So i started to make a Sparkplug cover pattern. Eventually this will be a full blown CF Sparkplug cover!!



Here is the one i made for my CTR.






A few more of the finished pattern. Hand crafted not machined.





More pics as the work continues.

Here's the moulding stage.

There will be 8 plys of Pre Preg Carbon laid on the mould, one light ply (thickness) for getting all the detail (so it can be pushed into all the sharp angles to define the shape) and then 6 plys of heavy placed at 0 degrees for the first and 45 degrees for the second and so on. There is a final light ply laid to seal all the cut parts of carbon to make a good final finish. The ply orientation makes the mould hold its shape and not twist.





The mould is cured and removed from the pattern.



Its a good mould because all of the corners are intact!! 8)



All trimmed up and freecoated ready for making the cover tomorrow. :smt026




"Moulding the cover"

After the mould has been protected with the release agent then the plys can be laid in the mould to make the part. I have chosen a ultra lightweight layup of 3 plys of carbon (2 plys of light twill and 1 layer of heavy twill). This will be sufficient for a cover of this type as it serves no purpose other than a moisture protector. I also added in some hard pads of solid carbon to make the areas that bolt down onto the engine.

This mould will be placed in a bag and will be subjected to a vacuum, this pulls the carbon down on to the surface of the mould ensuring all of the edges and detail is formed.

The cover is being autoclaved tonight (a big pressure cooker) so i should have it tomorrow trimmed and ready to fit to the car. 8)



Well after having a few days off work i finally got back to it!!

Here is the part as it looks just cracked out of the mould. It needs trimming to the lines that i scribed.



Here is the cover fully trimmed and ready to go.



Fitted to the car.



The two of them as a comparison.

 

You get to work with carbon fiber for a living! Dahmm with that kind of skill and access I would be getting crafty as well! Good job!

 

That is great! Now how about a full CF undertray

Are you using Red Bull's oven?

 

Cheers

I build F1 cars for a living so this comes naturally!!

 

Yeah, i did use their autoclave. Its the best way to make CF parts.

 

who do you work for?

 

Can you recommend any good books to read on composites? I'm reading Competition Car Composites by Simon McBeath. It's pretty good, but it glosses over techniques used by you guys. A DIYer would probably never have the ability to use the tools F1 teams do , but I'm curious as how its done.

 

Red Bull Racing

The best team to work for!!

 

I can't really help you out there. Being an F1 team cutting edge is the game os books are never really up to date enough.

I can get some ideas from the design dept though.

 

Ok fine, then how about any used worn out tools that you don't need anymore? JK