. i use their surfboard polyester resin. it's blue, but dries clear. i also recommend picking up some of their surfacing wax which is optional, but makes sanding the resin so much easier.)
- blue wax mold release (you can get this from icancomposites.com, but you can use any car wax and/or release agent. the mold release is very crucial to getting your parts apart from the mold)
- clearcoat or spray gelcoat (optional)

ok here's the process. get your parts together that you need (brushes, resin, mold release, the part you will be replicating, and the carbon fiber)


1. what you want to do first is pour resin into a plastic container. 2-3 oz. is good for a project like this. why do this first? there will be bubbles in the resin and you want the room temperature to let them rise and pop. i know it looks blue, but trust me it dries clear.


2. next get your mold release and start brushing it on the inside of the mold. let this dry and wipe off, then repeat 2 more times and wipe it off CLEAN. if you don't wipe it well, you will see leftover wax in the finished part.


3. at this point, you can add the hardener to the resin. after, use your brush and brush on the mixed resin onto the inside of the mold (just above the mold release that you applied)

4. let that resin get tacky (about 1 minute at the most) and then you can now lay your fabric. this part must require delicacy and precision. be careful, any corner can easily snag and destroy the weave of the carbon fiber.

5. next step is to smooth everything out w/ your brush and brush more resin over this fabric that you just layed. continue to massage the fabric into the resin. once that's done, let the piece cure. (you'll notice a puddle of resin forming at the bottom. you want to try to avoid this by constantly brushing the resin around until it gets tacky and dense)

at this point, curing should take about a day or two before removing the part from the mold. if you don't let the part fully cure, the part can flex and distort, causing it to warp. here are a few examples of carbon fiber gone bad:

this image shows a part removed from the mold to early. it begins to flex and bend on it's own.

in this image, you'll notice holes in the finished part. this can be caused from not adding enough resin, resulting in the piece not fully smooth. you can avoid this by adding a 'fisheye additive' which makes the resin less dense and less viscosity, which makes the resin more watery. this lets the resin penetrate more of the carbon fiber. another fix is to add a drop of resin in each hole, then sand it smooth.

finally, when you remove the part, it should be pretty smooth already, but if you need to, you can sand down the resin just like fiberglass or wood and then polish it up, wax, clearcoat, etc whatever yo uwant to do. from here all you need to do is trim up the part with a dremel tool.