Hi guys,
I want to share few process pictures I found. Its a building process of CF bicycle frame. Also very interesting is picture where a woman prepares special kind of fabric with long UD strips. I was wandering about one year how they get it. Now I know . Maybe someone will find it usefull.
Great pictures mike!
Have you already started your second frame?
Im in designing stage now. It will took a while, I want to make it far better then EVO I 
Is that a filament winder in the background of the first or second photo? That frame out of the mold looks HOT:cool: I love the “weave” pattern on the finished part. That last layer of wrap must be mainly for cosmetic purposes?
The tool is very nice looking too… it looks as if it was made to be put in a press.
your last bike/frame was way cool… i can’t wait to see the next one, but do take your time 
If you would like some aluminum machining help… maybe i can help with the machine work on our CNC machines. I wouldn’t charge anything, except for the actuall material cost. For a few dollars i can have the parts anodized black or clear. We do some black hard anodizing as well.
Yes, that is a filament winder in the background of the second photo.
Fastrr, he is in Russia as I sent carbon mike (thank for sharing these photos Mike) some Dunstone shrink wrapping awhile back.
If I remember your first one was hand layed.
Bagged or shrink tapped no doubt your second will come out much more rigid/lighter.
That special ,striped, fabric is cutted into pieces and put directly on two halfes of the mould (than excess edges are cut off). Rest of the layup is made as on the picture number 5 and than thay put it in the prepared mould. Last layer is mostly cosmetic, but it also increase strength a bit (in this case torsional strength).
2Fastrr: Thanks for your offer, but I live far far in Europe
2Werksberg: Actually I live in Slovakia (next to Czech Republic) Russia is far eastern. We are member of European Union.
…well, I knew it was a far away country from the OC iron curtin!
wow, you write very fluent English Carbon Mike. I thought you were in the US.
2Werksberg: Thats OK hehe
2Fastrr: Thanks, I really appreciate that you think so I try to write in english best I can, but Im still learning
I believe that fabric is Textreme by Oxeon, also known as checkerboard fabric.
No thats not TeXtreme. TeXtreme is weaved. This one isnt. It has got stright UD stipes without any weave. I was looking at it on my own eyes. Also Scott use it for their bikes. Look at this detail (seattube detail with parting line):
You can see that those UD stripes are not crossed.
The same on this TLD helmet:
Oh, yes, you’re right. Do you think they make it like that themselves using strips of UD? I guess that’s what the woman is cutting the strips for.
Yes they do. I wrote it at my first post
,Also very interesting is picture where a woman prepares special kind of fabric with long UD strips. I was wandering about one year how they get it. Now I know .,
man, i’d like to have all those stacked sheets of carbon fiber and that roll too That’s probably about what $2,000 worth? More than i can afford anyway:)
I would have gave my left nut to own a carbon fiber road bicycle frame 5 or so years ago. I loved to ogle over them at the local bicycle shops, but the price always kept me at bay. Back in 1990 the one i was looking at cost $900 for just the frame. I think it was made by Canondale.
edited: lol i just found this after making my last post. trust me Canondale has been making c/f frames for many many years. They write about how they are now using aluminum parts in the frame build for a good reason. I wonder how a bicycle frame would do if half the tubes were c/f and the other half were aluminum? Like make the rear triangle out of carbon tubing and the front out of thin wall aluminum tube.
http://www.compositesworld.com/hpc/issues/2006/January/1159
Another link to the bicycle manufacturer LOOK with their latest carbon fiber road bike frame, check out the price on just the frame and forks…wow:
http://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/biketestdetails.asp?id=719
So they lay the bike up with graphite. Then the UD is put on after the initial layup as a cosmetic layer?
One way or the other thats some impressive work. I would love to talk with the master mind behind all of this. Seems like a lot of stupid proof steps would be needed to mass produce those.
2Fastrr: Use of aluminium frame parts such headtube area, bottom bracket area, etc. (called lugs) its now a bit oldschool technology. There are of course some companies building this frames. This is prefered mostly by companies which have lot of experience with aluminium frames. For them its easier to build this frames.
There are also frames made from aluminium (front triangle) with bonded carbon chainstay and seatstay. Frame producers can just buy those chainstays and seatstays from companies which are focused on carbon parts (like Easton). If you work years with aluminium and if you want to be competitive on market (more and more frames switch to carbon), its hard to JUST start building full carbon frames, so its one of the way. Look here for Easton stays offer: http://www.eastonbike.com/PRODUCTS/TUBING/tubes_ec90_e-stay.html
2JRL: This is the process (I suppose):
Moulds are sprayed with mould release and maybe som kind of gelcoat (I dont know about gelcoats+prepregs). Than that special handmade fabric is layed in mould to make nice outer skin (fabric is cutted along mould line). Separately, whole layup is made. Thay make layup by sections (headtube section, bottombracket section…). You can see that on picture No.3. Thay use som kind of wax core or other to lay prepreg pieces (white think on same picture). You can also see that ,core, on picture No. 6 (on right side next to finished part). Than they put the core away (wash or melt). After that thay join all section with rolled prepreg tubes (picture No.5) and insert inflamable bladders. Than they put it in mould, close mould, put it in press, inflate bladders and hotcure. End pop up…
So thats wax? For a second I thought it was polyethylene rods (or teflon) used to hold things in place during bonding.
Now that I look at it, it makes more sense that its wax.
Im not sure if its a wax. It looks like wax. It should be other material, but it has to be removable (meltable or washable)