Robk0000
06-21-2007, 06:37 PM
I started making this lip last Wednesday, it took +/- 22 hours to make, I already finished the lip and thought I would share to you the steps it took to make this real.
Materials:
~2" Foam board, used for insulating concrete, 4x8 sheets - Homedepot-$20
~Sandpaper, drywall (works well on the foam) 80, 120, 500, 1000, 1500 grit, - home depot - $20
~Fiberglass cloth material, 4 little bags 36"x36" - hoe depot - $30
~Carbon Fiber cloth material 3 cu yes, Composites USA - $145
~404 Epoxy Resin - Composites USA - $30
~404 Clear Gel Resin - Composites USA - $30
~404 Epoxy Hardener 3:1 Ratio - Composites USA - $20
~Paintbrushes 1" & 2" - qt 20 - home depot - $20
~plastic spatulas for pushing air bubbles out - Home depot - $10
~20+ hours of intense work on this - DIY GARAGE IN MY HOME - PRICELESS!
So that’s the list of materials, now let’s get down to the actual lip. After deciding on what type of lip you are going to make, I chose something way to advanced for carbon fiber, especially since this is my first project involving these materials. This is what I planned on, yet it turned out to be very basic and looks awesome in the end.
The lip I wanted to make:
http://www.nfcperformance.com/images/Lip-Kits-Lexus-Mugen-FRONT.jpg
After approximately 30 mines of mooch up using masking tape and cardboard, to place a general picture of what I wanted on the car, I decided this would be very hard to replicate on CF material. So we cut back on the open vent area in the bumper and went with a low profile Sit Limited type CF lip.
After making a direct copy of my bumper on Cardboard, I traced the pattern onto the foam board and started cutting and sanding; this was a short but important step that gave ship to the lip.
Foam Lip after sanding:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0543.jpg
Taped up with masking tape:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0542.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0539.jpg
This is where the fun starts get your respirator out and lots of gloves! First clean off a nice area and mat it down with cardboard or plastic on the floor, resin sticks to everything especially clothing, my brother was wondering what the white mystery stains on my pants were the following morning, loll.
I don’t have pictures of the actual process involving me placing the cloth on the foam and painting it with resin. So ill describe it to you as best I can. First clean off the foam board using a wet towel be sure to make sure to let the foam dry off before applying any cloth and resin, also it doesn’t matter if you cover the entire foam with fiberglass this specific foam is water resistant and can take the abuse, although after a few years of winter and rain it may start to deteriorate, so be sure to close it up well.
Now for the application of fiberglass, Be SURE TO PRE-CUT the cloth prior to pasting it on the foam, this is so you don’t touch resin on the clean cloth making it sticky and already having a possibility of drying out on the cloth. So precut always. After cutting the cloth into pieces about 3”x 8” make a pile near your work area easily accessible from the lip so you can do piece after piece before letting it dry. The Resin has about 15 mines of play time before it gets sticky and will be hard to work with so be sure to work fairly quickly.
Have several plastic or hard paper cups available at all times, fill about 5 of them up with Resin only about 3-4 tablespoons worth. DON’T ADD the hardener until you decide to apply the epoxy within the next minute, it will start drying and be impossible to work with. After you have the cups filled with epoxy and hardener to the first cup, I used 3:1 ration hardener so for every three tablespoons of epoxy one tablespoon of hardener. After mixing the two, be sure to stir it up good to make the glue well mixed for application, you don’t want to wake up next morning with the resin still drying. Now as far as the application goes, applying enough epoxy/hardener mix to the foam board to cover the area you have cut out in fabric, as soon as you apply glue to the foam apply the cloth onto. Now work it onto the foam and be sure to have no bubbles or white spots visible the whole piece of cloth should be damp with glue, but don’t overdue it so it causes drips of glue, this will look like ilovemenilovemenilovemen in the end and will be sanded down anyways. After completing the first piece of cloth work to the sides and be sure to cover the whole foam board lip, or everything you wish to be made of fiberglass. After applying the cloth over the entire surface, let it dry 5-9 hours for my particular epoxy mixture. After letting it dry and its hard, sand it down enough to leave scratches in the glassing, I used 80 grit anti-clog papers. After you sand, apply another layer just like the last, start in the middle and work out to the sides. Repeat this process until you’ve built up a few layers, I went to 6 layers of Fiberglass.
Hers what is looked like after the glassing?
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0549.jpg http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0548.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0546-1.jpg
Materials:
~2" Foam board, used for insulating concrete, 4x8 sheets - Homedepot-$20
~Sandpaper, drywall (works well on the foam) 80, 120, 500, 1000, 1500 grit, - home depot - $20
~Fiberglass cloth material, 4 little bags 36"x36" - hoe depot - $30
~Carbon Fiber cloth material 3 cu yes, Composites USA - $145
~404 Epoxy Resin - Composites USA - $30
~404 Clear Gel Resin - Composites USA - $30
~404 Epoxy Hardener 3:1 Ratio - Composites USA - $20
~Paintbrushes 1" & 2" - qt 20 - home depot - $20
~plastic spatulas for pushing air bubbles out - Home depot - $10
~20+ hours of intense work on this - DIY GARAGE IN MY HOME - PRICELESS!
So that’s the list of materials, now let’s get down to the actual lip. After deciding on what type of lip you are going to make, I chose something way to advanced for carbon fiber, especially since this is my first project involving these materials. This is what I planned on, yet it turned out to be very basic and looks awesome in the end.
The lip I wanted to make:
http://www.nfcperformance.com/images/Lip-Kits-Lexus-Mugen-FRONT.jpg
After approximately 30 mines of mooch up using masking tape and cardboard, to place a general picture of what I wanted on the car, I decided this would be very hard to replicate on CF material. So we cut back on the open vent area in the bumper and went with a low profile Sit Limited type CF lip.
After making a direct copy of my bumper on Cardboard, I traced the pattern onto the foam board and started cutting and sanding; this was a short but important step that gave ship to the lip.
Foam Lip after sanding:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0543.jpg
Taped up with masking tape:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0542.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0539.jpg
This is where the fun starts get your respirator out and lots of gloves! First clean off a nice area and mat it down with cardboard or plastic on the floor, resin sticks to everything especially clothing, my brother was wondering what the white mystery stains on my pants were the following morning, loll.
I don’t have pictures of the actual process involving me placing the cloth on the foam and painting it with resin. So ill describe it to you as best I can. First clean off the foam board using a wet towel be sure to make sure to let the foam dry off before applying any cloth and resin, also it doesn’t matter if you cover the entire foam with fiberglass this specific foam is water resistant and can take the abuse, although after a few years of winter and rain it may start to deteriorate, so be sure to close it up well.
Now for the application of fiberglass, Be SURE TO PRE-CUT the cloth prior to pasting it on the foam, this is so you don’t touch resin on the clean cloth making it sticky and already having a possibility of drying out on the cloth. So precut always. After cutting the cloth into pieces about 3”x 8” make a pile near your work area easily accessible from the lip so you can do piece after piece before letting it dry. The Resin has about 15 mines of play time before it gets sticky and will be hard to work with so be sure to work fairly quickly.
Have several plastic or hard paper cups available at all times, fill about 5 of them up with Resin only about 3-4 tablespoons worth. DON’T ADD the hardener until you decide to apply the epoxy within the next minute, it will start drying and be impossible to work with. After you have the cups filled with epoxy and hardener to the first cup, I used 3:1 ration hardener so for every three tablespoons of epoxy one tablespoon of hardener. After mixing the two, be sure to stir it up good to make the glue well mixed for application, you don’t want to wake up next morning with the resin still drying. Now as far as the application goes, applying enough epoxy/hardener mix to the foam board to cover the area you have cut out in fabric, as soon as you apply glue to the foam apply the cloth onto. Now work it onto the foam and be sure to have no bubbles or white spots visible the whole piece of cloth should be damp with glue, but don’t overdue it so it causes drips of glue, this will look like ilovemenilovemenilovemen in the end and will be sanded down anyways. After completing the first piece of cloth work to the sides and be sure to cover the whole foam board lip, or everything you wish to be made of fiberglass. After applying the cloth over the entire surface, let it dry 5-9 hours for my particular epoxy mixture. After letting it dry and its hard, sand it down enough to leave scratches in the glassing, I used 80 grit anti-clog papers. After you sand, apply another layer just like the last, start in the middle and work out to the sides. Repeat this process until you’ve built up a few layers, I went to 6 layers of Fiberglass.
Hers what is looked like after the glassing?
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0549.jpg http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0548.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_0546-1.jpg