I did a bit more fibre glass moulding today with 2 layers of 100g mat on one half of the split mould for the rear hugger, fly-screen, Ignitech enclosure and chain oiler reservoir.
I also spent some time trying to release the patterns from the front infill panels, chiselling out the wooden pattern from the mould. All the patterns had 5 coats of release agent but these just would not release from the mould. After a frustrating hour I set them aside as the job requires patience and a delicate touch (with a hammer and chisel?) and I only have about 40 minutes’ worth on a good day.
I am definitely not looking forward to trying to get the belt cover patterns out as I do not think they will come out with a chisel. I might try carefully splitting the mould with a dremel but I have a feeling this will only create more downstream work.
All this, of course, is adding to the hours to completion of the bike without actually making a lot of forward progress. Desperate to have something positive to show for the day I machined up 4 x carburettor heater blanking plugs from some 13mm aluminium hexagon bar and was quite pleased with the results, satisfyingly only 8g for all 4, before the edges were tidied up
