Carbon Fiber Bodywork

this whole site is a bad influence. you can only take some credit....lol

I am taking the opportunity while working on Les' dash to motivate myself on my other bodywork projects. While prepping the back of the Z1R dash, I also prepped the tail storage tray:



Unfortunately, I need to sacrifice my kz1000 tail to make a mold for the rear tail mount and the bottom of the storage cubby (seperate molds). Slow and steady wins the race, right? :pinch:

progress is progress adam. :evil:

it is really cool to watch as this all comes together.
gives an appreciation of what it takes.
leon

I got a wild hair last night after clearing off one of my work benches and installing an additional overhead light, and made a right sidecover. My right sidecover mould was my second mould ever, and it incorporated many lessons learned on the first left sidecover mould. The mould actually turns out pretty nice parts!

looks really good.

if you keep tryin you are gonna get this stuff DOWN :ohmy: :laugh: :woohoo: !

good job buddy,keep up the good work.

leon

that sure does show a lot of the good stuff like early ones you did ..and all in one flow..is that a near ready one...1-10 it is big step forward...nice

That one is pretty much a solid complete sidecover Craig. I'm not real happy about the weave not following the sweep at the back, but that is my fault. I even tried to keep it straight, but I was not successful :sick: I need to trim it still, but as is it weighed 6.5 oz. I used 4 plys of carbon fiber (5.7oz or 5.9oz, don't know). 2 on the face, a layer of 2 mil perforated mat as a core followed by the last 2 layers of fabric. The core does not extend into the mounting points, so an additional 3-4 layers of cloth were placed in the mounts to strengthen them. This sidecover is STIFF. I wonder if I should omit the core material and replace it with another layer of carbon, or 2 layers of 4oz fiberglass. I don't know, I kinda like the stiffness and strength vs saving an oz of weight. What do you guys think?

i vote:

stiffness and strength!



leon

531blackbanshee wrote: i vote:

stiffness and strength!



leon

+1 An ounce of weight is not worth thinking about. I can reduce the combined weight of bike and rider by one ounce simply by spitting before I race. :laugh:

Gentelmen, thank you for your input. I decided To give resin infusion a shot this afternoon. I wanted to start with something simple, but I hate wasting material. So, I decided I needed a new clipboard for work. A few coats of mould release wax on the glass sheet, and I decided the layup schedule would be 1 layer of carbon/kevlar, 2 layers of 4 oz fiberglass, 1.5mm coremat then the reverse of the first half. I used 5/16" feed and vacuum lines (perfect size) and a 3/8" spiral cut infusion line (too big, takes up too much resin). Here is the layup just before I pulled the vacuum down:


I was happy that there didn't seem to be any major air leaks, although I had a tough time getting the vacuum up above 26" HG.


I mixed what I thought would be enough resin, and I was WAY off. I ended up mixing a second batch to double the amount of resin. Even with having to mix a second batch, the total time to infuse the panel was 9:10. After Leon posted that pic of the red tinted carbon/kevlar fender, I was curious to see what would happen if I added red tint to the resin. Thats why you'll see red in the lines.


Its not all that exciting, but I was jazzed my new catch pot sealed and worked as expected, and that by the looks of things, it went off without a hitch, despite a pesky air leak that I could not find and seal
Tomorrow I'll post a pic of the face of the panel, and I really hope that it is pinhole free. If this test is sucessful, then the next step is a part, preferably a tail :woohoo:

the anxiety is killing me!!!!!!!!!! :whistle:


so how did it go ???????? :huh:

leon

Me too bud, me too! Here is the panel demoulded, and in the sun:


Unfortunately I still got some pinholes in the face of the laminate I attribute those to that pesky leak I couldn't find and possibly infusing the part too fast. Later today I'll try a second panel and slow the infusion down by keeping the clamp partially on the line. I also need to make sure the part is sealed well. The reality is the pinholes are very small and shallow, and would get filled in with clearcoat if it were on a bike part. I can't be too upset, it does look good for my first infusion experiment. I like the red resin effect too :woohoo: