As a fibre axle has limited travel ,it makes it a good Freestyle axle for jump and tricks + it's excellent for traction in speed runs, with out bending(staying bent) or breaking and is ligther then s/s and shock system.

I have try 4 different types, from solid fibre glass,E glass tube,E glass tube with back brace, and a foil shapped carbon tube.

next on the list is a leaf type axle

using old snow skies, bolt together cut the ends and bolt on the brackets and stub ends

has anyone try something like this,or am I the guinea pig again :roll:

Clearing some work out of my shed to build a springboard axle(leafspring type) too. I based mine on a preformed laminated plywood similar to skateboards and mountainboards. Basing the lamination scheme on my experience with skimboards and disposable kiteboards we've built in the past. The hardware is similar to that of the sprinboard axles I've seen on landyachts.

I have a vacuum rocker table and a vacuum pump setup that would work perfectly. Precured laminate sheets on both sides saves having to do any finishing except for a clearcoat. Bit of negative rocker so that with my weight on it it will just be neutral or a little bit on the positive rocker side. Bullnose the edge on the new router table I got form a good friend and already turned new stub axles on the lathe for the 15mm PL bigfoot bearings. Just need to finish TIG'ing up the brackets to hold them. Would have been done already except that I got distracted with the Moose truck build after getting so excited helping fabricate the CarkeekXX.

I'm working with stiff in the middle to avoid torsion in the frame and will controll the flex in the tips with tapering the width rather than the standard thickness of the core or the lamination scheme. Not optimal but that way if it's too stiff I can always trim a little off and put the flex where I want. Would be nice to have a 'dead' rather than a reactive response ie. absorb bounce rather the rebound but I'm just going to use what I have in the shed this time. Will still be better than the axle that is on the bigfoot at the moment anyway.

Skis also have plywood and plastic cores where the ply is vertically laminated. A bit more work but not imposible to laminate a purpose built axle that way. Just have to cut a lot of profiles and spend a little time sanding them uniform. Though I know someone with a CNC routertable that would make very quick work of it. 8)

sounds similar to the idea i suggested to mr carkeek about 10 months ago.

in essance a longer version of my composite mountainboard deck

i say use only uni-directional flag any db on the 45 it will end up to flexible and heavy.

don't bother with a ply core. full carbon or carbon glass... make a nice rocker in your design say 80-100mm .

i know its possible to get 130 mm of travel out out my board so you could easily design you spring to give you that or more.

They work well for the landyachts as they help absorb gusts and accelerate their rigs. I want to adopt it as a trial to suck up the bumps and dampen the bounce out of the big wheels.

Though I'd still rather use a good core material than using expensive UD carbon in the neutral axis of any composite layup. It is not just a filler or a mold but an import part in a composite structure to achieve the desired properties of the end result.

By reducing the distance in shear you have just reduced the amount of tension and compression in the outside laminate that could cause it to fail. One particular solution to a problem. You could probably have done the same by replacing some of the carbon with a coremat.

Wood is a very forgiving and very strong core material when used correctly. Otherwise a lot of manufacturers who've spent millions on R&D for their products would not have reverted to it's use. Skis, snowboards, bows and crossbows just to name a few. Not saying it's the best core for this purpose but it is very hard to beat.

well I've just got some skis off trade me ;
for $60

Volkl servo
190cm
carbon faser deluxe
Made in GERMANY

so the project is on the way,
should have it done by the 14th for
the buggy family to test :roll:

will have my carbon buggy with carbon tube axle there to.

If you're not planning on using the tips you should keep those for a snowbuggy too. 8)

All that and get silky through the WOF and back on the dunes again?You're a machine!

snowbuggy !!! auckland, snow :cry:

maybe I could use it at snow planet :roll:
what size kite would one use in the snowplanet building


silky , that will be a long project not this year :cry:

but I still have three more buggys in the garage to wreck :roll:

yup, got jimmy's assy BF leading link front to finish
and weld jimmy's euro racer
and my leaf spring rear axle
+ groove some more BF's for the 5 wheel monster truck :?

I don't think I'll be getting to the beach any time soon,
even thou I can see it from the breakfast table.

latest news Dean at work is about to start making moulds for a
assy BF leading link front ,
rear axles,
maybe side rails and goose neck. :wink:

so it will be one very happy new year for all

carbon buggys are coming
in a euro style.

i here what your saying re the core material. however it depends on how much flex/ stiffness you want. orginally i thought you where talking about a leaf spring type design and wanted a very flexible yet strong axle. my research into carbon as springs and pivots suggestes that the more flexible and strong you want it the less core material you use. infact the carbon springs/pivots i have researched do not have any core materail at all...

i suppose tho i a telling you how to such eggs.....

make the carbon/vlam bamboo axle now that would been very cool,

Snowbuggy as in Turoa or even Whakapapa golfcourse on a good snowdump. Massive fun! But I hear ya, not the rig you'd use often. I'll be building a surf buggy(not a kiteboat) long before then.

Silky that bad then? If it makes you feel any better I get about 2 hours in the workshop a week at my own risk. Usually when wife and bubs is sleeping and I've been exchanging those 2 hours for a kiting session more often. Now it's silly season and you can bet it's blowing a gale at low tide on a concrete smooth beach while entertaining... :cry:

Another! I believe there is also a carbon buggy in progress up north too!

On leaf springs... there's many a way to cook that egg and learning new stuff every day. Gladly some that would spare me a few hundred dollars in expensive UD carbon. Not that it doesn't have it's place where I can afford it!

Got strength and flex sorted. The hardest part of the design is to have a dampened laminate. Like the difference between F1 suspension and a cross country off-roader. Except that instead of trying to keep the driver from being jarred I'm trying to keep the wheels on the ground so I can hold my line, my power and my speed through rough terrain. Otherwise you tend to have to depower, go slow or downwind till you regain control instead of sliding sideways because the wheels aren't touching the ground enough. It's not suspension for me but rather for my wheels... 8)

hear you there guster,I'm on the same road ( beach )

I'm try the skis so I don't have to spend hours laying up
and if it works, it will be a cheap way to get simple traction with out the weigth.
the same way the leading link front works.
as we all know it's about power to weigth and then you can put the weigth low down and were it's needed for that day. 8)

well, I've got the snow skis , they look good .
back to back they have good flex so just have to work out how wide to have the axle ,1600-1400 mm

have been thinking about putting on a sway bar as well :idea:
just mount some blocks on the side rails to hold it,
and rose joints on the stub plates
and off to to the beach

has any one got a idea on what donner car sway bar I can use :?:
as fabr one will cost in $ and time.

(Another! I believe there is also a carbon buggy in progress up north too!)
who is the mad man up north :?:

its gotta be DK , man, moose 2009 and blue balls is looking good.

I made the parts for an x brace over the weekend, made a lovely end clamp for the s/s tubes, when i got to crimped end number 4 (last ) i broke my vice in half on the last turn. Its a bit of a bugger and also quite cool , i broke a vice . i guess its a guy thing. The x looks cool.

Im thinking Deans carbon leading link will be awesome !!!

Eugene , Dean will be seriously looking at some of your round mounts shortly, tell us what you need to finish the moulds and we can help finish them using our time . i know how it goes with a little baby, dont worry it only lasts 2 years and then you get a bit of time back.

Wow just when you thought you were done, all these folks start making more cool things.

The other carbon buggy project: Another buggier I believe. DK just asked me to turn some key'd stainless stub axles for this guy to mold into his axle. Don't know much else about it.

Hehe... go the skis! No idea about sizeable sway bars though.

Ah it's only your first vice Jimmy22... why do you think I got that big brute on my workbench? :twisted: The old broken ones make for good practice TIG brazing cast iron back together though. Good to hear progress. Spent the weekend doing paid work. The NE'ly totally caught me by surprise yesterday.

Hehe. I got the replacement bandsaw blades and kinda forgot about the boring bar project. Let me have a look if I still have enough alu. for molds and if I can finish that boring bar. All else fails I'll do them on the rotary table under the mill or switch to plastic with a mold release agent. Have a big can of PVA and mold wax I hardly use. They'll be quicker to make too. What size bolts is Dean planning to use?

Need to make me some stainless trucks like these too:
www.mountainboards.com.au/index.php?opti...=33&Itemid=1

sae size as the samples i gave you a moon or two ago

feel for you there jimmy,I know how hard that moment was for me, when I broke my first vice.now that was a couple of hair cuts back

The CAD drawing I made of your samples was for a 12mm or 0.5" bolt. May need to get some 0.5" thickwall tube for the spacers. I'll need some 20m solid round for the stubs I'm fabricating for the other carbon buggy anyway.

Just had a look and I have enough alloy material for the molds. I'll just make them on the milling machine so I don't need to worry about making a TCT boring bar for now(add it to my Christmas list though). Wanted to try those large 2 fluted cutters at high RPM anyway. Make lotsa tinsel for Santa!

i think i have some tube , just 300mm 16mm od 2mm wall

That would do. Had some left over from the x-bracing?

Guess I should pull finger. There's even a suitable degassing chamber on trademe:
www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=190696351

Northern carbon buggy project is also getting a headset and a fork built. Couldn't convince them on a leading link but it's a lightweight freestyle buggy anyway.

the LL head would only add 300g to the buggy and the leading link would stop hard hits breaking the person. the carbon buggy of gannets has leading link and is still ultra light. a carbon swing arm is being made soon that will take a kg out of the weight of the 2205 ss leading link front ends.

We'll see if I can upgrade him when I have to make it. Need to find me a supplier of small bits of various sized stainless first. Can't rely on offcuts when making things for others anymore. :?

Reminds me... need to add that anti-swaybar to the list of things to laminate while making the composite axle.

well It works


img
img[/img]

and a action shot

img/img

That looks great. Putting them face to face and bolting them together with the frame brackets got around the issue of their camber and the metal edges. Hehehe... you can always turn them back to back and become the "death scythe chariot"! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Those grooved tyres came out very well too!

simple and effective... i wondered how the torsional flex would be.
looks pretty low for dune riding.
what about bolting the ski's together while while they are bent in a mild arc? So they are under tension and sorta look like leave springs.
That way yourd have more ground clearance.

then again i'm not a buggier so i'm probably talking out my arrse again.

they appear to twist up like axle tramp on hard slides , ill give you my report on them when i get a set tomorrow and have a merry christmas indeed, i still hoping i get my carbon foil rear axle, but the ski concept is fairly cheap and does the job well. Another good idea from our gannet. Just dont 5 wheel it !!!

Why not... you have to consolidate designs at some point! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: