Locking in the magic

Mike Richardson meets Project 12’s director David King to discover how the company’s clear coating process brings out the best in visual grade carbon fibre components. Black and impenetrable, the shining surface of a clear coated piece of carbon fibre composite reflects your gaze. Almost diamond-like, its many facets of weave alternately flash on and off as you rotate the part in sunlight to reveal a checkerboard that contains interlacing woven fibres of warp and weft. It’s an appearance that is a complete transformation from its uncoated state, and like magpies, the autosport and automotive industries in particular, covet its exotic appearance as if it was made especially for use on today’s high end sports cars. Often hidden away beneath the body work, the locked in magic of clear coating has enabled the latest carbon creations to rise to the surface. Clear coating carbon fibre fulfils a number of roles. It brings out the natural beauty of the composite weave which becomes a feature as well as a function. Another benefit is that it serves to highlight any imperfections. Carbon fibre in its raw state isn’t UV stable which means that sunlight will actually degrade the material and change its colour over a short period of time. However, using the correct clear coat that is high in UV stabilisers to stop the colour change in the raw material, the clear coating of carbon fibre permanently locks in the beauty of its unique appearance. One company making this all happen is Banbury-based Project 12. Along with his two other businesses, Carbody (Banbury) and ChipEx, director Dave King has gradually been polishing Project 12’s clear coating expertise to the point where he says the process is a closely guarded secret. King began his career at his uncle’s body shop and by the age of 18 was running a paint shop spraying between 70 to 80 crash vehicles per week. Over time he established Project 12, and was soon producing showroom colour and trim display systems for European vehicle manufacturers. It was at this point that the company became involved in the lacquer coating of carbon fibre. A manufacturer of under bonnet air intake systems for BMW saw the finish and contracted Project 12 to lacquer the visual carbon parts. This was really the start and has led to the clear coating of over 1,500 individual parts per month. “This has really been our springboard, because when people saw these parts we soon garnered a reputation that we were more than capable of producing automotive quality visual carbon parts,” begins King. “What we do is difficult, but we’ve just got good at it. For the last two years we’ve been responsible for coating the Jaguar XKRS rear wing, which undergoes tremendous levels of scrutiny. In my opinion it sets the standard for all other visual carbon fibre components. Bringing out the best King say Project 12 is inundated with requests to coat similar parts and now attracts the very best manufacturers of visual carbon, which he feels is a huge statement as there are probably over a hundred manufacturers capable of manufacturing visual grade components. “There are very few companies that are at the highest standard in terms of producing these items. However, these parts require a strong partnership between a carbon fibre part manufacturer and a carbon clear-coater like us. I would love all carbon parts that come into Project 12 to be absolutely perfect with zero porosity and voids and require zero preparation in order to coat. However, if this was the case, and if the carbon fibre manufacturing process became so streamlined that the parts came out of the mould tool without imperfections then they would simply be clipped onto a line or a jig and painted by robots. “Part of me wants to maintain our ‘cottage industry’ approach and eschew automation, but progress is inevitable. We’re working with an Eastern European manufacturer where parts are coming off a mould tool that require minimum preparation and can be hung straight onto a paint line – they’re that good.” Project 12 has now taken the step to cut its ties with carbon fibre manufacturers that cannot supply high quality parts, and more important in a timely fashion. But while most manufacturers can and do make excellent parts, as soon as the volumes per week increase then the quality cracks start to appear. “We’ve tried working with these companies to iron out the issues, but they continually supply parts in an untimely fashion that aren’t as good as other manufacturers. We now concentrate on those carbon fibre manufacturers we believe make excellent parts and have the desire to develop quality processes with visual grade carbon fibre. “Every individual piece of carbon fibre brings its own unique challenge because of issues regarding porosity which can literally affect any part, anywhere. Our experience means we can help manufacturers on what’s required to create the best visual impact. We’ve also learnt how to deal with porosity and weave issues with the visual grade and we pass these tips onto the manufacturer which creates a healthy and tightly-knit community for obtaining best practice.” The master blaster King reveals that Project 12 has developed a special process for preparing carbon fibre components which begins by preparing parts by hand and then moving on to a process that involves vapour blasting all carbon fibre components. Project 12 has worked with Vapormatt to develop the correct medium, pressure and nozzle for the vapour blasting machine to undertake this process and provide the exact surface preparation in terms of a uniform abrasion for the adhesion of the coatings used. The flip side of this process is that there is absolutely zero chance it can create any weave distortion in the surface preparation. The component is then dried by immersing it in a methylene chloride vapour dip, which removes every surface impurity. “It’s crucial we work with the right materials and preparation techniques for the coating of visual grade carbon fibre. You’ll always get minor imperfections in any carbon fibre part, but by working with these high end carbon manufacturers, we examine these parts accurately before we apply clear coats. We’ve also developed systems that actually rectify some of the faults in the surface. We vapour blast, clean and inspect by applying a ‘dummy clear coat’ to the part surface to mimic a completed finish. We can then accurately visually inspect it before we start coating.” Project 12 is also involved with the development of innovative systems for rectifying porosity in raw carbon, Texalium and clear coat surfaces. “The finest finishes start with Project 12,” King concludes. “I believe the desire for visual carbon fibre parts will continue to grow, but to keep up with demand for flawless components you first require a flawless process.” www.project-12.co.uk