cutting carbon fiber hood

anyone ever tried this?

I'd really like to be able to cut my hood and add some vents

thanks

 

It won't leave a nice edge. Plus it would leave raw carbon. Not a good idea, IMO. Trade hoods with someone, or sell yours and buy something else?

 

Raw carbon is fine, as it is chemically inert. It will not oxidize, or react with pretty much anything. If someone was that worried about it, they could touch it up with some epoxy resin.



Just remember: measure twice, cut once.

 

What year car do you have?

 

i want to put this out there NOW, if you are going to do this...

wear a mask, wear long sleeves, wear long pants, and dont breath it in. trust me.

 

actually, my VIS hood on the subaru is gone with my totalled car.

this is an attempt to vent some of the hot air from under the hood in my supercharged C43.

I have a lot of experience with fiberglass (and making parts out of it etc.). My thoughts were that i would actually use fiberglass to mold the vents i'm adding into the hood and to "clean up/strengthen" the edges after i cut. I'm just worried about the actual cutting process, delamination etc. etc.

thanks very much for the quick responses etc.

btw- anyoen attending HIN?

 

You should be fine. Carbon acts like glass. It's laid up pretty much the same. Its doesn't cut as easily, but you can do it.


You could mold your vents and finish with one layer of carbon. You can get it for less than $5/ft². Most "carbon" hoods are made this way.

 

I have cut carbon fiber in the past with great success using tungsten carbide grit coated jigsaw blades. Here is a link to what I am talking about.

http://www.c4carbides.com/catalog_category.aspx?cat_id=4

If you do this, make sure you put masking tape on the metal guide plate of your saw to assure you do not scratch the surfaces you want to keep.

Also, you will probably want to avoid cutting through areas that have core. This probably will lead to delamination of the carbon skin from the core.

Also, curly2k3 is correct. Wear protective gear unless you want to end up with funny looking kids...

 

A person could lay more carbon or glass over the exposed edges of the core to prevent delamination. I would cut using a wheel over a sandwich area since a jigsaw will want to separate the layers.

3rded on the gear. Get a real particulate mask. None of those stupid "bra cups".

 

i dont know that i can stress it enough, cover your eyes, get a proper mask, and cover your skin.

 

yeah cause this is what happened to the last guy who didnt protect himself










































View attachment 12642

 

well played sir

 

I usually use a burr on a dremel to cut inside holes in CF panels. Delamination isn't a problem unless it wasn't bonded well to begin with. The smaller diameter burr's (1/8" dia.) work really well and you can cut pretty much any shape you want.

Cutting CF that has a core material isn't a problem either- you just have to go back to the cut edge and fill it in with some thickened epoxy.

 

tip: use car bondo, and fiberglass resin. Mix the sludge in a cup, use the hardner that came with the fiberglass resin. You don't have a ton of time to work with it, but it will seep into the chipped / cut edges. Use 400 grit sand paper to sand it smooth.

Wear rubber gloves or you'll regret it later.
Enjoy.... This will help maintain the structure of your hood and keep it from splintering or spidering.

- the fluffy bunny

 

i've been mixing rage gold and resin for a long time to make a brushable high build primer

here's my start-



turns out it is just as easy to work with as fiberglass so i'm in my comfort zone