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Ben Lipman
Goo Roo
SA
Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car

Posts: 2543
Reg: 04-2006

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Tuesday, January 04, 2011 - 09:57 pm, by:  Ben Lipman (Ben12a)

Good question Spencer. It comes down to weight versus stiffness also considering cost and workability.

I was going to make the very first one out of a sheet of aluminium until I was told to think about it by some much more experienced blokes. I have seen some made from 1.6mm ally with reinforcing welded/bonded/riveted on, also with folds etc to increase the rigidity of the splitter. If it was just a small lip protruding a few cm it would work well.

Clearly carbon fibre, kevlar and other composites would be strong, stiff and light but very expensive and very likely to shatter. I also have no experience in that medium ( but that has never put me off).

In the US alumalite, a panel used widely in sign making is popular, but I couldn't find any in Australia when I last looked. Alumalite is likely a product name more than type. It is (I believe) a coreflute core sandwiched between two thin pieces of aluminium.

Others have suggested using lexan, but it flexes waaay to much in the thinner sizes and gets heavy as you go thicker.

In the end, and in a lot of forums and websites the informed opinion kept coming back to plywood.

I would love to find some good quality foam and do something very light weight with that and fibreglass one day.

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