Drawing of side template
Cutting foam
Hot wire cutter
Marking out the foam blank
Shaping the foam blank 1st cut (top)
Marking out the foam blank (bottom)
Marking out the foam blank for 2nd cut (top)
Shaping the foam blank 2nd cut (top)
Shaping the foam blank 1st cut (bottom)
Shaping the foam blank 2nd cut (bottom)
Marking out the foam blank for final cut (bottom)
Shaping the foam blank final cut (bottom)
Shaping the foam blank sanded down the ridges
Layer of 280g fibreglass laminated on top of foam with black epoxy
Layer of 280g fibreglass laminated on bottom of foam with black epoxy
Bottom of fairing coated with epoxy filler
Sanding, filling and some more sanding
Wet sanding of paint
top of fairing before wet sanding the paint
top of fairing after wet sanding the paint
Marking out the mould flange, using the cutting template
Gap between mould flange is filled with clay
Mould flange in place
Mould paste brushed on
A bicycle valve is laminated in the moulds for easy releasing of the parts
Me, laminating the top halve of the mould
Plug for subframe roughly cut out and glued together
Plug for subframe: corners rounded off with router, sanded and drilled holes for head set and bottom bracket
1:1 drawing for front fork
Checking the MDF "fork legs"for right curvature
Plug for front fork: test fit of front wheel
Plug for front fork: filled the holes for the hub axle and the brake attachment which makes it easyer to make a mould. after that I have sprayed the fork with a filling primer
Plug for front fork: filled holes which makes it easyer to make a mould and I have sprayed the fork with a filling primer
Fork sprayed with final coat of black paint. Before the paint I dicided to roud of the corners inside the fork a bit more. I've done this to make laminating easyer and prevent high stress areas.
Shaping the Airex sandwich pannels with a heat gun.
After I calculated the needed turn radius ( turn radius= wheelbase/sinus steering angle) I've drawn the hourglass shaped cut-out on the bottom of the mould. This was needed to decide where to stop with the sandwich pannels.
Airex perforated to make sure that exces resin from the outer laminate can escape while vacuüm bagging. I also beveld the edges to make sure the carbon doesn't have to make sharp corners.
Test fitting the Airex pannels
I've made a MDF overhang so there will be a flange on the bottom faring where the top part of the fairning slide over. The mould surface isn't smoot because of the pour finish of the pva release film. I'v redone it a few times but I could't get it to a smoot finsh.
Test fitting the airex pannels
Close-up of the beveld edges around the frontwheel area.
All the needed parts for the bottom fairing. from left to right: Latex vacuüm film, bleeder mat, perforated film, peel ply, carbon inner layer 3x 200g twill weave (0/90-45/45-0/90) Airex sandwich pannels, carbon outer layer 3x 200g twill weave (0/90-45/45-0/90)
Because of pour vacuüm (porous mould) the bottom fairing needs some filling and sanding. In spite off the pour vauüm the fairing is more than strong enough to support my weight.
Abbandoned the negative mould project for the front fork. Now I´ve made a simple positive mould which should work a lot easier.
Carbon fork 1st step. inside carbon layers+Airex sandwich
Forcing the headtube of the aluminium mandrel
Fork completely laminated with carbon
Mandrel for "fork tube"
Making mould for "fork tube" part 1
Making mould for "fork tube" part 1 positioning the special nuts wich will be used to close the mould.
Making mould for "fork tube" part 2 After the mould paste has been aplied chopped glasfibres are strewn on to the part. This ensures a good connection between the mouldpaste and the following layers.
Making mould for "fork tube" part 3 After the mould paste has cured for about 2 hours the excess glassfibres are removed with the use of a vacuüm cleaner. After that the corners around the mandrel and the nuts are filled with a thickened epoxy.
The first part of the mould has been removed from the parting board.
Faired the transition between the mandrel and bicycle valve with clay.
Testing of the balloon which will be used to compress the carbon layers in the mould
The balloon is pulled over a rod and fixed on the bicycle valve.
The finished "fork tube" just pulled out of the mould
Custom made narrow bottom bracket.
Making sure the rear frame is straight and level.
Front and rear frame glued in the bottom of the fairing.
The glue joint is reinforced with some layers of carbon.
The result after removing the peel-ply
The drivetrain. A 80 teeth chainring is powering the front wheel with a 11-34 cassette. This gearing is good for speeds up to 75km/h.
The front deraileur. After the first ride I've rotated the deraileur backwards because I was hitting it with the heel of my foot.
The rear wheel
The handlebar. The glue joints have to be reinforced with some carbon fibre.
The handlebar with brake levers and gripshift mounted on the bike.
For the landing gear I've laminated some glasfibre over a square aluminium tube. To make sure the aluminium tube slides easily in the glasfibre tube I've wrapped the alumimium tube with a layer of plastic before I've laminated the glasfibre over it.
It wasn't easy to get the glasfibre tube of the aluminium tube. After a lot of hamering I was able to separate the 2 tubes.
To mount the skate wheels on the aluminium tubes I've poured some filled epoxy in the tubes. When the epoxy cured I drilled a hole trough it to so I could mount the skate wheels with a bolt and a nut. I've put some foam inserts in the tubes to prevent the epoxy from flowing trough the tubes.
The landing gear before glueing it in the bike
Test fitting the landing gear.
Glueing the landing gear in the bike.
The seat mount glued in the bike.
The landing gear and seatmount before reinforcing it with Carbon.
The top of the fairing laminated from 3 layers of 280g twill weave glasfibre.
To make the top of the fairing stiffer I wil laminate a few foam stiffeners in it.
The foam stiffeners are laminated in the faring with a layer of glasfibre.
The almost finished bike in the living room.
A view inside the fairing.
Close-up of the hinge for the landing gear door.
The landing gear door.
The landing gear in action.
