only 5 more parts left to complete!!!
the resolution makes it look like a photoshop… can you get cloe ups of the mount tabs (headlights etc)
are you trying to pull a fast one on us:confused:
wait a minute that is a photo-chop
the lines of the weave are different and don’t match between pics…
also if you look in the reflection of the bike in the gloss of the car you can see that it’s a red bike…
what the hell?
compared to this one…
Lol…guess photoshop is easier than learning how to laminate properly though…
hey look classic bike is the only one good enough to spot it 
yep never claimed it was the real deal…but yes photoshop for me anyways is easier lol then again im a pro with photoshop…this is the “concept” im shooting for with my bike, just waiting to find a stock upper faring and ill have all the plastics to begin mold work
hey look classic bike is the only one good enough to spot it yep never claimed it was the real deal…but yes photoshop for me anyways is easier lol then again im a pro with photoshop…this is the “concept” im shooting for with my bike, just waiting to find a stock upper faring and ill have all the plastics to begin mold work
Why not try making a few smaller parts in silver Eglass first? Making moulds to reproduce parts like fairings is certainly not easy, and needs a fair amount of experience to get right.
? who said i had a problem making parts? lol i do ruin about 1 out of every 10 parts and i think i have a good idea why, its my bagging technique…the bag film i first bought is .005mm thick and doesnt stretch, i think thats the main problem right there, i use double the breather fabric i should need to use in the tight corners and that takes care of the bridging sometimes…but 1/10 times i still get bridging, i oredered some stretchlon 200 and im looking to buy a REAL vacuum pump instead of the venturi system…i can only pull about 23hg with the venturi setup, obviously for bike parts that are really complex in design this just isnt enough vacuum to EASILY make parts…im constantly having to adjust the bag when im doing the vacuum stuff…just a hassle to ruin 1/10 parts, ive ruined about 10 or 11 parts now and its depressing sometimes
Multi stage venturi vac pumps are very common in heavy duty industrial production processes, work very well and dont have moving parts to wear out. However these wont be any good if you only have a small low powered compressor.
Regards your production process, I guess you have enough experience of hand laminating, to be able to make perfect moulds? If you dont have perfect moulds, then your finished parts will never be that great.
1 of these molds has 1 coat of wax that hasnt been wiped off yet
For small cosmetic bike parts like that, you would probably find that contact moulding with modified poly resin, is going to be faster and cheaper than vacuum.
i will agree with that, i use polyester tooling resin and polyester tooling gelcoat, i dont put my molds in the oven so its not a big deal for heat right now…i started to put them in the home type oven at 150 and leaving the door open but i found a better way that im doing it now…i have these silicone heating pads that drape ontop of the mold and will heat up to 110degrees, they work PERFECTLY!, parts cure in about 1 hour
on the other hand i only use epoxy when making the actual parts, its the only way to go
oh … I see:cool:
hehe fooled ya huh? well dont feel bad im a photoshop pro and thats only about 30 min worth of work tops…need me to carbon fiber something?
Why spend a lot more money for epoxy resin systems, if you are making cosmetic parts, which will work just fine if you use much cheaper and faster poly resin?
im willing to bet that i pay about the same if not very much more for my epoxy resin/hardener than you pay for your PER…$53 a galon for the west systems resin and $24 for the hardener for the gallon, works out to be almost 1.5 gallons total for $77 and i can drive and pick up more anytime i want, tax free because im a business entity
do some research, west systems is 1 of the best epoxy resin systems you can buy, not sure how much epoxy resin costs in the UK but everything is fairly cheap in the good ol` usa
Price you are paying for epoxy is about double the UK retail (non trade) price of poly, which comes with MEK.
But when you look at the fact process time is longer and more costly with epoxy, and finished parts require clear coating to provide UV protection, for cosmetic parts the right material choice seems a bit of a no brainer…
last i checked my epoxy HAS uv protection built in, i dont need to gelcoat or clear coat anything…and really how much extra per part is it to use a product that is better than PER? $4 per part more? my parts can withstand high heat from say exhausts and engines without getting soft…
If you are using West epoxy it doesnt have UV protection, and this is generally only found on specific products intended for things like surf board manufacture, and is more costly than non UV protected.
There isnt any doubt that structural parts are better made with epoxy resins, but you seem to be making things like side panels, which I dont think need to be heat resistant or particularly strong?
If you are making a few parts for your own use, employing time consuming and costly production methods, doesnt matter in the slightest, but if you are looking to sell anything then its something that needs to be looked at very carefully…