Whatever bonding system you choose, surface preparation is absolute key.
I have a fair suspicion the original stuff used by MS Production is a 3M product, most likely this one:
DP 460 Also, have a look at this site:
Q&A Carbon Fibre. A quote from their site:
Quote:
Q: Does it matter so much when using epoxies, so long as you prepare the cured surface correctly?
A: The surface must be carefully prepared for any kind of bond to perform as expected. When laminating with epoxy, I prepare a cured composite surface as follows:
Mechanically clean: remove stuff like paint, old bits of dried substances, stickers and their adhesives, decals, flapping plies, scale, crud, etc.
Chemically clean: remove grease and oil: fingerprints, grease from old bike parts, oil from the bike chain, etc.
One last wash: rinse and scrub with acetone until white paper towels come up clean.
If the substrate is metal, I sand blast it when possible or use 80 grit emery paper as a second choice. The idea is to develop a rough surface for the bond to key into. At the last second before it gets bonded I rinse it with acetone.
If the metal is aluminum, I use West System's two part etch kit. See http://www.westsystem.com/webpages/u.../index.htm#2.1 for West System's recommendations on special preparation for various materials. This nearly doubles the strength of the bond according to West. The idea is to convert the aluminum oxide that forms on raw aluminum. Aluminum oxide only takes fractions of a second after it is sand blasted to form, so there is no such thing as getting rid of the oxide by sanding it just before bonding.
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And lastly read the warning at the bottom of the page.
[Edited on 8-6-2004 by Felix]