Originally Posted by TVC15

There are basically 5 ways to do it:
(to simplify things, lets say you are making a a carbon fiber hood)

Wet layup--you would take a piece of cf, place on a flat surface and wet it out with resin, and squeegee out the excess with a roller. Then add another layer of cf on top and repeat the process until you have the desired layers needed. Then you would place the whole thing in the mold and roll it in.
This method is usually only used for making very small and flat pieces.

Dry layup--this is similar to wet layup but you would put the first layer in the mold first and the rest is the same. Again, only works for smaller flat parts.

Pre-preg laminating--in short, the cf is pre impregnated with the resin, you would then cut to desired size, place in mold, vacuum bag it, and bake it at about 300 degrees to cure the resin.

Vacuum bagging--to start you could do either a wet layup or dry layup. Then you would place cf on/in mold, put in a vacuum bag and suck out all the air keeping suction until resin cures. This is a very simplified version, there is a lot of prep for the bag. This method IMO works best for more contoured parts, large and small.

Vacuum infusion--This is the most time consuming and complicated process, and requires some expensive equipment. It is very difficult and there is little room for error. If you get a leak in your bag, you're screwed. It is the same concept as vacuum bagging. However, you place the parts into the vacuum bag without any resin in the cloth at all. Then suck out the air keeping constant vacuum. Then the resin is introduced through tubes and flow material and pulled through the cf material. This is commonly used for making cf hoods. Doesn't work well for extreme contours because it is difficult to get the resin to flow evenly. Again, a very simple definition.

If you get good at this you could definitely make some cash. A Seibon CF lip is about $300-$500. Cost of material for that lip is I'd say under $50. a 50" x 3' piece of carbon is like $70. You're gonna use not even a 1/4 of that for a lip, depending on how many layers you want. Eveyone thinks cf is soo expensive, it's not really the materials that are so expensive it's the time it takes to make the parts. Lots of prep time.

Here is some vids:

(these are some great vids on all different techniques, accept infusion)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q_fKlDzemPY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IWiSSLPf6JI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=s12pUg9ypVU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bb8QnQf72Rg


(Vacuum infusion)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fJuifMOEGqM

(Vacuum infusion hood)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zLUnxUw3nnI