Mazda Rotary Club

Cars by Model Type => 3rd generation RX-7's => Topic started by: leeincivic on August 14, 2008, 06:13:49 PM

Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: leeincivic on August 14, 2008, 06:13:49 PM
hey guys and gals!

just thought i would put up some pics of the sill plates i have just made, as you might well know i have just got my car back from havin a respray and what i have realised is that carbon fibre goes well with white, thus i am addicted to the stuff!! haha

anyways i bought myself a piece of adhesive backed carbon fibre and made some sill protectors as i am a bit strapped for cash for the feed ones:Giggle.

this is the sheet that i bought mmmmmmmmmmm lol
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/leeincivic/rx7%20pics/SNC11801.jpg)

the idea was to cover these horrid holes
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/leeincivic/rx7%20pics/SNC11804.jpg)

this is the shape that i went for
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/leeincivic/rx7%20pics/SNC11805.jpg)

FINITO!! lol made up with the result :yes dunno if you can tell from the pic but i painted the very edge in satin black to keep the moisture out,
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/leeincivic/rx7%20pics/SNC11808.jpg)

oh yeah and i gave it a good polish yesterday too :Thumbsup!
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/leeincivic/rx7%20pics/SNC11792.jpg)  (http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/leeincivic/rx7%20pics/SNC11798.jpg)

what ya reckon to the sills then peeps?
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ENVYD on August 14, 2008, 06:46:14 PM
looks very good mate! you car is stunning like!
 
steven
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Dr-Rotor on August 14, 2008, 09:09:48 PM
Love it. Good style. Nice overall setup on the whole car. Sexy white....good man.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: gmogle on August 14, 2008, 09:12:40 PM
Stop showing your car off mate !!!!! Lol

Looks superb !!!!

Good work with the sill protectors. Have a fiddle with the headlight cover, you should be able to get it level with the bumper. Just take your time and be patient getting it to level up.

Car really does look nice !!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on August 15, 2008, 08:41:17 PM
wow - they look good!

i went about it the hard way and decided to make my own too this week - bought some offcuts of twill weave cf from ebay and a litre of resin and had a go, never had any experience before even with fibreglass but it was dead easy in the end, the finished result is pretty good - some areas you can feel the weave pattern through the resin slightly (should have used more i suppose) but mostly its pretty good. Cost about £25 in bits, and i could probably do about four or five pairs with the stuff i\'ve got. I don\'t think i\'m ready to go into production yet though!!!
i peeled off the gold logo from some knackered aluminium scuff plates i had hanging around - i havent stuck them on yet. I think for the next experiment i will try embedding them in the layers of resin.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: leeincivic on August 15, 2008, 10:07:00 PM
awesome, put mine to shame haha, have ya any pics of the process ya took to do them?:Laugh got plenty of fibreglass here to have a go myself, truely impressed with the look of them
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: JP825 on August 16, 2008, 10:14:27 AM
great effort guys
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on August 16, 2008, 10:21:51 AM
the "what the hell, give it a go with no experience method" !!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Composite-Supplies-UK (1kg resin & catalyst) £7.25
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/tasuma914 (offcuts of twill weave carbon fibre) £12

got knackered old scuff protectors & sanded them, made up a small quantity of resin, painted it on the scuff protector with an old brush, draped the cf over it, waited until it stuck, made some more resin, painted on more in several layers slowly and built up some layers as smooth as poss. Set in 30mins. Left overnight, then quickly sanded it with 1000, 1500 grit wet & dry and then five mins of some G3 compound and it came up very shiny!

these aren\'t really "true CF sill protectors" as the old aluminium ones are underneath but the look is the same. I could have wrapped the sill protector in clingfilm or something perhaps and just used it as a mould, but i wasn\'t sure how tough the resin/cf combo was going to be, never having done it before. I think for next time i will try this as they seem very strong!! I see why carbon fibre is popular it is very strong and lightweight! These really aren\'t as good as the "official" ones, but i don\'t think they are far off, and it was suprisingly easy -after a bit of practice i might try my instrument cowl etc. Definitely looks a bit better than the stick-on sort.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Jono FD3 on August 16, 2008, 10:31:48 AM
Don\'t use kling film mate it will melt & you will end up in all sorts of trouble..... best thing to do is put several coats of mould release wax on the item you are moulding off. then make the moulding.

Jono
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: najiru on August 16, 2008, 11:17:10 AM
Will this resin be ok for not going cloudy with UV exposure etc? I know having talked to Jono at RS5 he rubs the resin right back to the weave and then uses clear laquer for the gloss finish. I\'m up for having a go at this myself, especially as I can get a good supply of offcuts of cf form work.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on August 16, 2008, 08:56:34 PM
Quote from: Jono FD3;524802Don\'t use kling film mate it will melt & you will end up in all sorts of trouble..... best thing to do is put several coats of mould release wax on the item you are moulding off. then make the moulding.

Jono

top tip dude :cheers, good job i didn\'t try that! Is there an easier way of making the cf adhere to the complex shapes of the mould ?

there are various types of resin, some are uv protective, some are fire retardant etc. You can also put colours/glitter etc in them for wierd effects, i might try a few swirly pattern ones!!!! (maybe too chav!!)
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Ricco_04 on August 16, 2008, 11:32:40 PM
Looks rather stunning does that motor! :cool
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Jono FD3 on August 17, 2008, 12:45:22 PM
If the carbon doesn\'t sit in to tthe moulding properlky then it just isn\'t going to happen I\'m afraid! you can get around this by using a vaccum bag system, but then you need a suction pump, Vac lines & auto clave to get around this & that is expensive!! Also worth noting, you can get different weight weave.... the lighter the weave the easyer it will form!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: pearl_rex on August 18, 2008, 11:45:00 PM
anyone interested in making me a set of these?? will pay accordingly as it looks abit too fiddley for me!!! lol :D
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on August 19, 2008, 08:52:27 PM
Quote from: pearl_rex;525431anyone interested in making me a set of these?? will pay accordingly as it looks abit too fiddley for me!!! lol :D

mine have the homemade look to be sure but are pretty good - i\'ll put up pics when they are done!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: FEED Addict on August 20, 2008, 08:40:26 AM
Sorry to change the subject, but I have just had some FEED front canards (carbon Fibre) delivered and they need drilling, any advice please, sharp or blunt drill? high speed air drill or normal electric one? much appreciated!!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: mpk490p on August 20, 2008, 09:28:53 AM
Gary drop (nurburgrob) a PM doesn\'t he have them on his Rex

Mark
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: FEED Addict on August 20, 2008, 09:31:26 AM
Will do thanks Mark!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: leeincivic on August 20, 2008, 09:51:23 AM
i know when i drilled my carbon bonnet i just made sure i used maskin tape over the hole to be drilled and used a tiny drill bit and gradually went bigger, worked well for me and the tape helps it from splintering
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Sooperkent on August 21, 2008, 02:45:15 PM
YEAH, cover the hole and the surrounding area in tape. also i read that you should use a fast speed on the drill.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: FEED Addict on August 21, 2008, 02:47:40 PM
cheers boys!! will give it a go next week, if it all goes well i will put some piccies up!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Cooch on August 28, 2008, 04:46:24 PM
Quote from: ashc;524732wow - they look good!
 
i went about it the hard way and decided to make my own too this week - bought some offcuts of twill weave cf from ebay and a litre of resin and had a go, never had any experience before even with fibreglass but it was dead easy in the end, the finished result is pretty good - some areas you can feel the weave pattern through the resin slightly (should have used more i suppose) but mostly its pretty good. Cost about £25 in bits, and i could probably do about four or five pairs with the stuff i\'ve got. I don\'t think i\'m ready to go into production yet though!!!
i peeled off the gold logo from some knackered aluminium scuff plates i had hanging around - i havent stuck them on yet. I think for the next experiment i will try embedding them in the layers of resin.

Hey Ash, could you tell me the ebay seller/shop you got the bits from please. Wana make up a few things out of carbon fibre but need to get some first lol.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on August 28, 2008, 08:55:24 PM
here you go dude:



Quote from: ashc;524798the "what the hell, give it a go with no experience method" !!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Composite-Supplies-UK (1kg resin & catalyst) £7.25
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/tasuma914 (offcuts of twill weave carbon fibre) £12

got knackered old scuff protectors & sanded them, made up a small quantity of resin, painted it on the scuff protector with an old brush, draped the cf over it, waited until it stuck, made some more resin, painted on more in several layers slowly and built up some layers as smooth as poss. Set in 30mins. Left overnight, then quickly sanded it with 1000, 1500 grit wet & dry and then five mins of some G3 compound and it came up very shiny!

these aren\'t really "true CF sill protectors" as the old aluminium ones are underneath but the look is the same. I could have wrapped the sill protector in clingfilm or something perhaps and just used it as a mould, but i wasn\'t sure how tough the resin/cf combo was going to be, never having done it before. I think for next time i will try this as they seem very strong!! I see why carbon fibre is popular it is very strong and lightweight! These really aren\'t as good as the "official" ones, but i don\'t think they are far off, and it was suprisingly easy -after a bit of practice i might try my instrument cowl etc. Definitely looks a bit better than the stick-on sort.
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: Cooch on August 29, 2008, 12:49:42 AM
ah! didnt realise you had already posted it. :Hammer sorry that will teach me for not reading the whole thing. thank you muchly though kind sir. :god
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on September 09, 2008, 08:31:12 PM
here\'s my latest effort, much better, look very glossy wet-look, doesnt photograph very well becasue it\'s so reflective, but i\'m very pleased. Much less work than the last one, only took a few minutes to do it, overnight to set, then sand briefly and laquer - two days total. The cheap offcut of twill carbon fibre i have unfortunately has a couple of imperfections where it was folded in the jiffy bag when it was sent to me, but the overall impression is pretty good. i removed the standard metal scuff plate logo and re-attached it to the new one.
i still don\'t think i am ready to go into production though (!!), but it has given me the confidence to try wrapping various interior plastics and perhaps making a custom guage holder for my rectangular defi display, oh and air ducting for my re-a filter!!

oh, and regarding my "cf sill protector version one" at the top of the post, i thought i\'d chuck it so started to peel off the carbon from the aluminium scuff protectior, and it just popped off (didn\'t use any wax so must have been very lucky) and the resulting shape is super-tough, very light and thin but bendy - now i know why carbon fibre is so useful!! Looks crap though due to the finish being knackerd by me trying various techniques on it!!
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: ashc on July 26, 2009, 10:07:41 AM
front badge fell off last week and the chrome has all peeled off, i\'ve got another one on order but thought i\'d make a mold with the old one, just a test (and needs polishing) but could have potential?

(http://www.derminfo.co.uk/misc/DSC_0182s.jpg)
Title: home made sill protectors
Post by: captainbizzaro on July 26, 2009, 06:50:40 PM
Good work mate, now you can do me a CF bonnet and headlight covers please. :Giggle