Is it ok to make a carbon fibre chassis?

[ninnon]

Hello, I am a bit of a newbie to this hobby and was wondering whether I would be able to make a WHOLE chassis out of this carbon fibre sheet:

http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/Products/Wet-Lay-Carbon-Fibre-Sheet__CMFCS1MM.aspx

My car is a HPI trophy 3.5 and have seen this being done on electric buggy's and was wondering whether it would be strong enough to use on mine?

 

[hamz9561]

Yes it can be done, but I wouldn't recommend it. I have seen commercially available CF chassis for the Revo crack under use.

 

[ninnon]

OK then, I thought carbon fibre was super strong?

 

[Rolex]

It won't bend but will shatter under impact.

 

[SchrodeMode]

Yes it can be done, but I wouldn't recommend it. I have seen commercially available CF chassis for the Revo crack under use.

It won't bend but will shatter under impact.

+1

Plus the sheet that was in the link was only 1mm thick, that would probably crack going down a curb.

 

[ninnon]

Thanks for all these replies, they are all great. After looking at the price I thinks it's best just to stick with the one I've got. Are there any other cheap ways to make nitro rc's lighter because I can only find woven graphite which is far to expensive?

 

[chaos2767]

I have the Vantage Racing Carbon fiber chassis and can honestly tell you that it can take a hell of a beating! I have had it for quite awhile now with no issues!

 

[ninnon]

They don't have a chassis for my car but they sell some cool looking carbon fibre tuned pipes, are they any good?

 

[Nitrotrout]

Performance wise I don't see any improvement over aluminum pipes. CF do run cooler though if heat is an issue for you.

Shedding weight on 1/8 buggies can be tricky because they're so simplistic to begin with. I'd recommend replacing all aluminum upgrades (if you have any) with plastic parts, spoke wheels instead of dish wheels, carbon fiber servo tray, bump starter instead of pull start, remove the chassis plate mud guards,and lighter, more powerful engine would help. reduce weight and improve performance

 

[ninnon]

Ok then, the original point of me trying to lighten things up a bit was because the hpi trophy 3.5 is renound for being quite a heavy car, and I was unsure of what was making heavy, I already have spoke wheels and stuff, but not a cf servo tray, I'd of thought that would of been the lightest part.