Testing and Development

Since the last update we have been looking into the manufacturing processes that we will be carrying out in greater detail and seeing if we will be able to achieve the strength properties that we require whilst maintaining our weight target.

We had been planning to use a hybrid frame consisting of carbon fibre and titanium tubing; however we were unsure whether the carbon fibre tubes we could manufacture would be strong enough whilst reducing the weight enough for it to be economical for us to incorporate them into the frame. We therefore created a series of test bars using different numbers of plies and different orientations to allow us to test the strength and calculate the weight saving vs titanium tubing. Currently we are in the process of creating test jigs so the bars can be tested for compressive and shear strength

The manufacture of the frame is underway; the titanium tubes for the rear assembly have been produced by the copper smiths and are ready to be welded into position. All of the parts that are going to be 3D printed including the steering column, motor mount and helmet fairing have been fully designed and are waiting to be printed.

We have also been continuing to promote additive manufacturing and our project in local schools/colleges by running our “green power activity day”. We have completed 5 days so far and with each day we have taken on board all feedback from the students and have made each event better that the last by including more hands-on tasks and making the presentations more interactive.