wrapping

Panda progress

| Mik Efford

Bamboo Bike #3, dubbed The Panda by its eventual owner is nearing completion. I’ve laid up 95% of the carbon fibre and just need to do some final cosmetic layers and then lots of finishing. Then comes the tricky things like brake holes, derailleur mounts and cable stops.  Then some clear coat, then some testing!

Bamboo Bike #4 isn’t far away either. The head-tube’s been wrapped and the rest is scheduled to be done next week.

Here’s a few progress pics of The Panda:

all layed up, just needs sanding back
still a few more layers to go, then lots of sanding
they’ll be polished up to a mirror finish
kinda went overboard on the filleting, but it should be super stiff
needs one more cosmetic layer and a bit more sanding
all done
looking pretty messy at this point with all the tape, but rest assured there’s beautifully scratch free bamboo under there!

Foam & carbon

| Mik Efford

I’m using expanding filler foam on this frame as lightweight way to make the joints more curvaceous (and thus stronger). It’s super easy to sand back and shape and doesn’t take long to set.

I’ve done the initial wrappings of the rear end and head-tube with 12K carbon fiber tow. So far it’s taken 90metres of the stuff!  I’ll cover these in 1-3 layers of woven carbon fiber cloth then 2 layers of clear coat. Job done.

Finishing touches

| Mik Efford

Today I’ve put the first of the final touches to the frame – a carved bamboo head-tube Cognitive logo. It’s a bit simplified, but that’s ok as it will probably change down the track anyway.

The only things left to do now are two more layers of carbon on the seat tube and then to unwrap all the tape, sand it back properly, and add some final clear coat as a protective varnish layer.

Wrapping & Heating

| Mik Efford

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.

this is what happens when you forget to poke holes in the wrapping tape.
a hairdryer stuck into a carboard box.

Wrapping the bottom bracket

| Mik Efford

The headtube’s pretty much done so I’m now starting work on laying up the bottom bracket area. It’s a much more complex shape to work with, which made the template cutting all the more fun. I’ve figured out a better way to make the templates is to wrap smaller pieces of cloth around each part, then stick them together with tape, then cut strategic slits to remove it from the frame. Then lay that all flat and trace over it to make one bigger template. I also add areas of overlap around where the slits were cut to add strength to those areas.

Here’s some pics of the finished headtube and the first layer of the bottom bracket:

Carbon fibre wet layup – stage 2

| Mik Efford

Unwrapping the first layer this morning and it’s all gone well. The cling wrap’s left lots of wrinkles in the resin, which isn’t ideal, but for these base layers it’s ok as it’ll all get sanded back. Hopefully by the time I’m on my final layer’s I’ll be shrink-wrapping with better precision.

I’m now onto the 2nd and 3rd layers. Each layer I’m making from a slightly smaller template so the edges of the carbon fibre will gradually taper off rather than being a sharp drop off to where the bamboo is.

Freshly unwrapped
Freshly unwrappd
You can see the wrinkles left by the cling wrap
I finished off the rear end with some tow wrapped around each stay
Sanded back
The templates get gradually smaller to taper the edges

Tune in, drop out

| Mik Efford

I’ve completed the wrapping of the drop-outs with sisal. I’ve also added stay support bars near the bottom bracket and seat-post to give the frame more stiffness. Here’s some pics:

The clearance between the last cog and the chainstay wasn’t something I thought about that much. Luckily for me there’s about a 3mm gap to spare. This will be a single speed bike, so there will be plenty of room anyway.

The chain tension screws were also a very close fit. I actually had to cut away at the joins a bit to make them screw in properly.

That’s a wrap

| Mik Efford

Started wrapping the sisal twine around the joints tonight. Here’s the process for the seat-tube. I’ve done it in two layers. The first using lengths that run lengthwise down each pole, following the curves of each filleted corner. The second layer then holds these strands in place by wrapping around and around them. I finish it off with a few diagonal turns across the main joint and give it a haircut to neaten it up.

There’s no epoxy on any of this. I’m mainly practicing the wrapping process but am also considering making some sort of mould that I could then inject the epoxy into the sisal and joint as it is now. I’ve tried brushing and drizzling epoxy into twine like this before and then wrapping it in PVC tape to set and it sort of works, but due to the tightness of the wrap and the double layer it might need more pressure than what PVC can provide in order to make its way to the bamboo and not have any air bubbles in it.