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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Hey all, Was hoping some of you may be able to offer me some advice on how to go about rebuilding a front splitter as a replacement for this:   The issue is, the bottom is obviously contoured but the top is flat. The whole thing is 25mm thick (overkill engineering wise, but it needs to be that thick now for the bodywork to fit). Now normally I would make 2 moulds, but I want to avoid this for 2 reasons: 1. Cost. It's a large part, and making a mould for both the top and the bottom is obviously twice the expense. 2. The box-section you see on top of the splitter is bonded on, and so I can't take a mould from it. Hence I would need to make a new plug, which again is more cost. I'm building this for a customer who is a friend of mine, so I'm trying to keep the costs down. At the moment I'm leaning towards making a bottom mould and making a bottom section from that to have the shaped underside. Then, simply make a flat sandwich laminate using 25mm thick foam core. However this presents me with the issue of having to shape that flat sheet, and exposing the core, hence needing to do more finishing work. Easier solution?
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f1rob
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Hi mate see your messages re wings,pm sent and more to follow !
But onto this little baby !
have you had the part off the car ? Would be very surprised if it is 25mm solid ? Would like to see a view from the back
my idea would be similar to yours but would take 2 separate moulds of the aero structures bonded to the top as your going to need them aren't you ?
making the moulds over size you can also use them as bonding jigs when you bond the top panels on and get them in the correct place.
Top skin like you say off a flat sheet then a bottom mould with a return to form a bonding surface
Might have to look at material thickness where the front stays are that fixing is going through tripple laminate an you want the correct thickness with glue gap
also look at the underside bet there is extra reinforcements where the rubbing strip if fixed ?
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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Thanks Rob, will reply to pm! Haven't had the part off the car yet, but I did have a look at the back and it is still 25mm so I'm sure it is the whole way through. This original part is pretty poor, the top flat section is just plywood and then skinned with the spread tow carbon. So to keep costs down, I think a similar approach only with better materials would be better? The aero structure on top is still needed, but it is complex (has internal ducts for brake cooling) and to make a mould from it would be very expensive for the customer. I would prefer to cut it off and bond it on again later.
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tomzi1234
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i would say 25mm is not for strength, but for safety. if it would be 2mm thick it would be blade in front of the car.
i think its the only reasonable thing that you make underside form mould, flat s*** and core in between. and then bond them together.
like you already suggest.
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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Just thought I'd follow this up and share how I got on with this, in case anyone is interested... I ended up deciding to cut the top box section off, and go down the route of making a 2 piece split mould:   This ended up being a pretty good decision, as upon dissecting the original I found that there was a 20mm aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel bonded into the front of the splitter as an impact absorption structure. I also had a look at how the original was made, and decided where and how I was going to make improvements. I decided to make the thing out of black diolen rather than carbon, as it's obviously quite exposed to abrasion etc. I followed this up with strategically placed Kevlar and triaxial fibreglass:   And ready to infuse:  I also decided to replace the aluminium honeycomb with a Kevlar skinned aluminium honeycomb to save weight:  To bond the two sections together, I first bonded the honeycomb panel to the top skin and let it cure. I then placed foam weatherstrip around the perimeter to ensure the epoxy adhesive stayed where I wanted it: |
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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Apologies for the awful photos by the way, this phone used to be so good.
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MarkMK
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Fantastic attention to detail Hanaldo and I can tell that there's been a hell of a lot of elbow grease applies in order to get to this quality of finish.
If you get chance, make sure to follow it up with some pics of it mounted as it'll look even better then
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scottracing
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top job there mate, looking forward to seeing it fitted back on the car
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VVS
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Great work, well thought out and expertly executed.
thanks for sharing its great to see how people work on a project, you must be made up with the finished part.
nice idea putting the chopping board as protection.
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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Will make sure I remember to get some photos of it fitted back up. Might not happen for a little while though, the car hasn't been taken out for a few years and we might be a bit busy to get round to fitting it!
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