Thursday, March 27, 2008

Kevlar testing and passenger seat installed

I made a test piece of the Kevlar fabric and wetted it out with epoxy- the Jeffco epoxy seems to work well with the fabric, even in the low temperatures (50 degrees F). I'm using the Jeffco quick-set epoxy, it works a little better in the cold. You can buy it at http://www.aircraftspruce.com/
Two layers of fabric should be enough for the fenders, the sample is pretty rigid, similar to sheet metal. The plan is to mold the new fenders from the existing ones, then cut away as much of the old one as possible to save a little weight.



The passenger seat has also been installed, it is the same as the driver's seat, except it's an inch wider (16") to accommodate a wider range of passengers. I haven't decided if I'll add the halo to the seat yet, I may have to in order to comply with instructor safety rules. Some clubs specify that the instructor or passenger's seat must have identical safety equipment as the driver's.

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