Pre Maid Carbon Sheet

[AIR MOVER]

looking for carbon sheet .. about 2mm thick pre done so all i have to do is cut it out into the shapes I need .. anyone know where I can buy sheets of say..12in by 18in??? ty for the help guys =)

Brad

[sayno2glo]

Hi,
That thick carbon fiber plate is hard as a steel and cutting it is difficult. That you may have knew before, but particles that comes from cutting are toxic and cutting that thick plate produces lots of it. But if you want it it's easy to make yourself with laminating epoxy like West Systems and carbon fiber cloth. For 2mm you'll need 10-20 layers depending on pressure and cloth. You'll get about 0,1mm from one layer of 3.2oz/y2 cloth. You can laminate it between thick laminated glass plates and get great finish. Wax the glas or better yet use PVA film.
/Antti

[AIR MOVER]

Ouch ok.. humm perhaps I can get by with 1mm thick .. 2mm is tad robust for what I want to do ..

[Ollie]

The properties will vary a lot depending on what kind of cloth is used and the directions of the fibers. Do you want the stiffnes and strength mainly in the direction of the long dimension or equally at right angles to it? Perhaps you could tell us what it is for.

[Ollie]

See:
https://www.cstsales.com/Carbon/carbon-plate.htm
https://www.cstsales.com/Carbon/carbon-panels.htm
http://www.acp-composites.com/acp-gp.htm

[AIR MOVER]

Its for a 4X16in span wing.. want to cut the shape right out of it.. and smooth the leading edge and recoat the sanded leading edge with epoxy... want .5mm for the tail feathers or perhaps .7mm .. The plane will fly with a 60w brushless cd rom motor wired for speed.

[Ollie]

What you are proposing will be very expensive, very over powered with a very high wing loading and a very high stalling speed because of the inefficiency of a flat plate airfoil. I suggest that you take your aerodynamic design to the science forum for comments before you spend a lot of money on carbon plate. Start with a gross weight budget that lists an estimated weight of every component of the aircraft from the propeller to the tail. That, together with the wing area and flat plate airfoil will allow the stalling speed to be calculated. Then you can deside if it is practical enough to proceed.

[AIR MOVER]

I fly a 3.5oz 3X13.5in micro plane with no airfoil with a brushless 14g motor comes in easy enough for grass landings flies on lipoly cells.. does around 85mph level flight.. the larger 4X16span plane will be a no brainer to fly with carbon wings for me.. I will have the wing at 2degs positive incedence prop on the 0 line with lil right thrust spining a 4040 prop at 26.3K static .. ailerons will have a slight drop to simulate a airfoil... this works well for planes of this size. I just need some carbon sheet to work with .. a 5.75X5.75 sheet sold by one vendor for 8.55 this will yeld a 2.8 x5.7 wing halfs giving me a 2.8x11.4 wing.. so if I can find a supply of say 6X16 I can get two wings per sheet

[Ollie]

I think ACP's cat. no. WG-02B is what you are looking for at a cost of $40 dollars for two wings. CST has thinner material for the tail.

[hubdave]

Hi,
That thick carbon fiber plate is hard as a steel and cutting it is difficult. That you may have knew before, but particles that comes from cutting are toxic and cutting that thick plate produces lots of it. But if you want it it's easy to make yourself with laminating epoxy like West Systems and carbon fiber cloth. For 2mm you'll need 10-20 layers depending on pressure and cloth. You'll get about 0,1mm from one layer of 3.2oz/y2 cloth. You can laminate it between thick laminated glass plates and get great finish. Wax the glas or better yet use PVA film.
/Antti

Sounds like you have done this before? how about a tutorial, step by step maybe? unless of curse there is something like that here now and I have over looked it. ;)

[SkyPyro]

I think a sandwich between 3mm depron would be better in that condition. You'll have to find someone who will do it for you (needs a vacuum bag), but it will end up lighter, stronger and with a better airfoil. With the vacuum bag, you could form the leading edge right in too. I'm thinking a 2-3 ounce fiberglass layer directly touching the foam, followed by a 3 ounce layer of bi carbon fiber and possibly a tow spar.

Dan

[AIR MOVER]

Yea Dan thats going tobe a nice wing done as you say but cost more and time..
I want it simple and since its for speed flying the lift issue wont be a problem. found a local place that does carbon sheeting and plates .. they also lazer cut .. but as to date no solid price quote.. so Im still looking at the net for someone who sells in bulk.

Brad

[AIR MOVER]

WG-02B .074" Solid All Uni-Carbon 8" x 16" $40.00

Ollie think your right! makes for a nice 4X16 wing there will be enough room to lazer out two vertical stabs and if I cad out the pattern right for the lazer I may even be able to shoe horn the horizontal stab and its elevater.. since my wings will be tapperd wings.. there's room .. looks like a 3.8in root tapper to 2.25in tips..

[SkyPyro]

Carbon can't be laser cut, at least by most lasers. Did the company specifically say they could cut your flat plate? What would work best is either a CNC mill or a water jet.

Good luck,

Dan

[AIR MOVER]

Thankyou Dan yes water jet my bad on that.. they lazer some laminates. Water jet cutting is clean neat and most of all cheaper then lazer cutting.

[ptxman]

Related to this, does anyone know of a good source for fiberglass 'circuitboard' type material? Im after something nominally 1 mm thick for control horns & various do-dads. My local electronics stores have the right core material, but it always has copper layer bonded on which has to be removed.

[davidfee]

That's a good question... recently we peeled the copper off both sides of an entire 8"x8" sheet... took quite some time and even more patience. ;)

[ptxman]

I was told to buy the acid etching kit & remove the copper that way. What a pain. Do you know anything anout this G10 stuff?

http://www.polymerplastics.com/composite_g10.shtml

[davidfee]

That sounds perfect. We don't need it to be flame retardant (except in the ESC) ;) but it's available. Good find.

[ptxman]

My search engine has been humming. Lots of suppliers who handle this & yes the properties look good. Some of the model rocket suppliers sell it in reasonable qty's.

Here is a good link. What do you say you buy a sheet & send me 1/2? OK, Ill throw in some Canadian beer & a beaver pelt. ;)

http://www.econplastics.com/CScotton.htm

The stuff CST sells is NOT this. They have a (peel ply) textured glass based material & carbon based accent panels.

[eye_rc_soar]

G-10/FR-4

Check out McMaster-Carr http://www.mcmaster.comand search for G-10 or garolite. Example 12"x12"x1/16" sheet is $5.80

don

[davidfee]

McMaster-Carr... duhh... why is it that I never think of the obvious? ;)

thanks!
-David