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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
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After 1 year, many hours of work, 16 moulds, some carbon parts born for scrap, some of them with very short riding life, some sticking conditions from moulds to parts and vise versa, I finished my motocross carbon project! From plastic:  To carbon:  The loss of weight was not the main issue, the main goal of project was to make the rear fender stop cracking while riding in heavy mud and specially with supsension bottoming on bigger jumps. In muddy conditions the rear fender was bound to broke damaging also the rear side panels. Making just the rear fender in carbon didn't help very much the situation. Final solution achieved by making the three seperate plastic parts (rear mudgard and the two side panels) just in one piece. A three piece mould was needed for this purpose:  Unfortunately the first mould produced a slightly wrong dimensioned part (with a lot of aesthetic problems also). The one piece tail could not fit correctly in the subframe. Both mould and part go straight to trash. Starting from scratch the mould, this time the 3 plastic parts were tighten in the subframe and the mould was produced with all of them sitting in the right position. The mk.1 part was good enough but not perfect. it last a lot of motocross riding hours but failed a little bit in very heavy mud. It was the time for mk.2 rear fender, this time more stiffer and 100 grams more heavier than mk.1. Mk.2 turned to be perfect and very good looking. |
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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
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and the rest of the parts... front fender (-100gr from the plastic which is weighting more or less 500 gr) : |
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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
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Radiator covers and air filter cover :  Lateral number plates :  Original carbon engine guard after 4 years of motocross use started to deteriorate and needed to be copied :  The new piece turned to be lighter than the original one (it has a little bit less thickness) but it is completing it's task successfully. Under the subframe guard :   Some other additional parts :  Generally the weight loss was -20% up to -25% from the original plastic parts. Some of the parts were intentionally made the same weight as the plastic ones, because the plastic ones had constant failures due to design problems or not manufactured strong enough.
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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 36,
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The new project to complete is the aluminium subframe. It is a risky project, if something goes bad with the carbon subframe during riding motocross, personal injury or expsensive damage (the titanium exhaust pipes are hanging by the subframe) could happen... The mould is almost ready and it is a 2 piece part : 1st step to cover the voids between the main beams  The half part ready for the gelcoat :  Ready to flip over and begin the 2nd part:  2nd part ready for gelcoat :  to be continued...
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scottracing
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Group: Forum Members
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Some really good work there!
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Julien
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Hi ! Very great job !! One question : What do you put around the models to make the mold (the white plates and the glue / yellow putty ??)
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hayeglas
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Group: Forum Members
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Nice work mate! I thought about doing the subframe as well a while back (same bike, HayeSM from aprilia forum). I was planning to make the mold while the subframe is mounted the bike, to ensure the dimensions are right. What kind of inserts will you be using for mounting it to the frame? I thought about a adjustable bal-joint of some kind, this would be a similar idea the 08 vdb bikes had on their subframe. Will you be using inserts for the exhaust mounts as well? My idea was to make the side of the subframe (which is normally open) smooth instead of a small extrusion (hope you know what i mean) but this would mean the mounings of the exhaust would need to be bonded in later or making a small extrusion at this place
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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
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Hello Julien, thank you. It is very simple, follow the steps of mould creation videos available from easycomposites and the relative material : White barriers is from polypropylene fluted signboard : |
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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 36,
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Thank you, So many hours spend...but so much pleasure coming from the sentiment of creativity.
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Thanasis
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 36,
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Hi, great to see other MXV lovers around! The subframe project started because recently both upper beams of subframe were cracked near the joint with the frame, as a result from a very very heavy landing involving neck injury after a tripple jump go bad. The subframe was welded and repaired, but since the subframe is the only spare part concerning the MXV that Aprilia has discontinued, I though as a good idea to try to replicate in carbon. The idea is to close the two side triangulars of the subframe and the top rectangle and leave open the bottom side (red areas) :  For connecting the frame to subframe, I am thinking of "T" bushings, something like the photo below:  For the rest of the mounts that are less critical (rear fender, side panels and exhausts) I think bonded fasteners will do the job:  Any other ideas especially for the 4 mounting holes for fastening it to the frame are welcomed.
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