Downwinder, New F-16, F-14's, Foote 14, Penetrator run, etc.

[noa]

WOW Bill, those are some very impressive bikes and story. sorry to hear about the loss of your friend however.
Randy and Bill, thanks for the fabrication clarifications. i was familiar with the prepreg process having seen it at a Sydney racing yacht builder. but autoclave was a mystery and i'm still not exactly sure how it ties in. i'll do some research.

[PonoBill]

I spent some time talking with an expert on prepreg and autoclaves this morning--but not really because of this thread. In one of those big odd coincidences Diane I had dinner last night with Tony and Annie Garmey. Tony is a mainland friend who owns Horizon Racing, and my race car, Peyote, is at his shop getting a makeover for the coming race season--which will be Peyote's 50th (built in 1959). Tony recently took an advanced fiberglass/CF fabrication class and gave me the name of the company.  Unfortunately can't share that with you folks (they were VERY insistent about that). The company does 1/4 race car stuff, and 3/4 military/aerospace and they are overbooked, three shifts.

But here's what i found out. There are numerous autoclave processes, not all involving prepreg. They also sometimes autoclave wet layup with one of two special vacuum bagging processes. One process involves a release sheet over the part with numerous drain tubes that carry away excess resin, the other uses a release sheet and a thick absorption mat that picks up the excess resin.

The autoclave runs up to 250 degrees F and 20PSI internal pressure which substantially increases the clamping force applied by the vacuum bag. They said they can't use EPS in these things because the heat and pressure will turn them into pancakes. They DO use foams, but nothing that can really be shaped by hand.

The prepregs they use are all stored in freezers, but there are special non-autoclave prepregs that need to be stored at much lower tempreatures--like -80F, and even then they say they can't be stored long. The big advantage of the non-autoclave pre-preg is that parts can be built over foam molds using standard vac bag methods.

He said prepreg can be made lighter than any wet process because of the very low resin ratio. They do some that are so sparse that the parts flow air through them--there's not enough resin to fill the holes between the threads. He said they are working on carbon/kevlar tubes for the suspension members of F1 cars that don't need to be as aerodynamic because the air blows through them. Wild stuff.

I had more questions but he cut me off--didn't have time.

[Shnoover]

Bill - They can do some amazing stuff these days.  I have a few customers who mfg the preprig and do stuff for aviation (military & commercial) - one has an autoclave that fits a VW bug.  It is amazing machinery, the thing sits up in the air and the parts are raised up into it.  Straight out of a sci-fi movie.  How's that for off-topic?

[noa]

as always Bill, you are a wealthy source of information...
thank you