Heavy Metal! Part Deux - The Carbon Copy

[AG81]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

I may even have some progress to report on the actual project sometime soon, even if it's just me spending money on parts (or making carbon stuff!).

^
I always enjoy your updates Jon.

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by AG81

^
I always enjoy your updates Jon.

I enjoy sharing them!

Getting back in the swing of things, have a few custom orders to fill...

Kevlar is a bit of a nuisance to work with and tough to cut. Both in its cloth form and once it's cured into a part.



I've been through a few sets of these shears...



These are the carbon/kevlar cloth parts required for a single skid plate.



While I'm cutting I decided to prepare enough materials for 2 more (which results in little to no waste which is nice).



Time to warm up the oven!

[Focker]

Hey john, when I made a carbon airbox for my bike, I used the roller cutter on a cutting mat. Seemed to work better than shears.

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Focker

Hey john, when I made a carbon airbox for my bike, I used the roller cutter on a cutting mat. Seemed to work better than shears.

Carbon cloth cuts like a dream!!! I've got a roller cutter, and the white working surface you see is a large sheet of cutting mat.

It's the Kevlar that's the problem, it's whole different ball game. Shears only, and special ones with serrations, at that - otherwise it just slides out of the jaws!

[Jonny042]

Tech tidbit for the tech forum: carbon cloth, although easy to cut, is still edge bound with Kevlar thread which is impossible to cut with the roller! So you still need to snip that when you cross an edge:



Cutting and "laying up" the dry cloth takes a lot of time. So does the vacuum bagging, especially when you can't find the leak and have to start over from scratch. It's worth it in the end, this beauty is done in the oven and will be shipping out today!

[Jonny042]

I often start my day drinking coffee, walking the dog, and de-cluttering my inbox (not all at the same time!).

I've signed up for the potentially ruinous notifications of the tastiest BaT auctions. Occasionally sometime comes up that's so incredible that I just have to share...



https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-porsche-911s-13/

How's that for motivation?!

[AG81]

Jon, thank you for this BAT find. I am currently traveling and would have likely missed this. I am now following and will bid on it. I don’t need it and am not sure how the importing all works but wow.

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by AG81

Jon, thank you for this BAT find. I am currently traveling and would have likely missed this. I am now following and will bid on it. I don’t need it and am not sure how the importing all works but wow.

If there's ever been a car that more perfectly encapsulates the SWB Sports Purpose hot rod, I haven't seen it!

Having sold two cars into the states, I can tell you importing is not that hard. The toughest part is paying for it (and it's not even that expensive, from a percentage standpoint!).

Importing that car to the states would add a lot of value to it IMO.

There might be some question as to the authenticity of the VIN stamping in the trunk? To my eyes it's not original, and interesting to see how that plays out and how it affects the value.

[Brookieslayer]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

I often start my day drinking coffee, walking the dog, and de-cluttering my inbox (not all at the same time!).

I've signed up for the potentially ruinous notifications of the tastiest BaT auctions. Occasionally sometime comes up that's so incredible that I just have to share...



https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-porsche-911s-13/

How's that for motivation?!

I saw it and went straight to the shop to work on the Herring...

[mhurwitz]

Jonny,
Good to see you’re back at it.
Who says you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
Maybe a little Ozempic in the fuel tank might help with the weight.😂
Seriously, looking forward to following your progress
Mark

[Showdown]

Those rear flares are giving me ideas... bad, bad, bad, delightful ideas... Shame on you Jonny

[Focker]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

Carbon cloth cuts like a dream!!! I've got a roller cutter, and the white working surface you see is a large sheet of cutting mat.

It's the Kevlar that's the problem, it's whole different ball game. Shears only, and special ones with serrations, at that - otherwise it just slides out of the jaws!

AH! of course! I had the same issue with mine

[Jonny042]

Wow - it's been a minute! I've been popping my head in here on and off, but mostly to answer PMs from people inquiring about parts.

On a personal level, there have been numerous challenges, distractions, and quite difficult times as of late - also some busy times with fixing daily drivers and doing actual paying work!

The time I saved by not posting to this thread has been put to use, though! I FINALLY got a set of molds I was happy with for the sunroof. I didn't end up being impressed with the surface of the epoxy tooling gelcoat and fiberglass epoxy construction for the grey epoxy mold from last fall. There was simply too much waviness in the surface of the parts that I made from this mold, for me to sell them to paying customers.

There was a lot of wasted hours, wasted material, and swearing (largely at myself, but not exclusively) to get from that point to a final mold, with a surface that's acceptable (everyone knows I'm a sucker for a good reflection!):



Ultimately I ended up here, and yes, I am happy!:



There were numerous difficulties and outright failures along the way and ultimately I am now making the sunroofs from the 6TH!!! set of molds I made for the 911 sunroof. At least they are now as close to perfect as possible!

I also started working on the pattern for a decklid. Generally this involves a lot of tape and signboard and glue and chewing gum:





Ultimately you end up here. It also does require that you fix and fettle and sand to perfection the pattern part you want to replicate:

[AG81]

Nicely executed. Can't wait to see final part.

[Glenfield]

That’s a lovely looking rear deck lid, Jonny.

Curious if your learnings on sunroof are transferable to other parts of the program? Said differently, have you broken the back of it or more grafting ahead? Either way, thanks for persisting

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by AG81

Nicely executed. Can't wait to see final part.

Getting there! (See below...)

[Jonny042]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

That’s a lovely looking rear deck lid, Jonny.

Curious if your learnings on sunroof are transferable to other parts of the program? Said differently, have you broken the back of it or more grafting ahead? Either way, thanks for persisting

Well, yes, for sure, I have learned a lot and made quite a few breakthroughs. I came up with a new phrase a few weeks ago - "I'm my own best enemy". I always seem to be breaking new ground with things for some reason, in that I tend to find problems and issues where none before me have.

Case in point, that decklid mold. I continued on with the process I've now honed to what I thought was a fine point:











I ended up with a perfectly wonderful mold which in 99.9% of cases would, I'm sure, be... GOOD ENOUGH



Anyone who's been following my display of self torture for enough years will know I don't do "good enough".

It turns out "low shrinkage" mold making resin is not "NO shrinkage". I mean it's really, really, really close to zero, but not zero. Which means that parts produced from this mold would be really, really close to the size of the original decklid, BUT...

To paraphrase Peewee Herman, there's always a big but...

2 or 3mm across the full width of a decklid doesn't sound like much, but translate that into panel gaps and you've got 1-1.5mm of panel gap growth which is not gonna fly.

At least I've gotten to the point where I'm actually pleasantly surprised when something goes right, as opposed to really getting upset when things don't!

There's more to this story but I need to get to work, so it'll have to wait till next time.

[AG81]

I'm thinking how I beat on myself over perfection, yet it's unobtainable. 1.5 mm in my world would fly all day long. You continue to inspire.

[Uwon]

Jonny, I envy your workmanship and persistence to achieve perfection. It certainly inspires many of us on this board to just strive for the next level and still stay sane!
Just mulling over my next project after I finish Sweet Transplant…..maybe an all carbon-a-Jonny. LOL
Cheers,
Johan

[Racerbvd]

Wow!!!!
I need a raise in my allowance.