Does anyone know how carbon wheels are made for motorbikes? Not sure what processes are used at all but I want some and don’t want to pay for them!
I would not risk my life on unengineered wheels. It is a safety issue, wheels are something that have to be properly engineered.
So once you pay some one about 100K to properly engineer a design that is buildable, spend another 100k or so for molds. Then lay up the prepeg properly and put it in your auotclave till it cures. machine it on your 5 axis CNC then balance it and install the custom billet bearing supports you made on your CNC, Or pick up the phone and give you Visa a workout.
I will search my computer but I have pics of the mold for those wheels.
Thanks dual twill, I would be really interested in seeing those pics, even if it’s not possible I would love to know the process used!
Youll never build a set for less than you can buy them. Ive researched this subject till I was blue in the face…I cant remember off the top of my head but they use a ceramic slurry to mold and it disolves out.
Blackstone wheels pass german street use tests. The strictest test in the world. Id not be willing to make a set of wheels for a bicycle yet.
Its way hard and way expensive
[they use a ceramic slurry to mold and it disolves out.
What kind of solvent would disolve ceramic? Where can I get more information about this technique?
I couldnt find the info again but someone here knows about it as well. Its some water dissolvable ceramic slurry for LOST CORE MOLDING.
Basicaly you have a machinist make you a mold of the lost core in aluminum and then cast your core. You overlay the core and when you are done you wash out the slurry. Machine in your aluminum hub parts or whatever.
Im interested in the subject but Im not interested in the cost as of yet. perhaps if I make some good money on my stupid parts Ill venture that road.
If you check the blackstone wheel site youll see how hard they abuse the wheels to check for quality.
We just got samples of something like that at work (can’t remember the name)…it is almost like plaster of paris. You can mold it, machine it, lay it up, cook it, and then just wash it off in a sink, with NO eviromental problems!!!
I don’t know if we will start using it, but it looks like a goldmine idea!! No need for 2-3part molds!
I’d also be interested in it for a consulting job (not composites related) I’m doing right now.
I’m guessing you’re using Aqua Core? Cool stuff, and very helpful for solving some complex molding issues, but it does have its quirks.
That looks like the page I checked out originally…it used to have a 5 spoke wheel on it for motorcycles.
Its just way too much of a hassle to attempt for me.
I saw on their web site that it comes in 5 gallon pails, but I didn’t see a price. Does anyone know how much this costs?
why not call them? they offer help for customers
I don’t understand exactly how this would be used to make the wheels. If you were to have the wheel CNC’d with the aquacore and the overlayed it then the aquacore would be trapped inside the wheel? Please could someone explain in more detail how this would be used?
My guess woud be thru the hub area before they mount the alumium piece. But I didn’t design them or even look at them close.
Bricklin has it right.
Once you finish your OVERLAY or compression mold Im guessing…you machine out your hub area and then would dissolve the aquacore with water or whatever it uses and rinse out the slurry mixture. Now you have a completely hollow wheel that needs to have the hub bonded into the wheel.
One more reson Im not too keen to trying anything like that.
If you want to play around, why not try to make yourself a compression mold of say some spoke wheels for a bicycle. BMX and see how that holds up.
Much less risky than a motorcycle.
You might want to Google cast alum parts (heads, blocks or hollow parts) as they do a simular type of process:
Have a master pattern (mold) to place in the box, pack it with sand, core out filler and exit ports, remove pattern (leaves a larger void than finish part), place in a foam core (this is to leave areas for water jackets or whatever) which kind of looks like PUR but…, replace box with packed sand, pour rhe molten alum in the inlet until it comes out the exit, let it cool, dropped the sand box, remove the sand, put out cast part with the foam core still in it, cut off runners and hammer it as that breaks up the foam (the heat from the casting degrades the foam, but it keeps it’s shape) and it drops out in chunks or dust.
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So was the mandrel in this picture CNC’d or was it casted from a mould? I presume that that this
was then overlayed with carbon, any ide how many layers? Also what about
the rim and the hub for the wheel?