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Hi Nick. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment, we appreciate the feedback.

It really depends on the size of the project. For smaller pieces then yes it's probably best to mix up more than you need. For larger quantities though, there is a risk of the resin exotherming in the mixing pot whilst you apply it to the rest of the part. Hence, mixing in smaller batches can be helpful.

Thanks for watching. 'Share the knowledge' is our strapline and a big part of our ethos. Even if you don't intend to make any parts right now, it's good to hear that you've learned something more about the composites process as a whole.

Thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying them. We have kind of covered this process with the mountain bike frame. ruclips.net/video/UWSePEV88tw/видео.html You would need a multi part tool and internally bag the part to provide consolidation to the inside of the mould.

Generally speaking epoxies have reasonably good resistance to a range of acidic compounds. The infusion resin used in this video is not particularly rated for high temperature. A high temperature resin such as our EL160 which can be post cured to provide a higher service temperature but I wouldn't really recommend these types of materials for internal engine components.

This process uses our out of autoclave XC110 prereg www.easycomposites.co.uk/xc110-210g-22-twill-3k-prepreg-carbon-fibre

Yes we can ship to most countries overseas, just head to either the main website or our EU website and select your country from the dropdown the basket menu. The website will then calculate shipping cost and estimated time.

Resin infusion has been used for years to make large composite components, so given their size, it's highly likely that they use this exact process.

Do you mean the prepreg carbon fibre? That would be our out of autoclave prepreg www.easycomposites.co.uk/xc110-210g-22-twill-3k-prepreg-carbon-fibre

The layup is probably a little on the thin side to be bulletproof I'm afraid.

The carbon is only applied to the tacky basecoat as a way of holding it in position whilst being wet out. Once in position and held in place by the tack form the resin, it's then left to cure until it reaches the 'B' stage. This is a semi cured state which will still cross link with the resin which is then used to wet out the fibres. Hand laminating does produce slightly heavier and less consolidated parts but we have found that trying to use a vacuum technique when skinning results in a more wrinkled and distorted weave.

The volume of the brake lever is about 16.5cm³. We have the files available for download from the tutorial page on our website. www.easycomposites.co.uk/learning/compression-moulding-forged-carbon-fibre

We have a matte and a satin finish 2k lacquer on the way very shortly which will allow for this effect to be produced, so keep an eye out for that in the near future.

It will fractionally yes but only by the thickness of the resin layer which in most cases is around 0.5mm or less

Good suggestion!

Yes this is sometimes done to speed up the mould making process - print with a hollow rear and backfill in with a resin like our TC80 Toolcast.

@@easycompositestv It would speed up print time. I've seen some recent videos where people have been making 3d dies and moulds for bending metal. The idea I think has legs. I've a question for you on a separate issue. The coeffcient of expansion for most metals is positive. A rod of most metals, when heated up gets longer. I've seen articles saying that for carbon fibre its not so straight forward. Some rods will get longer, but for aerospace carbon rods it can be negative. Do you have any information on this? I've an idea for a pendulum road that uses a invar 0.76 parts in a million positive expansion with part of the rod with carbon, with a negative coefficient of expansion. Apparently you can get negative one part in a million per degree rise.

It varies depending on fibre orientation, resin matrix etc. For such a precise application, I suspect you would need to be doing a fair bit of testing to get the answers you need.

@@easycompositestv That was my conclusion too. Measuring isn't easy, and you need some quite specialist equipment to measure that accurately. But it was an interesting property of some carbon fibre set ups that they shrink when heated. But not in all directions.

You do not need vacuum it, the compression does the same thing. Also a 3D printed mould may not withstand vacuum processing.

This method wouldn't be as strong as a continuously rolled tube, as the fibres are broken at the join when the mould is split into 2. Without testing it's almost impossible to determine what pressure it could withstand.

The catch pot is really a failsafe, to prevent damage to the pump via resin ingestion. It had a disposable liner which can be replaced if resin finds it's way into the chamber but really this should only be a small amount at most. If you find larger quantities of resin end up in the catch pot then you need to reassess the position of your resin break within the infusion setup.

@@easycompositestv how about the valve in the catch trap pot connecting the pipe carrying the excess resin. Does it need to be replaced if the resin gets hardened inside it?

The connection to the catch pot is with a gland type seal on the outside of the PVC tube. So no resin comes into contact with the catch pot in that way. The gland is just loosened and the resin filled hose removed.

@@fayazahmed3264 The resin line passes through the connector on the lid so resin shouldn't come into contact with the connector itself. The hose can be removed and discarded if it has drawn up any resin.

Great stuff !

Yes GC50 is a polyester gelcoat with very good UV resistance.

You can find our range of shears here. www.easycomposites.co.uk/shears-scissors-knives

We find that CR1 chemical release agent works best for releasing from glass. I wouldn't recommend using acrylic as a mould surface, a mould release wax would be the only compatible release agent but there would still be a risk of the part sticking to the surface.

Hi Mark, yes it's been pointed out a few times, there was unfortunately a typo in the calculations.

You can see from the scale in the video, the bottom jaws for the 3 point bend test were set 120mm apart and the top came down in the centre. All tubes were 10mm OD and 8mm ID.

Luckily as you'll see from the start of the video we didn't get wet feet. As the canoe was made from an existing mould and the final boat came out lighter than the original plastic one we could be pretty confident that a titanic like scenario was going to be avoided.

Hi Dexter, thanks for the feedback. Glad you found it useful, it's good to know that the hard work we put into making the videos is worth it.

Once fully cured, epoxy essentially becomes like any other plastic and is pretty inert, we have seen a number of phone cases made from these materials.

You can certainly further play around with the layup yes, however the main reason for the chopped tows on the exterior is the ability for them to 'flow' into the contours and detail on the surface of the mould. The long strands simply do not have the same ability to do this and can result in voiding and pockets in the surface.

Thanks for watching, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our future videos.

Thanks for watching and the feedback.

Potentially yes, you would need to make a second, offset skin before bonding the honeycomb between them.

Yes, we can ship to the USA no problem.

It could be a number of issues such as too warm conditions or even pre-release of the gel from the mould surface.

Thanks for the comment and yes, the term 'forged' carbon fibre is not the clearest but it's been around for a while now (Lamborghini have been using it for several years) and is quite widely used with an established meaning. To avoid using the term would mean that many viewers interested in understanding 'forged carbon' might never find this content, get to see what the term refers to (for some at least) in the context of carbon fibre composites, and learn how - for the right components - this process can be used to produce strong, lightweight parts with minimal equipment. For what it's worth, before making the video we did discuss whether to use the term 'forged' a lot because we really weren't sure ourselves. After lots of deliberation (checking dictionaries and researching the history of the term) we decided to go with it but we did expect others might come to a different view, and that's fine too. If you'd like a much more lengthy explanation of we came to *our* decision please get in touch, we're happy to have more healthy debate on the subject.

It's not something that we've looked into and quite a specific application. I believe they sand off the fine layer of surface resin from the moulding process with a very fine abrasive and then polish the carbon weave to achieve the look.