Way cool, I’ve a sheet of kydex waiting for when I have a workshop
What I’ve seen on YouTube and I’ve watched a lot of vacuum vids is a perforated metal sheet with a heater underneath and a hot gun on top
Keep it up diy dude 
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Propane, in addition to fire, explosion, and suffocation dangers, propane combustion makes lots of water vapor. Watch out for rusting tools!
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Thanks for the advice! This will be done outdoors. My gigantic work table has some great casters, so I can move the vacuum box to the heat box! Last night I tested the foil wrapped cardboard by placing a sample piece about a cm from the heater and monitored it for about ten minutes. Foil and cardboard were still cool to the touch!! Sorcery I’d say.
As of now, this plan seems promising! I’m waiting on a 15k btu tank mounted heater from Mcmaster’s, as my 3k btu version is clearly insufficient for a 24×36 sheet.
Update! Tested my heating system: https://www.electric-skateboard.builders/t/no-words-just-pictures-delete-words-use-pm/2992/8281?u=patrocks The heating element is a regular propane heater, 10-15K btu. I got a 1lb tank adapter, but will be using a 20lb tank for the next attempt. As mentioned earlier, the heat box is cardboard lined with aluminum foil. Spray adhesive to bond. Got some very good information from the results:
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Infrared heat does not change the temperature of the foil by any material amount. This means that the cardboard is okay as long as it’s COMPLETELY covered. However…
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The heat from the burning propane does. To protect the glue under the foil, there’s an air-gap between the heater and the box.
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Once satisfied with fire-resistantance of the box, I placed the frame over the box with low heat. This setting is insufficient. Takes too long to melt the sheet, and the slow buildup of heat deteriorates the foil-glue, which in turn deteriorates the infrared dissipation and fail! Gotta go in hot and fast.
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DUHH!! Clear plastic doesn’t absorb infrared sufficiently to melt at the required rate!! Of course, I had considered this a probability. Experiment confirmed that hypothesis. Perhaps a fine mist of high temp black spray paint will work, or maybe I can source a sheet of black PETG, or something equivalently cheap…
Again, this is an ambitious project. But I’m having so much fun that it’s totally worth it! Test 2 should take place tomorrow night!
Cheers for SCIENCE
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What size motors/belts? Nice fitment
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Wrong thread lol
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Lol the deck was unsuccessful, but salvageable. Epoxy made it to the 2nd to last layer but not full wet-out. If i decide to finish it, it’ll be the most rigid skate deck in human history, lol.
Thanks, I forgot to post about the fail
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What are your opinions on the pre saturated sheets that have the paper you peel off an lay like tape?
prepreg? I think it always takes heat to cure. If you find any that take even a low temp to cure please post them. be much easier with them having the right mix of resin to fiber. be so much easier to make stuff. less waste. less mess. they seem expensive by their price tag but considering how things typically go maybe be cheaper
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So you just vacuum wrap and let it sit at room temperature for hours/days once you have the layers and expoxy set up?
No, prepreg goes in an oven. As @Hummie said 
Prepreg has the closest to perfect ratio of resin to fabric that can be achieved. Vacuum infusion is the second closest.
As far as costs of manufacturing, I’m curious as well. Probably a little expensive to make an oven precise enough and large enough for prepreg parts 
But as I understand it, PP (lol) is the strongest final product, followed pretty closely by infusion. Interesting how a +/- variance in epoxy/cf ratio can affect structural properties so much… for our intents and purposes however, I wonder what the cost/ benefit comes out to. Probably easier to work with PP too…? (
)
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but looking at the finish on @Sender 's stuff you can get good results doing things the super simple layup way without even a vacuum (don’t think he used a vacuum) but what he does has no crazy curves and he works with gravity. probably is more resin than ideal for structural parts but still good.
Ive read a guide where a guy made a carbon bike frame where he wet it out, laid it on, and wrapped the whole thing in tape with tiny holes in it and it holds the carbon to the form and also squeezes out excess resin. another way that’s rarely done but it showed really good results. It then needed to some smoothing and clearcoat for a nice finish but structurally would be better with no air gaps and less resin.
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All this is true.
You can get cool stuff out of hand lay up but definitely a bit resin dense compared to vaccum bagging for a full structural part.
What I do definitely adds structural integrity no doubt, but is very focused on an aesthetic element as well.
Hand lay up also typically takes kore coats and more sanding and finishing.
If you take the proper steps and use the right stuff, you can do more conplex shapes with hand layup.
Hell, even @bigben doesn’t even use a vacuum on his beautiful enclosures.
It is all about research and using the best materials for what you are trying to accomplish.
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How many layers do you need for a full CF deck?
ben is using female molds I think and with that it seems much easier to get flawless looking results instead of the layup on top of a male form and then layers of clear to make it look nice. the female mold seems failproof in a way to getting something nice.
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For one thing, it depends on the weight and type of CF you are using.
Absolutely!!
And he uses gelcoat inside the mold and lays up chopped FG and polyester resin.
It is still a hand layup, but just look at how good his results are sans vaccum. Of course he made a plug, then made the mold which is quite a lot of work, easy to fuck up, and not cheap to do.
Just a lot of options to do a lot of different stuff.
Like skinning ABS enclosures makes them look way cooler and adds tons of stength.
To me, on $2000 and $3000 boards that people are building, spending a little more on things like nicer decks, enclosures, and remotes just seems like a no brainer.
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The first board I built I disregard these things and bought cheap on all of these things, the only thing still standing is the deck. The enclousers broke which lead to the destruction of a vesc. My remote broke after about 100 miles mid ride, instant breaks, instant street meat. Spend the extra 200 bucks and have something that last. Also CARBON FIBER FOR THE WINNN
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