I’m an industrial designer in Milwaukee. I’m a bit new to the PPG world but I have a solid connection for carbon fiber parts, not just flat sheets but custom layups at reasonable rates. I’d be willing to work with people to come up with frame and trike designs that could be produced economically to be strong light and inexpensive.
PPG is a sport I’m looking to get into and I’d be willing to work with the community to come up with some cool designs.
Left me know…
guellem
I’d be interested in a trike mate! 
i would be interested in a frame kit count me in send info on price please.
I’m interested in designing a more aerodynamic version. A single airfoil shaped arm should have a lot better aerodynamics than the 2 flat plates the we use now. The two flat plates create interference drag. The arms could be lighter and stronger if they were a single airfoil shape. Also, the aluminum cage could be an airfoil shape.
Originally I wanted something that folds up during flight so that we could soar better. But then I realized that improving the aerodynamics would not only be more simple but would enhance the performance both with and without power.
I think ground handling would be easier if the cage hoop wasn’t so wide and so tall. So I came up with the idea of a non-circular hoop. This would also cut down on the netted area and reduce drag from the net. If this was made of carbon it could be an airfoil shape.
If you have CAD of what you are looking for, please sent it to me and I’ll take a look. I think splitting the top image into 8 pieces (like a pizza) gets the unique section. This could be patterned to get the whole frame and allow for a simpler tool for the carbon layup. That is assuming the section profile is the same front to back…
guellem
A trike frame would have to be designed an proofed. if you have some dimensions or plans as a reference, I’ll take a look.
guellem
An airfoil profile is not the same front to back. The front is round and the back is sharp. Therefore, I can only split it into 4 segments.
Here is the stl:
Aerodynamic Hoop.stl (2.5 MB)
I don’t know how thick this would need to be to get a similar stiffness as the current hoop which is 1mm thick aluminum. I would need 4 of these segments. I assume the price would be considerably more if we don’t have several people wanting to use this design. The design for the net will be a little more complicated so I might have to custom weave my own net.
Actually, for the sake of making a smaller mold we could cut the quarter segment into 3 smaller segments. This airfoil profile is symmetrical top to bottom so the center section could just be an inversion of the same arc. However, I intended the radius of the center section to be much bigger than the other two pieces but for ease of manufacturing this could be changed. Or we could make a second mold for the center section.
This could be very workable. It would make sense to have a 2 piece mold, top and bottom the the seams at the leading and trailing edge. The mold would not be expensive to make or even prototype.
I think that the design needs to include some mounting and support considerations.
The idea here is for it to be a hollow tube like the current design is. I would change the 3D printed connector to fit the new profile. The only thing I may want to add is holes for mounting the net. The net holds the segments together when it is sinched up.
In combination with the hoop I would like to design new arms which would have built in connectors for the hoop. However, the hoop would work with or without the new arms.
Here is my idea for the arms. The goal is lighter, stronger, more aerodynamic, with fewer parts that could work loose. A thin shell of this shape would be stronger and lighter than two thick flat plates like we use now. The question is… how comparable could the price be? I’m thinking most people would stick with the current design simply because of cost.
That’d be difficult to lay up I think… I’ve only done a bit of custom molding before, but getting that to release is probably, impossible? Unless you had some kind of dissolvable mold material.
I do like the idea though. I’m considering using carbon tube for the arms, maybe add a taper to the trailing edge. Not sure about the guard yet though. (Designing my own 28" version.)
This is a work in progress. Some of that design could be changed to make it more mold friendly. Most of that would pop right out of a mold. But, who says they can only do 2 piece molds? More complicated molds are certainly going to be more expensive though. I’ve done a lot of work with fiberglass but not carbon… same principle though. The top of the arms of the Scout are the same as this design but I agree there may be better options (actually, I think the top piece on the scout arm is a separate piece that’s screwed on). I’ll keep working on my design… I have a few ideas to improve it but curious what Guellem has to say about it so far.
Lovely looking! Can I make a minor suggestion? Don’t put the dip on the top of the cage. You want your lines to slide off the cage, not sit on top of it. If you lightly dome it outwards, but leave the other sides as they are, it will have the benefits with no drawbacks
Would it be possible to get STEP files of those arms? I can try to get a quote on price…
I’m also guessing that the ends and the motor interface area will not be carbon fiber. There will be some insert or mount piece that interfaces between the carbon shell and the motor…
guellem
Thanks for your feedback. I assume that you are talking about turning around while the glider is on the ground. I find the height of the current cage makes it more difficult to get the lines up over the hump. The struggle has only ever been when some lines make it across and others don’t. I actually think the dip will help to get the lines to the middle. If they slide to the middle instead of off to the wrong side that’s easier to work with. I will test it with a piece of small tubing that I bent to that shape. Also, I want all four pieces to be the same shape so hopefully my test proves my theory.
I want to work on some ideas to eliminate the top piece unless you think it can be part of the carbon shell. What methods would be used for the layup? Vacuum bagging? Vacuum infused? Balloon or bladder clamping?
I’m still thinking about how to mount the motor. I want it screwed to the carbon shell. I’m thinking about screw pockets from the front. I’ll add them to the drawing as well as some other features then attach an stl file for an estimate.
Vaccum bag for standard layups and balloon clamping for internal molds. I’d need to know a bit more about how the motor and the ends mount.
The motor could get brass or aluminum inserts embedded in the carbon and fused in place. The hoop end would need some redesign to be more complaint with the process. There is an option for doing carbon or glass filled nylon inserts on the hoop end to get better features and strength.
