Carbon Fiber Pocket Clip - Para II

You can gain some stiffness by adding in a couple layers of unidirectional CF to the lay up. The further to the outsides of the stack the more it will add. Always do a mirrored layup or you can get cupping from the different strength materials.

I'm going to have to make my own, you got me interested! I already have my own designs I make in steel, so why not CF! I have plenty of cloth and epoxy, so what the hell.


-Xander
 
^Yes I plan on switching to unidirectional carbon fiber. Maybe just keep the twill weave for the top. That latest batch has really good stiffness. I have a few ideas to improve the next mold profile. I'm running low on materials. I need to invest in some more fabric and epoxy/hardener.

Should I decide to produce these for sale, what would you guys consider to be a reasonable price for a contoured carbon fiber clip like these? Given the cost of materials and the amount of time each one takes to make I fear these won't be what you'd call "cheap" considering it's just a pocket clip. However, I don't really know what price you guys would consider to be reasonable. These are, as far as I know, the only fully 3D molded carbon fiber pocket clips ever made. If the price is right, and the demand is good, I could see it being worth my time to make a doezen or so in the near future. Thanks.
 
I would stick with the twill for the outsides of the lam stack. I would likely go twill/uni/4 layers twill/uni/twill. That gives you 8 layers total. Also, try backing your molds with 1/8 thick steel to help spread the clamping force, assuming you are using C-clamps.

-Xander
 
The best way I've found to mold these, for anyone wanting to give it a try, using my wood mold method, is to cut 2 lengths of carbon fiber that measure about 10 inches x 3 inches. One of those has the fibers lying up/down/left/right, like a + sign, and the other has the fibers running diagonally, like an X. That ensures that the final product has fibers running in 4 different directions, rather than just two. The two pieces are saturated with epoxy and laid on top of one another. Then they're rolled up to form a tube about the size of a toilet paper roll. Then I stick it in a Ziploc sandwich baggy (peels right away from the resin once cured) and seal it up. Then I place the whole thing in the mold and smash it flat. By rolling it up like that the layers are unable to slide around and "squeeze" out of the mold, which was a messy problem when I tried for >6 layers.

So yeah having one sheet be unidirectional and the other twill would result in alternating layers, and the twill will appear on the top and bottom. I used 4 C-clamps to ensure even pressure. And the wood block is very hard. I think it's oak, or some other hardwood I had lying around from my latest guitar building project.
 
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