Welcome to the SR20 Community Forum - The Dash.
Register
SR20 forum logo

Thread: Carbon Fibre ram tubes

+ Reply To Thread
Posts: 1-7 of 7
2013-09-09 09:26:28
#1
Carbon Fibre ram tubes
Got myself some ITB's for my build but I don't like the ram tubes. So I'm trying to modify the ITB's to accept a longer ram tube. Somewhat inspired by the hayward CF tubes I decided to try and make myself some CF tubes as well.

This was just my first attempt, and kind of like a proof of concept to see if it's do-able for me.

I made a mould out of clay. The clay becomes formable when heated aobve a certain temp and then gets hard again at room temp. Sadly not rock hard enough to sand, so the finish was somewhat less than perfect.



I never worked with even fibreglass before, but I am quite happy with the end result I got. Sadly the clay mould was somewhat destroyed during the de-moulding process, so repeatability is an issue. But I'm happy with the end result and I think this is something I will persue if I can get a better mould.

End result - still needs a lot of cleaning, trimming, wet sanding and polishing but you get the idea.






Old ram tube vs new.


2013-09-09 14:15:31
#2
Wicked DIY project.
2013-09-09 16:01:56
#3
My suggestion would be to make a negative out of wood on a lathe. Paint and coat the wood so it is no longer porous and wax up the mold with some heavy car wax or mold release.
2013-09-11 07:58:55
#4
I can't do lathe work myself (dont' have one either).

Having a male mould CNC'd out of aluminium. Should have it in about 2 weeks. Will be able to spit out as many of these tubes as I want then. And hopefully I'll get better at it in the process. Kinda cool to make stuff from scratch.
2013-09-30 08:14:09
#5
Still waiting on my mould for the ram tubes so decided to build a 4" CAI in the interim. Still needs some finishing but quite happy with the result so far.



2013-10-20 16:19:43
#6
Originally Posted by Doctor
I can't do lathe work myself (dont' have one either).

Having a male mould CNC'd out of aluminium. Should have it in about 2 weeks. Will be able to spit out as many of these tubes as I want then. And hopefully I'll get better at it in the process. Kinda cool to make stuff from scratch.


Got my mould a few weeks ago. Tried out one quick test tube. Came out very nice. 5 layers of carbon. These should do the job perfectly I think.



Old vs new. Mould in the background.

2013-10-21 17:30:23
#7
are you vacum bagging these? if not i would suggest it
+ Reply To Thread
  • [Type to search users.]
  • Quick Reply
    Thread Information
    There are currently ? users browsing this thread. (? members & ? guests)
    StubUserName

    Back to top