Carbon fiber matt

[Dick Carville]

Hi folks

I've always used 00 silkspan and dope on fuse. I'm thinking of trying carbon fiber matt.

Where do I get the light stuff ?

How is it applied with dope?

Any reason not to use it?

Thanks

Dick

[john e. holliday]

Myself I don't use it anymore.   But, RSM Dist,  Control Line Central or even Brodak should have the carbon veil.   

[david beazley]

CST has it
http://www.cstsales.com/carbon_tissue.html

[peabody]

Randy has it too Dick...

[Howard Rush]

Any reason not to use it?

It's black, so it takes more paint to cover.  It's not very strong.  You could get the same effect from soaking some Kleenex in ink. 

[Mike Griffin]

I just learned something.  I had never used the veil and just bought some to try.  I thought it was supposed to be stronger and lighter than silkspan.  Thanks for the post Howard because I had no idea.

Mike

[ChrisSarnowski]

It's good to know that I have some backup kleenex in the house, Howard.

I got mine (Brodak branded) from CLCentral.com but haven't put it on anything yet.

I can bring it to the field this week if you want to look at it.

-Chris

[Howard Rush]

The Brodak stuff, as I recall, is better than most. 

[Howard Rush]

I thought it was supposed to be stronger and lighter than silkspan.

That's the consensus.  Don't go by what I say.

[Randy Cuberly]

That's the consensus.  Don't go by what I say.

After using it several times and not having particularly good luck at filling it, and then discovering that it's not any more resistant to dings etc. than doped silkspan I don't use it any more.
My opinion is the same as Howards!

Randy Cuberly!

[peabody]

When it became the "in" thing to use, Windy avoided it....his logic was that silkspan shrunk and therefore added some structural integrity.
I kinda think that Brad Walker's method of using silkspan and applying it with water based polyurethane makes sense.....a test or two that I have done results in something that is very, very hard.

Have fun!

[John Lindberg]

Light fiblerglass cloth is a good way to go, 1/2 ounce is nice. 

[Dave_Trible]

I swear by the stuff-but maybe it's what I expect of it.  I've never considered covering open bays with it.  I use jap or silkspan for that.  The carbon I use to greatly stiffen/stabilize soft flaps-elevators, the fuselage to prevent torqueing and in the fillets to prevent blistering.  Send me your extra!

Dave

[john e. holliday]

If you ever try covering open areas with carbon, you will find out why it doesn't work.   As stated earlier,  Kleenix Tissue is easier to use.   Now some carbon items work for their intended uses, like reinforcing spars using epoxy.  Or as laminates also using epoxy.

[Dick Carville]

Thanks so much for the input guys.

I see a few like the carbon but most do not.  I'll look at the stuff Chris S has ,but the comments make me like my silkspan and dope.

I did a fuse in.5 oz fiberglass for Dick Wolsey and it came out nice- might try that on one of mine

Dick

[Bob Reeves]

I like carbon because I can tell when to quit sanding the filler. Did discover that dope and corn starch is the best filler to use, tried the zinc stuff once and even after a million coats never was able to get it to fill to the smooth surface I am able to get with corn starch. I use carbon on flaps but applied with epoxy instead of dope.

[Brett Buck]

Thanks so much for the input guys.

I see a few like the carbon but most do not.  I'll look at the stuff Chris S has ,but the comments make me like my silkspan and dope.

I did a fuse in.5 oz fiberglass for Dick Wolsey and it came out nice- might try that on one of mine

  If you get the right kind of carbon, it's much better than silkspan. I had a problem with the "stiff" carbon (stiff because it had a lot of sizing holding it together) in that it led to lots of pinholes. The "soft" kind works dandy and is *much* tougher than silkspan. It's a marked difference - my two previous airplanes had carbon and then silkspan and the finish on the carbon version held up *much* better than the silkspan. Both were applied with dope.

     If you have open bay construction, cover the balsa parts with carbon, then put silkspan or polyspan over the open bays. If it's good enough for  "20 PT G", it's good enough for the rest of us.

    Brett

[Gary Anderson]

Hi guys,
I used carbon veil on my legacy and I believe it made the wood parts stronger and didn't seem to add much weight. I build my legacy from stratch and I have my brothers arf legacy and they both weight the same and fly the same. The only difference is that the arf isn't made very well, the landing gear is falling out and the covering keeps coming off?? I don't like arf's cause I've had several of the different ones and most of them are junk. I've had the nose fly off a few arf. I've had bellcrank pull out, just bad deals with arf's. I like to build my own anyway but a arf is a quick way to get in trouble. The first day I flew my brother's SV-11 the landing gear went to pieces?? The day I crashed the SV-11 the bellcrank broke inside on the outside square??? Of coarse the planes I build don't look very good but they don't seem to fall a part?? I still have my nobler I build in 1987 and it still flys great. I'm going to rebuild the SV-11 cause its a great flying plane, a very nice design. Yes I will remove all the covering and reglue everything. I will use carbon veil on all my planes cause I feel it add strength and very little weight.
Gary

[Michael Boucher]

Hi, How do you use the fiberglass cloth instead? Thanks