Carbon Fibre

We decided we needed a centre console to mount various switches and knobs. We were thinking of making it in steel and then maybe painting or sticking Carbon Fibre (CF) to it. We started to make a template out of some scrap wood. The question came up about making rounded corners, and one thing led to another and we reasoned that it would be fun to make one from CF.

What follows is how we went about it, what mistakes we made (plenty) and the finished article. It is not perfect, and would not do for a show car, but it is perfectly serviceable and looks just fine in a competion car.

If you have not done this before , then briefly you need something to use as a plug. Then take a mould off this, then make a part using the mould. Not terribly efficient for one part, but can be rewarding.

: Early trial fitting. Making sure the shape looked OK. The top just slips behind the dash and the bottom is fastned to a couple of handy holes that BMW installed.

: The tunnel is offset from the centre of the dash, so the two sides are uneven. This made the shape look quite odd when we were cutting it, but it looks OK in situ

: The hole in the side just happens to be there. We glued a piece of wood behind and filled it with filler.

: The view from the back. The bits of Aluminium made it easy early on to get the angles to the side correct. After this was correct I added more bracing.

: This stage involves adding filler. Then waiting for it to set and sanding. Then adding filler. Then waiting for it to set

: Then sanding. Then adding filler. Then waiting for it to set and sanding. Then adding filler. Then waiting for it to set

: You get the idea. A very iterative process

: After all the rough sanding is done, with 120 grit. Start using finer paper until 1200 grit feels like it is slipping over the surface.

: All the bits to start making moulds and parts.

: We found a suitable piece of shiny material, not sure what, and put the piece down. Then filled the gaps with plasticine.

: Then used an old piece of granite from the kitchen for the other side and again used plasticine.

: Ready to take a mould off.

: First of all polish the mould a lot and then cover in PVA to ensure the mould releases

: It is quite hard to get an even coat of PVA as it tends to run off the highly polished finish.

: Once the PVA has dried, probably a couple of hours, then a Tooling Gel Coat layer is applied. This gel coat should be thick, 2 or 3mm would be about right.

: In the event we didn’t get anywhere near a thick enough coat on. I think instead of thinking painting, think trowel and plaster.

: Once the gelcoat has set to a tacky finish then mix the Mould Putty up, make a sheet about 12mm thick and lay over the gelcoat. It needs to be well pushed down to ensure a good bond