Casting carbon fiber or fiber glass mat

[Haynie]

Been searching the threads and I don't see anything about casting these and how to do it.

I got an idea for a pen for a friend but am stuck. Do I cast this under pressure or vacuum? What are the common pitfalls casting this type of material?

 

[Haynie]

I am guessing not a lot of folks have experience with this.

 

[Linarestribe]

I don't have experience with these but i bet its something like snake skin. You might want to paint some PR on, pour the rest the apply pressure. You might get away without the PP be using warm PR. Don't forget to color the tubes.

Hope i got some ideas stirred up.

Jorge

 

[PTsideshow]

When laying up fiberglass, you have to saturate the fabric. They have a special lugged roller that you use to work the liquid into the mat. I haven't did much fiber glass mat work but that is also the reason it comes in assorted sizes /thickness. The idea is to get all the air out and resin into the fibers, to get a solid mass.
I imagine that it is about the same with the carbon fiber mat you would want the resin to be all through out the mat. They use a vacuum bag set up to infuse the resin thru the fabric, and then it has to be heated to around 400'F in an autoclave. Granted that is for stand alone body panels. Don't think that it would be an issue with a pen tube. as it is done for the strength.

Watched a couple video's of hand lay-up of the carbon fiber of building a canoe paddle in a home shop.
:clown: