Caron fiber parts, and the making of them.

[CarbonOne]

So before I posted to see how exciting it would be to make cf parts for your Tesla Roadsters. Everybody seemed riveted! Seeing that my last thread didn’t make it past 2 pages...

But what if I said, my small company can produce cf parts for your Tesla Roadsters..... And actually have them available to purchase?!

Well I'm one step ahead of that. A few weeks ago I had had a few local Tesla guys come down here and let me take some of the parts off their $110,000 cars to make molds of them and reproduce REAL carbon fiber parts. So far so good! We have a lot going on right now it took me about 1.5 weeks to just make the molds of the interior door sills but it works out because I'm still waiting on the CF to reproduce the first set.

I kind of want to offer, well, everything possible for the Tesla seeing that no other company has yet offered more than one or two parts. The companies that do offer parts charge more than what most would be willing to spend. That is why when these parts are ready to produce, they will be offered by us for less than other companies with out skipping on the quality.

For example...

Tesla will be charging $1600.00 for door sills. We’ll be doing $1400. Not a whole lot cheaper, but I've herd of a few of you actually braking the door sills by swiping your foot or leg over it too hard. That is why we are building ours tough enough to never brake and if they do, you get a free replacement.

I also have the front and rear lower spoiler here that we will be working on reproducing as well.

Other then that I'll be posting pictures of progress to show you guys an inside view of what goes on.

Lastly please do let me know what you guys would be interested in. I'm not selling right now, I'm just letting you guys know what’s going on as well as showing you guys how these carbon fiber parts actually come together. I thought it would be an interesting thread. Kind of like the show, "how its made". Accept all about carbon fiber, and with out the foreign accent :tongue:.

P.S I have already contacted the administrator of this website. I'm just waiting on a response on pricing and when I can start a vendor / sponsor account. But then again, I'm not selling sills for at least another week or so. This thread is just to show you how everything comes about.

 

[CarbonOne]

So the first project we have going on are CF interior door sills. We will also be making exterior door sills. The silver ones, you know?

Anyways... We started off by taking these sills and building a make shift lip around it.

After that we apply special types of mold release agents to make sure that these parts are not harmed at all by the chemicals that will be painted on...

After that we apply a nice neon orange gel coat. It doesn’t have to be orange... But I like the color.

After that we apply several nice coats of fiberglass over the top to take the form of the part. Let dry, and demold. There’s a whole lot more to mold making then that, but then this thread turns into a section out of wikipedia.

I cant seem to find the rest of the pictures I took, but I'll take some and post them tomorrow of the finished mold!

Other then that as soon as the fabric comes in, we’ll make the reproductions, trim them, clear coat them a few times, then install!

More pics coming.

 

[vfx]

Tesla says their's are better made and a better fit than Al and Ed's doorsills because they mold directly off the factory steel form when A&E just used a stock plastic door sill to make a mold.

 

[tennis_trs]

Tesla says their's are better made and a better fit than Al and Ed's doorsills because they mold directly off the factory steel form when A&E just used a stock plastic door sill to make a mold.

After taking the door sills off (when my CF ones arrived a while after my car), I wouldn't think that a precise fit would be a significant problem, since the thickness of the 2 sides of the Velcro holding the sill on means that the sill is noticeably raised off the metal anyway.

 

[tennis_trs]

CarbonOne,

Are you going to make the exposed surface all CF, instead of adding a plastic portion like Tesla does? I would definitely prefer all CF instead of the current Tesla one. All CF would look better and the CF seems to scratch/scuff less (or less noticeably) than the plastic.

 

[tennis_trs]

Charging door

I'd buy a clear CF charging port door. Not sure if many people would be interested in this, it would probably depend on the exterior color of the car.

 

[ChargeIt!]

Speaking of color ... can the CF parts be custom "colorized" ? For example, a light colored (white?) dash cover, which would keep the cabin cooler ?

 

[CarbonOne]

Tesla says their's are better made and a better fit than Al and Ed's doorsills because they mold directly off the factory steel form when A&E just used a stock plastic door sill to make a mold.

If the mold is made the right way, then there should be no issue in fit period. The actual layup of the molds were made over a period of a few days, not only hat they sat on the parts for an extra day just to make sure the FG is completly cured. Well complete cure takes a week or so but I made extra sure that it was cured well beyond the point of warping before demolding. If I put another door sill in that mold it would fit perfectly. Especially since these are very basic shapes, theres no doubt it wont fit just as well as Teslas.

 

[CarbonOne]

After taking the door sills off (when my CF ones arrived a while after my car), I wouldn't think that a precise fit would be a significant problem, since the thickness of the 2 sides of the Velcro holding the sill on means that the sill is noticeably raised off the metal anyway.

In this case its not about a perfect fit with a 0.0 margin of misfit, its about playing with it until it fits as good as it will. This goes for OEM plastic, OEM foam, Tesla CF, and after market CF door sills. The great thing about the Velcro is that you have plenty of wiggle room to try and try again or move it around until you are satisfied. The only down side, (If you can call it that) is that the velcro just grabs as soon as A and B makes contact, so it makes it tricky.

I know because I have already messed around with a Tesla sport, and basic sills.

 

[CarbonOne]

CarbonOne,

Are you going to make the exposed surface all CF, instead of adding a plastic portion like Tesla does? I would definitely prefer all CF instead of the current Tesla one. All CF would look better and the CF seems to scratch/scuff less (or less noticeably) than the plastic.

Yep! All carbon fiber with extra clear coat to keep them from being damaged.

I'd buy a clear CF charging port door. Not sure if many people would be interested in this, it would probably depend on the exterior color of the car.

I have thought about it, but if I get at least 3 people interested thats enough to get the project going.

Speaking of color ... can the CF parts be custom "colorized" ? For example, a light colored (white?) dash cover, which would keep the cabin cooler ?

Well the colors I can offer are the following.

Basic black / gray cf, silver texalium (silver carbon fiber), blue, red, yellow, gold, orange, and green.

The orange, red, and green, silver, and black would be the best to suit the Teslas since black and silver kind of goes with any color, and the green, red, and orange match the Roadsters real well. I'm not sure about the yellow and gold, and the blue is a dark blue and I'm not sure if there’s a dark blue Tesla color. All I'm aware of is laser blue which is kind of light.

 

[TEG]

...'m not sure if there’s a dark blue Tesla color. All I'm aware of is laser blue which is kind of light.

Twilight Blue:

Electric Blue:

Glacier Blue:

 

[CarbonOne]

Oh cool! Well the good thing is that the blue CF would match perfectly with that!

 

[DrTaras]

Tesla says their's are better made and a better fit than Al and Ed's doorsills because they mold directly off the factory steel form when A&E just used a stock plastic door sill to make a mold.

Agree with tennis_trs on this one. For more pix of CF done up in a Roadster, check this out: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php?p=47007#post47007

 

[CarbonOne]

I'll just leave these here...

These are pictures of the interior door sills before wet sanding and its second coat of clear. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the set installed.