carbon fiber

american roboteer · Post by **american roboteer** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:56 pm

i decided on carbon fiber for chasis and armor any tips before i begin construction

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 9:35 pm

You can buy carbon fibre cloth and mould your own custom components which gives great flexibility in design, or you can buy carbon fibre "plate" which is already moulded into flat sheets.
The problem with moulding your own (unless you have access to presses, autoclaves and such 8) ) is that it's very light but not actually very tough. It's also quite difficult to get the resin to impregnate the cloth properly. It is very rigid though. It will not stand up to spinning discs as they just slice through it like a circular saw!
The pre-moulded sheet is probably tougher as it is commercially manufactured.

The up-side of moulding your own is the "cool" factor - it looks really great and you can have (almost) any shape you like. The build diary on my website shows the making of RONNY's CF bodyshell. The next version of RONNY's bodyshell will use Kevlar with titanium panels moulded in, to stop the spinners cutting through!

If you buy flat sheet it is easy to join with epoxy adhesive.

american roboteer · Post by **american roboteer** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:11 am

bassicly nothing stands up to a good spinner

Post by **petec** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:42 pm

Gary, are there any good online sources for carbon fibre?

american roboteer · Post by **american roboteer** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:57 pm

petec try http://www.ebay.com thats how i bought my carbon fiber

Simon Windisch · Post by **Simon Windisch** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:01 pm

I've used carbon fibre as well, and although it did look cool, it's not very good against spinners.

Simon

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:06 pm

Pete, try this place:
http://www.prestwich.ndirect.co.uk/fsrv/materials.htm

I haven't used them yet, but I plan to get some kevlar from them soon.

When I went to the Science Museum recently I had an interesting idea. Stab-proof vests are made from a mixture of kevlar and stainless steel mesh. I wonder if something similar could work against spinners. Meanwhile I will try moulding titanium sheet into the kevlar when I make the next version of RONNY.