Composites

Composite Sources

Here is a list of suppliers we use for obtaining materials needed when working with composites.

Online Suppliers

US Composites - We buy all our Fiber Glass, Kevlar and Carbon Fiber cloth from here. So far they seem to offer the best price on cloth and their pricing on other items does not appear to be too expensive either. I normally like using West Systems epoxy, but we may give their brand a try in the future. Check out their website and compare pricing, I think you'll find that they are the cheapest.

Fibre Glast - We buy our tooling resin from here. They sell a good product called 1099 Epoxy Surface Coat which is a great tooling resin. The tooling resin is the first resin that gets applied when creating a mold. Basically after your plug is giving several coats of wax and a few coats of PVA, tooling resin is the next item that gets applied. This gives a high gloss, smooth surface for the inside of your mold. While they sell quite a bit of other stuff needing for composites, some of their pricing is a bit high. They do have some cool tools and one thing on out list is an air wedge. Note: See our experience working with 1099 Epoxy Surface Coat / Tooling Resin.

Aerospace Composite Products - We buy are vacuum bagging supplies from here. They have one product called - EZ Vac Connector - that is great. You can use the EZ Vac connector to create the connection between your bag and vacuum source. They also sell nylon tube bags which are great for doing wings along with quick clamps for bag ends.

Local Suppliers

Boater's World - We buy our West Systems epoxy from a local marine company called Boater's World. While their prices may be a bit higher then what we could find online, if we are not buying other items, then shipping cost can make it just as expensive as buying locally. Any good marine shop should carry West Systems epoxy and it is a great product. Also the marine shop carries other items such as Cabosil, Milled Fibers, and Micro Balloons which we also use when working with composites.

Home Depot / Lowes - We buy 4mil and 6mil drop cloth plastic from our local home building supply store like Home Depot or Lowes. This allows us to create custom vacuum bagging bags to suit our needs. To help in making bags, we purchased a used food sealing machine and mastered the fine art of sealing plastic. In cases where we need to only seal 3 sides and need to be able to seal and reseal the 4th side, we use rope style window caulking and a small caster wheel as a roller. Along with the EZ-Vac connector we can create an easy to use custom bag.

Walmart - We buy matting material from the sewing / fabric section. This material serves kind of like a passage way for air to travel when vacuum bagging. This material lays over the protective plastic and allows for uniform pressure to be applied during the vacuum process.

How To:
See the step by step process of making mold - Super Reaper Composite Fuel Tank Mold Construction