> Paul
>
> what will it take to make a composite bell housing?
>
> Tony
>
> Good idea.
> A female mold and high temp epoxy.
>
> As I recall the 2nd gen man tx bell weighed 7.5 pounds
> so you should get a lot of pounds out of that.
> Probably about to .125 wall thickness would be enough.
> My guess is 13 plies of carbon cloth will do the job.
> Vacuum bag would be wonderful.
>
> You could sell them or rent the mold out to a composite
> shop and let them make and sell them for you.
> Carbon fiber would be required for the stiffness needed.
> You need to embed some small aluminum spacers where the
> bolts go so the composite is not crushed when the bolts
> are tightened. You can buy spacers from McMaster car.
>
> I'll do a sketch of the required spacers for you.
>
> http://www.dragonplate.com/sections/technology.asp
>
> .0956 oz per square inch for 13 plies (.124" thick) of carbon
> fiber. You will need roughly 6" x 6" x 3.1416 = 113 square
> inches for the front and 12" X 3.1416 X 3" deep = 113 square
> inches for  the sides or 226 square inches times .0956 = 21.6 oz.
> looks like 1.35 pounds. Add another pound for misc reinforcements.
>
> It would be a significant weight savings.
>
> Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

One thing to remember is carbon eats aluminum by galvanic action -
attach points for aluminum will need an insulating layer of fiberglass
or whatever.
You might be able to get away with some plastic, wood or just the carbon
for the hardpoints
if the stresses are low enough.
Weight savings do look extremely attractive...
Cheers
Cary

The guy we need on board here is the guy building the race cars
and has an all carbon airplane with a corvette motor in it.
I have his card somewhere what is his name again? anyway,
he would be the guy to do this one, without a doubt. I tried
to convince him to make just redrives when we talked at OSH
he seemed open to it if he could get rich doing it. I think
his concern was the market was a little lean for all the work
involved but a simple bellhousing shouldn't be a problem. Plus
his workmanship is unbelievable.

Tony



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