'iron on' carbon fiber

[StevenatorLTFO]

Quick question, a long time ago at a trade show there was a company that sold strips of carbon fiber, that you would iron on, then hit with thin CA.

Is this still available, and does (did) it work ok? I'd like to experiment some with c/f in some of my projects that are up coming. If its available, can somebody point me towards a source for it?

Steve

[solo6796]

MPI makes an iron on CF that's reportedly .007 thick. I've used it on some spruce spars, and it really does a good job if you use slightly thinned laminating epoxy on it and weight it down with a mylar. (I just use the clear backing from used Ultrakote.) You can taper the reinforcement by laminating 2 or three pieces in sucessively shorter segments. I did that to my BoT center section spar using a 3 piece wing. It took very hard launches and good zooms.

The epoxy wets out the iron on stuff ok... but it looks cleaner if you scrape it of a little. It's unidirectional (tow) but it holds it's flatness. Also used as wrapping material for spar boxes. I just use thin CA, there.

Makes a great, lightweight reinforcement for fuselages around wingmounts or canopies.

Most of the Hobby Shops around here carry it.

AJ

[StevenatorLTFO]

That sounds like the stuff I'm looking for.

Next dumb question. What is laminating epoxy?

Steve

[kwmtrubrit]

Second dumb question, Alan. How do you thin it? (the epoxy)
How's things down there in HH country? Say hello to Roland for me, hope he's doing well.

Keith

[ashdec87]

I use rubbign alcohol to thin my epoxy..works great

[kwmtrubrit]

I use rubbign alcohol to thin my epoxy..works great

Great, thank you.

[RC_Soaring]

I was on Hobby Lobby's site the other night... They show to sell the iron on carbon fiber also.