I play hockey and am in the market for a helmet and I'm toying with the idea of an attempt at making one. Would there be any epoxies that would be strong enough for this without the need of an autoclave? I'm guessing someone here has an idea.

cant help you but im in the same boat, i plan to carbon fibre my locost, i have a friend whos friend is a carbon fibre specialist, i really need to give him a shout. how much is carbon fibre(around) per roll or sheet??

Hi, CFS do carbon fibre 100cm wide @ 200g/m2, prices start at £15.65 per meter up to 9m, then £14.65 per meter for 10 plus, etc etc. Hope that gives you some idea. regards Chippy

you could try vacuum infusing, its supposed to give most of the strenght of autoclaving and isnt that hard to setup.

you do know that carbon may not be the best idea as it shatters when it breaks, a carbon kevlar mix maybe more appropriate.

I sent an email off to the guys at CFS - if anyone knows I'm sure they will. Also had a look at the prices on the website and they're about 3 times more expensice than above

I was hoping to go the vacuum bagging route, wonder what kind of pressure is required? I also had planned on having some kevlar in there somewhere too.

[Edited on 13/6/06 by Mark18]

I am going to try carbon bit and bobs for my MK. I have done a bit of research and I reckon a good shopvac will give enough pressure. I used it on a home made vacuum form machine on 3mm pet-g and got a pull of 30cm. vac cost me about £40 from tools-to-go. It's really powerful and doesn't have a release valve like dysons do so should be up to the job of vacuum bagging.

Syd Bridge is your man for carbon stuff.

HTH,
James

Just checked out the CFS site as to the prices, I'm astounded. The prices that I gave in the above post were from there 2006 catalogue. Something weird somewhere.
atb Chippy

I would suspect that for the cost of tooling up and producing a carbon fibre helemet yourself u could buy one off the shelf and spend the rest on beer. Helmet manufacturers use epoxy infusion in specialist moulds, cant wait to see you take a "pull" of yer napper (head), to produce the inner and outer moulds required for the process, The head of an ex crash test dummy or a manequin might come in handy as well, better to melt them than your eyeballs Oh then theres the cost of the "type approval" and the ISO standards u would have to meet for use in a competition helmet, now if u have a spare £40,000 I have one or two other projects u might be interested in trying!
Shug.

I've been looking into making a few (non-structural!) bits and bobs out of CF as well, specifically a tunnel top, then possibly cycle wings, dash... who knows!

Anyone actually done this at home? Where did you find your info, hammerhead?

Decent website from a biker here:

Bike DIY CF Fella

Some of the sites seem to be saying there is currently a worldwide shortage of CF, thus the silly prices.

Speaking of which, another interesting site:

Carbonology.com

On the helmet front, I'm sorry to be a cynic, but surely if there's a need for a helmet, there's a need for one you know is up to the job, properly tested etc? Safety equipment is one area where aesthetics, light weight etc. come a distant second...

[Edited on 15/6/06 by Tricky Dave]

carbon prices shot up as airbus massively increased consumption and they obviously due to the ammount the use get preferential treatment over smaller users. hence the price has gone up as people try to cash in.

Thanks for the help, as far as safety concern, I doubt there's anyone as concerned about my own head as myself Having said that I'd imagine worst case scenario that this thing will at least stand up to one serious knock - kevlar is pretty strong stuff.

Hugh I'll be sure to show you the moulds/infusion equipment when/if I get round to it.

Mark, if your daft enough to try this I will even buy you the Carbon or Kevlar, I prob even have enough offcuts to pop in a bag for you unless you have a very big head!
Shug.

I have to agree with Mr Paterson - it doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. Surely worst case scenario is that it does nothing but you think it will. A quick look on google seems to bring up helmet starting from about £30. I would bet that it would cost you more than that in carbon and resin (not to mention time) and it would be no better than any you could buy.

Sorry to be negative but do you want your last thought to be "I wonder if my helmet will actually offer me any protection?"

these guys are pretty good

www.immortalperformance.com