beckieanne

Me and my hubby are working on our own velomobil design's. my question is this, where can one get a center pivot steering ( like the waw, sinner mango, etc, etc)? also has any one had any experience working with carbon fiber. My husband thinks that this would give superior strength and greatly reduced weight. he has had some experience working with fiber glass so it should not be too much of a difference(?). will there still be a need to use metal for the bb?
thank you in advance
beckie

Andrew R Stewart 

The history of using metal is far larger then that of fiber reinforced resins. You guys need to practice and do a number of mock ups then test them to understand how to work with the materials and whether they're strong enough for your designs. There are a number of detail differences between fiberglasses and carbon fibers and how to work them. Then there's the compatibility with certain metals to deal with. Andy.

unterhausen

I assume the steering mechanisms are fabricated at the companies involved. i would think that building a velomobile will require some machinery.

Carbon fiber bikes do use some metal parts, the BB is a common example.

Good luck, it should be fun

fietsbob

FlevoBikes were a Front wheel drive center steered 2 wheel bike ,
there is no handlebar controlling the steering ... its all lean steered ,
and since the feet are also powering the front wheel , real tricky to master.

https://flevofan.ligfiets.net/?doc=ch4-01 1wheel driving from the front, 2 in back
might have velomobile applications in a 3 wheel type ,

100 years ago they figured out the 2 steering wheels need to turn at a different angle ,
not stay parallel, ala Christiania cargo trikes.


as far as Carbon fiber building look up Vacuum Bagging https://www.google.com/search?q=Vacu...hrome&ie=UTF-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_material

the vacuum is what gets the air bubbles out .. the lightest structures use Pre Preg fabric

it is pre impregnated with the resin that is thermo setting , as I understand big users like Trek *
get the stuff refrigerated , so it wont cook early ..

then the vacuum bag scheme is made to go in an Oven, as it is hoovering out the air.

* Boeing and Airbus use a lot more of course. [and the Area 51 'skunkworks']

beckieanne

Thank you Andy
my husband has worked at a fiber glass mfg here in town, and while i will admit he has not made any thing bigger than a hood scoop for a 84' trans am. I feel confident that he will be able to make the velo mold with little difficulty. He has ordered a sample kit to experament with carbon fiber. this weekend he planse to make a copy of a football to get a idea on how the carbon fiber works.
thank you beckie

Andrew R Stewart 

Not sure i want to be on the recieving end of that football... Andy.

seankanary

ACP Composites sells a prepreg that can be left at room temp. From what I hear, it works pretty well.

https://www.acpsales.com/Carbon-Fiber-Prepreg.html

Mark Kelly 

Prepregs follow first order Arrhenius kinetics to a reasonable approximation, allowing shelf life to be predicted from the cure cycle. This stuff is no different really: one hour at 154 Celsius translates to 2^13 hours at 24 Celsius. There are about 2^13 hours in a year.

beckieanne

Thank you all for your advice. My husband has contracted with a local company to supply us with with the fiber cloth. He is using the vac-infuse method. https://www.recumbents.com/wisil/wian...le/default.htm this velo build is what has inspired my guy to build a velo mobile for the two of us. He has taken to sketching up several different designs for the outer shell. For the bike frame he is using a slightly modded atomic zombi design. He has always wanted a velo, but being a large man, it is difficult to find a velo that he fits in too. Not to mention the cost ( any where from $2700 to $8300). After being told that due to his size he would have to pay a $180 to $220 surcharge, he started looking in to building his own. He finished building the atomic zombi recumbent trike and liked how it handled. He was displeased with the weight of the frame ( roughly 40 lbs) . after looking around he looked in to carbon fiber and is building the next bike out of it.

thank you
Beckie