Carbon fiber cowlings, anyone interested?

akholland · Post by **akholland** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:08 am

Thought it might be a fun project to try and make a carbon fiber cowl. I found that it's not that expensive when you shop around online.

$33/yard for 5.7 oz Carbon Fiber 2x2 Twill
$65 1 Gallon Epoxy Resin + 1/2 gal hardner

When I was at west marine I spent 150 for a gallon of their west systems epoxy resin, 50 bucks for the hardner, and 36 bucks for a yard of 6 oz plain fiberglass mesh to do my repair. This stuff online is much cheaper and might not cost more than 500 bucks to produce one carbon fiber cowling.

Current cowlings weigh between 16 and 18 lbs roughly. I believe carbon fiber might drop that down to about 8 to 10 lb.

The most difficult part of this would be making a negative mold. Due to the shape It would likely need to be a two piece mold? And make the negative out of fiberglass? Plaster of Paris? This is the part where I'm lacking the know how. Anyone an expert or have tried this?

Here is where i found the materials.

http://www.carbon-fiber.us/laminating- ... 16469386b

crbnunit · Post by **crbnunit** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:49 am

I suck at Fiberglass work. I can slop enough on to make a repair but it ain't pretty! Might be interested if you can figure out how to get it done on the cheap.

benflyn · Post by **benflyn** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:20 pm

http://maulepilots.org/forums/viewtopic ... g&start=45

The replacement cowlings I got from maule are carbon fiber.
And reasonably priced.

akholland · Post by **akholland** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:37 pm

25 pounds for a cowl from maule in carbon fiber doesnt sound right. If it is then my new ten dollar fish hook scale is junk!

I was told a new cowl from maule is 3200 bucks. That's half what I gave for the whole project! Didn't sound very reasonable to me. What did they quote u

xwildcat · Post by **xwildcat** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:44 pm

Wow, I'd have thought there would be more weight savings. I had to add a couple of inches to my bottom cowl and fill in the beacon hole. With hardware and the 3" intake hose on it weighs 17.0 lbs. Just a couple lbs more than your bare carbon fiber bottom cowl. My top fiberglas cowl weighs 11.5lbs. So all told the carbon fiber saves less than 5 lbs. over my reworked top and bottom fiberglas cowling.

I need weight forward of datum anyway, so this 5 lbs is helpful to me... but I sure would've guessed there to be a greater difference.

BTW, I have a new bottom cowl straight from the factory, and an old Franklin top... if anybody needs them.

akholland · Post by **akholland** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:55 pm

How much u asking fir your bottom cowl?

maules.com · Post by **maules.com** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:51 pm

Just for grins, I weighed a couple cowlings today.
1974 M5-220 top cowl 7.5 lbs painted with Dzus's
1974 M5-220 bottom cowl 13.5 lbs painted with cooling lips and Dzus
2004 M7-235 or 260 IO540 carbon fibre bottom cowl 14 lbs with no paint or fasteners.
1994 M7-235 IO540 fibreglass top cowl 10 lbs painted
1994 M7-235 IO540 f/glass bottom cowl 15 lbs painted

akholland · Post by **akholland** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:15 pm

The new cowlings must be much thicker than the old ones if my old 1964 m4 210 cowl weights 16lb when a new carbon fiber is 25 lb. That or someone sanded off a lot of material during its previous ownership. Anyone else have cowl weights forolder models ?

maules.com · Post by **maules.com** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:35 pm

Maule's carbon fibre cowlings were being built by Lopresti. They had a better fit but are about the same weight as Maule's later fiberglass cowls.
The earlier M4, 5, 6, cowlings are lighter and thinner.
Over the years airplanes gain weight by adding more creature comforts and strengthening various parts. Not always necessary but marketing sometimes takes precedence.

xwildcat · Post by **xwildcat** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:40 am

akholland wrote:How much u asking fir your bottom cowl?

I'll entertain any reasonable offer.

Hale-Yes · Post by **Hale-Yes** » Sun Jul 29, 2018 9:57 pm

Jeremy, I know that this is an old post (5 years). Can you tell me what year Maule started using Carbon Fiber for the M 7 and MT 7 cowlings? I have a 2001 MT 7 and the cowling looks to be made of fiberglass. Are they still being manufactured in CF? I understand that LoPresti made them for Maule for a while? Is the repair process different with CF? How do you make repairs? Or better put, what do you use to make repairs in CF? Thanks.

maules.com · Post by **maules.com** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 7:42 am

You have me on that one. It was in late '90s about the time of the 260hp introduction I believe but exact year I don't know. I have a raw unused one in my hangar
Duane, need your help on this

Hale-Yes · Post by **Hale-Yes** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:20 am

So is it likely that my 2001 MT 7 cowling is CF? I am planning to do some work on it. knowing what it is made from is probably a good place to start. As always, thanks for your help.

Hale-Yes · Post by **Hale-Yes** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:28 am

So is it likely that my 2001 MT 7 cowling is CF? I am planning to do some work on it. knowing what it is made from is probably a good place to start. As always, thanks for your help.

Duane · Post by **Duane** » Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:46 am

Wow, that's a good one. I would have to agree with Jeremy, however I can't find anything that indicates when exactly we started incorporating CF in the cowlings. No cowling is 100% carbon fiber but just has a few layers of carbon.

Carbon fiber cowlings, anyone interested?

Carbon fiber cowlings, anyone interested?

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