Homemade Reduced Weight Bar

[SOS Ridgerider]

Are those crab sticks? Goddam I'm hungry.

Only crab flavored... Kinda like something you'd bring home on a Saturday night...

 

[ABarrick]

Very cool thread going here. Idk if it was answered already or not, somebody asked about using paint stripper on bars. Aircraft stripper works extremely well. I stripped a Oregon power match the other week with some aerosol Rustoleum aircraft coating remover and it took 5 minutes tops. Sprayed it on, let if sit and washed the paint off. I belt sanded the bar then and oiled it when I was done. So far it still looks great.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Here's how it all went down:

I started with a 32 GB Pro Top I got from @Jon1212 . Thanks Jon!


Before weight


I'll do it in metric too, for our imperial challenged friends. (I'm one of them)


I then commenced to doodle on it.


I am not an artiste! Don't laugh.
I told my buddy with the mill that these are roughly the holes I want in it, but that he could feel free to make them any shape that works best for him.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

He then proceeded to do the stuff I don't know how. I like pictures, so I had him send me some of his progress.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

When I got it back it looked like this. I wanted a rim edge in the middle to act as my mechanical fastener. The groove is cut the same on each side. He made the cutouts more square, which is fine. It also took out a little extra material.


Weights after cuts are done.


I used the wire wheel on my bench grinder to strip all the paint off.


Removing the paint took off more weight than I thought it would. (Sorry metric friends, I forgot to push the little button.) I think it was 22 grams of paint.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

I ordered 1mm carbon fiber sheets. These were real cheap, and I wouldn't order them again. They also said they were 100mm x 300mm. Turned out to be 295mm, which barely worked for me.


Carbon fiber is very easy to cut and shape, so I used a fine metal blade in my jigsaw to cut it, and used the little belt sander in the previous photo to shape it.


Dry fitting of the first two panels.


I roughened up the surface on the back of the carbon, and used JB weld to bond it.


It leaves a mess, so I scraped off the excess, and used a Scotchbrite pad to finish.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Here's the back of the panel after it cured.


Yeah, I used quite a bit of JB...


Looks like frosting... Don't lick it though.


I wanted to make sure the inserts were more or less flush with the rest of the bar, so I used wax paper, and the straightest thing I own, and clamped it all together.


This time it left a bigger mess, but it's actually pretty easy to clean up.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

This is the finished product.






Final weight on the bar.


For us metrics.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Constructive criticism is welcomed, as I'm sure I could have done things in better ways.
I thought the weight savings were pretty good, and it was a fun project.
I already have another idea for a solid block of carbon being bonded in, but that'll be a winter project.
I'm bringing this one to the CT GTG to try in some wood too.

 

[USMC615]

Nice job!!

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Nice job!!

Thanks!

 

[Adirondackstihl]

Where'd you get the carbon fiber?
And why won't you order it again?

 

[psuiewalsh]

Does it wear well or is it be below flush of the metal

 

[cease232]

How's the flex?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Where'd you get the carbon fiber?
And why won't you order it again?

I got the carbon from Hobbyking.com
The reason I won't order it again is because the sheets didn't have fibers all the way to end, there was 1/8 or so of just resin at 2 of the edges. I'd prefer to have fibers all the way. They were also 5mm shorter than advertised. The pieces I got were probably cut from the end of a much bigger sheet. There's a lot of different places to get carbon from, but they were the closest, so I went for it

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

Does it wear well or is it be below flush of the metal

It's about flush with the metal. The resin in the carbon is pretty durable, so I don't foresee any big problems. At least not for my use. It'll never be as durable as steel, though.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

How's the flex?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven't measured the flex yet. It's still curing. It does feel stiff, though. I talked to @Jon1212 last night, and I'll do a flex test the same way he did, once it's cured fully. Should be tomorrow or so. The JB is fairly thick, so I'll let it have an extra day.

 

[SOS Ridgerider]

I just weighed my 28" Total Lightweight bar. 1316 grams, so I've got it beat by 9 grams. Lol.

 

[Jon1212]

A 32" bar under 3 lbs is impressive, and it looks good. Now we'll just have to wait for your performance report/ review.

 

[Jon1212]

I haven't measured the flex yet. It's still curing. It does feel stiff, though. I talked to @Jon1212 last night, and I'll do a flex test the same way he did, once it's cured fully. Should be tomorrow or so. The JB is fairly thick, so I'll let it have an extra day.

@SOS Ridgerider wears welding gloves when handling Echo's. He's from Southern Norway, y'all.