Tidying Up A Leeson Carbon Fibre Seat

[Elliot]

Hey all,

Bought a Leeson carbon fibre & ti seat on here, and its light as feck, but a bit scratched here and there. I’d like to rub it down and lacquer it but I have never done anything with carbon fibre so I thought I’d ask you knowledgeable lot. What do you recon, I could rub it down with wet n dry then spray lacquer it, or I could try something like T-cut or autosol on it or….?

Let me know what you think, particularly if you’ve worked with/on carbon fibre before

Ta.

Edit: and while I'm thinking about it, I don't spose anyone knows the seat post size of an Echo Bounce frame? might be the same of some of the other old echo seated frames?

Edited July 6, 2007 by Elliot

[br3n]

Have a read of this..

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/show...ht=carbon+fibre

[Walleee]

Generally, when it come to carbon fibre, the 'weave' you see is purley aesthetical, so if you sand too much, you may go through to the actualy carbon fibre which holds the thing together, so yeh, only wet and dry with some seriousy fine paper, and do it in smal stages....

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Generally, when it come to carbon fibre, the 'weave' you see is purley aesthetical, so if you sand too much, you may go through to the actualy carbon fibre which holds the thing together

Huh? Carbon fibre components are (usually) made up of layers of prepreg carbon fibre sheets, the one closest to the surface is the one you see... The only aesthetics involved with the surface one is the orientation i.e. whether you want it front to back, left to right or at 45deg or whatever.

With regards buffing it up, it depends what is scratched. If it's just the clearcoat then fine wet and dry to smooth it off then re-laquering would probably be best. If it's the actual CF sheets I'd be careful as you don't want to start getting into the fibres themselves as things could start fraying and splintering... Brendan's link looks pretty good for lacquered surfaces though.

Dave

[Elliot]

Huh? Carbon fibre components are (usually) made up of layers of prepreg carbon fibre sheets, the one closest to the surface is the one you see... The only aesthetics involved with the surface one is the orientation i.e. whether you want it front to back, left to right or at 45deg or whatever.

With regards buffing it up, it depends what is scratched. If it's just the clearcoat then fine wet and dry to smooth it off then re-laquering would probably be best. If it's the actual CF sheets I'd be careful as you don't want to start getting into the fibres themselves as things could start fraying and splintering... Brendan's link looks pretty good for lacquered surfaces though.

Dave

Clear coat layer as in Laquer? Yeah I think it is that thats scratched, it does not seem to be the carbon weave that is damaged. Like I said though I'm not at all familiar with Carbon fibre and how its made up, so thanks for explaining! I'll give the wet n dry a go and then re-laquer it. I've got no polishing machine (nor a polishing bit for a drill) so thats out, but thanks for the link anyway Brendan!

[Walleee]

Huh? Carbon fibre components are (usually) made up of layers of prepreg carbon fibre sheets, the one closest to the surface is the one you see... The only aesthetics involved with the surface one is the orientation i.e. whether you want it front to back, left to right or at 45deg or whatever.

With regards buffing it up, it depends what is scratched. If it's just the clearcoat then fine wet and dry to smooth it off then re-laquering would probably be best. If it's the actual CF sheets I'd be careful as you don't want to start getting into the fibres themselves as things could start fraying and splintering... Brendan's link looks pretty good for lacquered surfaces though.

Dave

Your totally missing my point. In my experance, the aesthetics of the outermost layer are usually 'better' than that of the inside layers. It makes sense to produce it this way as people obviously cannot see inside... I do know how CF is made......

The picture below kinda shows what im on about, the inner layers (those which you won't see unless you sand away the outer layer), will probobly look something like the top right, and bottom left, while the outermost layer, would look more like top left or bottom right.

If the product was constructed using the 'aesthetic weave' it would probobly be significantly weaker as the weave doesnt seem to be as tight, which is what I was referring to when I said to be careful that you don't sand through the aesthetic weave and into the structure of the seat.(ie the tighterweave)

[future orange 660]

penis.

its a saddle. it probabably is made of the fibre configurations shown...and not to FEA compliance.

wet and dry. even if it does splinter i.e. if dropped on edges...its a saddle and can be easly smoothed down and re-laqured.

i did it with my old supermoto frame guards and sump plate that had been impacted..and they turned out fine.

[Elliot]

be careful that you don't sand through the aesthetic weave and into the structure of the seat.(ie the tighterweave)

how thick is the weave anyway? am I likely to be able to get through a layer by hand with wet n dry?

[Janson]

not really.

common sense is the key.

[Walleee]

not really.

common sense is the key.

yep,

If like you say it's just the laquer, then just remove that, you should know when you have, as your 'dust' will start to change from white to grey/black, at this stage stop, and move on to the next bit. patience is needed, take your time.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Jakers

[lewis.jackson]

Have any of you done this to carbon cus you all seem to know what your talking about but for some reson i dont think you really know.

All i can say is make sure you dont mix clear coats because some can crack on top of others.

[Walleee]

Have any of you done this to carbon cus you all seem to know what your talking about but for some reson i dont think you really know.

All i can say is make sure you dont mix clear coats because some can crack on top of others.

yes I've done it with an old carbonique frame protector. Couldn't get a brand new one so bought a second hand one, removed the laquer and put some new stuff back on. what's the reason you don't think we really know?

[future orange 660]

you will know when you are through the laquer bulk. small holes may also be filled too. using wet and dry on nude carbon is strange as the surface seems to be slippery, similarly to when hacksawing steerer tubes and the like. because of the chemisty and all that crap.

its easy to know when you are through the laquer though..just try it. and dont breathe in the dust, comman sense again.

[Janson]

i worked with carbon fibre for about 3 months at college, sponsored by the aerospace part of SAAB. Worked a lot with prepreg sheets, making various parts for planes. Made a nice CF clock too, but the clock part of it was so bloody loud i had to take it down.

So yeah i know what I am talking about...

[Elliot]

Cheers for the answers guys, there much appreciated, I think I'll get out the wet n dry and maybe even take off all of the laquer, then re-laquer it.

again, cheers guys, what a knowledgable lot you are!

[Radfax]

when i bought my CF bonnet it was pretty faded and dull with a few scratches, to bring it back all i did was wet and dry it with 600 then 1500 and then rubbed cutting compund/ paste in (i used G3 but halfrds own does the job to) and it brought it up pot on, so id say give that a try first!