carbon fibre chassis

[walden]

Hi All

Over the weekend i used 1200 grade wet and dry on the bottom of my Mi3.5 chassis to remove scuff marks and now its got a dull finish - what can i use to bring the shine up again or can i just lacquer it? also does the lacquer have to be antistatic?

Cheers Paul

[mark christopher]

what ever you put on will scratch off, you have sanded the Resin which forms the carbon plate

[Neil Skull]

If you havent taken much off then you can polish it up using a real fine wet and dry first then its plenty of elbow grease with a polish mop.

[walden]

i gave the chassis a light sand with the 1200 wet and dry, i was kinda thinking of giving the chassis a good polish with some good olde elbow grease or is their a clear resin spray avalible on the market?

[Conrad]

I remember many years ago now the auld man sanded and laquered (car laquer) the chassis on my ZXR, it looked better than new when it was done but the laquer did have a habit of coming off where anything was mounted to it, gearbox, motor mount etc..

[Dyna]

It depends on how much of the top layer of resin you've taken off with the scratches and the 1200 W&D really. If there's a thick enough layer left you have a fighting chance of getting a glossy finish again, if you've gone through to the weave you wont polish it no matter what - it would need re-coating. Not really viable.

If you havent gone through, you can spend an age with T-Cut or another cutting agent and elbow grease and you will get a semi-gloss finish, but it will never look as good as it did. Or you can find someone with a industrial buffer and get them to polish it - this works well but you need a decent enough layer of resin there in the first place.

You could pop into a friendly car sprayshop and ask nicely if someone will 2-pack clear laquer it for you. This would also solve the problem if youve sanded through to the weave as it will give you a half-decent gloss surface again. But again it will never be as good as new.

As for re-gel coating the chassis, i wouldnt even think about it !

And anything you can spray out of a can will last about 30 seconds on the track before it scratches off and looks worse than it did before you started.... Only good for shelf queens.

[sparrow.2]

Check out these guys youtube channel. Personally, I would gelcoat it or give it a covering with some runny epoxy resin. But then I fiberglass my own surfboards and wakeskates, so have all of the stuff for it kicking around already.

Otherwise just run the biatch and tell people it's a prototype

[walden]

Cheers all for your replies, great help

I will try the T- Cut or G8 compound to bring a finish up as i have not gone through the weave, all i did was lightly wet n dry the surface.

[j.m.]

If the part now has a dull finish, you sanded down to carbon fiber. To get the shine back, use some laminating resin or heated 30 minute epoxy in a thin coat over the bottom of the chassis. This will bring the shine right back.

[Dyna]

Originally Posted by j.m.

If the part now has a dull finish, you sanded down to carbon fiber. To get the shine back, use some laminating resin or heated 30 minute epoxy in a thin coat over the bottom of the chassis. This will bring the shine right back.

If the part is dull it is quite possible that he's just sanded the top layer of resin and not reached the carbon weave. 1200 W&D shouldnt have bitten too deep.

The problem with re-laminating a flat chassis or anything flat by hand are plentiful.

One is that you can make a hell of a mess doing it - unless you mask the edges, screw holes and cut-outs it will drip though to the other side looking very messy. Secondly it will not last long at all after more racing, probably looking worse than it was before. Thirdly it will be extremely hard to get it looking anything but rippley unless you do multiple coats and sand each one down with a flat block, and polishing the last. And it still wont last long.... Add to that the prep needed to make it bond well to the original layer and frankly i wouldnt even think about doing it - and i know what im doing

Cheapest option ? Polish it by hand, and live with the duller finish. And dont sand a chassis down again

[j.m.]

Look at the surface closely. Let us know if you see spots that are slightly duller than the other areas in a regular pattern. (Angle the chassis at a light and look at the reflection)