Blood, Sweat, but no Tears

The plan today was to add a few more layers of Carbon Fibre cloth to our numberplate, and fabricate some aluminum brackets for the plate, the headlight, and the various other pieces we will need to attach.

We set up a work area for the carbon fibre first.  We once again went through the process of cutting the dry cloth, measuring out the epoxy resin and hardner, mixing it well, and then wetting out the cloth after putting a thin tack layer on the backside of the original piece.










This is a bit tedious, but in order to make sure we didn't have any de-lamination, we likely erred on the side of too much resin, rather than not enough.  As we will be trimming the piece, and drilling holes and a headlight cut-out in it, we want to be sure that it does not have any frayed edges or come apart.  As usual, we then needed to walk away and let it all dry and cure properly.








Meanwhile, 2 other students were doing some figuring.  Some alloy angle was purchased from Home Depot.  This is a cheap and simple way to get strong, straight brackets, but they do require a bit more time with finishing.  Students had to work with some imperial measurements, as this is construction-grade, so everything is in inches.

Marking mounting holes for drilling.  A spring punch was used to allow for an easier time with the pilot hole.

Drilling...

Cutting the drilled pieces to size.  The bandsaw comes in handy here, ensuring a straight cut each time.

We did have a few broken bits, hence the blood in the title.  The student pressed on once first aid was administered.  In evaluating their own work, the kids realized that some of their brackets just weren't up to snuff... the holes on opposing ends weren't perfectly aligned, nor were they centred in the bracket face properly.  No problem!!!  It best to do things a few times and get it right, than cut corners and say "good enough".  The more practice with the tools, the better the finished project will be.  We will end up with "extra" brackets, but the ones on the bike will be be as close to perfect as possible.