What size thickness should be used for a carbon fiber dash? It will be 11” tall and 24” wide and will have a racepak iq3 mounted to it. It looks like carbon fiber comes in 0.030, 0.040, 0.060, and 0.125?
Posts: 30 | Location: Nebraska | Registered: August 26, 2012
If it's true carbon/carbon you can get away with ALOT thinner and be stiff/strong. If it's carbon/glass then it's gotta be quite a bit thicker.
.125" is SUPER thick for anything carbon, way overkill for a panel to hold a racepak dash.
.030" is 3 layers of 3k carbon on average.
,050 to .060" would be way more than necessary. two thin outer layers (3k) with a soric core and one inside layer is a very typical layup for something that needs more rigidity.
Your .030 for 3 layers sounds right on. I just layed up a new dash for my car. I used 9 layers it came in right around .090 thick. I havent cut out for gauges yet but I think its going to be stiffer than it needs to be.
B.J. Masiello
Posts: 250 | Location: Connecticut | Registered: November 27, 2007
.030 is pretty thin. You could get away with it if the top and bottom had a 90* bend on them. That would stiffen up the panel. I used carbon for my floor and other panels, they were not stiff. Just saying that it could have some flex.
Dave
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Posts: 3309 | Location: American By Birth Texan By The Grace Of God | Registered: April 29, 2004
My aluminum dash is .125 and I would go .125 for a carbon dash. My thinking is if it vibrates it will crack and break. We are trying to save weight but the difference in weight between .030 and .125 carbon s very little but strength is MUCH better.
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Posts: 4016 | Location: United States of Texas | Registered: April 02, 2011
Originally posted by Curly1: My aluminum dash is .125 and I would go .125 for a carbon dash. My thinking is if it vibrates it will crack and break. We are trying to save weight but the difference in weight between .030 and .125 carbon s very little but strength is MUCH better.
When mounting a Racepak dash I always make a mount out of .050" plate steel then use 3/8" chromoly tube to attach it to the dash bar and steering column upper support tubes.
.125" for anything mounting a Racepak dash is severely overkill. Keep in mind the dash may weight 1.5 lbs if that.
Originally posted by Curly1: My aluminum dash is .125 and I would go .125 for a carbon dash. My thinking is if it vibrates it will crack and break. We are trying to save weight but the difference in weight between .030 and .125 carbon s very little but strength is MUCH better.
Our customers are ALOT harder on their carbon fiber doors & front ends taking them on and off all the time, compared to the stresses a panel will see holding a display dash. We don't see any cracking issues.
