Mixing carbon...

[captain chaos]

I'm looking at buying soem bits...some nice products on both Caterham, Fluke and RiF's sites to chose from.

 

For those who have used products from these companies, can you mix the products without it clashing too much? and on Flukes site you can chose the type of weave (oh bugger left my anorak at home )

 

..so help please...which type should I be aiming for...

 

Cheers

Gary

[Ash.Bailey]

pulls up comphy chair

 

ahhh toffee popcorn today

 

If ^It aint ^yellow, wonky ^and wobbly................ 😬

 

[Beelzebub]

I've got some of RiF's carbon & it matches the CC carbon dash to a tee.

[captain chaos]

WC, searched the archive, couldn't find much..I've obviously missed something..

got any spare popcorn then..

[Andy Best]

CC

 

From my experience Caterham Carbon has been supplied from a number of different sources the latest of which has come in for a fair bit of stick on here for the durability of its finish.

 

Mog (who supply fluke) use wet lay ie make it up using resin, you get the look but not the weight saving plus you have black gel coat around the edges of some parts. Looks well made and durable though.

 

RiF stuff looks good but some items are different profiles to Cater hams own and he doesn't do the full set yet. But as other posters have said he does a good match for the caterham weave match.

 

For me its something you need to make your own judgement on by seeing the various suppliers finished and then choose the one you like the cost and finish of.

 

Andy

[bobt]

I've used Fluke many times (he's also a mate which helps with the discounts ) and can vouch for the quality.

 

Andy Best said:

you get the look but not the weight saving plus you have black gel coat around the edges of some parts

 

I don't think thats entirely true. Granted with wet lay it'll weigh a little more than with other techiques but the MOG parts are still alot lighter than the GRP alternative.

 

I've found the MOG parts to be very similar in surface look/finish to the older CC carbon parts which suits what I have.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

 

Edited by - bobt on 29 Oct 2007 20:12:16

[captain chaos]

On the Fluke site there is a choice of weaves...which best matches CC's own and which one of the 2 best matches RiF?

 

Thanks

Gary

[Andy Best]

I think the old CC carbon was 2*2 twill however they changed to the linen type some time ago. the earlier 2*2 type give a sort of diagonal effect where the later gives a straight effect. The Mog site has some more detailherealthough the pictures are difficult to see the exact difference.

 

Andy

[RiF]

It all depends on what is acceptable as a match. I know of customers with all 3 munufacturers carbon on and very happy. What exactly do you want to match? Also when was it made?

 

The newer CC carbon does not match much but is made to a price! or profit . The majority of CC carbon up to say a year or two ago is a twill weave. It looks the nicest and that is our standard. This gives a diagonal effect of weave. CC's new products are made in a totally different system and this has caused many problems noted on past threads. It is resin transfer, causing movement of carbon and a lot more resin on the surface.

 

Finish: Ours is a high gloss on most parts with depth of shine, our wings and shortly nose cone will have less depth of gloss but look almost the same as the original CC wings (still shiny just not as deep a shine as our other products that are more resin rich on the surface)

 

Weight: Ours is similar to the original CC with wings, lighter than their new carbon wings and our parts are lighter for most other parts.

 

Mog / Fluke have depth of gloss as I gather they use a gell coat (we don't). I gather most of their products are 1 layer of carbon and backed with glassfibre, this is why they are heavier.

 

Any other info please ring me on 013873 75777.

 

PS: Andy: What don't we make? We make almost every part now or very, very soon except headlights, just need to update my web site

 

RiF Driving one of the first Duratec 7, and building CA07BON for Henrietta 😬 😬 😬.for pictures of 7 and carbon andCA07BON

 

Edited by - RiF on 30 Oct 2007 15:15:04

 

Edited by - RiF on 30 Oct 2007 15:17:04

[TomGaval]

PS: Andy: What don't we make? We make almost every part now or very, very soon except headlights, just need to update my web site

 

Richard, did you ever get around to Carbon Clams? 😬 Tom

 

[henry21p]

Carbon 21 boot panel would be nice - with cutouts for the rear legs of the cage/FISA bar. 😬

[neil.cavanagh]

Nah Dave, SV nosecone and dash should be higher priority... and FAR larger market!! Come on RIF..... I have an itch...

[captain chaos]

Firstly I apologise for my poor knowledge on carbon. But hey, that's what's good about blatchat there's always someone who knows more than you willing to share

 

I was thinking of doing the interior in carbon...Bruce at Arch mentioned that the panelling of the tunnel was more than just decorative and carbon with a high resin contant should be avoided. I must hasten to add, it was a passing comment and he mentioned no-ones products in particular.

 

Therefore, should I be doing these panels from pre-preg (whatever that is..but someone told me it was stronger ) or not go for carbon at all?

 

Thanks

Gary

[Andy Best]

Hope you're sorted now Gary 😬

 

RiF I didn't know you did the nose cone now and I thought your front wings were a different width/profile to the CC ones . Glad to know the range is improving I was impressed with the items on display at your stand at the 50th celebrations. Sorry for misleading anyone it wasn't intentional.

 

Andy

[captain chaos]

Nearly..just need some feedback on these interior panels...

 

[RiF]

No problems Andy 😬 Perhaps I should add "for a standard bodied Caterham with cycle wings Still got plans for clams and SV bits but other parts for the mass market needed first to pay the bills 😬

 

Interior panels: My 7 was the first, 4 years ago that we supplied panels for. It has 226 bhp and has shown no signs of any stress cracking and looks as good today as when first installed. Our interior panels have been supplied to many owners and I don't know of any problems including more powerful versions like the RSTV8. The material is thicker and more rigid than ally. It is based on a sandwich construction to improve rigidity of carbon/glass/carbon although full carbon could be made I personnally prefer this construction as it is lighter and more rigid than just carbon.

Fitting of these panels properly is vital though.

 

Pre-preg is a process. It was the ultimate but technology has moved on. The industry reckon you can get as good a properties with other newer processes. We have a modified process based on using pre-preg material manufactured by ourselves.

Other owners have used thin pre-preg not moulded to the shape but put under stress to fit the shape or hand laminated panels.

 

 

RiF Driving one of the first Duratec 7, and building CA07BON for Henrietta 😬 😬 😬.for pictures of 7 and carbon andCA07BON

 

Edited by - RiF on 31 Oct 2007 13:54:47

[captain chaos]

Thanks RiF..

In terms of fitting the interior panels..what is it that needs to be 'right' or 'proper'?

 

Ta

Gary

[Alaskossie]

RiF,

 

I'd like to second the vote for carbon clams in wide-track configuration.

 

I'm thinking the potential market for these out there may be larger than you think.

 

Tom Meacham

 

Alaskossie

[RiF]

😬 Just need the time for making the clams. I made wide track patterns 4 years ago but never got the moulds done. We are playing around with a new mould making technic for the other wings at the moment. If it is quicker then maybe I will make clam moulds after Xmas

 

Fitting of panels. I know some customers have reduced the number of rivets to a minimum Although they do seem to still be ok I would recommend using the same number as Arch or a mastic adhesive to the chassis and then you could reduce the rivets a bit.

 

RiF Driving one of the first Duratec 7, and building CA07BON for Henrietta 😬 😬 😬.for pictures of 7 and carbon andCA07BON

[Rob Walker]

RIF,

 

Without giving too many secrets away, what is your process for manufacturing nose cones and wings, your products look very glossy are they produced using a type of gel/epoxy coated mould or a resin/epoxy rich lay up ? Will this high gloss finish be as durable as the vacuum formed CF that CC used to supply ?

 

Rob

[RiF]

Rob

 

Process we are using for wings is different to our other parts The surface on these other parts has proved to be very durable even as stone protectors. For the wings it is a vacuum bagged system, not a long way from the process CC products were made with, just modified slightly. Our wings should have similar properties to the earlier CC wings and K9/DitP wings, gloss is down to the mould. We do not use gel / epoxy coats to give a good finish. On our other ranges it has a resin rich surface finish compared to some finishes but this is a technic we have developed. The extra resin on the surface is really minimal unlike a gel coated moulding. Our rejects are mainly due to fibres showing through this finish, the difference in our process between good and bad is 0.1mm. Control of resin to carbon is vital and took us over a year of development. Can't say too much but hope this helps a bit

 

RiF Driving one of the first Duratec 7, and building CA07BON for Henrietta 😬 😬 😬.for pictures of 7 and carbon andCA07BON