Q. Can you make a car hood?

A.We cannot make hoods as the engineering and tooling required are cost prohibitive. A car hood tool would be around $20,000, to make a class A finish.

Q. How does the process work, how do we get started?

A. Generally we start with AutoCAD and or SolidWorks drawings, or in the case of tubes or rods we simply need exact specifications, like O.D, I.D., length and tolerances.

Q. What materials do you use?

A. We use carbon fiber which is pre-impregnated with a high temperature toughened epoxy resin; this is commonly referred to as pre-preg. We use several forms of this material, see pictures 1-3, at right.

Q. How do you make the parts?

A. First we cut out all the individual layers of material, called plies, according to the ply-lay up diagram developed by engineering. We then place the carbon fiber plies into the tool, and apply pressure to the part using a variety of tools and techniques, and bake the part at around 250-275F.

The orientation, number of plies and type of material used is designed to produce a part which fits the dimensions and specifications of the part.

The part is then removed from the tool, and finished by removing resin flash or sanding or cutting to exact specifications.

Q. What’s new at Real Carbon LLC

A. Two new developments are:
(1) We are now making Dyneema parts, for ballistic applications.
(2) We have begun selling extendable carbon fiber poles.