Fibreglassing work

[imdying]

You got mail.

[lordandrevv]

that seems to be quite a nice project. awsome drawings btw. I'm guessing the ecu goes into the space next to the battery box, and the exhaust goes next to the bottom right side in the all separated picture (the side that is on an angle), under the ecu. Am i right?

It all looks pretty gud. Some ideas: you can maybe try to put some asbestos sheet (or other heat protector) between the meatal part and the bottom fibreglass piece. Another idea could be to cut the bottom carbon part, so that you have a air vent under the ecu, isntead of trapped hot air (exactly the way it looks in the cut-away picture) .

I think the ecu should be fairly safe in there

[imdying]

Yeah, I'm not really sure what to do with that... apparently air is actually not a bad insulator. It's actually more heavy duty than the existing setup, so I'm not expecting any heat related dramas

That metal sheet is a heat shield product, I've got a picture of it somewhere... looks to be some sort of asbestos type product sandwiched between two sheets of lightweight aluminum, and then corrugated (presumably because of the air as an insulator thing).

[lordandrevv]

well cold air is better than warm i reccon lol but yeah..probably won't make to much of a difference.

That metal shield sounds awsome and just right for the project.

As for making the carbon parts, if you say you pretty much have the plugs made, you are going pretty well. The bottom part will be prety straight forward. It is always a good idea to round the corners instead of making them sharp. If you don't really have a choise about how shard the corners are, it might pay to put of extra carbon (maybe even glass) around the corners on the inside to keep the main box strong. Its a great way to use leftover pieces. I'm not sure if this is how you wanted to make the top part initially, but the best way i recon would be to make it in 2 pieces (one for battery part and one for the ECU part) and then glue them together using epoxy resin.

If you have any questions on laying it up, or making the mould feel free to ask anytime

[imdying]

Yep, that's the plan, 2 separate bits I've a cunning plan for making that internal structure, should be a piece of cake You don't happen to know the nominal thickness of a 155gm twill sheet do you?

[lordandrevv]

nah, can't say i do lol. I never actually measured the thinkness of different grain matts once the layer is cured. I have to start doing that one day lol

Remember to roll out the job well. If you don't have one, go get a fibreglass roller, really need them, especially for something like this

[imdying]

Yeah, need some rollers, respirator, resin pumps, vac pump/bag/feeder etc Still, nothing I like more than buying tools.

Checkout the design of the inner tray mold I've just sent you... so simple it hurts

[lordandrevv]

youp, thats a pretty cool plan aye i like it. I wouldn't do it because i know i wouldn't trust my skills to make the wood parts lol If someone would make them for me it would difinatley be a plan. This way you get both sides smooth, not that the bottom can be seen anyway lol

One thing i recomend: it might pay to get some PVA which is a water based release agent. You can spray it, but even easyer to just get a bit of it and wipe it on the surface to leave a very thin film. Make sure you went over the whole surface and don't touch it after you went over the surface as it will peal of. It dries very quickly and can be washed of with water

Have a look at these videos if you haven't seen them already:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=q_fKlDzem...elated&search=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IWiSSLPf6...elated&search=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IWiSSLPf6...elated&search=

Very helpfull

[imdying]

For sure, PVA FTW. I'll have a gander at those videos when I get home. I've found a heap of interesting ones, I'd make a post to start listing them in, but it'd need to be stickied, and in the end, few seem to care.

I'm no wood worker, but my brother in law is a joiner, so he'll step up to the plate on this one.

[lordandrevv]

yeah, not many people are into this practice, i would apreciate it if you could send me the links, so i can have a perv and bookmark them...

[imdying]

Yep, will do. I see the links are to tygaboys work, have you seen the MV Agusta / SV650 hybrid carbon fibre tank that he made?

[lordandrevv]

can't say i have. I haven't looked into carbon a lot since there was a shortage for quite a while of it (moslty because Airbus and Boing bought up most of it for their new planes, like the A308 and the newly released 787) and you couldn't really get it.
Now that i could get some and have a project bike as well, I'm definatley going to get into it more.

[imdying]

can't say i have. I haven't looked into carbon a lot since there was a shortage for quite a while of it (moslty because Airbus and Boing bought up most of it for their new planes, like the A308 and the newly released 787) and you couldn't really get it.
Now that i could get some and have a project bike as well, I'm definatley going to get into it more.

Andrew, what weight glass would you recommend for the first layers of a mold?

I see the 'tissue' fibreglass weave, I'm picking that's too fine though, maybe something in the 100gm range? Then pack that beyatch out with CSM?

Know of anywhere that sells milled fibres in Chch?

[lordandrevv]

well to be honest at work we use mostly csm 450, but do have some 230 as well. I've learned to get it around corners by means of ripping, cutting and making creases while its dry. If you put the resin on the glass and let it "weat out" (for say 30 seconds) it will be a lot more easy to work with. also a couple of good fibreglass rollers are worth their weigth in gold if you got a very 'bendy' surface (normally a flat one, and a curved one). supose you could use tissue cloth but its a bit of an overkill if you ask me, depends on the shape of the object i reccon. normaly you use tissue cloth for the last layer on the rough side of a mould or casting, to make it smotther or other very small jobs. Are you using gelcoat?
As for where to look for milled fibres...don't really know since we don't buy the stuff, but first that come to mind that you could try are nuplex, burnsco and Composite Supplies Ltd ( see this link http://www.finda.co.nz/business/ac/c...s/fibre-glass/ ). We don't use that kind of material so sorry i can't help. If you can't find any, an idea is to get csm and cut it with scissors into small pieces and put it in the resin (after the catalyst has been added and mixed up...). once again this might work for depending on what you are using it for.
Well hope i was of some help
Oh and btw its Andrei ;-)

[imdying]

It's a sidecover, so a few more tight corners etc than a larger item, that's why I'm thinking something like 100gm would be good. Have heaps of rollers, although the 1/4" one is pretty average quality, would like to find a better one. The plug is flanged and gelcoated, I should complete the mold this week.