Just wanted to help! Aluminum and carbon fiber touching will cause galvanic corrosion. Anodize or coat the aluminum with something. Ultimately the part will fail because of the galvanic corrosion. Hope this helps! Love your channel and your a rock star with engineering💪🏼
In the automotive world, they are bonding CF tubes to raw aluminum yokes and rating them for 5000hp+. Edit, just looked it up. Apparently the CF driveshafts seal off the bonded area from atmosphere so it’s a none-factor.
@@justRD1 5000+ hp, so I expect racing where you don't need the part to survive many years and many cycles. You need it to get you through the race/season. There is a galvanic potencial difference between these materials. The corrosion will come.
GIVE THIS MAN HIS FLOWERS!!!!! This comment should have as many likes as OP has!!! This comment has saved several of you more money then the original posted video already has. But evidently I am not seeing any of the appreciation for this users 💎Information GEM💎 that you have been blessed with. (I have no relationship to the man who originally posted this video, not the gentleman who dropped this GEM of a comment. This has literally saved me over $160 in just one repair project. So I know it has saved dozens of you much more. Please press that 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 button!!!! ❤️🔥🥳🎉👏💐🏆🎖️🔥🥇🏅🧸🎐👍😎🙌✌️🏵️🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🌼💮💠🥀🎍🥂🎂
Regarding the cost of Carbon Fiber. The carbon fiber itself is like buying any other fabric... by the yard. You can buy as little or as much as you need. Think about it this way, you can make a part as strong as steel, as light as plastic, and all without the skills or cost of CNC, a welder, etc. If you can use a pair of scissors you can make it. That is amazing to me. I think its great for DIYers and the budget. Also please try out the sponsor as that really helps the channel. You will get 10% off your first order with Fictiv - bit.ly/3YOmVzF. Use Coupon code: Fielding
Watching you take risks and use your mind since your early videos about salvaging electric motors from discarded appliances has been really inspiring. Your genius is damn impressive and you still make things accessible. Thanks!
@Nicholas Coin This is where I bought mine. I don't get any commission for this link. But I am tracking it to see how many people use it. bit.ly/3BWHfpL
I actually need some Urethane parts done, and noticed that your sponsor does them, so well done showing the screenshots of your use. Will be using your code in the next few weeks. Thanks!
You shouldn't lay carbon fiber directly onto metal, carbon fiber conducts electricity and if it is bonded to metal can create galvanic corrosion especially if the part is likely to come into contact with moisture like on a boat, car or motorcycle. A way to stop this happening is to put a thin layer of fiberglass as a barrier between the carbon fiber and the metal part.
Carbon Fiber, especially Epoxy Resin, needs an oven and pressurisation to reach the advertised strength. The reason the biggest Steel Ships are much bigger than the biggest Fiberglass ships is simply because the cost and complexity of the assembly outweighs the production in steel by an unreasonable margin. For casual applications it's fine, buy you can't make full car chassis with it, for example.
I have been 3D printing for years and never thought about the concept of external model vs internal model stress. Great explanation - makes a lot of sense.
New viewer here and I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your approach and honesty about mistakes and the learning process. Great work and I'll be watching more in the future!
I have been working in the composites field for several years and just wanted to talk about other materials as well : - Glass Fiber - cheap, brittle (doesn't handle shocks or abrasion well), very light. Mostly used for boats. - Carbon Fiber - medium priced, sensitive to abrasion but resistant to shocks, medium heavy. Mostly used for air-related pieces (speed cars, tuning, aeronautics, space) - Titanium Fiber - high price, resistant to shocks and abrasion, quite heavy. Mostly high-standards pieces (aeronautics, space, some fine engineering stuff). Yes, this basic hint is not a hard rule whatshowever because you can use different weave patterns (as described very well in the video), use different layers with different materials, mixed meshes and so on... I just mentioned it to give a general hint for the viewers. Choose your fiber materials according to the project you are making. Once you understand how it works, everything will be simpler. Multi-layer is also possible but harder for beginners as you have to deal with multiple constraints. As explained briefly in this video, bubbles are your worst enemy, especially if you need uniform resistance on a surface. Generally, the quicker the hardener, the hotter it will get, which can also have an effect on the mold you are using (deformation due to high heat). The resin that you use can make a huge difference as well (UV-resistant, thermal range of use when finished, and so on...). Please use masks, eye protection (specially if you sand it because it creates very tiny particles that can be very toxic for your lungs) and all the other protections you might find useful to protect yourself. The fibers are not that harmful but the particles and the vapours can be. Thanks you for the video, I really enjoy people talking about this subject, as it is indeed very interesting.
I have learned over 4+ decades of working, is that hardly any project is completed within budget, on time, or completely witin specifications. That is still an admirable goal, though!
Hi Jeremy, a few points: - For safety I was told that you should always use a respirator and/or work in a well ventilated area when dealing with epoxy resins. It isn't an issue immediately but a professor of mine who built composite aircraft as a hobby mentioned that the long term buildup of vapors is detrimental and proper PPE / ESC should be used when regularly working with epoxy composites. - Another cool feature of the more textured peel-ply is that it leaves the cured surface ready for bonding with other composite parts. If you wanted to add more material or join two already cured parts that peel-ply saves you the effort of prepping the surfaces for more binder material. - You kind of touched on this but in addition to weave patterns being able to affect the directional strength of the composite, you can also stack multiple layers of different weaves to 1) provide more thickness = more cross-sectional area in a classic bending load = higher strength and 2) have multiple directions in which the stands are aligned with. If you know the forces the part is expecting, you can have most of your layers supporting that situation but other layers aligned to resist torsional forces. The example I would go to is with the checkerboard weave, you can offset a layer by 45 degrees to get more overall strength and stiffness. Very cool video!
Maybe I've been doing it wrong for the last couple of decades, but peel ply needs sanding. If you don't the failure is likely to be between these surfaces.
You don't need a respirator during layup. Epoxy resin and hardener has very low vapor pressure. Most people do not worry about the vapor when doing layup with wet epoxy. The biggest danger is getting it on your skin or eyes. Over time you can develop a sensitivity to the resin or hardener or both. Once that happens you will probably not be able to work with epoxy any more. Also, some of the hardeners, in particular, can do fairly immediate damage to your eyes. So I would suggest that you should wear gloves and glasses and a plastic face shield. The respirator is really not needed or is much less important than the other PPE. Now, when sanding epoxy, especially if it is not fully cured (less than 7 days for room temperature cure), you should definitely use a particle respirator or dust mask. And if you ever spray it then you need absolutely state of the art protection because it is very bad to breathe in the uncured epoxy aerosols. But for wet layup with brushes, not so much. Peel ply has release agent in it. When you remove it, some pieces of the peel ply remain on the work piece. According to the experts, it is best to sand the surface lightly after removing peel ply if you need a good bond. There are some peel plys with no release agent. But if you are not sure, then it is best to sand.
@@EricBrummer Great advice. Bis A epoxies are 100% solids and the fumes are not all that toxic. However, the cleanup solvents are, and your point about the fibers is completely correct. If using vinyl and poly ester resins, masks are really crucial. I have worked with composites for about 30 years, and I never work without a full face respirator rated at P-100 for Organic vapors, I add little pink dust catchers to the filters because they catch the big chunks.
Your enthusiasm for learning powered by curiosity is infectious. Your presentation style allows me to imagine we are best of friends, working together on projects of equal interest. Thank you Jeremy.
I love your sense of humor in the face of mistakes or problems. "If you don't learn your lesson the first time, apparently, two or three times is still not enough." 😂😂17:42
You have done a great favor to all the DIY with your channel . Thanks for sharing your experience, thaughts and professional advice and support! Much love from another Brother.
Thank you for being vulnerable and showing your learning journey! Seeing you face challenges, persevere, think and overcome is inspirational. As we oldies say down-under - ya blood's worth bottling.
Nice job and informative video. One thing you might want to be aware of if you're not already is "amine blush." When you're using epoxy it creates a shiny surface when it dries called blush. You need to wipe this down with warm water and a Brillo pad or Scotch-Brite before anything will properly adhere to it. You can actually see the shine disappear as you scrub it.
I think this video illustrates a rather important and easy to overlook pitfall (that I fall into time and time again..): don't work to a deadline but to a result. The pressure of counting days unconsciously creates some sort of stress that ultimately makes everything take longer and cost more than a more relaxed approach.
One of the best DIY videos I've watched in my entire life. This is the kind of video a normal person relates to. Followed the instructions, took care of everything, double checked (or at least believe you did check) and things go wrong. You've made a mistake. That's the value of the videos that shows the real situations, how to cope with it technically and psychologically. How to learn from your own errors. How to mature and overcome the frustration. How to proceed by pure will, by innovating, by luck. Finish the project and immediately think on what could be done better or what will be the next project. Those videos full of happy paths when everything seems to work in the first try and breaking records, personals or not. They feel the normal guy think "it's too much for me". By been courageous and showing and sharing your mistakes, by sharing your feelings about and thru the project, is what makes this video most valuable. Congratulation on the job well done. And 10 thousands of my best thank yous for sharing with us.
I just want to say I watch videos on creation of carbon fiber parts… 3d printing… and just self education and learning stuff… I am a pretty reserved person with taking risks … watching your videos … attempts creations success and “failure”which is just progression so please don’t take that word as negativity. We don’t learn right away… and you have truly inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and take a chance on my self to start trying something I always wanted to do. So truly thank you. I appreciate your video and your words. Thank you.
One of the problems I had designing and printing 3D plastic was getting fits to match measurements . After some experimentation I discovered that I need to think of all measurements in terms of 0.4 mm - nozzle size!- It made a big difference in fittings getting things to line up.
Yeah, I had that same issue when I first got into 3D printing and it took me a bit to figure out that when I was designing a part, I had to consider the printed line widths and overlaps to get the most dimensionally accurate part.
Not really true anymore with Arachne becoming the standard perimeter generator. With a .4 nozzle you can do down to .2mm lines and up to 1.2mm lines consistently, and the software uses that pretty well now.
For really complex curves, try cutting your cloth into triangles. That will allow for more a lot more flexibility. Also, you probably don't need to worry about it, but different hardeners (fast cure versus slow cure) can affect the final strength of the part. Not always, but something to check just to make sure.
@@ChupaCabraThing Yes you can (I got that info directly from West Systems a number of years back). Also they have an Extra Slow Hardener (#209) in the series as well as a Clear Coat (#207) for final layers. I believe that with the exception of the Clear Coat, there is not a substantial difference in strength between the hardeners.
@@ChupaCabraThing I haven't, but some you can. You'd have to check the individual resins/hardeners. Any manufacturer would (should) have pretty much any info you'd need about that in their product literature. Typically, though, you'd just find the hardener that fit your need instead of mixing stuff.
I have wanted to do this for the longest time. I am so happy that you made this video. When I saw the title and that it was YOU, I thought, "this is going to work! Jeremy's videos are always very helpful and very useful. Thank You!
I love that you keep the hang ups, blunders and mistakes in your videos. It sheds light on the level of detail required and shows it can't happen right the first time every time. Keep up the great videos.
For something like the knight, you should make a negative mold (probably in this case two or more parts is easiest for layup) and then polish the interior to a high level of finish so that you can layup the carbon fiber directly against it and get a perfectly smooth outer surface. The separate halves are then joined afterward and the seam can be polished smooth (especially since this piece is mostly decorative and doesn't require high strength).
And for something like the knight that's decorative and not weight critical you could use fiberglass instead of carbon fiber. Glass is much cheaper than carbon and similar or easier to work with.
Jeremy, my friend Craig has a you tube channel called Throttle Stop Garage. He is making carbon fiber fenders, hood, trunk lid and many other parts for a 1967 Volvo tudor sedan. He's Canadian and VERY meticulous with his bagging and vacuuming. His trick is to pull a vacuum and draw resin into the bag. You really need to watch him, you'll learn a ton. Good Luck and keep the vids coming!
If you haven't seen Mike Patey's videos from his "Scrappy" build, he is an absolute genius with carbon (and most everything else). You two would have a great time getting together. I know he mentioned corrosion issues when mixing aluminum and carbon in one of his videos as well.
I'm glad someone beat me to it! I would also recommend adding a thin layer of fiberglass between the aluminum and carbon fiber to eliminate the chance of corrosion between these materials.
Also i would recommend using a 0.8 mm nozzle for multiday prints as 9/10 % of the time it will cut the printing time in half and wont effect the strength to the print exsepcaly since your carbine coating it.
I worte a comment asking about how big of a nozzle was Jeremy using but you sort of beat me to it. I think theres even 1.2 nozzles not sure if bigger. However for the printers he has I'm not sure if the heatblock would be able to handle that big of a nozle unless you drop the speed which it defeat the orpuse but it should be a good test going as big as the printer can handle in this particular case.
I worked at an aircraft composite parts company and learned a lot about various materials and usage and the processes to make the parts. It isn't easy but can be done by a DIYer with proper instructions.
I have always enjoyed your self-depreciating sense of humor. I spent about ten years designing, then re-designing, 3 different CNC machines. And each new design started out as the final re-creation. Actually I redid everything countless different ways chasing down the next problem. People watching you shrug off mistakes is a very important lesson. It's been said that in life, 95% of the choices we make can be "do-overs". We get another chance to make another mistake.
Awesome video. We can tell you love us because only a person truly in love would go after that level of complexity for their first carbon fiber layup, and do it on camera. Don't stress about getting content to us sir, we are not going anywhere. Btw- I totally appreciate the realism of affixing things to the bench, etc., etc. That level of honesty is refreshing.
Closest to this I've done is fibreglass repairs to Kayaks back when I was young enough to fit in them. Interesting to see both the similarities and differences in what on the surface looks like it should be a very similar process. Thank you for taking us on your journey over the pointy bit of dunning kruger.
Now, that phrase made me laugh! Having spent a lot of time - particularly doing home repairs - snagged on the pointiest bits of Dunning-Kruger I can feel it resonate in my bones.
@@ColdHawk The fun part is the ride down the other side as you're forced to figure out why thing that you were sure would work ended up with everything catching fire.
Carbon fiber and fiberglass are more or less identical processes to my knowledge, though there are definitely a lot of different ways to deal with both. Heck, carbon and fiberglass can even be used in the same layup for a single part. Probably the biggest difference in handling the two is how they respond to a pair of scissors. Well, and carbon might be a bit messier... I've done very little with fiberglass but I spent a year working with carbon and let me tell you, that stuff gets everywhere...
You could use rubber membrane press or some sort of rubber sock arround the knight (those can press tight areas without wrinkles) and you could model holes into the knight so that epoxy would flow into the part. So you would not need any peel ply (silicone membranes are self releasing and you would have "dry" carbon), breather etc. You could also get a 3d printed part out of it to make it lighter by heating it up. Also try gluing carbon onto the part with car spray glue, then use silicone kitchen brush to wet it up (reusable) and then pull a vacuum and work epoxy inside the holes by hand (diy autoclave carbon). The mould could be done of hard wax to be mented out in the end
That take away, "learn something new". I took on a project to make a part for my adventure van, it was going to involve printing with ASA, and I've only been learning 3d printing, relearning CAD in general, and learning Fusion360 for just about a year. I've learned so much about part design. I've learned so much about my printer, working with the higher temp filament, getting good at bed leveling, etc. I've learned so much even just about all the little details in the slicer settings! In the end, the part is buried in lap sealant and barely visible, but I'm so happy I took it on and am energized to try even more new things!
To get precise dimensions, could you build a rigid and precise jig to fix the fasteners (or dowels etc) in exactly the right positions, and then build the carbon fibre part around them?
Fantastic video. There are a million different ways to get to the finished product with CF. I visited several different production shops to get clues to the most efficient process. So many different takes on reaching the same result. Love your process and approach. More, more, more!!!!
THIS! This is why I subscribed to your channel, Jeremy! Every mistake is education. Knowing the few ways that work best is important, but knowing the many ways to fail is equally important. Thanks, for another great vid, brother!
I've watched people build carbon fiber planes, but never thought of wrapping a 3D printed part like this. This looks great for small runs where a little extra weight doesn't matter.
I have never laid up CF however, I have seen Mike Patey do it, so I'm qualified to say this😁: You need to electrically isolate the aluminum from the CF, otherwise the CF will destroy aluminum via electrolysis.
there's also the forged carbon fiber process that you can make molds with 3d printing. I tried following Easy Composite's process and it needed some minor modification but it's totally doable. For certain parts the forged process is better than hand layup (especially the small stuff like the brake lever they made); I made a shift knob for my car using the forged process and it looks stunning. Way more unique than regular woven fiber.
I've probably watched every one of Easy Composite's videos but I still haven't tried making anything with carbon fiber myself yet. It's great to see someone actually making stuff. One of these days I'll make some carbon fiber parts myself. First I need to clean off a table to work on.
You can also get carbon fiber/kevlar cloth. I used it to build a 19 foot kayak in my garage, using a mahogany kit kayak as a mold. The kevlar adds a different kind of strength and makes the end product a lot less brittle. Used a fiber core material about 1/8" thick that contained glass beads to reduce waight. When landing my kayak one day, there was a 20 pound rock in my way. I reached over the side of the kayak and picked it up, throwing it up over my shoulder into deeper water. Oops! Misdirected and hit the top of the back deck of the kayak full force. There is a dent, but the structure of the hull is intact with no real damage. I believe carbon fiber alone would have shattered at the impact point. You can MIX the slow and fast hardeners to get a custom set time.
I am really enjoying this video! I strongly support your statement at the start where you say you're not an expert, but did some experiments and wanted to share your results. That's such a good attitude! I love it!
This is such a good video. It is good to show a great concept but also show the struggle to get proficient. We all struggle at the beginning of learning a new skill sometimes. It can be a demoralizing phase of the learning process if it seems like I’m the only one who just isn’t “getting it”. You rock. Thanks!!
Thanks for including all the mistakes in the video! I think those are the most valuable parts for DIY people because those always get your brain to work relative to your own projects.
I had my first attempt at CF layup last week, and it's great stuff to work with; It's expensive compared to other composites, but not as much as it used to be (I guess due to more companies now making it), looks very cool once finished. The only issues I experienced were loose tows on the edge that kept fraying off, I kept all these and chopped them up to make some forged-carbon-like material just for fun. Oh, and also forgetting to put enough of the right mold release on, which meant I spent ages chiseling and sanding to separate the parts.
Update: Okay, the comment above was trying something easier - yesterday I tried to skin a tailpipe trim piece and it was a nightmare of sticky hairiness, that said peel ply saved the day in keeping all the fibers in place and as I had a leaky vacuum bag, I used some cling film (I think the US folks call it Saran wrap) to hold everything tightly together till it cured, and it did a fantastic job, so will probably be using that for subsequent projects. Things I learned: Cut your CF and peel ply pieces and dry -fit them *before* you even think of applying resin, ensure you have no vacuum leaks and finally don't dive straight into making complex shapes without some practise items first!
Good for you on practicing composites. My advice don’t be afraid to practice with fiber glass and cheaper epoxies. The hardest part of composites is the labor so being able to practice is essential to getting good at lay ups.
@Jeremy Fielding watching the 4th video now and I think I know why I'm hooked, it is the way you "teach" things, it reminds me of the late Neil Peart (drummer of Rush) and the way he approached his work, very detailed and meticulous, again thanks!, I'll stop messaging you now, but won't stop watching, have a great day!
The TH-cam Algorithm did a good job this time. Got recommended an older video a few days ago and immediatly had to subscribe! Amazing conten!!! Keep up the wonderful work!!!
💥💥OH MY GOSH 😮❗️ You’re such an amazing wonderful Teacher,Inventor,Father and Husband 😊. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHAT YOU DO 🎉🎉🎉❤🎉🎉 You have the luckiest kids in the world 🌎. You Teach us in an awesome way that just makes sense. Keep on keeping on my TH-cam friend. Blessing’s, Carlos ✝️🙏❤️😊❗️
this is SO useful for the beginner. Honestly, your mistakes are helpful too because they show failure modes a beginner might hit. This is great, thank you!
I've been trying to figure out how to make something difficult out of carbon fiber for a while. I came up with a Plan B that I might actually be able to do. You just gave me an idea to combine both ideas so I can make the first one work. Good stuff dude.
I just watched the first video on your channel. Amazing content, amazing engineer with a great personality! You’re an absolute asset to any team or company.
This is pretty wild. Back in a previous life, I was planning on building my own wind turbine, with some fancy blades molded from fiberglass. This process seems pretty similar, although i was thinking about having a two piece external mold, and a bag inside inflated with air pressure. You've definitely gotten me thinking again.
Thanks Jeremy, I have wondered about using carbon-fibre instead of forming metal pieces. Although your robot arm plan didn’t survive first contact with reality you still demonstrated what can be done by DIY makers and that is inspiring.
Quick tip on the vacuum bag. surround the perimeter of with a piece of rope inside the bag with the ends at the end of the vacuum hose. It helps distribute the vacuum without the bag collapsing.
OMG. My first idea/thought at the beginning of your video was wrapping 3d printed objects in carbon fiber. Then you mentioned it out right! We must be on the same wavelength. Awesome video!
It's a very nice video, because, and please don't take me wrong, you just show all the mistakes that DIY enthusiasts (like me) might and will probably do, we definitely learn more of our mistakes than from our successes! I'll be following your channel Jeremy 👍
Big hats off to you, for showing and highlighting all the mistakes in good and light hearted manner :) It is hard to overcome the fear of failing and I think even more so than ever, when we're normally only spoon-fed the perfection of social media stories.
*Yep! It's just a very simple laminate system that wouldn't take much to compete with if someone or a company wanted to create their own laminate. I'm 45 so I got a nice introspective look at it decades ago in Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.* I started working on some ideas probably 10 years ago, but life and other goals, inventions etc. got in the way. *The immediate realization was an equal or better material wouldn't be difficult or outright expensive to create, but you would need a machine capable of processing different materials to be weaved.* We are not in an era where a handmade prototype has much security anymore if you shop around for investors with it. Having a production system in place is actually a significant security these days.
I agree carbon fiber is fun once you get the hang of it. I built a carbon fiber helicopter that hangs down from a ceiling fan for my sons room it’s about 12 inches wide x 4 1/2 feet long and looks really cool.
Really nice and easy video to watch....Thanks for making it . It helps to lightly sand the aluminium which will increase the bonding surface area by a very significant percentage . Also try to coat the aluminium with epoxy as soon as possible after you have sanded and cleaned it to try to prevent an oxidisation layer forming on the aluminium which can very easily destroy the chances of bonding the aluminium to any other material. The galvanic corrosion issue can be easily circumvented by coating the part in epoxy (and preferably a thin layer of fiber glass ) before adding carbon fiber.
oh man, I almost thought you'd just be talking about 3d printing with CF infused filament... but I love finally seeing someone make a proper almost tutorial on how to actually work with raw carbon fiber
You can do resin infusion with a cheap vac pump and a bag. Essentially you lay up your cloth dry (a bit of spray adhesive to hold the shape) and it it under vac while a feed tube pulls your resin through the entire part towards where the other wide where the vac port is. You will have a way stronger part than applying the resin by hand (which tends to be a higher resin ratio than it needed)
Hey one thing I learned while working on my composite airplane was that cutting the fiber diagonally at a 45 degree makes it conform to corners more and keeps those loose strands from coming off and making a mess while laying it. I use fiberglass mostly but carbon fiber is the same principal. I hope that helps on your future projects.
Good job showing all your success as well as failures, this is real life; any fabrication includes things that work, and things that do not work, all part of the process. It makes sense to always apply the resin to the carbon fiber, to optimize the resin impregnation into the fibers of the carbon.
I really wish you lived close to me! I own a small automotive composites fabrication business I would’ve loved to show you much easier ways to tackle that robot arm project and still achieve the desired result. Like you said it was an overwhelming first choice but with a few tricks you could’ve absolutely gotten it done in a much more timely manner!
great video on first time trying Carbon Fiber. a few notes/suggestions you may won't to be aware of. west system 105 epoxy is only good for around 50C before it get's soft thanks to a lowe Tg. And when you are making carbon fiber parts in multiple layups. You should be aware of Amine blush that forms when epoxy cures. And if it’s not removed before the next layup you are going to get bad layer adhesion. And this is where the green stuff “peal ply” you showed comes into the picture, as it makes the Amine blush form on the outside of the peal ply and then it’s easy and fast to removet. Vs sanding/washing the part before next layup
I love how you create your videos and show mistakes, especially when you explained about the robot arm and why you chose to switch over to another project instead of just releasing a video of the chess piece.
Very good work as always!! I work with composites, i would heavily recommend tacky tape on your vacuum bags roofing butyl rubber works great and isn't that expensive. With wet layup it recommend both "peel-Plies" the fabric layer should go first then the perforated FEP (Blue stuff) should go on top of that. The fabric peel ply does Way better at preventing "mark off" from your bagging. Overlaps with your breather/bleeder or even pleats/wrinkles in your bag with markoff on your part. Tape sealing any place where you dont want resin or fibers is a good way to control where everything goes. if you are able to get your hands on a 4 harness or 8 harness satin weave dry fiber, it will make the conform-ability to your molds so much better/easier. Keep up the good work
Great Video, as always. For beginners - the best items to start with and get an understanding of the material are flat (ish) objects. Think skateboard decks, or even a hockey stick. Ideally you want to be able to take one long piece of cloth and wrap it a few times around the whole object so that you dont have to re-bag so many times. One other way to go is by using a female mold of that chess piece split down the middle. You can then lay a larger sheet of the wet fabric into the cavity, and press it into the details from the inside. The vacuum will pull it in further, and then you trim the flash (overlength edges) to straight line with a multitool. Once you have the left and right sides made, you bond it along the center seam. This methods leaves a seam, but does allow you to reuse the mold many times. Last point - if you just wanted to reinforce the robot arm, you could simply leave the current one alone and create a much simpler curved "hump" portion out of a block of foam, leaving some extra fabric as flanges along the straight side. You can screw those flanges to the sides of the steel arm, and achieve the same torsional resistance across the curved surface skin.
I trust you've already gone through most, if not all, of this, but: There are a few factors to consider with 3D printing dimensional accurate parts. The process causes some shrinkage, and the calibration is going to be important for each new material. (Brand to brand, and even roll to roll). Part of that process includes verification of the steps each of the stepper motor takes to move a specific distance (defined as steps per mm, most commonly) for each axis, and the extruder stepper motor(s). These are usually accessible through the slicer profile settings, but some models require a deeper dive into the firmware/internal settings. Once you verify the steps are accurate for real-world movement (which is fairly rare out of the box), the next step would be scaling compensation for the shrinkage itself. Personally, I like the 100mm in each axis. It makes the math easier: 100/(actual print measurements)=(decimal representation of scale [1.xx=1xx%]) I hope that this is helpful to you or some of your viewers. There is more info available online in a TON of places.
Jeremy, thank you for continuing to make videos revolving around STEM. Its inspirational to have fellow engineers of non-caucasian decent. Additionally your relaxed attitude and mellow speaking dynamic draws me in on your videos.
I really enjoyed this video and I'm really inspired to try creating something in carbon fiber, which I never would have done on my own. Thanks for showing us all the issues that you ran into as it advances our knowledge base without the pain of going through it ourselves. I love this channel! Thanks Jeremy.
I don't see myself using these materials in the future, but it's nice to see that it's not as difficult as one might think. Just take your time and don't be afraid to screw up...every mistake is a moment to learn 👍
Just wanted to help! Aluminum and carbon fiber touching will cause galvanic corrosion. Anodize or coat the aluminum with something. Ultimately the part will fail because of the galvanic corrosion. Hope this helps! Love your channel and your a rock star with engineering💪🏼
Another good way used in aircraft construction is to wrap the metal part in low weight glass fiber. That will prevent the galvanic corrosion.
In the automotive world, they are bonding CF tubes to raw aluminum yokes and rating them for 5000hp+.
Edit, just looked it up. Apparently the CF driveshafts seal off the bonded area from atmosphere so it’s a none-factor.
@@justRD1 Now that is an interesting detail I hadn't heard before.
@@justRD1 5000+ hp, so I expect racing where you don't need the part to survive many years and many cycles. You need it to get you through the race/season. There is a galvanic potencial difference between these materials. The corrosion will come.
GIVE THIS MAN HIS FLOWERS!!!!!
This comment should have as many likes as OP has!!!
This comment has saved several of you more money then the original posted video already has. But evidently I am not seeing any of the appreciation for this users 💎Information GEM💎 that you have been blessed with.
(I have no relationship to the man who originally posted this video, not the gentleman who dropped this GEM of a comment.
This has literally saved me over $160 in just one repair project. So I know it has saved dozens of you much more.
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Regarding the cost of Carbon Fiber. The carbon fiber itself is like buying any other fabric... by the yard. You can buy as little or as much as you need. Think about it this way, you can make a part as strong as steel, as light as plastic, and all without the skills or cost of CNC, a welder, etc. If you can use a pair of scissors you can make it. That is amazing to me. I think its great for DIYers and the budget. Also please try out the sponsor as that really helps the channel. You will get 10% off your first order with Fictiv - bit.ly/3YOmVzF. Use Coupon code: Fielding
Watching you take risks and use your mind since your early videos about salvaging electric motors from discarded appliances has been really inspiring. Your genius is damn impressive and you still make things accessible. Thanks!
@Nicholas Coin This is where I bought mine. I don't get any commission for this link. But I am tracking it to see how many people use it. bit.ly/3BWHfpL
I actually need some Urethane parts done, and noticed that your sponsor does them, so well done showing the screenshots of your use. Will be using your code in the next few weeks. Thanks!
You shouldn't lay carbon fiber directly onto metal, carbon fiber conducts electricity and if it is bonded to metal can create galvanic corrosion especially if the part is likely to come into contact with moisture like on a boat, car or motorcycle.
A way to stop this happening is to put a thin layer of fiberglass as a barrier between the carbon fiber and the metal part.
Carbon Fiber, especially Epoxy Resin, needs an oven and pressurisation to reach the advertised strength. The reason the biggest Steel Ships are much bigger than the biggest Fiberglass ships is simply because the cost and complexity of the assembly outweighs the production in steel by an unreasonable margin.
For casual applications it's fine, buy you can't make full car chassis with it, for example.
Awesome video. I've been curious about carbon fiber.
Sup
Imagine a Hummer EV but the weight of the batteries is 99% of the total :o
MmmHmm .. .. hmmm...
Imagine not needing a Hummer to go make groceries.
Cheaper alternative, fiberglass. It doesn't look as cool, but it can be very strong too.
I have been 3D printing for years and never thought about the concept of external model vs internal model stress. Great explanation - makes a lot of sense.
New viewer here and I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your approach and honesty about mistakes and the learning process. Great work and I'll be watching more in the future!
I have been working in the composites field for several years and just wanted to talk about other materials as well :
- Glass Fiber - cheap, brittle (doesn't handle shocks or abrasion well), very light. Mostly used for boats.
- Carbon Fiber - medium priced, sensitive to abrasion but resistant to shocks, medium heavy. Mostly used for air-related pieces (speed cars, tuning, aeronautics, space)
- Titanium Fiber - high price, resistant to shocks and abrasion, quite heavy. Mostly high-standards pieces (aeronautics, space, some fine engineering stuff).
Yes, this basic hint is not a hard rule whatshowever because you can use different weave patterns (as described very well in the video), use different layers with different materials, mixed meshes and so on... I just mentioned it to give a general hint for the viewers.
Choose your fiber materials according to the project you are making. Once you understand how it works, everything will be simpler. Multi-layer is also possible but harder for beginners as you have to deal with multiple constraints.
As explained briefly in this video, bubbles are your worst enemy, especially if you need uniform resistance on a surface.
Generally, the quicker the hardener, the hotter it will get, which can also have an effect on the mold you are using (deformation due to high heat).
The resin that you use can make a huge difference as well (UV-resistant, thermal range of use when finished, and so on...).
Please use masks, eye protection (specially if you sand it because it creates very tiny particles that can be very toxic for your lungs) and all the other protections you might find useful to protect yourself. The fibers are not that harmful but the particles and the vapours can be.
Thanks you for the video, I really enjoy people talking about this subject, as it is indeed very interesting.
Where does kevlar carbon fiber fit in this scale?
I have learned over 4+ decades of working, is that hardly any project is completed within budget, on time, or completely witin specifications. That is still an admirable goal, though!
Hi Jeremy, a few points:
- For safety I was told that you should always use a respirator and/or work in a well ventilated area when dealing with epoxy resins. It isn't an issue immediately but a professor of mine who built composite aircraft as a hobby mentioned that the long term buildup of vapors is detrimental and proper PPE / ESC should be used when regularly working with epoxy composites.
- Another cool feature of the more textured peel-ply is that it leaves the cured surface ready for bonding with other composite parts. If you wanted to add more material or join two already cured parts that peel-ply saves you the effort of prepping the surfaces for more binder material.
- You kind of touched on this but in addition to weave patterns being able to affect the directional strength of the composite, you can also stack multiple layers of different weaves to 1) provide more thickness = more cross-sectional area in a classic bending load = higher strength and
2) have multiple directions in which the stands are aligned with. If you know the forces the part is expecting, you can have most of your layers supporting that situation but other layers aligned to resist torsional forces. The example I would go to is with the checkerboard weave, you can offset a layer by 45 degrees to get more overall strength and stiffness.
Very cool video!
Epoxy fumes are bad. So is any broken off material/dust from working with carbon fiber or fiber glass.
Maybe I've been doing it wrong for the last couple of decades, but peel ply needs sanding. If you don't the failure is likely to be between these surfaces.
You don't need a respirator during layup. Epoxy resin and hardener has very low vapor pressure. Most people do not worry about the vapor when doing layup with wet epoxy. The biggest danger is getting it on your skin or eyes. Over time you can develop a sensitivity to the resin or hardener or both. Once that happens you will probably not be able to work with epoxy any more. Also, some of the hardeners, in particular, can do fairly immediate damage to your eyes. So I would suggest that you should wear gloves and glasses and a plastic face shield. The respirator is really not needed or is much less important than the other PPE. Now, when sanding epoxy, especially if it is not fully cured (less than 7 days for room temperature cure), you should definitely use a particle respirator or dust mask. And if you ever spray it then you need absolutely state of the art protection because it is very bad to breathe in the uncured epoxy aerosols. But for wet layup with brushes, not so much.
Peel ply has release agent in it. When you remove it, some pieces of the peel ply remain on the work piece. According to the experts, it is best to sand the surface lightly after removing peel ply if you need a good bond. There are some peel plys with no release agent. But if you are not sure, then it is best to sand.
@@EricBrummer Great advice. Bis A epoxies are 100% solids and the fumes are not all that toxic. However, the cleanup solvents are, and your point about the fibers is completely correct. If using vinyl and poly ester resins, masks are really crucial. I have worked with composites for about 30 years, and I never work without a full face respirator rated at P-100 for Organic vapors, I add little pink dust catchers to the filters because they catch the big chunks.
@@imusuallycorrect An indeed you are. However there are some no sanding textured peel plies that work great.
Your enthusiasm for learning powered by curiosity is infectious. Your presentation style allows me to imagine we are best of friends, working together on projects of equal interest. Thank you Jeremy.
I love your sense of humor in the face of mistakes or problems. "If you don't learn your lesson the first time, apparently, two or three times is still not enough." 😂😂17:42
That one hit close to home..😅😅
Happy _Cinco de Mayo_ everybody!
You have done a great favor to all the DIY with your channel . Thanks for sharing your experience, thaughts and professional advice and support! Much love from another Brother.
Thank you for being vulnerable and showing your learning journey! Seeing you face challenges, persevere, think and overcome is inspirational. As we oldies say down-under - ya blood's worth bottling.
Nice job and informative video. One thing you might want to be aware of if you're not already is "amine blush." When you're using epoxy it creates a shiny surface when it dries called blush. You need to wipe this down with warm water and a Brillo pad or Scotch-Brite before anything will properly adhere to it. You can actually see the shine disappear as you scrub it.
The blush comes off in the peel ply if you use peel ply. You may still need to sand after removing the peel ply, but the blush shouldn't be a problem.
I think this video illustrates a rather important and easy to overlook pitfall (that I fall into time and time again..): don't work to a deadline but to a result. The pressure of counting days unconsciously creates some sort of stress that ultimately makes everything take longer and cost more than a more relaxed approach.
One of the best DIY videos I've watched in my entire life.
This is the kind of video a normal person relates to. Followed the instructions, took care of everything, double checked (or at least believe you did check) and things go wrong. You've made a mistake. That's the value of the videos that shows the real situations, how to cope with it technically and psychologically. How to learn from your own errors. How to mature and overcome the frustration. How to proceed by pure will, by innovating, by luck. Finish the project and immediately think on what could be done better or what will be the next project.
Those videos full of happy paths when everything seems to work in the first try and breaking records, personals or not. They feel the normal guy think "it's too much for me".
By been courageous and showing and sharing your mistakes, by sharing your feelings about and thru the project, is what makes this video most valuable.
Congratulation on the job well done.
And 10 thousands of my best thank yous for sharing with us.
I just want to say I watch videos on creation of carbon fiber parts… 3d printing… and just self education and learning stuff… I am a pretty reserved person with taking risks … watching your videos … attempts creations success and “failure”which is just progression so please don’t take that word as negativity. We don’t learn right away… and you have truly inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and take a chance on my self to start trying something I always wanted to do. So truly thank you. I appreciate your video and your words. Thank you.
One of the problems I had designing and printing 3D plastic was getting fits to match measurements . After some experimentation I discovered that I need to think of all measurements in terms of 0.4 mm - nozzle size!- It made a big difference in fittings getting things to line up.
Yeah, I had that same issue when I first got into 3D printing and it took me a bit to figure out that when I was designing a part, I had to consider the printed line widths and overlaps to get the most dimensionally accurate part.
Not really true anymore with Arachne becoming the standard perimeter generator. With a .4 nozzle you can do down to .2mm lines and up to 1.2mm lines consistently, and the software uses that pretty well now.
also remember to account for shrinkage due to cooling of the 3d printed material
ADHD was going hard today until I saw this video and got hooked on watching your process. First time seeing your content. Subscribed.
Hyperfocus is also ADHD
For really complex curves, try cutting your cloth into triangles. That will allow for more a lot more flexibility. Also, you probably don't need to worry about it, but different hardeners (fast cure versus slow cure) can affect the final strength of the part. Not always, but something to check just to make sure.
You seem like you'd know, can you mix the hardener types for a medium set?
@@ChupaCabraThing Yes you can (I got that info directly from West Systems a number of years back). Also they have an Extra Slow Hardener (#209) in the series as well as a Clear Coat (#207) for final layers. I believe that with the exception of the Clear Coat, there is not a substantial difference in strength between the hardeners.
@@ChupaCabraThing I haven't, but some you can. You'd have to check the individual resins/hardeners. Any manufacturer would (should) have pretty much any info you'd need about that in their product literature. Typically, though, you'd just find the hardener that fit your need instead of mixing stuff.
I have seen sail boat masts made useing triangle cuts of carbon fabric in aluminium and bag moulds.
The best Videos are where people show how they faild AND how they fixed it 👍 thats the best value anyone can get out of the videos about any project 😁
I have wanted to do this for the longest time. I am so happy that you made this video. When I saw the title and that it was YOU, I thought, "this is going to work! Jeremy's videos are always very helpful and very useful. Thank You!
I love that you keep the hang ups, blunders and mistakes in your videos. It sheds light on the level of detail required and shows it can't happen right the first time every time. Keep up the great videos.
You strike me as a genuine dude... definitely someone I’d trust.
For something like the knight, you should make a negative mold (probably in this case two or more parts is easiest for layup) and then polish the interior to a high level of finish so that you can layup the carbon fiber directly against it and get a perfectly smooth outer surface. The separate halves are then joined afterward and the seam can be polished smooth (especially since this piece is mostly decorative and doesn't require high strength).
That certainly sounds like a good approach. As you know I am new to this, so perhaps on the next one! The next decorative project that is LOL
And for something like the knight that's decorative and not weight critical you could use fiberglass instead of carbon fiber. Glass is much cheaper than carbon and similar or easier to work with.
Jeremy, my friend Craig has a you tube channel called Throttle Stop Garage. He is making carbon fiber fenders, hood, trunk lid and many other parts for a 1967 Volvo tudor sedan. He's Canadian and VERY meticulous with his bagging and vacuuming. His trick is to pull a vacuum and draw resin into the bag. You really need to watch him, you'll learn a ton. Good Luck and keep the vids coming!
Throttle Stop is a great channel!
If you haven't seen Mike Patey's videos from his "Scrappy" build, he is an absolute genius with carbon (and most everything else). You two would have a great time getting together. I know he mentioned corrosion issues when mixing aluminum and carbon in one of his videos as well.
I'm glad someone beat me to it! I would also recommend adding a thin layer of fiberglass between the aluminum and carbon fiber to eliminate the chance of corrosion between these materials.
This. Reach out to Mike Patey. He’s a carbon fiber guru.
Mistakes are incredibly instructive. Thank you for including them in your video.
Also i would recommend using a 0.8 mm nozzle for multiday prints as 9/10 % of the time it will cut the printing time in half and wont effect the strength to the print exsepcaly since your carbine coating it.
I worte a comment asking about how big of a nozzle was Jeremy using but you sort of beat me to it. I think theres even 1.2 nozzles not sure if bigger. However for the printers he has I'm not sure if the heatblock would be able to handle that big of a nozle unless you drop the speed which it defeat the orpuse but it should be a good test going as big as the printer can handle in this particular case.
I worked at an aircraft composite parts company and learned a lot about various materials and usage and the processes to make the parts. It isn't easy but can be done by a DIYer with proper instructions.
I have always enjoyed your self-depreciating sense of humor. I spent about ten years designing, then re-designing, 3 different CNC machines. And each new design started out as the final re-creation. Actually I redid everything countless different ways chasing down the next problem. People watching you shrug off mistakes is a very important lesson.
It's been said that in life, 95% of the choices we make can be "do-overs". We get another chance to make another mistake.
Awesome video. We can tell you love us because only a person truly in love would go after that level of complexity for their first carbon fiber layup, and do it on camera. Don't stress about getting content to us sir, we are not going anywhere.
Btw- I totally appreciate the realism of affixing things to the bench, etc., etc. That level of honesty is refreshing.
Closest to this I've done is fibreglass repairs to Kayaks back when I was young enough to fit in them. Interesting to see both the similarities and differences in what on the surface looks like it should be a very similar process. Thank you for taking us on your journey over the pointy bit of dunning kruger.
Now, that phrase made me laugh! Having spent a lot of time - particularly doing home repairs - snagged on the pointiest bits of Dunning-Kruger I can feel it resonate in my bones.
@@ColdHawk The fun part is the ride down the other side as you're forced to figure out why thing that you were sure would work ended up with everything catching fire.
Carbon fiber and fiberglass are more or less identical processes to my knowledge, though there are definitely a lot of different ways to deal with both. Heck, carbon and fiberglass can even be used in the same layup for a single part. Probably the biggest difference in handling the two is how they respond to a pair of scissors. Well, and carbon might be a bit messier... I've done very little with fiberglass but I spent a year working with carbon and let me tell you, that stuff gets everywhere...
You could use rubber membrane press or some sort of rubber sock arround the knight (those can press tight areas without wrinkles) and you could model holes into the knight so that epoxy would flow into the part. So you would not need any peel ply (silicone membranes are self releasing and you would have "dry" carbon), breather etc. You could also get a 3d printed part out of it to make it lighter by heating it up. Also try gluing carbon onto the part with car spray glue, then use silicone kitchen brush to wet it up (reusable) and then pull a vacuum and work epoxy inside the holes by hand (diy autoclave carbon). The mould could be done of hard wax to be mented out in the end
That take away, "learn something new". I took on a project to make a part for my adventure van, it was going to involve printing with ASA, and I've only been learning 3d printing, relearning CAD in general, and learning Fusion360 for just about a year. I've learned so much about part design. I've learned so much about my printer, working with the higher temp filament, getting good at bed leveling, etc. I've learned so much even just about all the little details in the slicer settings! In the end, the part is buried in lap sealant and barely visible, but I'm so happy I took it on and am energized to try even more new things!
To get precise dimensions, could you build a rigid and precise jig to fix the fasteners (or dowels etc) in exactly the right positions, and then build the carbon fibre part around them?
Certainly
Love how your content is fast enough for people with knowledge already but also explains it to fast learners that are beginners.
Fantastic video. There are a million different ways to get to the finished product with CF. I visited several different production shops to get clues to the most efficient process. So many different takes on reaching the same result. Love your process and approach. More, more, more!!!!
THIS! This is why I subscribed to your channel, Jeremy! Every mistake is education.
Knowing the few ways that work best is important, but knowing the many ways to fail is equally important.
Thanks, for another great vid, brother!
I've watched people build carbon fiber planes, but never thought of wrapping a 3D printed part like this. This looks great for small runs where a little extra weight doesn't matter.
I have never laid up CF however, I have seen Mike Patey do it, so I'm qualified to say this😁: You need to electrically isolate the aluminum from the CF, otherwise the CF will destroy aluminum via electrolysis.
there's also the forged carbon fiber process that you can make molds with 3d printing. I tried following Easy Composite's process and it needed some minor modification but it's totally doable.
For certain parts the forged process is better than hand layup (especially the small stuff like the brake lever they made);
I made a shift knob for my car using the forged process and it looks stunning. Way more unique than regular woven fiber.
I've probably watched every one of Easy Composite's videos but I still haven't tried making anything with carbon fiber myself yet. It's great to see someone actually making stuff.
One of these days I'll make some carbon fiber parts myself. First I need to clean off a table to work on.
You can also get carbon fiber/kevlar cloth. I used it to build a 19 foot kayak in my garage, using a mahogany kit kayak as a mold. The kevlar adds a different kind of strength and makes the end product a lot less brittle. Used a fiber core material about 1/8" thick that contained glass beads to reduce waight. When landing my kayak one day, there was a 20 pound rock in my way. I reached over the side of the kayak and picked it up, throwing it up over my shoulder into deeper water. Oops! Misdirected and hit the top of the back deck of the kayak full force. There is a dent, but the structure of the hull is intact with no real damage. I believe carbon fiber alone would have shattered at the impact point. You can MIX the slow and fast hardeners to get a custom set time.
Thanks!
I am really enjoying this video! I strongly support your statement at the start where you say you're not an expert, but did some experiments and wanted to share your results. That's such a good attitude! I love it!
Vaccum bags, with valved nozzles are readily available and with normal household vacuums. Typically for storing clothes or bedding.
This is such a good video. It is good to show a great concept but also show the struggle to get proficient.
We all struggle at the beginning of learning a new skill sometimes. It can be a demoralizing phase of the learning process if it seems like I’m the only one who just isn’t “getting it”.
You rock. Thanks!!
Thanks for including all the mistakes in the video! I think those are the most valuable parts for DIY people because those always get your brain to work relative to your own projects.
I had my first attempt at CF layup last week, and it's great stuff to work with; It's expensive compared to other composites, but not as much as it used to be (I guess due to more companies now making it), looks very cool once finished. The only issues I experienced were loose tows on the edge that kept fraying off, I kept all these and chopped them up to make some forged-carbon-like material just for fun. Oh, and also forgetting to put enough of the right mold release on, which meant I spent ages chiseling and sanding to separate the parts.
Update: Okay, the comment above was trying something easier - yesterday I tried to skin a tailpipe trim piece and it was a nightmare of sticky hairiness, that said peel ply saved the day in keeping all the fibers in place and as I had a leaky vacuum bag, I used some cling film (I think the US folks call it Saran wrap) to hold everything tightly together till it cured, and it did a fantastic job, so will probably be using that for subsequent projects. Things I learned: Cut your CF and peel ply pieces and dry -fit them *before* you even think of applying resin, ensure you have no vacuum leaks and finally don't dive straight into making complex shapes without some practise items first!
Good for you on practicing composites. My advice don’t be afraid to practice with fiber glass and cheaper epoxies. The hardest part of composites is the labor so being able to practice is essential to getting good at lay ups.
Jeremey...Really glad to see another video! 85 views in TWO MINUTES!!!!
So glad to see you post a video on TH-cam, your videos always help scratch an itch and make me want to try new things.
I appreciate that you do leave in the mistakes. And point them out. I tend to be too hard on myself for mistakes.
I was looking for a beginner CF video and was so happy when I saw it was a vid by you ranked first. I always learn the most from your videos.
I have never seen your content before, but you seem so chill and genuine. Got a new sub for sure.
@Jeremy Fielding watching the 4th video now and I think I know why I'm hooked, it is the way you "teach" things, it reminds me of the late Neil Peart (drummer of Rush) and the way he approached his work, very detailed and meticulous, again thanks!, I'll stop messaging you now, but won't stop watching, have a great day!
The TH-cam Algorithm did a good job this time. Got recommended an older video a few days ago and immediatly had to subscribe! Amazing conten!!! Keep up the wonderful work!!!
I use that same plastic cement for Acrylic sheets and PLA prints. It works incredibly well.
💥💥OH MY GOSH 😮❗️
You’re such an amazing wonderful Teacher,Inventor,Father and Husband 😊.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHAT YOU DO 🎉🎉🎉❤🎉🎉
You have the luckiest kids in the world 🌎.
You Teach us in an awesome way that just makes sense.
Keep on keeping on my TH-cam friend.
Blessing’s, Carlos ✝️🙏❤️😊❗️
this is SO useful for the beginner. Honestly, your mistakes are helpful too because they show failure modes a beginner might hit. This is great, thank you!
I've been trying to figure out how to make something difficult out of carbon fiber for a while. I came up with a Plan B that I might actually be able to do. You just gave me an idea to combine both ideas so I can make the first one work. Good stuff dude.
I just watched the first video on your channel. Amazing content, amazing engineer with a great personality! You’re an absolute asset to any team or company.
This is pretty wild. Back in a previous life, I was planning on building my own wind turbine, with some fancy blades molded from fiberglass. This process seems pretty similar, although i was thinking about having a two piece external mold, and a bag inside inflated with air pressure.
You've definitely gotten me thinking again.
Once again, the curiousity of my younger days has been been awoken! Thank you, Jeremy! Excellent job!
Thanks Jeremy, I have wondered about using carbon-fibre instead of forming metal pieces. Although your robot arm plan didn’t survive first contact with reality you still demonstrated what can be done by DIY makers and that is inspiring.
Love what you do, and can relate so much: "I should've done something simpler, but it wouldn't be as much fun."
Quick tip on the vacuum bag. surround the perimeter of with a piece of rope inside the bag with the ends at the end of the vacuum hose. It helps distribute the vacuum without the bag collapsing.
Very cool. You’re never too old to learn a new skill. Thanks for sharing that journey with us.
You are fabulous at explaining it at a very human level. Wonderful presentation. Thanks.
Extremely educational , very inspiring.! Not afraid to admit mistakes, the mark of a good teacher. Thank you so much
OMG. My first idea/thought at the beginning of your video was wrapping 3d printed objects in carbon fiber. Then you mentioned it out right! We must be on the same wavelength. Awesome video!
It's a very nice video, because, and please don't take me wrong, you just show all the mistakes that DIY enthusiasts (like me) might and will probably do, we definitely learn more of our mistakes than from our successes! I'll be following your channel Jeremy 👍
Big hats off to you, for showing and highlighting all the mistakes in good and light hearted manner :)
It is hard to overcome the fear of failing and I think even more so than ever, when we're normally only spoon-fed the perfection of social media stories.
*Yep! It's just a very simple laminate system that wouldn't take much to compete with if someone or a company wanted to create their own laminate. I'm 45 so I got a nice introspective look at it decades ago in Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.*
I started working on some ideas probably 10 years ago, but life and other goals, inventions etc. got in the way. *The immediate realization was an equal or better material wouldn't be difficult or outright expensive to create, but you would need a machine capable of processing different materials to be weaved.*
We are not in an era where a handmade prototype has much security anymore if you shop around for investors with it. Having a production system in place is actually a significant security these days.
I agree carbon fiber is fun once you get the hang of it. I built a carbon fiber helicopter that hangs down from a ceiling fan for my sons room it’s about 12 inches wide x 4 1/2 feet long and looks really cool.
Really nice and easy video to watch....Thanks for making it .
It helps to lightly sand the aluminium which will increase the bonding surface area by a very significant percentage . Also try to coat the aluminium with epoxy as soon as possible after you have sanded and cleaned it to try to prevent an oxidisation layer forming on the aluminium which can very easily destroy the chances of bonding the aluminium to any other material.
The galvanic corrosion issue can be easily circumvented by coating the part in epoxy (and preferably a thin layer of fiber glass ) before adding carbon fiber.
I name thee: Jeremy the Adventurous Engineer! Love how you show your learning journey. Thank you so much for these videos.
I really like your honesty about building things, every small failure is a learning opportunity!
Great content, thank you!
oh man, I almost thought you'd just be talking about 3d printing with CF infused filament... but I love finally seeing someone make a proper almost tutorial on how to actually work with raw carbon fiber
You can do resin infusion with a cheap vac pump and a bag. Essentially you lay up your cloth dry (a bit of spray adhesive to hold the shape) and it it under vac while a feed tube pulls your resin through the entire part towards where the other wide where the vac port is. You will have a way stronger part than applying the resin by hand (which tends to be a higher resin ratio than it needed)
Hey one thing I learned while working on my composite airplane was that cutting the fiber diagonally at a 45 degree makes it conform to corners more and keeps those loose strands from coming off and making a mess while laying it. I use fiberglass mostly but carbon fiber is the same principal. I hope that helps on your future projects.
Good job showing all your success as well as failures, this is real life; any fabrication includes things that work, and things that do not work, all part of the process. It makes sense to always apply the resin to the carbon fiber, to optimize the resin impregnation into the fibers of the carbon.
I really wish you lived close to me! I own a small automotive composites fabrication business I would’ve loved to show you much easier ways to tackle that robot arm project and still achieve the desired result. Like you said it was an overwhelming first choice but with a few tricks you could’ve absolutely gotten it done in a much more timely manner!
great video on first time trying Carbon Fiber. a few notes/suggestions you may won't to be aware of. west system 105 epoxy is only good for around 50C before it get's soft thanks to a lowe Tg. And when you are making carbon fiber parts in multiple layups. You should be aware of Amine blush that forms when epoxy cures. And if it’s not removed before the next layup you are going to get bad layer adhesion. And this is where the green stuff “peal ply” you showed comes into the picture, as it makes the Amine blush form on the outside of the peal ply and then it’s easy and fast to removet. Vs sanding/washing the part before next layup
That was helpful! Thank you!
I love how you create your videos and show mistakes, especially when you explained about the robot arm and why you chose to switch over to another project instead of just releasing a video of the chess piece.
Thanks for posting the ilmistakes and "days lost" text. It's very helpful to see the ENTIRE process.
Very good work as always!!
I work with composites, i would heavily recommend tacky tape on your vacuum bags roofing butyl rubber works great and isn't that expensive. With wet layup it recommend both "peel-Plies" the fabric layer should go first then the perforated FEP (Blue stuff) should go on top of that. The fabric peel ply does Way better at preventing "mark off" from your bagging. Overlaps with your breather/bleeder or even pleats/wrinkles in your bag with markoff on your part. Tape sealing any place where you dont want resin or fibers is a good way to control where everything goes.
if you are able to get your hands on a 4 harness or 8 harness satin weave dry fiber, it will make the conform-ability to your molds so much better/easier.
Keep up the good work
Great Video, as always.
For beginners - the best items to start with and get an understanding of the material are flat (ish) objects. Think skateboard decks, or even a hockey stick. Ideally you want to be able to take one long piece of cloth and wrap it a few times around the whole object so that you dont have to re-bag so many times.
One other way to go is by using a female mold of that chess piece split down the middle. You can then lay a larger sheet of the wet fabric into the cavity, and press it into the details from the inside. The vacuum will pull it in further, and then you trim the flash (overlength edges) to straight line with a multitool. Once you have the left and right sides made, you bond it along the center seam. This methods leaves a seam, but does allow you to reuse the mold many times.
Last point - if you just wanted to reinforce the robot arm, you could simply leave the current one alone and create a much simpler curved "hump" portion out of a block of foam, leaving some extra fabric as flanges along the straight side. You can screw those flanges to the sides of the steel arm, and achieve the same torsional resistance across the curved surface skin.
I trust you've already gone through most, if not all, of this, but:
There are a few factors to consider with 3D printing dimensional accurate parts. The process causes some shrinkage, and the calibration is going to be important for each new material. (Brand to brand, and even roll to roll). Part of that process includes verification of the steps each of the stepper motor takes to move a specific distance (defined as steps per mm, most commonly) for each axis, and the extruder stepper motor(s). These are usually accessible through the slicer profile settings, but some models require a deeper dive into the firmware/internal settings. Once you verify the steps are accurate for real-world movement (which is fairly rare out of the box), the next step would be scaling compensation for the shrinkage itself. Personally, I like the 100mm in each axis. It makes the math easier: 100/(actual print measurements)=(decimal representation of scale [1.xx=1xx%])
I hope that this is helpful to you or some of your viewers. There is more info available online in a TON of places.
Jeremy, thank you for continuing to make videos revolving around STEM. Its inspirational to have fellow engineers of non-caucasian decent. Additionally your relaxed attitude and mellow speaking dynamic draws me in on your videos.
I really enjoyed this video and I'm really inspired to try creating something in carbon fiber, which I never would have done on my own. Thanks for showing us all the issues that you ran into as it advances our knowledge base without the pain of going through it ourselves. I love this channel! Thanks Jeremy.
Very cool. I've never really thought about making something with carbon fiber, but I'm tempted to try it now.
Jeremy, you did your ususal outstanding job for those of us on the first rung of the ladder -- Thank You for another excellent video!
4:00 love the foam and sharpie visual aid! I don’t think I’ve seen someone use a foam for stress visualization 👍
Thanks for sharing
Also a lovely impromptu demo about how you can think you're getting compression but it really wants to turn into bending.
Appreciate including mistakes 100%.. I think we learn _more_ from seeing the mistakes than seeing the successes.
Learning from mistakes!!. Great way to learn to be resilient. The key of a real entrepreneur and maker. Congratulations and thanks!
I don't see myself using these materials in the future, but it's nice to see that it's not as difficult as one might think. Just take your time and don't be afraid to screw up...every mistake is a moment to learn 👍
I really enjoyed this video. Mistakes are just as important as victories. You have a killer attitude. Love it.
Epoxy, PR500, melt the plastic together to make vacuum bag. Electric scissors work well for cutting the fiber, inexpensive and worth it
Great video. Love the organic experience. Sharing insight as it happens. EXCELLENT.
Always enjoy your teaching and your infectious enthusiasm. Thank you