Motorcycle Fairing

I wanted to know what resin for the Form 3L would people suggest I use if I wanted to make a small fairing for a motorcycle?

It would need to be strong enough as to not break from the wind at high speeds and also be coated with something because it will be outside in the elements.

My thought was Durable, but I’m open to suggestions.

I guess that based on the recent release tough 1500 v2 be the right choice. But unfotunately this resin will not be available for F3L generation once $10K machines. Durable is great, but for that particular application I will never choose resin, get ASA or PC-ABS and get it done with any Material extrusion based machine. Do you already have the design? It also depends on geometry.

Telling me to NOT use resin isn’t very helpful because that’s all I have; a Form 2 and a Form 3L.

But it’s the reality, I’ve tried to replace a throttle handlebar cover from a Ninja 250 with tough resin( blue one) it broke, I also tested tough 2000 same happened, Taulman nylon bridge or 910 was the choice and it lasted like 6 years, I just replaced it with a PA12 SLS part. But many parts I’ve tried to make functional cases out of them ended up failing.

From all the parts I’ve done Durable was the most durable and useful for end-use.

Any suggestions on coatings?

Treat it like any plastic, special adherence coating for plastics first(after sanding it) then primer, paint and UV clear coat, that should be enough, however expect deformation if exposed to direct sunlight because resins have a low temperature resistance even postcured.

I forgot about the temperature ratings…ugh

Cerakote is a great for outdoor protection my Coworker uses it on all of his motorcycle parts

3 Likes

I tried to get it for some parts but unfortunately new regulations prevent us from getting our hands on it… There used to be an official distributor but I guess it became very complex to process the import.

1 Like

Thats unfortunate because Cerakote is very handy and versatile.

Very cool application @br4n_d0n! :motorcycle:

Talking it through with the moderator crew, we recommend Durable + Cerakote as a solid workflow. But an alternative route is Thermoforming with essentially any resin, which is how these pieces are usually made.

Formlabs resources that might help:

1 Like

Plus, a cool Italian motorcycle user story of using Fuse nylon 12: Moto2 team SpeedUp

I know it sucks, so many applications and possibilities.

Is there any documentation available, or an example?. This link is just the team page but nothing relevant is mentioned.

Here’s an auto related application using PS and ABS sheets for automotive parts.

We also have a few packaging case studies

You’ll find much more info from Thermoforming pros to learn about what materials to use. We like (and use) Formech - they have a ton of case studies. Plus this Thermoforming in auto doc
does a nice job of visualizing some components that can be made with this workflow.

1 Like

Thanks for the info @verdugod, I’ll have to look at those guides and see if it’s something worth pursuing or not.

1 Like