Hello all in the composite world.

My name is Jim and I live in Stoke on Trent, and I am also lucky enough to live just up the road from Easy Composites which should prove invaluable as my own project work expands.

I am totally new to carbon fibre and working with composites so for me it is a very steep learning curve, and at the moment I am in the process of setting up a work area in my workshop. The first stage is the installation of my work table where the work surface is made from a 2440mm x 1220mm sheet of toughened glass which has been pre-drilled to allow it to be bolted to an equal sized 19mm reinforced plyboard. the outer edge will be covered with several layers of carbon tape to provide protection and safety and this will be my first foray into the fascinating world of composites and I will post some more pics on here when it is completed.

My interest is a passion for airships and especially rigid airship of the Zeppelin class and it has always been an ambition to design and built a large remote controlled model that could function across a wide range of parameters from extended flight time to all weather flying. I have been working on the design aspect and mathematics for a spherical design of a rigid airship and have made several attempts to build and test the structural concept out of basic materials to varying degrees of success and failure and I have included a picture of one such framework i have made.

The project itself died a death when it came to considering building the framework from carbon fibre a few years ago but has now been reinstated when I came across easy composites while watch YouTube videos, and then to find these guys right on my own doorstep was a real boost. The service and advice is second to none and they show an enthusiasm for composites which is infectious and has encouraged me to jump in at the deep end and rekindle my project.

                       

I am also looking forward to chatting with other peeps here on the forum and hopefully gain valuable advice and comments, so thank you for reading this and looking forward to chatting soon.

Regards Jim

Welcome to the forum Airship Jim, and yes it going to help living close to EC  .

Chris Alty

www.carbonfibreworks.co.uk

Hi Jim, I really like the workingspace you created yourself, looks nice and clean good start!

Hi there, Jim again.

@ Chris: Thank you for the welcome to the site it is great to start to meet new people with shared interests so where about in the world are you ? Hoping to chat with you more soon.

@Matthieu: Thank you for the welcome to the site too, it is much appreciated. Glad you like my new workspace and hoping I can ask for advice as I need it to help improve it as it progresses through its development. Going to make a start on securing the glass to the table-top proper today and edge it off with the carbon fibre tape tomorrow then the next task will be to make a cover to fit over the glass and protect it when not in use.

I'm pleased you like my early model design, this is a basic mock-up for the structural framework of my airship design and is one of the designs that I will be looking to reproduce in carbon fibre but at a much larger scale. I will be posting up images of the project as it progresses in the projects section of the forum where I have seen some of the fantastic work you have been doing. So hoping to chat with you again soon.

Kind regards Jim

Hi Jim

I am from Skelmersdale in Lancashire so not too far away .

Chris

www.carbonfibreworks.co.uk

Hi Chris.

Yep, Skelmersdale is not too far away about 55 miles or so I think, it's been ages since I was over that way. Love your website, wish I could do up my bike in full carbon fibre, it's only a Honda CBF 125 but doing my DAS every sunday now and hoping to take full bike license in about six weeks time if I'm ready for it by then, still need to work on my figure of eight !

I see you are running your own carbon fibre business which is such a cool thing to do, can I ask you Chris whether you do any CNC machining at you place ? I'm looking forward to getting one but it will be several months before I can sort something like that out but in the mean time there are some components I would like to be CNC cut from the sheets of composites I will be trialling as part of my project.

Jim

Hi Jim

I have a lathe and a mill but not CNC , if that's a way you would like to go then you could get familiar with the design software (solidworks etc)and pass the programme onto an engineering company to machine the part. Most of my work is bespoke or very low volume at the moment which suits me fine .

Chris

www.carbonfibreworks.co.uk

Hey Jim, from one new member to another.

If I was that close to EC I'd book myself straight onto their courses which are in mid July.

Hi FiftyPence.

Yep I'm lucky to being just 10 mins up the road to easy Composites and as things progress it will always be convenient to just pop round for all the things I need and the odd thing I forget. Hoping to book on to the mould making course in september finances permitting. thanks for the welcome and hope to chat to you again soon.

Jim