Just completed waxing the moulds for the structural beam to which all the bike parts attach. Should be able to make the first part out of this mould next week. It will be interesting to see what the weight of this part will be as I am going to try to make it as light as possible. The part will consist of a couple of layers of graphite, a core and another two layers of graphite. Also included will be additional graphite layers to create the hinge for the suspension system. Picture of the moulds and a test laminate for the shell of the velomobile is displayed below.

 

Made a test laminate for the velomobile shell out of graphite/vectran cloth. The first one did not infuse properly but I am using in on my Vision( picture below). Made a second test laminate with a different resin system and it worked out perfectly. This laminate shows real potential to be light enough yet damage tolerant enough for real life useage. Will not be able to make the top and bottom shells for the next velomobile until the door moulds are finished and the door insert mould which makes the flanges for the door to close on is created.

Gimpy fairing on my Vision. The composite part weighs about 900 g and is mounted with the hardware that came with the original Vison fairing. Added the reflective material to somewhat hide the bad spots and make it more visible. Noticed when first using it that I was see less visible than with the yellow frp fairing. This fairing seems to be a bit better(faster and drier in the rain) than the old one as its bigger and provides more coverage. The fairing was made in the lid part of the version three velomobile. I am tempted to add a bit to the bottom of the front edge to clean up the air flow at my feet but this can wait until the velomobile project is done.