Seat Frames

My eye is recovering well, but the Doctor wanted me to wait until this coming Thursday before I get into any heavy work or dust. So no grinding or sanding on the frame yet. It is still in the slightly fuzzy and rough condition from my first carbon lay-up challenge.

Today I worked on the rear drop outs and the seat frame. The seat frame is made from balsa and is covered in the first layer of CF tube. They are currently in the vacuum bag overnight. I am definitely getting better at laying up the CF. They key is to do a complete walk through of every step before mixing the epoxy. Once the hardener is mixed in, there is no time to think about how you are going to do something, such as put the pieces into the vacuum bag without the peel ply getting all messed up. Todays layup went really well. So far it looks like the seat edge, which is the most important part to be flat, is going to be nice and smooth. This is the edge where the balsa/CF seat slats are going to sit and be bonded to.

I also bonded the balsa/CF read drop out pieces to the aluminum drop outs off the Rocky parts bike. I used West System 404 filler mixed with the epoxy to make a ketchup consistency. This was used to fill some of the gap between the rough pieces and to create a filet around the inside curve. In one of the photos you can see a white area. This is the thickened epoxy as it cures.

Last week I did my epoxy work in the upstairs bathroom with the fan on and then took the pieces down two floors into the basement to put them in the vacuum bag. Although this worked and I was very careful covering the bathroom cupboard with plastic sheet, the inevitable happened and I dropped some epoxy into the sink. Of course I didn't find it to clean, it was discovered by Mrs. LaidbackDave. Ooops. She chipped it  out and I decided to try doing my epoxy in the basement today. It worked very well and the smell wasn't bad at all. I now have a quasi-workshop area setup in a corner of the basement that is traditionally our stationary bike riding area.

I have next week off work, I will share my time working on the house (it will be up for sale soon) and working on my bike. I think in two weeks I should have the wheels on and will be working on the handlebars and mounting the chain, cables, brake lines, etc.