Velomobile Update

The past two days I have been in the shop working on getting the low spots on the sides of the plug filled in, it's just about ready for the bottom to be wet out! After I wet out the bottom, some more low spots will need to be filled in along the edge, then after that, it can be covered in glass!

right side covered. this was then trimmed and sanded down to a smooth finish.

next onto the left side!

looks like woven yarn

left side covered! tomorrow, once it's hardened completely, i'll trim & sand it

got rid of the little slope the nose used to have, now its straight

the plug is coming along :) not too much more!

Velomobile Update

     Today at the shop I put 6 cans of expanding foam on the fairing to get rid of the low spots on the hardened fleece. I first sprayed it on, then after curing, sanded it down flush. It is not perfect, but it does not need to be, because fiberglass mat will be put on top of this. Right now only the top has been done, but next time I'm in the shop I will flip it on its side and do that next. The top and sides will be covered in foam before we wet out the bottom of the plug.

scrambled eggs anyone?

used a hacksaw to trim major excess foam...

...then followed up with a belt sander

Velomobile Update

Today after work, my friend Matt helped me wet out the top side of the fairing skeleton with resin. This took much more resin than I originally expected, and more resin must be bought before we can apply any layers of fiberglass. However, tomorrow I have the day off of work and I plan on filling in the low spots with expanding foam!

Velomobile Update

This was about a week ago, but I got the entire skeleton covered in fleece. I ended up having to get a bit more fleece which came from walmart in the form of a red blanket. It was used to patch the areas that I did not have enough fleece for. Next time the weather permits, I will wet out the fleece shape with resin, and once that cures I will begin layup with the fiberglass mat.

remember, the low spots you see will be filled in and sanded down with expanding foam to reach the desired end shape. this shape will form as the plug, which will be gelcoated and sent off to our sponsor, Fiberglass Chicago. From there they will create the mold to make two identical copies of our velomobile fairing.

see also: http://www.youtube.com/user/triketrek11?feature=mhum

Velomobile Update

Tonight in the shop I got the entire skeleton finished getting covered up and I also have pictures now! When I get back from vacation in a week I will do the body work!

 Resin & fiberglass work begins in one week!

Velomobile Update

Hello, the last couple of day's have been spent in the shop working on the fairing. Unfortunately, my phone has a glitch right now where I cannot send my pictures to my email, so I do not have any new pictures. I am being sent a replacement phone right now though, so that shouldn't be a problem for much longer.

Here's what I have done:
Completely disassembled the fairing skeleton

Removed 7'' off the top of ALL of the fairing skeleton ribs since the trike was lowered and headroom was reconsidered.

Made all the spacers in the skeleton the correct length - 7 & 3/8 inches each.

Gave the rear end of the fairing a slight height taper - about 4 inches height difference over about 4 feet

Drilled a 1.4'' hole in ALL the spacer 2x4 pieces to save plug weight

Cut out the middle sections of ALL the ribs in the skeleton to save plug weight - this helped a TON for moving the skeleton around the shop. before doing this the plug was too heavy to move any more than a few feet.

Measured out the dimensions of all the front skeleton ribs

Created 1/6 front skeleton ribs

I'll be back in the shop tomorrow to finish up the front and also to cover the skeleton in fleece so that saturday I can wet out the fleece on the skeleton for the first real layer of the plug!

Velomobile Update

Hey again, sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I haven't been particularly good about taking pictures or videos lately as technology has been giving me problems. But I will say that we now have two rolling velomobile chassis and the shell is coming together, but I think I may keep our shell progress in secret so we can have a big unveil :)

 

my trike was lowered about 3''

 

my trike was lowered about 3''

 

Dan's trike was made and the tie rod was installed after this pic 

 

i finally figured out how to make my lever steering work :) this same system will be put on Dan's trike as well. the linear motion provided by lever steering helps to save space inside the velomobile

Dan's chassis in foreground, my chassis in background after this picture, Dan's seat was mounted, his front crank was mounted, chainring and pedals installed, and front wheels were tied together with a tie rod.