long time between posts

Its been longer that I would like between posts. Its been pretty busy and I don't see it letting up anytime soon.

So to recap the last 3 months, whisper sailed and unfortunately broke 2 days prior to the nationals, a plastic component was the culprit. To say I was disappointed would be using far less words to describe the situation than I did on the day.
After some thought, I decided not to rush around and fix the boat as I think that could've been a pre cursor to a heart attack, there was just too much else going on at the time with the recent birth of our second boy and moving into a new house in the following week. So with insurance paid up I decided to 'use their services' and just recently I received the money to repair the hull (the rig was undamaged).
I look to being back on the water in the next month.

To current projects, we have been tendering on some large scale projects of late, and one to come off has been the manufacture of a 12m sculpture in the heart of the city. It borders on the 'can't be done' in terms of complexity but we have a good team at hand to see it through. I will post images when I am allowed and as they come. No doubt it will be on the news as they have to close St Georges Terrace for the delivery truck - apparently the road has only been closed a few times, the last was delivery of a vary large tree to Kings Park!

Latest news would be the launch this week of our new website www.carboncyclerepairs.com.au we have been repairing carbon fibre bicycles for about 2 years now with good results and good relationships with over the 60 stores in Perth, so with a growing audience we are now dedicating a section of our staff and time to this business, we will be taking this venture national in the very near future.

Another coup of late was getting to know Thales (Australia's largest defence supplier) and hosting a meeting with the Australian Managing Director in our factory. Fresh off that meeting we completed our first project for the 'deployables team' the ATAC system that 'sets new standards for size, weight and computing power'. That's about all I can say about that project.

This is going to be the biggest year for Composite Components and Carbon Cycle Repairs in terms of growth and capital expenditure as we make a concerted effort to get involved in larger markets with bigger requirements and higher expectations.

We have a top staff on board with 2 of us having Formula 1 experience and a can do attitude that always sees the job completed right. I'm excited. See you next post. BTW: Happy new year

Finally sailing

Yesterday in dying wind conditions. I launched my new moth foiler - Whisper.
It all went well, few little things, but really a relief to finally sail the boat which has taken so long to plan and build with no major issues.
Thanks, to all who have either helped or supported me during the build.

The link to the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9-EyI6u8Xg

Done

Yesterday in dying wind conditions. I launched my new moth foiler - Whisper.

It all went well, few little things, but a releif to finall y sail the boat which has taken so long to build. - I will be posting video of the day soon.

Thanks to all who have either helped or supported me during the build.

more power, more power!

Work on my International Moth has been furious... by comparison to the usual pace of this "seems too much like my day job" project.

I have had the rig up and working, the mast over-rotates well and the "one rope" raking system also works to plan.

The rig seems to have plenty of power and the 'no shrouds-quick exit off the front' should be a painless almost enjoyable ride, we'll see.

Our second baby is due on Monday, so the push is on for a weekend sail, then a break from work (and play) before getting back on the water just in time for the warmer weather!

See you on the water.

Architectural projects

Work has been continuing on the composite cladding for a Perth Transit Authority building throughout the last months. We are now at a stage where test fitting on site of the components is underway prior to painting and final installation.

The segments themselves are a good mix of materials combining an aluminium honeycomb core to increase panel stiffness and resistance to damage and a resin system reinforced with glass fibres that meets the demanding FST (fire, smoke, toxicity) standards required by the rail sector.

Pictured is one of the longer corner mouldings assembled in the factory confirming dimensional accuracy prior to delivery to site for test fitting.

Constant upgrades

After a fairly intensive and late round of R&D and hydrofoil prototyping. Bladerider emerged with a best placed second at the recent World International Moth Championships held at 'The Gorge' in the USA and first place at the preceding US National Championships.

During the event - which saw a range of conditions - a few of the new designs did get used in the races, most notable was the green 'tuna fin'. This particular design was conceived by Bethwaite Design who supplied the foil sections and profile plan. We completed the CAD model and oversaw the prototyping stage to deliver a part in 6 days from first contact.

Although the heavily raked leading edge design did throw up new issues and peculiarities around the race course, it adds to our knowledge base and ultimately helps us home in on improvements in performance for the future.

The work will continue on new designs and with Whisper to be launched in the coming weeks, a new round of ideas are planned to be built and tested.

1 Ton of foam

But this is no ordinary foam, is made specially for undersea applications.
We are now in the last stages of building the floatatation component for the the the new 'Typhoon' deep sea ROV.


The main float block (pictured) weighs approximately 800kg, and when the other segments are attached and fixed into place it will bring the gross weight of the floatation into the 1 ton vicinity.
When the block has been machined to final size and attached to the ROV unit, the complete ROV will be capable of sustaining depths of over 1000m for prolonged periods of time.

A best friend lost

Last evening my friend Mika left us. He died suddenly and without incident at home.

I will miss him very much, especially on the drives to and from work where he would sit in the front seat and on the late nights at work when everyone else had gone home.

He kept me company when the business was just me in a shed and was friendly to all whom came to visit.

I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one who will miss him, the factory will not be the same without him.

So long buddy.

Hoverpod project

Not alot of new has been posted From Entecho with regard o the hoverpod project, however

Target Drones

A significant order was placed last month for more target drones from one of our clients.

Although we can't show images and get into details at this time, we can say these particular unmanned aircraft have an all composite airframe, with a single micro jet turbine as a power plant resulting in a seriously fast and manoeuvrable aircraft.

New weapons for Bladerider

In order for Bladerider to remain at the front of the fleet for the upcoming world titles to be held in the USA in August, a new round of R&D and on water testing has been underway.

Composite Components has been designing and testing using CAD and CFD a raft of new shapes and foil designs for the hydrofoil element of the sailing boats.

With the benefit of accurate CNC rapid prototyping of the foils - a first for International Moth component manufacture - we are seeing just how important on water testing is, over just purely computer based analysis.

Some amazing results are being posted by Rohan Veal (Bladerider team member and multiple world/national champion) on his website http://www.rohanveal.com/ with upwind boat speeds not usually seen by any sailing boat.

Progress is ensured to continue right up to the start of the world titles on multiple component design fronts to ensure that the last few percent are dragged out of each of the new designs.

Architectural mouldings

Composite components announces contract to manufacture architectural mouldings for construction of public buildings valued at around $1 million.

Work has been completed on CAD modelling and component manufacture is about to begin for this prestigious construction within Perth City.

Further details will be posted during the construction period.

Deep Sea ROV

Earlier this month we finished work on a floatation unit for a Deep sea ROV. It involved sourcing and building the large block, getting it CNC machinied, hand finishing and then co-ordinating the sealing and painting. The images here are of the test article, however the real unit made of >300kg/per cubic metre density foam will be capable of handling depths of over 1000m, were it will be subjected to prolonged pressures of over 1437 psi or 9907 kpa.

This is our first work for TMT and their underwater remotely operated vehicles, and we are excited to have made a contribution to their project in this demanding field.

Wing mast

This week we made the new composite wing mast for the whisper project.

This mast was a true composite, made of 6 different fabrics and materials. It is an improvement on the first, better suited to the application of a free standing over-rotating wing mast.

To estimate time of the launch, I am aiming for about a month pending work load and little things like family and getting a sail made. There hardly seems a rush, the hull was made over the Easter of 2007, fitted out and bonded Xmas of 2008. What is it they say about mechanics and their cars?

I've enjoyed this build, its experimental in a lot of areas and this has pushed me into engineering, CAD modelling, design and analysis much further than I thought I would go. With all the hard work behind the scenes, It seems unlikely I'll sell this boat, let alone its taken 4 years to replace the last one, now with kids...

I am looking forward to getting it wet, photos will follow....

UAV's in Thailand

Some photos of the Cybereye 2 sold to the Royal Thai Air force have filtered back to us.

The aircraft have had a succession of flights, and training exercises. Performance has been improved from the initial prototype, increasing the top speed to 160kph and while reducing the stall speed. By first hand accounts the new design composite wings have made the big difference to the aircraft.