Seatstay repair
Hi.
Wanna share my first contact with carbon.
My seatstay failed due to impact. Professional repair shops wanted a lot of money for repair so i thought it is time to learn more about carbon.
There is not a lot of good resources on the internet how to repair bicycles. Most of repairs are road bicycles where people uses 2x2 twill rolling tube around.
For the repair i used:
80g UD carbon for 0 and 45 degrees and 90g plain for final 360 layers.
Epoxy el2 from easy composites and shrink tape
I was using trick with fake prepreg wetting carbon in between the plastic foil. It was much cleaner and better fiber epoxy ratio then wetting on part.
Also it helps prevent shifting carbon on part.
Post curing was done in a cartoon box with a heater and temp. Regulator for 6h.
Then sanded down, adding xcr epoxy, sanding, 2k gloss painting.
It was already tested on downhill tracks and is doing fine.
What i did wrong:
- did not protect rest of the part, leaving epoxy mark which cannot be easily cleaned.
- it is not perfectly flat. I should add more layers directly on the narrower part of repair.
After all I am very happy of repair because it looks quite ok and what is most important working perfectly fine.
Gloss painting is used instead of black paint as i am proud of repair and would like to keep it visible.
Let me know your thoughts.
What can be done better etc.