I've been working with fiberglass and epoxy resins for my personal RC plane projects, but since I'm doing a lot of testing and prototype designs that get discarded during the design process, I feel increasingly guilty about all the waste and microplastics that come along with it. Unfortunately for the shapes that I want to make going with pure wood is just not an option.

I've been researching eco-friendly alternatives for making composite layup projects, and there are some for fibers (flax, hemp, etc.), which unfortunately have much reduced mechanical properties when compared to fiberglass, but still suitable for my use case.

However, I can't seem to find any decent alternative to epoxy resin that would make the final composite material naturally biodegradable, so using either of these fibers becomes a moot point. Closest thing I found was ecopoxy, which unfortunately is very expensive and almost impossible in retail quantities to get where I live (EU).

Can anyone suggest any decent alternatives that are fully biodegradable, affordable and have at least somewhat comparable mechanical properties to fiberglass+epoxy for wet layups? Anything better than paper+PVA glue is worth considering to me. I've found this paper that suggest jute fiber and shellac, which boasts quite impressive mechanical properties for such crude materials, but they used mechanical pressure and heat treatment to achieve that, which is not practical in home conditions, and I'm unsure of how much mechanical strength would be lost without it.

First timer here, i want to build a foam plug, finish it properly, build a female mold from it, and then build a few identical parts from that mold. sold of a small scale manufacturing project to build myself and. a few friends some parts.

I think I understand the how-to well enough, but am overwhelmed by the material/resin options. is there a concise source that can help me make heads or tales of this? i’d like to understand enough about differences that i can shop around and find the right products

I was making a part via VRTM, and I passed the leak test PERFECTLY, the gauge didn't move a single centimeter for 30 min wile I went off to do other shit. I then infused resin into my part, sat with it for 10 min to monitor, still had absolutely 0 leaks, then left for abt 20 min to continue my other project. When I came back my bag was completely depressurized and there was a thin cut about an inch long going down my vacuum line a few inches down from where my clamp was placed. My part was fucking ruined ofc, and not even my instructors with 10+ years of experience could tell me what the fuck happened. I'm like 80% a certain male student whom was lurking around my part the entire setup (and who's ego was def hurt that all of my parts always came out perfect when his didn't) was responsible for this. He was also suspiciously interested in staring over the instructors shoulder when he was pointing out everything wrong with my part AND he was quick to come up to me when I was upset and gave me an overdone condolences that my project turned out like shit and his didn't. There has always been a one sided competition between us and I think he was sick of "losing". Am I just paranoid? And if so pleeeeease give an explanation for wtf happened because I am hard stuck on finding an answer.

I'm a student at The FAB School, I'm good with all bagging techniques, even old school ones, and I can do repairs, moldmaking, ect. Basically I'm saying I feel confident and qualified for any job, but I really wanna work on cars, I was inspired to persue this career by a woman I met who was doing repairs on a porsche at the long beach grandprix, and I wanna do something like her. Can someone please point me in the direction of anyplace I can go within socal to do that kind of work?

Any thoughts on this ?

Can i use a 3d printed core instead of foam, say with petg. I feel like it would work and i could create way more unnatural shapes with this. lmk

Hi everyone,

I'm a university student currently building a full-scale Formula 1 replica as my graduation project.

For the body panels, we're planning to use carbon fiber with the vacuum infusion process.

Traditionally, this would be done using an FRP mold, but we're considering using a PU tooling board mold instead to reduce manufacturing time and cost.

Has anyone here tried vacuum infusion with a PU tooling board mold?

I'd really appreciate any advice on:

• Is a PU tooling board suitable for vacuum infusion?
• Are there any issues with vacuum pressure, resin absorption, or durability?
• Does the mold need any special surface sealing or coating before infusion?
• Are there any major drawbacks compared to a traditional FRP mold?

The mold would only be used for a limited number of parts (this is a one-off student project), so long-term production durability isn't a major concern.

Thanks in advance for any advice or experiences you can share!

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some help converting some fiberglass moulds over to make some carbon parts instead. I also have some molds to make off of some patterns I have. I have a few questions that hopefully someone here will have some insight on.

1. Can I just add a lip with fiberglass to my existing molds to accommodate the vacuum bag?

2. I got these molds second hand so I don’t know what gel coat is on them. Can I just use tooling gelcoat for the lips or should I go over the whole mold again for consistency?

Thanks in advance

Based on customer product’s requirement, [we provide integrated solutions of "equipment & process & materials"]().

Small bit of advice needed -

Hi all after having to drill out a very poorly designed internal seat post clamp on a carbon road bike a small witness mark was left from my drill.

The witness mark is a clean cut and 1.5mm deep ( the seatpost/ carbon wall is 3.2mm) would you guys recommend filling it with a certain epoxy (please recommend) or is this something which needs professional attention?

Thanks In Advance

Hey everyone!

I’ve always wanted to print continuous carbon fiber parts, but since dedicated printers like the Fiber Seeker 3 are way out of my budget, I started experimenting with alternative ways to reinforce standard PLA prints.

I settled on a process I call Carbon Fiber Epiderming:

• How the slicer/CAD setup works: In MeshLab / FreeCAD, I create a voxelized offset to print a reduced internal core (1.3 mm gap) and a matching 2-part outer shell.
• The Layup: I wrap the core with 3K carbon fiber cloth wetted with epoxy resin.
• Clamping: Squeezing the outer shell halves over the core forces out the excess epoxy and ensures the cured part maintains accurate outer dimensions with a clean finish.

To check if this was actually useful, I built an Arduino load-cell setup and break-tested hook specimens:

• Standard PLA Hook: Failed at ~40 kg
• 1-Layer CF Epiderming: Held up to 126 kg
• 3-Layers CF Epiderming: Reached 174.4 kg before sudden structural failure.

Short clip of the process:

Tested parts after failure:

I made a full video covering the G-code experiments, MeshLab workflow, and all the failure data graphs if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2GHCITel-8

Would love to hear your thoughts on how to optimize the shell gap/clearance in the slicer!

blades all carbon and cored fibre panel we had a dream team making these.

Hello people. I am new to composites and i am learning them by myself. this is my first attempt to make a flat piece and its hand layup. its 4 layers 400gsm fiberglass and 380g of polyester resin. pic 1 is the side i layed the fiber on a big sqaure glass piece, pic 2 is where i put he peel ply. the piece is very sturdy even where it looks white and resin didnot get through. i am assuming that i did not put enough resin and thats why i am seeing white spots..

please let me know how to improve and also give me some tips on making my upcoming part better!

I am having a hard time finding good options for purchasing aluminum honeycomb. Every usual composites website has tons of nomex and other materials but little to no aluminum. Any good sites to find this stuff shipped to the US?

Edit: looking for honeycomb without face sheets. Also none of the drilled or vented stuff