Hello! any info about how to carbon fibre rims are made?
I really have not much clue on it but my guess is it is some sort of male-female mold that is pressed together then probably baked in an oven or autoclave. As for the actuall cf used… no clue.
Aquacore, or some other lost investment molding system. I have seen hollow UAV ducts that used some sort of wax core I think, and 2-4 part mold. Prepreg of sorts.
Or did you mean bicycle rims? i think they are just multi-part compression molds.
There is a company that is now producing carbon fiber automotive wheels. BST has been making motorcycle wheels for some time now…and one other company makes them for motocycles also.
Dymag makes them.
Dymag makes some OK looking wheels with only a CF rim. Sizing is very limited. Some of my buddies have them, and I’ve always been wary of them when we go on “spirited” drives. More than once have I seen a Dymag rim turn yellowish with time, and I don’t trust the magnesium to carbon attachment.
My magnesium wheels are not much heavier, and I don’t question their proven strength. CF wheels need to be proven on the track first.
The all carbon wheel in the pic above seems to have been made with compression molding to get a smooth finish all around.
my interest is for a bicycle carbon rims, I would like to know the method of construction for try to make a prototpye homemade rim.
Look this picture for example
ah!!
It looks like the tire rim and spoke blade area are 2 different pieces.
The wide part I’m sure is a top and bottom (or left and right of the wheel) mold platens, and then a split ring for the inside cavity.
The brake rim area might be the same.
Not easy offhand, and would need a CAD model and CNC’ed mold…
if I try to make mold my poblem is that i don’t understand how to laminate the carbon fibre inside the mold is this closed.
If you mean, which fabric, and how many layers.
Trial and error.
yes sure many layers but if a make half mold and laminate half rim with carbon, then how can I join with other half mold?
A bit off topic again, but…
Here is the Y2K Jet Engine bike with a set of Dymag carbon fiber wheels on it. Jay Leno owns/rides a Y2K.
I’m very interested in compression molding motorcycle or car wheels. I’m certain the resin would have to be epoxy. The molds would have to be CNC machined.
Same on those bicycle wheels… I wouldn’t even think of making molds without a good CNC programer and machinist. Otherwise the wheels won’t be true/round. also your molds should be beefy, made out of large blocks of aluminum, steel, or stainless steel. You can find large diameter commercial pipe suppliers that will be able to come close to the wheel diameter; but would still require precision machining. Be prepaired to shell out around $3,000 to $10,000 for the molds. Ohhh bearer of bad news LOL.
Here are the wheels BST makes for motorcycles. I’ve seen a used pair sell for $3,000. I’m not sure how much new ones go for.
July/Aug 2005 SAMPE Journal has a nice issue on cores and mold making. They showed the spokes and hub area of a motorcycle wheel made out of AquaCore…not the best stuff to work with, but it does work. I would think close mold it, and bond it (maybe at same cure?) with the rim.