How to build your own Carbon Fiber Camper making your own Composite/Foam panels.

ebrabaek

Adventurer
I like how you make yourself laugh! :)

Good work! Do you have a link to where to buy the thixotropic online? I would like to read more about the stuff. Also, is it just for carbon fiber or is it for FG as well?
Thank you kindly. Laughter is such an important part of life. At least to me it is, but I'm a silly Dane. Perhaps not during or after you complete the before landing checklist....:unsure:, but other why, smiles and laughter is good.
The links to the major material is in thread #5. The second epoxy link is the Thixotropic. It will bond to just about anything. When you click on the linky, and scroll down you will find the data sheet.
 
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highwest

Well-known member
I like how you make yourself laugh! :)

Good work! Do you have a link to where to buy the thixotropic online? I would like to read more about the stuff. Also, is it just for carbon fiber or is it for FG as well?
If you happen to be around marine shops or just need this stuff in a convenient caulk tube form, look into West Systems’ Six10 or Total Boat’s Thixo. They are not black though…
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
If you happen to be around marine shops or just need this stuff in a convenient caulk tube form, look into West Systems’ Six10 or Total Boat’s Thixo. They are not black though…
Good to know. None are natively black, or at least not that I'm familiar with. You just add what ever color pigment you want post mixing.
 

ITTOG

Well-known member
Thank you kindly. Laughter is such an important part of life. At least to me it is, but I'm a silly Dane. Perhaps not during or after you complete the before landing checklist....:unsure:, but other why, smiles and laughter is good.
The links to the major material is in thread #5. The second epoxy link is the Thixotropic. It will bond to just about anything. When you click on the linky, and scroll down you will find the data sheet.
Cool, thanks. Glad I asked because I thought the thix was an additive to the epoxy. Instead it IS the epoxy.

If you happen to be around marine shops or just need this stuff in a convenient caulk tube form, look into West Systems’ Six10 or Total Boat’s Thixo. They are not black though…
Thanks for that info.

Neat little tube that does the mixing for you!
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highwest

Well-known member
Good to know. None are natively black, or at least not that I'm familiar with. You just add what ever color pigment you want post mixing.
Yeah… once you start mixing in pigments, the handy tube loses a bit of its convenience. I’ve used white pigment before in traditional non-thickened epoxy, a little goes a long way, but I noticed that the epoxy was a bit thinner and liked to flow/drip a little more. Did you find that to be the case with black pigment and Max Bond?
 

rruff

Explorer
Do you have a link to where to buy the thixotropic online?
This is one brand; never used it myself. If I need thickened epoxy I just add fumed silica until I get the consistency I want. https://www.totalboat.com/products/...Sy6QVm4BN7k44IkvhXAaZtED9Fqg5XmgaAi0XEALw_wcB

I did use this for gluing aluminum plates to carbon. It's quite thick compared to laminating epoxy, but I think you'd need to add some silica to make it non-slumping. https://www.totalboat.com/products/...Sy6QVm4BN7k44IkvhXAaZtED9Fqg5XmgaAi0XEALw_wcB
 

highwest

Well-known member
Keep in mind that those tubes of thickened epoxy require a caulking gun that has more pumping leverage than the common hardware store caulking gun (18:1 vs 12:1). It’s thick stuff and the mixing tip provides a lot of resistance!
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
Yeah… once you start mixing in pigments, the handy tube loses a bit of its convenience. I’ve used white pigment before in traditional non-thickened epoxy, a little goes a long way, but I noticed that the epoxy was a bit thinner and liked to flow/drip a little more. Did you find that to be the case with black pigment and Max Bond?
It did not change at all. It is such a small percentage so I would be surprised if it did. There are many great polymers on the market. There are also some ok ones and off course some not so good ones. Different jobs dictate different types. One of the biggest mistakes and a catalyst in failing projects is to just generalize and gather an epoxy for the job. Perhaps it is a weekly special........or someone said or mentioned a product. No specificities really, but it happens a lot and then at some point I get a pm through my gmail or a hail through my FB page. Most all of them seems surprised when I suggest glue failure. They will then argue that it is high quality epoxy and or the right epoxy for the purpose and so forth we go.

One of the most valuable tools you can have in ya box is past experience with your alchemist and his/her polymer formulation. It is not rocket science really. I can assure you that the F-1 guys dont stock their polymers from your neighborhoods' hardware store. I am not trying to knock on anyone or any product with what I'm about to say.
Marine grade epoxies belong in the marine world. Nothing wrong with them. They are designed for the purpose of bonding wood, fiber glass and other products in a severe salty realm. They do that so very good. They are designed and manufactured in very large qualities to balance profit with performance, and in the end consumers get an awesome product that does exactly what it is designed to do. That said were you to build a F-1 wing, or perhaps an aerospace component, you need to look at the F-1 or Aerospace store. Yes, you will pay more but you get the product that is designed for the right job and it will do just that.

So if I build a camper by using a marine grade epoxy will it fail...... I dont have the answer. Perhaps No.....Perhaps yes. There is only one way you can ensure success, and that is the point I am leading to. Find a alkymist that you like. Do a few small jobs. Test the helguland utta it, and if it holds up, stay right where ya are. In working with composites since I was a silly Danish teenager I have never had a failure. Not withstanding the parts I shot at.....:LOL::ROFLMAO:, but that is what you need. It is awesome when some one says hey.....try this, but before you rock it, please test it in a similar application of what your about to build. I assure you, you'll be happy ya did, regardless how it holds up. I am sure that there are more exotic manufactures of polymers than my vendor, but again this line has performed flawlessly for me over the past twenty some years I think it is.

After reading through this thread and you have already forgotten everything said, I just want you to walk away with one thing to remember......... Test first.(y)(y)(y)
 
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ebrabaek

Adventurer
On another note....... Il take wagers guessing the weight of the box. Lest leave the rear door off as in order to install it there will be a 48 inch Stainless continuos hinge and two gast struts and push locks involved.
For the record, I have not weighed it yet, but all I can think of is the three people it took to get the ARE classic off my old truck. Felt like 200+ pounds. Moving this piece around makes me smile......

So Howboutit...... Lets guess shall we...????
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
Weighed the shell...... Still taking wagers, or guess.
After the main door has cured, it was then time to engineer the bottom flange. I have never been a fan of how the industry does the bottom flange on the shells. In trying to keep water out many have a plastic flapper molded to the bottom edge that then covers the truck gate.
I want something better. I can do this.... Or at least my mind thinks so....:unsure::LOL:
Here we go. First we cover the front side of the door with masking tape. This way it dont scratch as we work on it.
Time to test fit the door on the shell..... All good.
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Then I trimmed the two bottom corners to make room for the flange gasket.
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ebrabaek

Adventurer
Then comes chapter two in the "there is an epoxy for every job" installment. Now we dive deep in to the book of "1001 composite ways of the garage gangster". Were way in the now. I present to you one of the best epoxys for this job.....
Ta-daaaaaaaa.....
20240329_092223.jpg





Ok, now after you have wiped the coffee off the screen lets have a look. I need to cover (in a wicked cornered way) the void in the corner pictured above. One quick and very easy way to do that is saturate a strip on 1 inch uni-directional carbon fiber tape. I dont need any strength really. Just a flap, and the uni-directional tape has a big advantage over the bi directional tape. The edges are smooth as the toe's run in length and is held together by a glass tracer which goes invisible as it saturates. Another benefit is that it bends and conforms very nicely. After that dries in just a few minutes, you lay up the subsequent layers on the inside with your regular epoxy. The fast cure also allows for you to literally stand and hold it in place (remember nitrile gloves....:ROFLMAO:) and done.
First we dry fit a strip....
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Never start a project without a few different strips of Carbon fiber tape. You will need them at some point...
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Here is one layer.
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Then we mix enter the land of blended polymers. Yes you can absolutely do that. 75% Max Bond 1618 and 25% Thixotropic...... The 1618 is so beautiful viscous and clear that it would not hold the fibers in place. The thix is to thick.....ha. So we mix....
20240329_100509.jpg




And add two more layers of uni tape, and fill the outside with THIX and tape it off.....
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Now curing......
20240329_102432.jpg
 
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ebrabaek

Adventurer
And today was the day it all came to fruition. Well.... Thats not entirely true, but I got to put it on the truck to have a look.
Pics coming shortly.
 

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