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Not a good day today, I managed a very passable attempt at forming a 40mm OD tube from 1mm aluminium sheet which took about an hour but failed to successfully panel beat the tube to have a 60 degree bend in it which took about 2 hours before I gave it best.
Next I spent about an hour trying to get the tank top out of the mould, one half came out and my 13 year old son would describe it as an “epic fail”. I was almost expecting it but it was nevertheless disappointing. It is beyond repairing and in any case it is one thing to have a little bit of de-lamination and filler in a hugger but with a petrol tank de-lamination will lead to leaks so it has to be near perfect .
Worse on the half of the mould exposed it is clear that before I can re-make the tank top I will have to do quite a lot of removal of epoxy resin that has not released properly and has stuck to the mould. I struggled for another hour to get the second half out of the mould but my heart was not really in it and in the end I retired hurt and dejected. I think I will have added about another 10 hours to the ETTC to make good the mould and re-make the tank top not to mention about £40 worth of resin and CF.
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