Carbon fiber people, help!, I need info Options

[Dr Evil]

I have seen some very impressive custome work on this site and the latest had me thinking. If the door panels that I have seen did not require a vac bag, how did they do it. I have worked fiber glass before, and even had access to a vac bag set up when I worked on helos, but not anymore. With the cost of carbon fiber I would like to avoid a steap learning curve, so any info on techniques, amounts and types of materials, would be greatly appreciated. How do you get the pretty finish?

[SpecialK]

If/when you're drilling holes in CF you'll be needing carbide "dagger/spade" drills for the smaller holes (less than 1/4"), and diamond impregnated hole cutters for the larger ones. Diamond impregnated and carbide cutting or drilling tools are a must because real CF eats high-carbon or any other drill bits for breakfast!


Dagger Drills:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...sspagename=WDVW

I've worked with CF for a loooong time, but mainly structural repairs that didn't require them to be aesthetically pleasing (plane's getting painted anyway). Vacuum bagging and heat curing a part (with the correct breather and bleeder layers) ensures an optimal CF to resin ratio for strength and stiffness, but that's not important if they're non structural or decorative parts like door panels or lense covers. If the parts are to be molded, and the mold is fairly intricate, vacuum bagging would help to eliminate possible air pockets from forming in the tight corners.

As for composite parts fabrication, Morph is the man to talk to for "tips/tricks", high quality stuff from what I saw.