OAC Guitar Entry 3

The first layer of carbon fiber (CF) has been layed in. I take a lot of care to make sure that I wet the CF out completely. The CF does not change colour or become transparent like fiberglass so you really have to be attentive. I brush epoxy into the fibers with a bristle brush that has been trimmed so the bristles are only about 1/2 inch in length. The brush is stiff and you can gently force the epoxy into the fibers without creating excessive bubbles. I also wet the wood surface of the guitar rim too before I lay in the carbon. I go along three inches at a time. This guitar took 23 3 inch wide pieces of CF exactly. I completed this task last night and this morning I checked things over. I'm always amazed at how stiff and strong CF is. It's really quite amazing!

I cut the pieces a little long and after it has cured I cut the overhang off. This is done with a hack saw blade - cured CF is tuff as hell - like how I imagine dragon scales to be.

I used a metal sanding ball in my drill and ground down all of the ridges and some of the areas where neighboring pieces overlap. I don't want to grind too much because I don't want to lose any of the strength. After I grind the harsh parts down I then get the pneumatic sanding ball out again and scuff the surface with 80 grit. This helps the filling layers of epoxy to bond better.

With West Systems epoxy I can do up to three coats in one day. The wait time between is about 2.5 to 3 hours or until the surface becomes dry yet just slightly sticky. Fill coats are needed to fill in the CF weave and to help level everything out. Once a completely fare surface is achieved I will laminate a layer of lighter CF twill in to give just a bit more strength and to make the surface pretty.

Most of the labour of my guitars is in the sides. The amount of labour I put into the functioning structure of these Dagmars can be compared to the amount of labour a luthier may spend on doing intense inlay art.