Carbon fiber psp

[rceckspurt13]

I was wondering if anyone has seen a faceplate or full case that looks like carbon fiber. I think that would look really cool

[Tri-edge]

(I think there was topic about this before but I'm not sure  )
there is no such thing as a carbon fiber psp, nobody sell the shells to make one either. I think from the last topic if you have a mold for the psp shell you could make your own, but it's more effort then it's worth, and it would cost like 3 psps to do it.

[Nemesis]

there is no full case out that LOOKS like carbon fibre, i think there may only be like a skin.

[folklord36]

ya there was definitely topic about this but another alternative you could paint the psp to look like carbon fiber it would look exactly like the real thing but wouldn't be as cool as haveing the strength and lightness (not that the orignal plastic is heavy) of a real carbon fiber case and some silver trim would look cool on it with uv leds now that's a color scheme id put money into i think i might buy a paint gun and sell the cases or pay someone to do it but it would be a good investment.

[tmandt]

(I think there was topic about this before but I'm not sure  )
there is no such thing as a carbon fiber psp, nobody sell the shells to make one either. I think from the last topic if you have a mold for the psp shell you could make your own, but it's more effort then it's worth, and it would cost like 3 psps to do it.

yea that topic was mines. i was gonna do a mod but i had no monye so yea. well if youw ant the carbon fiber look best thing to go do is mold it yourself or buy carbon fiber vynil from any auto store. wont look as nice but still that carbon look

[sprocketme2]

I would like to see a carbon fiber psp case as well, but im afraid it would be REALLY expensive. Carbon fiber stuff runs a little cheaper than it used to, but its still pretty expensive. Putting the gloss finish ontop of the CF could be tough to do. If somebody made one I bet they would sell like hot cakes 

OK so I just looked up CF on the intertubes, and found a couple ways this could be done. First airbrushing it on looks very good, but isnt true carbon fiber.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qDV5gR90zY
The next method is flexible Carbon fiber vinyl. I dought this method would work because it would look messy on the outside of the case, and wouldnt fit on the inside of a clear case.
http://www.decalfx.com/carbon_fiber_sheets.html
http://www.decalfx.com/carbon_2_sheets.html
http://www.decalfx.com/carbon_3_black_sheets.html
http://www.decalfx.com/carbon_3_titanium_sheets.html

[tmandt]

vynil you can wrap anytyhing. heat it up and itll go around corners without a prob

[Blazinkaos]

yea but the expenses on this is eee...

[rceckspurt13]

ok I looked on how carbon fiber parts are made and this is what I found out:

First way: 1.a mold is made of the part that is being made into carbon fiber.
              2.a release agent is sprayed in the mold.
              3.resin is brushed into the mold. This gives the outside its glossy finish.
              4.carbon fiber sheets are placed in the mold.
              5.resin is brushed into the inside of the carbon fiber sheet.
              6.wadding is placed inside to capture extra resin in the next step.
              7.the entire setup is placed in a vaccume bag and the air is vaccume out.
              8.vaccume bag and part are placed inside an oven and baked.
              9.part is removed from oven and vaccume mold.
             10.new carbon fiber part is sanded and hit with a layer of clear coat.
             11.new piece is finished

Second way: exactly the same as the first method but the original part itself is used as the mold
                  Instead of making a separate mold. There are also slight variations in the process.


I think the first method would have to be used to make the psp case because you would need a part that is an exact match as the original. I think it is more work than its worth. Still if someone made one I think slot of people would buy. Also I don't think carbon fiber is that expensive because a lot of people use it for a lot of things.

[gr8npwrfl]

You are glossing over a lot of the work to make a part

You have to make a fixture to hold the mold you are going to make so
the mold can not move or warp.

You have to take the original part and use it as a plug to make the mold

Any imperfections in the mold that you made have to be filled and sanded to make the
mold perfect. Because any imperfections show up in the parts you make.

Once the mold is ready, you spray your release agent and make a single layer
sandwich of resin, cloth, and final layer of resin.

You remove from the mold and take the new blank, measure completely because
any discrepancies will make the new face not fit.

You add to or remove from the mold and refinish it to make the fit and size perfect

You now make a multi layer part in your mold.

Now you make a fixture or write the program for a CNC milling machine to make
all the holes and slots in the new part you made.

You are really happy you made a really nice looking part and you turn it over
to install it and you realize that NONE of the embossing for screws are there
or any place the original had bars and nubs. All the parts that put pressure
or secure screws to hold things like your joystick in place.

You will have to go back and start making all those parts and gluing them in
place. Once those are done, you have to fit the front plate to the back
plate and keep reworking till it fits perfectly.

Now you have the front faceplate done.

Now lets start on the back plate, battery door, battery door button, the memory
stick door, the UMD door, and ........

As you can see even with a mold, the amount of hand work on each and every
case you make will take weeks.

To make cases for the PSP, companies invest in tooling for injection molding that
makes the inside, outside, and all the holes in one shot.

But the cost of this type of mold is probably in the area of $100,000 to make the
mold.

The mold is not able to use carbon fiber because that is a sheet material not a
liquid.

When I was younger I used to make car bodies for custom cars. I have worked
with molding and fiberglass extensively. Carbon fiber is the same as fiberglass
except it use carbon fiber instead of glass fiber. It would takes us a month to
make a change in a door panel. The amount of work that all this takes is glossed
over in articles, they don't tell of the countless hours sanding and filling to make
the molds perfect, so you can get good parts.

You have to remember that the part you are making is going to be using a clear
resin so you can see the carbon fiber cloth inside the resin. The part you make
can not have the slightest bump or hollow in it because you can't fix it, it has
to be perfect.

Those cars we used to make looked fantastic on the outside. Inside they were
held together with epoxy, bondo, wire and metal.

I just wanted you to see the amount of work you were getting into.
By all means try, you will learn about fabrication, chemistry, mathematics, and
tooling.