I’m continuing to wrap the bottom bracket joint today. I’ve now done a total of 9 layers, which I’m pretty sure will be enough for a sturdy and stiff BB.
After wrapping up each series of layers in cling wrap and PVC tape I place it inside my homemade autoclave. It gets up to 80 degrees C in there, with just a regular old hairdryer. 30-40minutes is all it needs at that temperature to cure the epoxy enough that the wrapping can be removed. It will continue to cure at room temperature over the next few days.
It’s looking amazing! I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Brano Meres’ site; he has up to 19 layers of CF in some areas of the frame of the CF frame he made.
http://www.bmeres.com/carbonframe1.htm
Hi Matt, Yeah Brano’s frame’s are incredible! A bamboo frame doesn’t need as many layers as a pure carbon fibre frame thou as the bamboo takes a lot of the load. The carbon’s really just there to hold it all together! That said, if this one falls apart I might start increasing the amount of layers… 🙂