# Carbon...Mmmmmmm **URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carbon-mmmmmmm/258027 **Category:** Shift518 Automotive **Created:** [April 21, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carbon-mmmmmmm/258027 "2011-04-21T23:45:46Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 14
### Author: ![Boxersix](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/boxersix/32/6327_2.png) [@Boxersix](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Boxersix) #### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 10:53am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carbon-mmmmmmm/258027/14 "2011-04-22T10:53:32Z")
> [@transformed evo](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/transformed-evo/41518/4): > > I made some small pieces with great success and will be attempting a sunroof plug on the jetta as well, and if I am good, making a plug of the trunk lid, and making a simple panel I can DZUS in place. > > I whats the reason for shaping it out of wood, to make a mold out of then go from there. Why not just take the oem piece of glass, and lube her up and make the fiberglass mold right from that? Bag the glass/fiberglass (this is where I think the problem might be, and reason you used wood…) at a lower pressure as not to shatter the glass. Pop the glass out, add fiberglass to the back to stiffen it up if need be and gelcoat it? But I am sure you have a good reason, so I am all ears. > > Also what did you use to cover the wood/body filler on the plug you made the mold from? Just epoxy, or autobody clear? Then wetsand/buff/polish? > > Ohh and go fix your spelling mistakes mister! Apparently you need A: more sleep, or B: a better respirator setup cause your high as a kite! My safety equipment is worth more than most of the parts in your car son 😉 , so i’ll blame it on lack of sleep. Laminated MDF that’s shaped. Can’t use this cars’ OEM glass to mold off of because it’s substantially smaller than the opening with the remainder taken up by a very large rubber gasket(which you can not mold off of). This is not a glass panel replacement, it’s a complete plug that replaces the entire sunroof mechanism. Typically I’d CNC these molds but this one was too large for my smaller machine and my larger machine isn’t up and running yet. I use either MDF for one-off stuff like this, or for ultra detail production molds and plugs I’ll use carbon foam(expensive). Making a negative mold by hand with double contours(left to right and front to back) is near impossible to do accurately on this type of part, so you must first make a positive plug to pull a negative mold from. Mold is sanded to shape and sealed with polyester resin, sanded/buffed/polished to a mirror finish thereafter to pull the mold from. And you’re steps for making a mold off a plug are all azz-backwards. Over a plug it goes tooling gel, chopped glass, woven roving, reinforcements(ribs) THEN demold. Never vacuum bag a mold with TG surface, you’ll get massive print though which will transpose to your parts. It takes days to weeks to make a mold. Took 10-12 days to make this one(and repair the TG when the PVA failed) Thanks folks. FWIW, there’s really nothing in automotive composite I can’t do, aside from crap like wheels and high tech compressed graphite engine shit. Panels, hoods, aero, full bodies, etc. Carbon pushrods and suspension arms(DSR/CSR stuff only), seats, list goes on. If you have the $$ to pay I have the capabilities 🙂 --- _[View the full topic](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carbon-mmmmmmm/258027)._