Looking nice and tidy now.









Pictures do it no justice.

Man I need a lift...among other things.

I'm tired of crawling around. That's it for the day.

Today was a big day.




So, as I have mentioned in the past, the dash I am making will be two tone - like my door panels.

The bottom half will be exposed carbon. The top half will be flocked.


Here I have taped off a very rough line. The line stops about 1/2" short of where the actual division will be. Once I have the dash made and have figured out the attachment points, I will then tape off the final, clean, line and flock the top.





A light coat of black, thickened, epoxy will guarantee easy coverage of the flocking material. It will also, vaguely, represent the finished (flocked) product out of the mold.

Then the stress..
The first continuous piece is long and unwieldy.





Getting that piece of carbon, from the cutting table, to the mold was a fairly tense moment....This is the absolute hardest part of making non prepreg carbon parts.

Only a couple feet; felt like miles. Don't distort the twill now!



This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Dec 22 2015 08:41pm

That said, I am actually feeling fairly confident with how the layup went, despite the geometry....And being the first attempt at the new dash.

Ready to build a bag. Man! I love me a good flange



Bag down. Pre infusion (notice the lighter color of the blue fabric)



Infused - notice the darker color

Laminate looks clear. That's a good sign.






I successfully made a dash!

Hopefully it's usable.




Also. Got my replacement Speedometer today...same freakin' problem. Sent the wrong gauge. Looks like I'll be returning this for the refund this time, and will purchase the gauge elsewhere. Boo!

Somebody's closer.








Quality wise, the first dash is on par with my good center console. It's not perfect, but it's definitely usable. I'd say 95%

Being that this was the first, I honestly couldn't have asked for any better.

I learned a lot during the layup.


This opens the door for so much more progress....and work. Cool? I guess. Haha.

More to come as it happens. Just wanted to get some pictures out to the world.



EDIT: oh yeah, for those that care - it weighs 2lbs 9oz before cutting the openings for the gauges.

This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Dec 23 2015 03:51pm

Yeah but how many grams is that?


Shit is fuckin bitchin as always

If you ever want to make time to build me a dash let me know lol

Thanks Broseph. And 1162 grams. haha

Once my work load lessens, which does happen, I'll entertain new projects for sure.







More pictures.. Don't mind the finger prints. The haze you are seeing is the "amine blush"

That will go away with a simple acetone wipe to the surface. It is the result of epoxy curing. Difficult to bond to if left on the surface.

Anywho. On to the peekchas.








This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Dec 24 2015 11:07am

Here are the two "worst" spots on the part. Like I said, not perfect, but on par with the console already going in the car.

And knowing me, I'll making another stupid dash in the future, because I never seem to leave well enough alone...

A little bridging. Where the fabric doesn't quite conform to the mold



And a little distortion here. Luckily the hazard switch goes there, so it will hide that some. Nothing cleverly placed label couldn't fix either





Top - you can see how much the light coat of tinted epoxy helped darken the top to make flocking it easier.



This area is where the most amine blush is, because this where there is the highest concentration of epoxy (the black surface coat, and the laminate underneath). And they all cured in the same day.

It is easy to imagine why this byproduct of the curing process is so difficult to bond to if the excess amines are not removed.

It also plays a mental game with the fabricators too, as you'll think it looks great. Then you bring it out into new light and freak out, thinking there's a blemish on the surface...only to realize that after a quick wipe down it looks gorgeous again. Then the final buff. OH the final buff, how I love you.

This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Dec 24 2015 11:10am

Although, I don't have the correct speedometer, I'm going to do my best to mock up some gauges today.

I believe the gauges are going to contrast beautifully to the carbon.

I am much excite.