DIY Carbon fibre

Daytona TT600 covers:


Had to make this set out of pure kevlar due to a supply drama out of the states and this is what I could get at short notice from ACT Fibreglass supplies (good people, btw, definitely going to buy most of my supplies there to keep them in business).

It's probably the best in terms of abrasion resistance for these covers but just isn't quite as pretty as either cf-kevlar or some other combination. It's also a bit more fun to cut: I ended up having to trim it with my angle grinder rather than the dremel, as the dremel laughed at it. I've trimmed it slightly larger than I'd like, and rougher, so that it can be cleaned up and nicely shaped by the owner once they get around to installing them prior to racing.

Just gotta do the final epoxy coat and clean up the little dags in the mounting holes on the clutch.

 

I'd just grab some pickled onions and a small frankfurter to make up the mould.

 

And a set for [MENTION=42433]Binksy[/MENTION] done too.

 

Depends how much you crash. Stace's highside then long slide by the RGV in May did this:

That's through the first layer of carbon-kevlar and into the first layer of carbon underneath. The ones I did for Binksy and rubaduc are kevlar all the way through, except for Binksy's clutch which I did with kevlar then a layer of carbon-kevlar at the top, which makes it all a bit more abrasion resistant.

Just a case of sanding up the top layer of epoxy, acetone wipe to help reactive the epoxy, then lay up a layer over the top.

Removal is a bit of a pita depending on how much you sikaflexed them on, but the RGV ones come off every oil change of the gearbox anyway (need to protect the drain plug on it) and it's pretty easy. I've pulled it off maybe 8 times now and never had a drama, just takes about 10 minutes and a bit of patience not to just lever the thing off and ruin the cases or snap the cover itself. Takes another 10 mins to clean up the sikaflex I use to stick them on with, too (and for racing they're also either lockwired or bolted on, depending on the mounting method).

That said, cost and time wise buying premade carbon-kevlar ones is much easier than making your own, and the bolt on ones made of metal by places like Woodcraft and GB Racing are probably better. The sikaflex is a bit of a pita to clean off the cases.

These ones are pretty good for models where you can't buy protection to let you go racing, but given a choice I'd buy other options first . (And, for the record, for the Monster, I did just that).

... I'll get around to making another one for the RGV one day and maybe making a mould to sell other ones to PCRA people, as no-one makes them for RGVs or Aprilia RS250s, though the cost would probably scare people due to the amount of time I have to put into making them.

 

That's pretty much it. Depends what you value your time at, I think.. That said: I know if we raced the SV then Woodcraft metal case protectors for it would be on par with just the materials cost, so it'd be that my time was worth 0. Since there's a bunch of hours spent over several days to lay them up, yeah... If I did them commercially I can't see how you could sell them for less than about $200-$250 a set and make enough to pay for the time you invest in them.

There's also a bunch of hidden costs alongisde the cost of the fabric and the epoxy: acetone, paint brushes, wax, mould release stuff, modelling clay, fibreglass to lay up the mould etc etc.

It's a cool skill to have and I've enjoyed it. One of the things I like with any composite (be it fibreglass, cf or kevlar) is the quality of the parts you can achieve at home with limited tooling. That aspect of this is pretty sweet.

 

Last minute job on a late model ZX6R:


Didn't make moulds, just pulled these straight off the covers. Was a rush job, so I am happy with how they turned out.

 

Nah not Mick's. 2005 not 1995 heh. Mick got pushed back into the queue cause these were needed more urgently.

These look the best cause of the fabric. Easy shapes too.

Normally you pull a mould off the oem cases first, then do them off that. That way it is repeatable and you aren't tying up the covers while you lay them up. Which can take a while if you aren't in the window to lay fabric when the epoxy is just the right level of tacky.

The Daytona ones looked less cool cause I laid them in pure kevlar, which looks uglier. Stronger and was all I could get here while I waited for this cf-kevlar to rock up from the States.

 

Yeah, definitely any of the twill fabrics look the best. Helps Kawasaki made the cases nice and easy. No weird overhangs to try to blend in etc, and the bolts are just the right amount of recessed to let you make them direct bolt on. Haven't drilled them for that, I'll do that tomorrow.

 

Yeah, being a 2 stroke whisper means I have the correct currency .