Scratch Build – In Progress SSR-X: Update - Bottom Cover Fiberglass Part 2/De-Mold

Update: Installing Radiators

Hello. Weekend Update. Radiators

This past week I order two Black ICE 360GTX's from mountain mods. They had a great price on them at a 107 a piece. Finally got them in Friday, see below.

I wanted to go with Thermochill or even X-Feser radiators, though, the dimensions on their thickness would have required the whole build to be bigger. Every half an inch in gain, requires the geometry to be altered in order to balance out the looks.





Test Fit. Fits like a glove.







I de-assembled both wing and from the pics above you can see that there is a considerable gap in the rear of the compartment. The gap is for the tubing and such, without this gap, I would not be able to correctly put tubing in. That is what Sketchup is showing me at least.



I really had a debate over bracketing. I wanted something simple and lightwieght. So alot of ideas trasversed my mind. I couldn't put a bracket on the top of the radiator due to the fans and clearance problems. I didnt want to replicate how I did the bracketing on my previous builds. So I turned to putting the bracket on the bottom. I had some thick angle Aluminum lying around that would just do the trick.





some drilling and bolting. Most of you may think, that is alot of fastners!!! Ya it is, the radiators mountings helps make SR-X more rigid. I had some torsion issues, with the radiators helping in solving that torsion.







Both sides of the brackets for the radiator. Now I just had to drill, cut, and mount the radiator to the bracket.





Cutting and filing.







Installing the radiators and their compartments back onto the frame.







I happy with the brackets and the look. A bit of the torsion what away, and as I install the lower bulkheads in the Main Compartment, the torsion should nearly all go away. Plus once the lower cover is installed the frame will conform to the space of the lower cover, diminshing any torsion that could still be there.

 

Update: Welding

Hello. It has been a long time since I have done an update on the Log. For the last month and half SR-X sat up in weld shop being a dust collector. Our factory is at full-load at the moment with production and there is no time, even after hours, for work to be done on SR-X. So I had to make a tough call and go pick up SR-X and get it welded here where I am at.

Luckily there is a weld shop right next door that we use all the time, though, there work can be OFF at times, as you will see.



The left wing welded up.



Top View



The inside of the main cover.



Argh!!! Man oh Man!! So the welder didnt know that these pieces were precision cut. He jus welded them any which way I guess and this was jus one of the end products.

I do like to do medicore work and try and cut corners. So I began cutting out and re-fitting all the pieces that were welded wrong. As you will see in the next group of pics.





I re-taped the covers and will head over to the weld shop tomorrow. I will be exacting in what I am exactly looking for and will probably lend a hand in holding some of the pieces while they are welded on. The process shouldnt take too long, plus the two remaining radiator sections, the guy will know what to do.

I give it about another week before the covers are completely done being welded. In the meantime, I will be ordering fiberglass bondo and regular bondo in order to get ready for mold. I will also get my substraight that these covers will be placed on for the mold process.

I will have an indepth walk-through and tutorial once the mold and carbon fiber go down. Stay Tuned.

 

cleaveland216- Holy cow that's awesome!

By the look of it, you'd better get ready for a visit from the guys with black suits and glasses; wondering what you're upto!

Subbed!

 

Its actually better made than the ship in the series firefly..

 

I'm with aupabilito on this one. It's looking like something Wilford Brimley put together in Antarctica. You are scaring me.

 

Yeah.... "The Thing", that's it!

Seriously great work!

 

WOW! Is all I can say, this is looking awesome, nice job so far dude I'm subbed!

 

hahaha...can they give me a job too!! Thanks bro

thanks, though, I never saw that series.

Thanks! Its good to have your opinion, even though, I dont know who this wilford guy is, lol.

Thanks bro!

 

Oh my word, thats some seriously awesome metal work skills that you've got going there. This thing is huge, how much does it weigh, got to be at least 150lbs already...Nice work, top modding.

 

Hi,

Do you know what? You're just absolutly nut!!!

It's an amazing construction, i never knew someone can do that just for.......

A computer!

Best regards.

I follow your loony project.

I like it!

 

Thanks Bro!!! SR-X is probably around 80-90lbs right now that is why I am using carbon fiber for the covers. CF should cut the cover wieght down considerably, so hopefully the full case wieght in the end with be around 30-40 lbs.

I'm slated for using CF for the covers, though, I may and very well possibly be using more CF into the case as I go along with the build. It jus depends on how the Vac. Infusion process goes for me.

hahaha. Thanks bro. I really jus try and set myself apart and do my best.

 

Update: Welding of Top Cover.

Hello. Thanks for all the support!! I finally got the top cover completely welded today...but before I get there....

The Vacuum Pump.



This will be the Vac. pump I use to do the resin infusion. It is made for a 500lb marinading machine for food. Did I mention that I got this for FREE!



Took these filters off, though may use these later.



more filters, very nice to have these though.

Top Cover.



I probably should have taken some pics during welding, though, we were moving pretty fast and there was no time to stop and take a kodak moment.

The process in which we went about welding that I formulated was to start from one side and work our way over welding the sub assemblies together. I dont recommend trying to weld each piece at a time like this. Put your assembly together and break it down if you have to into different sub-assemblies and than tape it those together and proceed to weld.

I tried to keep the welding to a mininum due to the possible warping of the Alum. This is only .040 thick, so make sure if you are welding thin material to have a good welder on hand or constant burn thru's will happen.











Tomorrow. I will do the bottom cover completely. I am feeling the Mold and Carbon Fiber happening real soon NOW! Questions jus ask. I think that is all for now...

 

Preparing for Bondo...

Hello. Yesterday I got the bottom cover welded up. I am stepping closer to began the Mold process. I am in uncharted territory, or that is at least how it feels right now.The reason is because the top cover came thru the weld process with some wrap, though, the bottom cover experienced alot of warp due there being more pieces than the top cover.

So I have to figure out a way to make the top and bottom cover align properly. While there will be significant pull down in the fastening process once the covers are fastened to the frame, the gaps should be minimal and not a alot as you will see. Input would help!! A



The bottom cover sitting atop the Top Cover.







____



Here is the frame sitting in the bottom cover





some of the lines look good.



The triangular pattern should help air be exhausted out of the back by creating turbulence and it also looks really cool



About those gaps! This is what I am talking about. While the fastening process will draw this down, some of the gaps here are off and dont not align so I am trying to figure out without ripping the welding apart on how to fix it. hhhmmm





Problems back here also

_____

In order to make sure the cover it sitting flat I went to Home Depot and got a sheet of MDF board. This will help me make adjustments and it will also help when bondo'ing and with the mold process. More on that later. If you are building a cover like the way I do, this is a good idea.







The top cover sitting pretty flat on board. The edges are mostly touching the MDF board. When the top cover sits on the frame the alignment and gaping is quite good.





I started taping the cover down so when I go to bondo it doesnt move around. Before I begin to grind away the excess weld I will apply bondo to prevent further cracking of the welds because if I jus straight went away at grinding the cover would like fall into pieces and it cant be welded to much due to possible warping so finding that medium is crucial and a pain.

Back for more tomorrow hopefully.

 

That's starting to look good. I bet it'll look great when you have it made in CF.

Looks like they did a better job on the welding this time as well. Did you stand over them with a whip?

 

any update?

 

Update: 3M Filler

Hello. Full Steam Ahead!!! I got the 3M filler in today and immediately got into the case build when I got off work.



3M MarGrip 2 is bondo made for extreme adhesion on difficult surfaces like Alum. I also perfer
3M over all other brands due to the ease of sanding. They just make great products. This gallon only cost me about $40 on Amazon. Which is a great price.



First batch. Always try to work with Filler in a well ventilated area and if indoors do wear a mask of some type.

My 3M filler Theory: When doing a cover that is cut-out from pieces and than welded there will be warped involved from the welding. You will not totally be able to seam weld the cover, unless you invent some exotic process that will cost you ALOT of money. So, instead, my theory works like this. Tac the seams and than go back over the seams will Filler. The filler will make the cover more rigid, so that any future work done on it, it wont just fall apart. You could substitute Filler for an adhesive substance, though, Filler is as much as an adhesive as other products out there.

I just need to get a nice clean surface to mold with. Different outlooks or scenarios will require different products and methods.





I started by covering up the gaping gaps in the covers. Make sure to apply a very thick coat. This will just be sanded down later.





I flipped both covers over and applied filler to the inside. I WILL NOT be sanding the inside of the cover sense it will not be used for any part of the mold per se. All I care about if the Top face. So I applied a thick coat on the inside seams and gaps.



Trick of the trade is to use your finger to do seams.







This last photo I had to break a weld and do some manual bending and forcing to make the cover sit flat. I used on tape and wieghts to get the cover where I wanted it. When it was positioned right, I applied Filler to make it hold, hopefully, in the morning I shall see.



To show some of the seapage that occurs which is actually what you want cause you know the seam is being completely filled.

Back tomorrow for more updates.

 

Looks good. Why did you chose metal instead of some other material that was a little easier to work with.

 

First Thanks!! You mean wood or ???? 6061 Alum is real cheap in quantity. It can be shaped, welded, and than filled to make a final product.

I need this material due to the mold making process. I could have used lets say Fiberglass, though, I still need a structure to lay that fiberglass on in order to contour the fiberglass.

I could have used lets say wood, and initially I wanted too. I couldnt find the Basal wood in big enough sheets, plus it wasnt cheap. I would have like to glued instead of weld, though, I just didnt have the correct path to the material.

 

Update: More Filler projects

Been apply'n filler along the seams for the past day or so. Got the covers to the point where they can be handled without worrying about them falling apart or the weld coming undone.

One of the task that I needed to tackle was covering up the Exhaust outlets on the rear of the covers for the Infusion process.







Put tape along the seams to hold in place.











Pretty simple task.

I flipped the cover over and applied tape on the outside of the cover. The reason for this is I would use Filler to glue the seams together on the underside to hold the pieces together.

In the mold making process and the Infusion process my theory is Not to have big gaping sections that would have to filled with regular putty. Instead I decided to cover those sections to save on possible future Infusion headaches but also to make sure the resin flows properly across the entire mold. By doing it without those covers, the Resin and setup could lead to failure.







This is the underneath of the Top Cover with the Filler along the seams.



Theses covers are not flat but have a pitch to them.



finally got around to cutting out and fitting the last wing piece. I need to hold this down while the Filler cures. Stay Tune on this one....

Back tomorrow hopefully.

 

Wow thats a lot of work man, I wish you patience and more.... passion to keep up with this amazing mod!!!