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

[ebrabaek]

The cost of the first panel 48"x67.5" (4'x5.625') came in at $326. That is all included, even threw in a bit for consumables. That is a cost of $14.50 pr SQ/FT. Do the math and a 4x8 sheet will come in at $464. The cost to increase the thickness to 1 inch is just $20 more pr 4x8 foam board.
Hope this helps a bit.

 

[ebrabaek]

Weight wise....... A bit of math reveals a total square area of 71.83 SQ/FT @ 253.51 Grams pr SQ/FT is 18.2 Kilo's or 40.14 pounds for the shell. Throw in another 10 pounds of hinges, latches, bottom composite flange and Thixotropic in the seams, and realistically you will land around 50 pounds. Then it all depends on the windows I decide.....ehhhhh.... can afford.
And off course the LED interior and exterior light pods.....etc....etc...

 

[ebrabaek]

Got back in town and it was time for the second of three panels.....
Now curing....





Now the particle board is on top to hold it in place.
Have a great week end.

 

[ebrabaek]

After curing, the second set and slightly longer panels are now ready.
These have the same height of 24 inches but instead of 69 inches long, they are 71 inches long.

 

[ebrabaek]

A few stats worth sharing. One of the hardest things to observe when laying up wet is the correct ratio of resin (33%) and fiber (66%). Thicker viscous resins exacerbates this, as it is dang near impossible to lay a thin enough layer of resin down having good coverage. At workshops I see a more of a 50/50 relationship. That is one of the reason why pre-pregnated cloth is worth the extra headache as it mitigates this. Resin transfer a somewhat close second. The best advice I can give you to skip several stairs on the ladder is to try to cut a small say 5x5 inch piece of foam out..... then layers of cloth to cover. Whatever cloth you choose, weigh it and then measure 33% of the cloth weight of resin. If your cloth layers weigh 66grams, then mix a total of 33 grams of resin. Now lay it up and I am certain that you will run out of resin half way through. Now you see and can adjust. You can off course just mix more resin and you will still be ok but it wont be as strong but as were not building an aircraft wing here for the purpose, still plenty strong.

So far I have cast two panels which has been cut in half length wise for two end and two side panels. Now I just need to cast the top (roof) panel and then the real fun begins. Kind of like playing with Lego's..... Ha ha.

So far I have used 19.5 yards and about 5000 Grams of resin. The 5.7 oz cloth weighs 5.7 oz pr Square Yard. @50 inches wide that is 1.39 yard wide. So 1 yard of material is 1x1.39=1.39 (5.7 oz)=7.92 oz pr running yard. @19.41 yards used that converts to 153.72 Oz of fabric used. Convert that to grams.....is 4337 grams of fabric. When I take in to consideration overlap of cloth, throwaway resin in each batch, resin squeeze out and a host of other factors I estimate the resin to cloth ratio is about 40%. Even though I am at a theoretical value of just over 50%. Factors that affects that is a 70 deg F table. Were you to do this in the summertime, perhaps even in the sun the viscosity would be a lot thinner and I could perhaps bring that down to 35%. As long as you are under the 50/50 you'll be fine. Relax..... Have a quad espresso...... Life is good and you'll be ok.

Now I'l give my back a few days break and then mid next week cast the last panel...... Whoooooot

 

[ebrabaek]

In the mean time I thought it would be a good time to trim the panels. That way I would be more precise in how to cast the top panel (roof). I totally dig this. Kinda like playing with Legos, which is mandatory of you have any Scandinavian blood running through ya vanes...
Gather the broom sticks and swabble the..... wait, that's a different realm.





Then you sit and watch it for a bit. Pouring a quad Espresso will help. Then decide where to mark and where to cut......




I think this is the angle I want....






The aft angle




I shouldn't have to mention that when you measure, measure it again. Step back.... Look , measure again, then cut. Now wait.... measure one more time, and theeeeeen cut.

 

[ebrabaek]

I thought I'd share a bit of NON- destructive testing. I know ya'll wanna see stuff go boom and perhaps later but at the moment I plan on using all the pieces. Even if they are trimmed.
Had a bit of panel left after trimming the tops, I thought I would provide a very non scientific deflection test. This is a 2 inch wide section of the main panels cast.
First measure for control. 2 feet distance free floating from the table (arm) 33 3/4 inches.






Then I sat down a 2.5 KG weight as far out as I could. Mind you the edges and corners are not locked in place and all that is holding at the moment is the carbon fiber bonded to the foam. Lost 3/4 inch and down to 33 inches.






Then back to normal....




I then put the pices on the work table to have an extra look. I like what I see.

 

[hidn45]

Eh, no shrapnel, but we'll take what we can get.... ;^)

Ok, so that's about 5.5 lbs. on a [roughly] 24 inch moment arm with [again, roughly] a 1.75 sq.in. cross section giving .75 inch of deflection. Dang impressive, I'd say....

Thanks for that-
Randy

 

[ebrabaek]

Eh, no shrapnel, but we'll take what we can get.... ;^)

Ok, so that's about 5.5 lbs. on a [roughly] 24 inch moment arm with [again, roughly] a 1.75 sq.in. cross section giving .75 inch of deflection. Dang impressive, I'd say....

Thanks for that-
Randy

Well.... Perhaps in the end I might be able to find a few pieces I can shatter in the process.... Ha ha.
Yeah this is what you would get over the other means of construction. It is expensive, but I will be immensely strong. Mind you that the edges and corners are not locked ion place on this test. Once they are I would not be surprised to see a further 30'ish percentage reduction in flex. That really makes a big difference.
Fabric is cut for the third and last cast, which will happen tomorrow morning, unless my hanger blows over in the approaching storm... Lol.

 

[ebrabaek]

The last panel matrix has been laid. Took 3.5 hrs all inclusive and 3000 grams of resin.... Daaang, that is the biggest piece I have ever done hand laying.... Back....... Hurts.....now... lol.
Now curing. Break it tomorrow afternoon. Thinking assembly will be perhaps Friday..... Bwaaamuuuuhahahahaha...

 

[ebrabaek]

And the last piece is done.....
Due to the table size and constraints and me being cheap, I had to "enlarge" the table in order to case the top as a one piece. I could have bought fabric 60 inches wide but only the 50 inch wide was on discount, and as such I had to overlap. Same strength, just a cosmetic issue.
Please ignore all the release agent film which will clear off later.






Then it was onwards to begin bonding the pieces temporarily.
Apologize for the poor photos, but I only have two hands. Mixed thixotropic with black pigment and then laid a small bead. Want to only do the sides and then the top tomorrow.

 

[hooptycrawler]

Pretty cool to see how it's all made. I'm super jealous of your giant workspace!

 

[ebrabaek]

Pretty cool to see how it's all made. I'm super jealous of your giant workspace!

Yeppers...... time consuming for sure but not to terribly difficult.
I am blessed with an awesome boss who let me build it inside our aircraft hanger.
Flying that beautiful thing in the background is my job.

 

[ebrabaek]

All to many times over the years of working with composites, I need to pivot. Sometimes it is my fault and sometimes it is just a simple mistake. You do these things long enough and it'll happen. Your success is not measure in how good the project looks in the end, but how you pivot, because as in so many instances that "failure" or "mistake" is here, front and center and now you have to deal with it. How you do that is when you really lean to think outside the box. In my case after cutting the top (roof) panel, I decided to change the angles of the sides outwards a bit due to a better look. Unfortunately that left about a 1.75 inch gap in the roof panel.....arrrrgggg...... Well Wilbur..... veeeee pivot nov.
Had a few strips leftover. Simply bonded them to the "gapped section (forward) on the roof panel.... done. When you do that you can get a smooth seam by using shipping tape to hold the pieces together on the smooth side. This is on the roof. Only winged creatures and pilots will see the camper from that side,,, Ha ha ha. I apologize for not having pictures of that as when the pivot happens, things are kinda hectic and I am focused on that, not on taking pictures. I will do a recreated tutorial a bit later recreating the pivot.
Panels cut with the gap showing.





"Gapped pieces cut ready for bonding"





First we measure......again..... the line of the roof.




We then trim that panel.....again....ha ha.... and ready ourself for the initial bonding
Now the pivot is behind us, lets bond the roof section to the rest of the box. Color pigment added to the Thixotropic...... and a small bead on the inner carbon flange.




Done. This will hold the pieces together, be as it may nowhere at full strength, but just enough to be able to take off the camper and set it down on the work bench for the rest of the journey.






Scraped the innder side of the edges with the bead of Thixotropic with a popsicle stick......yes they are good for other than holding frozen items.... Then added a bit of heat to keep about 75 deg. F. inside the box. Now curing.






Just want to again mention that if you desire a smooth surface on the inside (like the outside) just treat the top melamine covered particle board with release agent instead of a thin sheet of plastic. Both sides would be smooth. It is extra work which is not important to me at this project, but it might to others.

 

[ebrabaek]

Lifted the camper off the truck and onto the work bench. Monday will be sealing the edges and corners.