How To Go From a 3D Print to Carbon Fiber Part (Tutorial)

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Write your questions or desires for future tutorials down here ;) I'll answer all questions below!

[@amirfathirad2965]

i have one question why every time i watch one of your videos i learn something new?

[@gafrers]

Great as always. 3D printing is so useful in composites

[@MatthieuLibeert]

true! love it! now have a laser cutter as wel for future tutorials ;)

[@gafrers]

@@MatthieuLibeert Wonderful

[@janatlmb2770]

Pretty good. Thanks I have actually learnt something. Esp. the finish section. Didn't know you go into the grain of the fiber.

[@raph151515]

to get the "metal" finish you would need a very strong vacuum, maybe using a pressed machined mold helps because if the surface fibers aren't perfectly aligned, you can easily punch through into the fibers while sanding which is what koenigsegg managed to avoid. Maybe the viscosity of the resin needs to be very low to get a thinner film between the mold and the first fiber layer. could you cheat by adding pressure on top with a flexible material in between to sreap the pressure evenly, after infusion , after clamping the intake but before clamping the outlet, I guess it would help.

[@amirfathirad2965]

I really liked the finish, something I am definitely gonna try with different vacuum pressures to see the difference between them

[@MatthieuLibeert]

It's a special finish indeed, I like it as well :D

[@TheShaddix]

Hey Matthieu, as usual very enjoyable to watch! The only question I have is (for part like this especially) why not just 3d print a mold, then do all the other steps and infuse the part? This would save time/money vs. laying up a fiberglass mold.

[@MatthieuLibeert]

100% true! Only downside is I don't think 3d printed moulds are durable! Will test a 3d printed mould in future videos, as it's highly requested 😉

[@jumuworks]

@@MatthieuLibeert You can check one of my videos. I used a 3d printed mould PETG coated and one with just release agent :) i'm new into resin works, so its not the perfect mirror finish.

[@TheShaddix]

@@MatthieuLibeert I understand why you'd think that!I used to think the same, but there is a way to print durable molds (2-3 perimeters with a larger nozzle, in my case a 0.8mm, plus more infill to avoid any compression during vacuum). Then I sand mine with 80 grit and coat with epoxy mixed with graphite (just something I found to work well for coating). Afterwards I just wetsand with 220, 400, and so on up to 1000, then polish real quick (basically the same process you went through for your plug/pattern). It is as durable as any epoxy/fiberglass mold is as I have infused and pulled a number of parts from mine and they still look perfect. Worst case, another wet sanding pass would refresh it back to tip-top shape! This has been my process for car parts. Nevertheless, I always look forward to your videos and value your opinion because you've been grinding for a long time way before I even figured my stuff out (still figuring it out actually...). Much respect to you.

[@paulboymond]

Thank you for the video, have you ever experienced a melting of your PLA part because of the exothermal resin curing ?

[@kareemalarabi9338]

Hi, great video! So what filament did u use to print the plug with?

[@DaVinci1_0]

why do Canada Geese fly south in a V formation? cuz its too far to walk ;)

[@ACiDFiRE]

Nicely done 😀

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Thanks 😁

[@chiboreache]

what about skinning 3D print? if weight is not critical, i guess it would be fast and easy, you can also print interesting pattern, which is shows up under the vacuum

[@RetrowaveUniverse]

Nice video.

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Thank you!

[@Specter0420]

Have you considered 3D printing the mold itself? That shouldn't be too hard to do in 3D modeling software.

[@MatthieuLibeert]

it's on my todo list ;) should work! only thing that might cause some problems is the vacuum I guess

[@Specter0420]

@@MatthieuLibeert that might be a good excuse to get a resin 3D printer!

[@hulpe]

@@MatthieuLibeert make the printed mold part hollow and fill it up with resin with some filler from the "underside" ;)

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Already did that in a previous tutorial 😉 it's in my last videos making a tube 😉 '3d printed mould to make carbon fiber epoxy resin tubes'

[@drivenba]

Expanding on this, I’d love to see a 3D printed mold utilized with out-of-autoclave prepreg cured in an regular-ish oven that can run the prepreg heat schedule!

[@finfoil8544]

So that effect is basically sanding into the weave? No need to seal it with a clear coat?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Correct, you could clearcoat it if you want

[@finfoil8544]

@@MatthieuLibeert any downside to skipping an extra "sealing" coat? Or is it not needed at all due to the void free infusion method? (Just trying to understand as I've always been told to add an extra cost after hitting the weave, but I'd love to skip it 😅)

[@MatthieuLibeert]

No not really needed as long as all the fibers are well infused with resin, and your ok with that finish

[@6stringer301]

@@finfoil8544 unless the infusion resin you're using is UV resistant or the part won't see UV light (sun) then leaving the part bare is fine. Otherwise, coat it with a UV resistant clearcoat, as the resin will begin to breakdown and amber over time

[@niccolofontana7831]

Nice!

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Thanks!

[@bitsurfer0101]

You said that you used 150g of the gelcoat. How did you calculate the volume needed? Do you know how many g/cm3 or g/mm3?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

600g/m2 is general rule

[@ShopeeMarketteam]

Mat, I've heard a lot of dispute about infusion parts needed to be post cured, half the Internets says yes, the other half says no. Have you experienced warping before? And do you post cure all your parts?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

If possible I postcure them, so in 90% of the cases yes

[@vitalykononenko149]

I watched a video of a formula 1 car chassis creation. It was carbon made and they used an autoclave. It was the reason why you cannot do such things at home, because you need very expensive autoclave with size of room. But you don't use it in your project. Does it mean that your carbon is some other lesser type of carbon not suitable for heavy duty applications? Can something like olympics grade bike or private plane be made this way?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

correct! but F1 and Aerospace are very specific industries that need that extra 1% To answer your question; I do think olympic grade and private plane can be done such way, I've read boeing and airbus are switching to out of autoclave as well but not sure. But if you want to make 95% perfect parts, out of autoclave should be fine as well!

[@vitalykononenko149]

@@MatthieuLibeert Thanks for the answer. No I am perfectly fine with less quality material and trade quality for cost and ease of manufacturing given it passes minimum requirements. Eg bike should not disassemble at 50km/h. Also such lesser carbon still should perform better than titanium or well structured aluminium or dural.

[@jucaesar4961]

It doesn't mean it is some lesser type of carbon. The autoclave is used to minimize faults in the resin e.g. bubbles and increase the properties by achieving better saturation of the fibers with the resin.

[@vitalykononenko149]

@@jucaesar4961 Thanks for the explanation. I thought there some different type of chemical reaction and resin type which need a temperature to cook. Therefore I still can place carbon from the video in autoclave and increase it's quality.

[@jucaesar4961]

@@vitalykononenko149 I am not too sure about that inference about the same resin being able to increase the properties through the autoclave. Generally, I would refer to specific datasheets in regards to which cure temperature and pressure should be used for the best properties. I only learned about this at a rather surface level during a second-semester course in my (bachelor) study of aerospace engineering.

[@gwedo8740]

You should have printed it on its side as the side layers are way better looking that the top layers, would require less bondo and post processing!

[@Jibs-HappyDesigns-990]

helpful ! thanks!!

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Glad it helped!

[@tedwingate]

Is there a limit to the size of part that can be infused with resin, or is it a matter of tuning the hardener speed for the size of part?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

correct! If you use the slow hardener from easycomposites you might infuse parts larger, did parts up to 10m² in the past. Some other brands of epoxy might even have slower resins. Another solution is to mix your resins in smaller batches and fill up the infusion cup when needed

[@duboyong]

@@MatthieuLibeert also depends on the structure of it. we have been doing this, design and 3d print then make cf for years, tons of problems. sometimes we have to use clay to re construct.

[@gutierrezivan447]

You could also have several resin inlets. They make yachts with infusion they just have a resin inlet every 2 feet down the center. And infuse it from center out

[@MatthieuLibeert]

True!

[@Nils_Hammarsten]

There is a cheat with film and water dipp?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Works as well but not real carbon

[@Erosgenuino]

pero eso es fibra de vidrio no?

[@ggjjggrs-j7t]

Hi. I would like to purchase the same materials you used and make them. Where should I buy what? I live in Korea, the country of BTS. Will it be shipped?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Not sure if they ship to there, but try contacting them www.easycomposites.co.uk

[@Szechunio]

Do you degass resin before infusion?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Mostly yes

[@hello81642]

Why not just brush the resin onto the fiber before vacuum sealing.

[@jasonhalter1920]

I think you may have answered a long-term question I have always had... maybe? My question is: Can you cure a two part epoxy (resin + hardener) inside of a vacuum bag? In other words... will epoxy cure in a vacuum state ( no presence of O2 or other molecules that make up *air*)? I understand temperature guidelines, just wondering about the vacuum state?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Yes epoxy is a 2k resin that will cure under vacuum

[@philippedruet8674]

Hello, is there a possibility of a French translation?

[@MatthieuLibeert]

Will see what I can do!

[@philippedruet8674]

@@MatthieuLibeert perfect