DIY Carbon

[suzyj]

I'm kicking around ideas for a replacement beer tray and hugger, and maybe a blinged replacement for the aluminium number plate holder I recently made.  Rather than just buying them (where's the fun in that?) I'm thinking of going the DIY route...  I figure I can use the existing parts to make moulds using fibreglass, then make carbon bits with the moulds.

Has anyone here done this?  I conversed with a guy once who made some bicycle frames from carbon.  I was thinking of doing the same myself, but ended up chickening out and brazing up steel ones instead, as I was leery about fabricating something structural from carbon.  See http://www.littlefishbicycles.com for a writeup of my adventures.  Bling, on the other hand, isn't (necessarily) structural, so it can be quite weak and still do the job.

[booger]

Love your website, you seem to be a kind of genius. The preamp/power amp that you made; if you ever make mkII I want to buy mkI off your hands. Awesome 2 channel hifi, just awesome. Threadjack

Try making some carbon, if anyone can do it I'll bet you can.

[Monsterlover]

I haven't done it, but I researched it heavily when i was going to build a CF tank.

A beer tray would not be that hard at all.

Basically create your form, prep it, goop it up, lay the cf, goop it some more.

Vacuum bag it if your serious, but for something like a beer tray you could do it without bagging and have it look ok.

Read this -->  http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145975

I emailed back and forth with this guy and he's pretty smart and does stuff with an eye for the DIY.

The end result is awesome as well.

I suggest you contact him if you have questions.

As far as I'm concerned he's an authority on DIY CF projects.

[Two dogs]

Hi Suzyj,
don't know about the beer tray I just cut mine off
But I can help you with the hugger ,
still have the template from the one we made below
so you can make one your self .
Or I can hook you up with my mate Seal pup
who has the vacuum bag table he most likely will
make you one for less than you can buy one .
Dez

[suzyj]

Monsterlover, thanks for the link.  That's very impressive - I'm thinking of starting out with a couple of nice, easy bits!

Dez, I had wondered where you got your hugger from.  I wondered if you'd cut down the DP one.  If you still have a mould kicking round for it, I'd very much like a lend.

Not right now though - I just scored a pair of 998 forks (complete with titanium nitrided legs!), so I'll be busy machining triples and making rotor spacers and all that sort of thing for a little while.

[ducrider45]

What % silver content are you using? I hav e considered building a frame out of copper (art project) I would use the SS lug kit. I was thinking I would need 60%+ to make it stick and hold. Great projects! 

[suzyj]

56%.  The flux is the important bit - you need a flux that's plenty active around silver brazing temperatures, but not so active it's all charred off before the job is up to temp.  One of the things I was always considering was a gasfluxer, which is just a vessel with flux in it that you bubble the acetylene (or in my case bbq gas) through - the ppl I knew who had gasfluxers swore by them.

I have a real love/hate thing with stainless.  When it works, it's really beautiful.  When it doesn't, it's horrid.

[monstermick58]

Hey suzyj, if you do go down the carbon fibre route maybe you could knock a second one up and I could buy it off you (just to help offset the costs y'no) as that would fit in with my plans on my rebuild.





                                    Mmick

[monstermick58]

And how about slipping in some kevlar into the carbon mix





                          Mmick

[suzyj]

Sure.  Hope you're not in a screaming rush though, as I'm playing with superbike forks at the moment.  Once that's done I'll probably try playing with carbon