I have a Racing wheel project in the design stage that I am having difficulty planning for as I'm a complete rooky at molding.

I've attached a pdf of a previous layout of the project as currently don't have access to the updated files. The rear of the wheel has a circular hub mount for attaching quick release/hub mount kits to and the central display is no longer included. I will try and update them with the new design as soon as.

I have a number of questions I need some help with:

1. How many layers of Carbon fabric, or Glass fabric, are needed to properly reinforce the part to these thicknesses:

Hub mount point, grip link arms and grips: 3mm

main body: 1.5mm (max panel thickness for switches)

I have a rough estimate for the 2/2 twill cloth at 3 plys per 1mm but as there are no thicknesses listed for your glass cloth I am unable to estimate for a carbon/glass reinforcement.

2. How sharp can the corners be when working with pro finish?

Near the thumb switches is a 2mm radius that won't show in the pdf due to limitations in the CAD software.

Any help on the above would be helpful.

Regards

It depends on the technique used to manufacture.

Generally we say for resin infusion or vacuum bagging you will get 4 layers of a 200gsm carbon cloth (or indeed another fabric of same weight)  per mm of laminate.

When wet laying it with no vacuum bagging, it can be 3 layers of cloth per mm because the fabric layers are not compressed so tightly.

ProFinish can go around fairly tight corners, although you may need small cut lines as the resin binder means it doesnt stretch or distort around curves in quite the same way as a normal fabric.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant