The following article is taken from the AMA National Newsletter.
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This article is by John Oldencamp from The Bat Sheet.

WORKING WITH CARBON FIBER

Carbon fiber, in various forms, continues to inundate our building schedules, with the results improving as experience escalates. The best course appears to be using small pieces in critical areas, applied with adhesives already proven by the people who sell the stuff and live with it every day.

Composite Structures Technology suggests, for example, that its .002 sheet laminate performs best when laminated with their Bob Smith Thick Cyanoacrylate glue.

This sounded a little strange at first, but it does work extremely well for laminating to both sides of sheetwood, for stripping (trailing edges, spars) and also for capping ribs.

My discovery was in first cleaning the material with acetone or denatured alcohol, spraying the carbon sheet or caps with accelerator, then carefully positioning and placing the components.

For the balsa sheet-carbon laminates, the plan was initially to rip them out on a diamond blade saw, but miracle of miracles, a common "utility' knife does the job effortlessly and without waste.

However, the straight edge and the laminate itself must be taped down prior to running a cut. Blue painter's tape works great for this.

Cut lengths can be edge-sanded prior to installation. Cap strips are first cut to width, then sprayed, positioned, and rubbed down with waxed paper squares protecting fingers.

from The Bat Sheet
Ted Ballin, editor
4026 L Ave #A
Anacortes WA 98221