Even Lighter: Student Motorcycle Racing Team Innovates Their Electric Bike Subframe Design with Rock West Composites

by Rock West

May 11, 2021

Tags: STEM

Rock West Composites supports student teams in universities around the country and around the world. We were happy to provide assistance to the Warwick Moto team from the University of Warwick by helping them with with information on carbon development and assembly for the build of their unique 1.3kg subframe.

Warwick Moto is a student-led university project building a highly innovative electric superbike, ‘Aurora’, a motorcycle designed around a superbike chassis known for its excellent handling. The interdisciplinary team is made up of 25 students and academics, with superbike racer Tom Weeden as their rider; they are innovating some impressive state-of-the-art electrical systems to be integrated within it. For instance, they are using an immersion cooled battery pack and a carbon fiber subframe design supported by Rock West Composites. Although racing is a primary target, the team aims to upskill young engineers and expose them to real world engineering. Warwick Moto does this by providing a platform similar to industrial environments. Working side-by-side with engineering companies like Rock West Composites has opened more opportunities for the next generation of engineers to also equip the applicable skills that come with industrial collaboration.

Despite the global challenge that coronavirus has presented, Rock West Composites delivered specialist knowledge on carbon fiber tubing, bonding requirements, and material capabilities to the Warwick Moto team. This was vital for the development of the bike’s subframe. The subframe is the rear substructure of the motorcycle on which the rider sits and experiences large forces as the rider slams down on the seat during races. A hybrid aluminum node was utilized, assisted by Xometry Europe who provided 5-axis machining capability, and coupled with a carbon fiber tube design. This enabled the team to creatively design a subframe lighter than the original found on the donor bike while also housing the inverter. Finite element analysis data were combined with Rock West’s composite expertise to select the correct type of tube for the application, considering layup, modulus and many more factors. The engineering support provided by Rock West enabled the team to develop innovative solutions to optimize the final performance of the part. Capable of withstanding 5G load cases, but with a mass of less than 1.3kg, the final subframe design built is a pioneering engineering development.

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June 10, 2022

Rock West Marine Now Supplying OEMs

Since the reformation of Rock West Composites Marine Division in August of 2021, we have received orders from two proven, trustworthy brands within diving’s Spearfishing market sector. Rock West is now a proud supplier of pole spear and dive fin components to these high profile, reputable OEMs. Late last year, Rock West Marine was approached by one of the largest high-end pole spear brands to develop precision tubes to their brand requirements. We received a paid development order to make specific, same diameter roll wrapped and filament wound composite tubes to perform a head-to-head comparison study. As part of their qualification process, our customer ordered enough sample tubes to perform field testing with their professional staff and athletes. Both field tests and static lab tests were run in parallel. Our customer diligently evaluated performance before choosing the optimal solution and then placed a second small production order with RW early this year 2022. Our customer is happy with Rock West's performance and is placing additional orders for tubes of this qualified design in the future. New designs for pole spear tubing and other related products are being quoted. Eric Thorstensen, the GM of the Marine division, sends a big thank you to Brian Shelby and Anthony Fairhurst for technically heading up development and delivering our first pole spear production order to our customer. In August of 2021 Rock West Marine put together a small R&D tiger team lead by Ethan Gormican to develop two different (medium and soft) flex carbon composite fin blades to offer future OEM customers. Rock West Marine attended DEMA (Diving Equipment & Marketing Association) Show in Las Vegas last year and showed our newly designed fin blades, along with other products. We received excellent feedback from interested OEM’s, dive shops and individuals confirming our entry into this market space. Eric thanks Julia Willis, Ethan Gormican, Brian Shelby, and Rylan Hayes

May 25, 2022

Radome Testing in our In-House RF Test Chamber

At Rock West’s new headquarters, we have an RF test lab to support our many radome, antenna, and integrated RF structure programs. Recently we had a radome that required physical characterization of performance as part of its testing and verification plan. For this particular program, the radome provides high-performance, low loss protection for modern radar equipment. It has both military and commercial applications and is built under the support of solution provider R4 Integration, Inc. The radome is a multi-layer sandwich construction using low dielectric materials that are optimized to provide low transmission loss over wide broadband frequencies. This customer had narrow frequency bands of interest, and we were able to tune the radome for best performance within those specific frequency bands. Radome being mounted on test frame This program required physical test verification at a large amount of view angles, to map the radome’s performance over the entire surface. To test many view angles efficiently, our team had commissioned a custom structure to position the radome at 5 degree increments in both the azimuthal and elevation planes. It’s built mostly of wood and fiberglass to minimize structural RF interference. These are images from the testing process. Transmission Loss testing for radome at different view angles The successful testing and characterization of this radome enabled our customer to provide system-level performance feedback to their customer, meeting requirements for both the airborne terminal and the satellite-based communication systems. Rock West produces radomes from L-band to Ka-band with transmission loss typically below -1.0 dB, with many radomes tuned for loss below -0.5 dB in primary transmit and receive bands. Our in-house testing capability enables us to quickly test prototypes, shorten program schedules and reduce risk for programs with strict RF requirements. This radome is designed,

May 17, 2022

Our 15th Anniversary

Rock West has been in business for 15 years! The business was started by Jim Gormican and Keith Loss, two former colleagues, who decided to pursue an entrepreneurial endeavor together in Jim’s garage in late 2006. Since then, Rock West has grown into a business with four locations and nearly 200 people. From the Garage to the New Headquarters in 15 Years The initial work was centered around aerospace engineering and the commercialization of carbon fiber composites, which had been historically expensive, too expensive to use beyond specific, highly demanding applications. The business grew in 2009 through the acquisition of the former Maclean Composites in Salt Lake City, and the Rock West Composites brand was born. The new office pursued the online sales of carbon tubing and pioneered ecommerce for composites. Ecommerce Pioneer: flashback from a decade ago (left) to our current site (right) Ecommerce operations are located in our Salt Lake City facility (bottom right) Joining the Rock West team shortly thereafter was a group of applied sensor specialists located in Santa Barbara. They became the Rock West Solutions division. In 2017, the business launched a venture in Mexico to help reduce labor costs while allowing easy access to facilities. As part of the CaliBaja Mega Region, Rock West is working to re-shore jobs that have gone offshore, bringing work back to US in partnership with our neighbors in Mexico. Santa Barbara office (left), Baja California (right) Jump ahead to today and our headquarters in San Diego is now in over 100,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space. Our Salt Lake City facility has expanded to encompass its entire building. Santa Barbara has grown to include more office space and new secured labs. Tijuana has continued to expand and improve its facility and equipment. Rock West has come a far way from the original garage office. Facilities: San Diego warehouse (top left), Salt Lake City

March 21, 2022

New Products: G10 Fiberglass Plate and Expanded High Temperature Plate Selection

We're always adding to things to our store to provide our customers more options. Here are some brand new additions. EXPANDED HIGH TEMP PLATES We are expanding our high temperature plate selection with new thinner options. We've added 0.060” and 0.125” to the lineup but still offer 0.250” and 0.500” if you require thicker plate. These are press cured, balanced carbon fiber & epoxy resin prepreg laminates. The laminate plates (panels) are made with a nylon (green) peel ply co-cured on both outer surfaces of the laminate, which can be removed before application. It can be used in applications up to 400°F. G10 FIBERGLASS PLATE Meet our brand new G10 Fiberglass Plate. It has excellent machinability and electrical insulative properties. This glass/epoxy laminate offers a superior strength/size ratio and self-extinguishing properties. In addition to its high mechanical strength, it exhibits good dielectric loss and electrical properties under a range of dry and humid conditions. The flame resistance is Class I in accordance with NEMA test method 7.11. Read more on the G10 plate product page and order today

March 15, 2022

Test Driving at the Fastest Race Track on Earth

Several of our team members are into racing and not just as spectators. Some even go out to test their metal at what is billed as the “fastest racetrack on earth,” the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. One of the Rock West team, Nick Montoya, is part of a local group, Bean Bandits Racing Team Est. 1949, and has raced with them for five years. He has worked on cars since he was a kid and raced at Bonneville before, but in 2021 he joined the Bean Bandits team at the famous track to test a car they built. Nick said, “We built this car from scratch in Barrio Logan in San Diego. The body is an original 1927 Ford Roadster, heavily modified. The chassis and all other components are custom and built by us.” Nick is joined by Derby Pattengill, the senior driver for Bean Bandits, and has his HANS device at the ready Safety is always the top priority for the team, and the objective of last year’s run was to tune the chassis and make sure the car acted accordingly at speed. This was a test run. Derby Pattengill, the senior driver for the Bean Bandits, has driven over 242 MPH and has over 20-years driving experience. He drove the car the first time to ensure Nick could get behind the wheel safely. Derby Pattengill with the Bean Bandits XF Gas Modified Roadster In addition, Nick drove using the HANS Pro Ultralight safety device, a head and neck restraint, in his test run. Rock West Composites manufactures the carbon fiber structure of this HANS device for Simpson Motor Sports. Now that the car has proven sound on the track, in 2022 the team plans on racing for a world record in the car’s class by meeting and beating 160 MPH. We wish them luck and safe racing in 2022 at the Bonneville Salt Flats! The Bean Bandits XF Gas Modified Roadster