Carbon fiber stock build

[Mram10us]

First mold didnt go as planned. I decided to use some epoxy that was older than it should have been. All the other epoxy worked fine, but this stuff never dried. Good news, the stock came out of the mold easily with the 43 coats of wax i put on it. Hopefully try again today with 2 gallons of new epoxy

 

[Tidus56]

Yeah it will take a few tries to get it all figured out. It took us a few tries to get a workable mold you'll get it.

 

[jrock]

Mram10us, have you considered using fiberglass layup? I haven't priced it all out yet but it might be cheaper...but perhaps much more work.

 

[Mram10us]

Mram10us, have you considered using fiberglass layup? I haven't priced it all out yet but it might be cheaper...but perhaps much more work.

If you mean for the mold, yes sir. The goal was to get a solid epoxy mold of the first half, then run thru the planer to flatten. After, put the stock back in and use fiberglass layup for the top half and insert it into a final mold. I'll be cutting select areas out of the mold when done, so trying to save some steps.

 

[jrock]

Cool. I keep thinking of new ways to do the molding and can't seem to decide one. Lots of pros and cons with each method.

 

[Mram10us]

First mold did not work. Learned a lot. This last one seems to be good to go. Here are the two halves before i pulled them apart

Here are the two halves separated and cleaned up a bit with holes drilled for bolts. Left the barrel channel opened because i have an idea how to make the barrel and action seamless. We'll see

 

[Mram10us]

Next step, sand and clean them up. Lay down 5 coats of wax for release, 20 minutes between coats. Then, Run a test stock thru it to see problem areas in the form I dont see. Hoping to get one in it tonight.

 

[Mram10us]

Gotta run down to the store to get the hardware to hold the molds together. Here are the waxed molds with precut cf

 

[Tidus56]

Looking good my man

 

[sp6x6]

I missed this thread.You are on the right track for this style.I lived down the road from Lonewolf stocks.He made them for over twenty years.I did some trade work at his shop for a couple 3,wished Id paid more attention,but he had many form and they where halfs as yours.Im not sure on specifices.People are worried that they wont hold up.I have 2 -20oz stocks on a 340wby and 7-2oz 338NM. There solid.He was a true craftsman and back when they where $700 witch included his bedding.There are many all over.Saw builds where rifle was under 6#. He hand laid up fiberglass and carbon fiber for strength and used foam as filler,and whatever you wanted for sling mounts.He was bought out and passed on hes trade to Gregg @ Proof, Now owns the molds and process.Lonewolf summit and Tac II, Jense Precision.KK head smith at Proof. On a side note: When in jr high I worked at a taxidermy and we plaster cast bear head and made mold like yours.Then laid up basically paper mache for the head for bear rugs.Now thats old school.

 

[Mram10us]

First one, dont laugh. Still needs cleaned up. Can you tell which one is the real manners eh1?

still lots of learning to do. Next one will be much better.
pros:
10.3 oz before fill and action block
form looks to have very few flaws
release worked great
tested grip area for strength and it is amazing
cons:
great stuff foam is a mess! Need to wait for my good foam i ordered
didn't seal top of barrel channel to create more pressure and it allowed too much relief. Needed more pressure to force cf to sides of mold
many more cons to list

 

[jrock]

Sweet! Love the weight. Looks like you are using some thicker weave CF. What thicknesses are you using and do you plan to thin up at all?

 

[Mram10us]

Sweet! Love the weight. Looks like you are using some thicker weave CF. What thicknesses are you using and do you plan to thin up at all?

That was 12k thiiiiiick stuff. Tough to lay down. I bought a bunch of 3k bi and twill just hasnt gotten here yet. Should make it much easier. Plus i fixed the pressure issue for the foam. I'm guessing this next one will be still be a learning experience The third should be useable

 

[jrock]

I am planning to use 3 layers of 3k which seems to be about as thick as the shell on my MPI and McMillian. I've read some other posts here that say to use 6 layers through the handguard area.