Monday, February 21, 2011

Borealis V3 rear Fender

I have had a delay in getting the Borealis V3 on the road.  My original idea for the rear fender didn't work out as well as hoped. So I ended up making a new set of moulds for a new fender. First we build a flange onto the bottom of the fender so that it matches the shape of the floor in the back section of the shell.  From this I built a pattern (plug) to use for making the moulds that the fender will be built it.  As it is a bit awkard to bag the part in a one piece mould I split the moulds into two parts.  After making each part we will bond them together to make the whole fender. We now have these moulds built and have made the first set of parts.  Still need to refine the laminate used but it looks like the parts will be lighter than how we were doing it before.  The previous fender was a hand layup while the new one is made using vaccum.   I would guess  the weigh saving at between 250-500 grams just for the composite parts.   When you include the fabic storage bag that is in the back of the V2 the weight saving is more like a kilo. 


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