where to buy carbon fiber?

[nevets11_2003]

I was looking to make some things out of carbon fiber but I cannot find any places that sells .25 thick carbon fiber

[HuD1Ni]

I dont know if you can even get CF in like a cube persay.. Also I was told it's expensive

[nevets11_2003]

I dont need a cube, I did find a place that seems average priced 210 for a 12x12 at .25 thick
Now I just want to see how the price compares to other dealers if there are any

[olinar]

1 foot by 1 foot for 210 dollars? damn i wonder how much it is to buy a carbon fiber hood for your car.

[HuD1Ni]

1 foot by 1 foot for 210 dollars? damn i wonder how much it is to buy a carbon fiber hood for your car.

500 to 600$

[ojhspyro89]

www.Mcmaster.com

They are your friend!

[nevets11_2003]

www.Mcmaster.com

They are your friend!
They say flexible carbon fiber? is it bendable or flexible when holding weight, Im looking for something pretty solid that wont bend..

[SpitFire1299]

I think you can heat it up and bend it.

[Pneumagger]

We have quite a bit of CF left over from a project at school. Maybe a couple of square yards. I won't be headed back to school until janurary though :(

I know we didn't pay anywhere close to that much. I think more like $500 for 3 or so square yards. Not sure though.

[buzzboy]

I remember reading somewhere that the US Military bought all the carbon fiber that will be produced for the next 3 years. Many company's that use the CF are starting to look for alternates for the time being.

[luke]

Good luck finding it. :(

Link (http://www.fibreglast.com)


Carbon Fiber Shortage Update

Last Update: 5/11//06

Carbon Fiber Shortage Update

The good news is that carbon fiber producers are aggressively addressing increasing their capacities. Toray appears to be gearing up for a 30% increase in production for 2007 and again in 2008. Toho has plans for doubling capacity by 2008 compared to 2003 levels.

The bad news is that demand is growing faster and a few big users are squeezing smaller users, even smaller industries, and right out.

The Problem
The carbon fiber industry was seemingly unprepared for the demand spike caused by both the Pentagon and the commercial aircraft industries. The Pentagon is blamed for more than 350 carbon-epoxy parts on the F-22 Raptor and the developmental Joint Strike Fighter is projected to be between 25 and 30 percent composite by weight. The F22 Stealth fighter, the Blackhawk helicopter, the unmanned predator drone as well as body armor, helmets, holsters and a variety of other military applications are gobbling up carbon fiber as fast as it can be produced.

Additionally, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is scheduled to start operating in 2008. The enormous commercial jet is half carbon fiber. This direct competitor to Airbus’ dominance in the market is only the beginning of the fight. The Airbus Superjumbo A380 and A350 are also extensively carbon fiber and are expected to fly in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

Perspective
Airbus reportedly ordered over 100 A380’s, each of which uses approximately 70,000 metric tons of carbon fiber. One estimate of the entire sporting goods industry’s usage is 200,000 tons.

Alternative Materials
Although the preference for carbon fiber is based on both strength and cosmetics, the reality is that many applications are going to have to be redesigned if smaller companies are going to stay in business. There is simply no reason to believe that the shortage is going to be over any time soon.

The best alternative to carbon is still fiberglass. KevlarR is an excellent material but for most applications, its lower compressive properties are simply not a substitution for carbon applications.

S2 Fiberglass is aerospace grade with a fine finish suitable for strength requirements of most applications. Fibre Glast Developments #1543, Style 6781 S2 Glass is first quality and is suitable for military certification. We recommend #1543 as the best alternative to carbon fiber.

What if I Wait?
Fibre Glast Developments is still getting shipments but we are not getting them reliably. We are not learning of incoming shipments until a day or two before they arrive. Although we pride ourselves on being able to make promises of accurate Expected Dates of backordered items, we can not make promises about carbon availability.

The best way for a customer to obtain supply is to place an order and wait for supply. The next best way is to get on our quote list. If you get on our quote list, we will contact you if we have excess material. We will contact customers on a first come-first served basis, and you will have the option to purchase the material at that time.

To Our Customers:
We apologize to our many customers who have built successful businesses fabricating carbon fiber and hybrid materials in a variety of industries. This shortage is threatening the very existence of many of you. We are honoring our long term customers as best we can.

This has been very harmful to our business as well. We wish each of you success and sincerely hope we are able to earn your business through this difficult time.

[slade]

www.Mcmaster.com

They are your friend!
you know i was just about to post that, im not sure if i like having another person on AO whos just as much of a mcmaster-carr whore as i am...

and carbon fiber is pretty damn expensive, if you hadnt noticed. its at least a bit cheaper at mcmaster, $140 for .25 X 12 X 12.

[SlartyBartFast]

They say flexible carbon fiber? is it bendable or flexible when holding weight, Im looking for something pretty solid that wont bend..

Well, "Carbon Fiber" is a cloth or strands. Not a solid.

Just like fiberglass.

And to think that in University a company donated a 4-5ft wide ROLL :eek: (don't know how long) to the student SAE group.

[nevets11_2003]

Well, "Carbon Fiber" is a cloth or strands. Not a solid.

Just like fiberglass.

And to think that in University a company donated a 4-5ft wide ROLL :eek: (don't know how long) to the student SAE group.
I didnt mean solid, just something not flexible, on the site they advertise it as being flexible.

Also from Mcmaster the stuff they sell is 100% carbon fiber right, I bought some carbon fiber laminate from "dragon plate" by mistake and its two pieces of carbon glued on the sides of a wood/fiber looking material

[CoolHand]

. . . . im not sure if i like having another person on AO whos just as much of a mcmaster-carr whore as i am...

Ahem.

/me <------Has an open account with them.

:ninja:

I love McMaster Carr. Between them and Fastenal, there is not a fastener that I cannot lay hands on.

:headbang:

[Rudz]

:cry: the goverment is stealin all our carbon fiber!!! no more cf grips and barells?? waaaaaah!!! :cry:

lol

[slade]

Also from Mcmaster the stuff they sell is 100% carbon fiber right, I bought some carbon fiber laminate from "dragon plate" by mistake and its two pieces of carbon glued on the sides of a wood/fiber looking material
its solid. mcmaster will tell you just about everything there is to know about any of their products.


Ahem.

/me <------Has an open account with them.

:ninja:

I love McMaster Carr. Between them and Fastenal, there is not a fastener that I cannot lay hands on.

:headbang:
ahh. well, of course youre allowed to be a mcmaster fan.

/has an account through school robotics club
//orders something at 6:30 PM, and its there by noon the next day

[buzzboy]

On flex/strength:

CF used to be used in the surfboard buisness(price drove it out) and it is used in the kiteboarding/sailboarding industry as well. It is a great material because it is incredibly strong when used with Epoxy or, more frequently, polyester resin and because it stiffens up the board. Int he late 90's some company's were using a 1" wide strip of CF on a surfboard that would dramatically decrease the flex of the board.

[warpfeedmod]

/me raises Mcmaster shopper hand.


I too utilize them for all of my computer case builds and mods.

I built a custom carbon fibre case and even with bulk discounts from my various suppliers, I paid something close to $100 per sqare foot. That was over a year ago and now I can't get my hands on the stuff :(

[mkmckinley]

I used cf for a class once. it comes in like a fabric sheet and you mix it with an epoxy and layer it. You form it while it's wet and then it cures and becomes stiff.

[hvacman250]

Also try Ebay. Ive seen it fairly reasonable on Ebay, but its been a couple months. I thought about trying my hand in CF triggers.

[nevets11_2003]

Also try Ebay. Ive seen it fairly reasonable on Ebay, but its been a couple months. I thought about trying my hand in CF triggers.
Tried ebay I didnt have any luck
I ordered some 12"X3" at 1/8 thick for my experiment

Do you think it would be possible to glue two peices of carbon together with say epoxy?
How good would it hold together? Would there be a seam?

[olinar]

ebay has some carbon fiber but idk is they can be reused to mold since they are hardened cf. they also has some wven carbon fiber but not epoxied yet.i thought that would be ptrtty usefu. i ordered some vinyl just to see what my gun would look like, incase i decide to somehow make carbonfiber parts.

[Fred]

.25 is awfully thick for CF... thats why its expensive... that thickness will probably be very strong...

what application are you experimenting with?

[buzzboy]

You talking end to end?

That would be mighty difficult. You would have to have an overlap to make it look right. But it really isn't that bad. Do you know the weight of the cf?

[slade]

You talking end to end?

That would be mighty difficult. You would have to have an overlap to make it look right. But it really isn't that bad. Do you know the weight of the cf?
hes talking about epoxying 2 sheets of .125" CF to make one sheet of .25". sounds plausible if you have the right epoxy, although it will most likely be weaker at the seam and you will probably be able to see the seam. i take it that you plan on making yourself a trigger though, in which case it wont matter too much.

[luke]

On top of ALL the great things about McMaster is their shipping, they are crazy fast. I normally get my stuff 24-48 hours after I order. The shipping on my last order was so fast that I received my order before they found a screw up with my credit card number.

[nevets11_2003]

hes talking about epoxying 2 sheets of .125" CF to make one sheet of .25". sounds plausible if you have the right epoxy, although it will most likely be weaker at the seam and you will probably be able to see the seam. i take it that you plan on making yourself a trigger though, in which case it wont matter too much.
Yes I plan on making a trigger, I decide to get a .125 sheet that I will cut in half and glue it so that it has two epoxy/gloss looking sides, instead of one shiny side and one ruff bonding side. It shouldn't be under to much pressure used a a trigger, I just dont want it to have a gap in the middle of them, making the trigger feel weird

[slade]

Yes I plan on making a trigger, I decide to get a .125 sheet that I will cut in half and glue it so that it has two epoxy/gloss looking sides, instead of one shiny side and one ruff bonding side. It shouldn't be under to much pressure used a a trigger, I just dont want it to have a gap in the middle of them, making the trigger feel weird
well, the carbon fiber is already held together with epoxy. as long as you dont have an air bubble between the two sheets, when you cut and sand the trigger it should be smooth, although there could be a visible line.

its a pretty good idea, and if you sell a few you could make your money back.

[Timmee]

I picked up 3-4 sheets of C/F plate (.110) on eBay, back when I used to race electric R/C cars every week. It was like $30 for a 12"x8" sheet, IIRC.

[SlartyBartFast]

I didnt mean solid, just something not flexible, on the site they advertise it as being flexible.
Well, this thread goes to show that people need the be far more SPECIFIC when asking a question.
Asking about where to get CF is as pointless as asking where to get aluminium.
The McMaster-Carr site lists:
- Carbon Fiber Bar Stock
- Carbon Fiber Bars
- Carbon Fiber Blanks
- Carbon Fiber Cloth
- Carbon Fiber Fabric
- Carbon Fiber Gaskets
- Carbon Fiber Hollow Rods
- Carbon Fiber Plates
- Carbon Fiber Rod Stock
- Carbon Fiber Rods
- Carbon Fiber Round Stock
- Carbon Fiber Rounds
- Carbon Fiber Sheet Stock
- Carbon Fiber Sheets
- Carbon Fiber Tubing
As for making triggers out of it, sounds like a very bad idea. You can’t cut a preformed sheets of CF based material without exposing the fiber ends. That, and CF, while strong and light, gets its strength from the fiber directions. Randomly cutting a shape out of a preformed sheet won’t guarantee that the result won’t be just marginally stronger than the epoxy/resin/plastic holding the fibers together.
What you need to do is get the specifications sheets for the various products and see what the characteristics are and how they can be formed.
While neat-o looking when made with clear epoxy, CF is just a fancy Fiber Reinforced Plastic (RFP) just like Fiberglass.
A CF Tube that isn’t formed with the longest possible fibers wound at the correct cross angles, is just a ridiculously expensive, and not so strong, plastic tube.

[slade]

Well, this thread goes to show that people need the be far more SPECIFIC when asking a question.
Asking about where to get CF is as pointless as asking where to get aluminium.
The McMaster-Carr site lists:
- Carbon Fiber Bar Stock
- Carbon Fiber Bars
- Carbon Fiber Blanks
- Carbon Fiber Cloth
- Carbon Fiber Fabric
- Carbon Fiber Gaskets
- Carbon Fiber Hollow Rods
- Carbon Fiber Plates
- Carbon Fiber Rod Stock
- Carbon Fiber Rods
- Carbon Fiber Round Stock
- Carbon Fiber Rounds
- Carbon Fiber Sheet Stock
- Carbon Fiber Sheets
- Carbon Fiber Tubing
As for making triggers out of it, sounds like a very bad idea. You can’t cut a preformed sheets of CF based material without exposing the fiber ends. That, and CF, while strong and light, gets its strength from the fiber directions. Randomly cutting a shape out of a preformed sheet won’t guarantee that the result won’t be just marginally stronger than the epoxy/resin/plastic holding the fibers together.
What you need to do is get the specifications sheets for the various products and see what the characteristics are and how they can be formed.
While neat-o looking when made with clear epoxy, CF is just a fancy Fiber Reinforced Plastic (RFP) just like Fiberglass.
A CF Tube that isn’t formed with the longest possible fibers wound at the correct cross angles, is just a ridiculously expensive, and not so strong, plastic tube.
first of all, the list from McMaster includes repeats, if you actually go through it. and its fairly easy to navigate through to find what he would need.

secondly, why is asking where to buy carbon fiber pointless? sure you can find through a search, but mcmaster doesnt turn up on search engines very well, and some places may be better than others.

why is making CF triggers a bad idea? many triggers are already carbon fiber, so it can be done, its only a question of whether or not he could do it with the tools he has. also, if you hadnt noticed, there isnt a lot of strain on a trigger. maybe what, 25 grams or even less (since its a lever)? i seriously doubt strength is a concern in making this trigger, the carbon fiber is for the look.

[CoolHand]

. . . . .As for making triggers out of it, sounds like a very bad idea. You can’t cut a preformed sheets of CF based material without exposing the fiber ends. That, and CF, while strong and light, gets its strength from the fiber directions. Randomly cutting a shape out of a preformed sheet won’t guarantee that the result won’t be just marginally stronger than the epoxy/resin/plastic holding the fibers together.
What you need to do is get the specifications sheets for the various products and see what the characteristics are and how they can be formed.
While neat-o looking when made with clear epoxy, CF is just a fancy Fiber Reinforced Plastic (RFP) just like Fiberglass.
A CF Tube that isn’t formed with the longest possible fibers wound at the correct cross angles, is just a ridiculously expensive, and not so strong, plastic tube.

If you can make a trigger out of delrin or polycarbonate, you can make it out sheet CF.

And cutting across the ends of the fibers does nothing to CF sheet, if you cut it correctly. Worst case, you have to sand to keep from getting splinters (which you really ought to do anyway).

With a good fast spindle and PCD tooling, cutting CF is a breeze. It's not something I'd suggest doing with a dremel tool, but it can be done, and done well.

[Pneumagger]

:dance: I just got eleven 1 square yard spools of CF of in today and some aramid (Kevlar) samples are on the way. The carbon fiber stuff is like 8g per square yard :wow:

I asked a company for some samples of CF and Aramids to see if they were suitable and they said they'd send them to me for FREE if I paid the shipping.

I think I'll make a bed sheet with the leftovers so I can engage in high performance sleep. :tard: