hey guys this might seem like a newb question...but how can you tell from real carbon fiber and fake? cause i want to make some of my own carbon fiber products but i have to know which is real or not?

 

:thinking: ...the weight is an obvious factor.....i didnt know there was such a thing as fake carbon fiber... :dunno: :run:

 

well like i was doing some research and it said that some are just overlays...and some are molded? i am very confused about this carbon fiber sh!t

 

buy quality stuff and you won't have to worry

 

I dont beleave there is "FAKE" carbon fiber, maybe painted on look alikes which you can tell. But there is a difference in quality

 

there are several ways to make a certain part look like it's made out of carbon fiber.
1st is obviously make it out of real carbon fiber. and there are two different types which are dry and wet carbon fiber. I believe dry carbon fiber parts are made by baking them (or heating them) to burn off excess epoxy (or resin or whatever the hell they use) after layers of carbon fiber and epoxy are applied to the mold, thus making them lighter and stronger in the process. Wet carbon fiber parts aren't baked so they are heavier.
another way is to use fiberglass instead of carbon fiber and then apply only one top layer of carbon fiber. most so called "carbon fiber" parts are made this way because it is cheaper (obviously because you are using less carbon fiber) and it looks like the entire part is made out of carbon fiber. (and i heard you can only make "wet" carbon fiber parts with this method because fiberglass will melt)
the last method is to make a part with whatever material you like, then apply a carbon-fiber patterned sticker. you can also paint it to give it carbon-fiber looks.

You can order many different types of carbon fiber fabrics fromhere. This is a very good website to buy various kinds of epoxy from.
Also this website has a very good selection of carbon-fiber patterned stickers made by 3M so you might want to look into it depending on what kind of parts you are trying to make.

 

or we can help you

 

dry carbon is pre-preg. That means the resin is impregnated into the carbon. You put it in an autoclave that adds heat and pressure. Most of the resin is then baked off. There is 2 type of wet layup. Open molding and closed molding. Most hood companies use open molding. Which is the cheapest and easiest way to make them but they are also not that light. Closed molding could be normal vacuum bagging which will make a lighter piece and then their is vacuum infusion which is the process we use. Everything is put in the mold dry then immense vacuum pressure is added. Then you inject the resin into it. This makes an air free lighter then most laminate. This is pretty much the closest to dry. There is pre-preg fiberglass as well so you can do carbon and fiberglass dry parts.

 

Interesting.......I guess I learned something today!