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caesar wrote:Chassis and shock towers are going to be made in carbon fiber, just need to find someone to do it.

That's not actually a very difficult job for simple flat parts like shock towers. As long as you have some 2.5mm or 3mm carbon fiber sheet, here's what I do:

-Stick a layer or two of masking tape on the sheet; this is to protect it as well as give a surface to draw on.

-Place your original part on the masked carbon sheet and trace around the edges. Don't worry about screw holes yet.

-Cut along the outside of the traced edges with a hacksaw (for easy straights) and Dremel. I use a 1/4" drill bit to make holes at inside corners, then Dremel between the holes, to "connect the dots".

-Always err on the big side; cut just outside the lines, and never inside. You can clean all that up with a file later on.

-With your shock tower cut out, file all the edges smooth. Use your original part for comparison to make sure everything looks good.

-Put your original part on the carbon shape, and carefully drill your FIRST screw-hole, through the original and into the carbon part. This is your guide hole.

-Put a screw & nut through the guide hole and tighten the original & carbon parts together.

-If everything is lined up, drill a second hole; the parts being screwed together should help prevent any measurement mishaps because you're using the original as a template. Attach a screw & nut through the second hole. The 2 screws and attachment points will prevent any other drill holes from being out-of-place.

-Drill any remaining holes.

-Unscrew the original part, remove the masking tape from the carbon part and do some final, light filing. Lastly, I use 400-grit to sand the cut edges, making them nice and smooth.

Optional step: Color all cut edges with a Sharpie marker, then use a toothpick or angle-cut Q-tip stick to spread CA cement along all the edges. This gives the edges a nice gloss black finish and prevents delamination from happening.

I'd guess you could do a shock tower in 30 - 60 minutes, not including the optional edge preparation. It's a bit of work but it's not difficult.

Trinity sold Graphite chassis plate and towers for the Hot Trick Ram (Optima). Used them myself once upon a time![/quote]


Are there pictures of these Trinity parts anywhere? I didn't know they fit the Hot Trick Ram. I'd love to see what they looked like together.

gomachv wrote:

caesar wrote: Chassis and shock towers are going to be made in carbon fiber, just need to find someone to do it.

If you can take a full size scan of the parts and save them as a pdf (I find the size stays closer to actual using pdf) and make sure there is a ruler in the scan, I'd be happy to take a shot at drawing them up. I have been practicing a lot lately and more real practice is always welcome. Eventually I'll be able to cut the parts as well but it's a ways out. You could take the files to any company that cuts carbon and have them do it locally

Thanks for the offer, I've got my boss doing the drawings for me so should be good for that.
He has a cnc which he can attach a dremel to cut it out. Would 1.5m be okay for the chassis?

caesar wrote:
Thanks for the offer, I've got my boss doing the drawings for me so should be good for that.
He has a cnc which he can attach a dremel to cut it out. Would 1.5m be okay for the chassis?

If you should race with it, I would go with 2mm. Sitting on the shelf, then 1.5mm is god enough