Thread: Carbon fiber.

I had picked up some defect bottle stopper blanks of Esty for short money to try to get the hang of turning acrylic since my turning experience it really only on cork and foam cores and occasionally some hard woods. so I turned this one and thought why not see if it is suitable for coring carbon fiber sleeves.



It don't seam to want to stick to the blank so some zip ties will hold it in place until it sets.


The inlet for the knot will have to be re drilled or reamed after it sets. I turned a dowel and wrapped it with parchment paper to make the carbon return into it. If this holds the base will be parted off and I will turn something to be the base. Maybe some silver or black plastic of some sort.

It is looking quite promising.

I checked in on it it set just fine and no problems after removing the zip ties so I'll let it finish curing sand out the marks from the zip ties then another coat and figure out what to use for the base.. The only thing I have for the base is some walnut. What do you all think of walnut accents with carbon fiber. My mind is telling me thy don't go together.

Walnut is a nice warm wood and carbon fiber is kinda cold.
Might be a very striking and an interesting balance.

Pete <:-}

Looking good, definitely something different. Be interesting to see how it comes out.

Well, it depends on if you want to make it contrasting or not. If you want contrast, then go with a light wood. You can also go with faux ivory for a sharp contrast.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Well, it depends on if you want to make it contrasting or not. If you want contrast, then go with a light wood. You can also go with faux ivory for a sharp contrast.

I did think of that and bone or even black and white streaked horn but I don't have any of them on hand. Bad enough I waited a over week for knots. lol
I really wanted something to mimic the gray in the timber wolf knot.

Some smoked acrylic could match that.

The acrylic core was a bust. after applying the second coat of resin it had lots of spots that were repelling it. so I put it on a bit thicker than I would normally do to try to get it to fill in the spots that would not except the resin and it is still not dry were as I did a balsa blank 4 hours after I did the acrylic one and it is dry any ready for the next coat.

Also I changed the process a bit with the balsa blank. Instead of wetting out the blank then adding the carbon fiber I put on the carbon and had it all in place then wet it out and it looks like that is going to be the way to do it. I just have to make sure that carbon is fully wet through so it bonds to the blank but it is much easier with much less mess. pictures tomorrow.

We learn with what hit the bin too. Even project that don’t work are a success. Good to hear you have some working out. I’m anticipating the finish.