Hi All
First of all big thank you to people posting suggestions in other forum topics similar to this. It gave me the confidence to try to repair an old X9 I bought second hand. Very low price so had no illusions but had some serious cracks left and right of the boom front end. Could have taken it to the tip, but read in the forum and saw some youtubes that it was possible. Found carbonparts.com.au/product/200gsm-3k-twill-carbon-fibre-tape/. Ordered 2m of 100mm wide around 10 aud and epoxy resin.
Stripped the boom grip, severne video is excellent, used automotive thinner, plastice wrap. Brushed the grip with thinner and wrapped it with plastice and made sure it was sealed. Grip just fell off. Wiped of the glue and boom was clean.
I thought not just do the 2 cracks as it would probably not as strong as doing the whole head. Measured what it would be when wrapping the carbon like tennis grip from one end to the other with overlap. The Twill is amazing as it adjusts to the bends and corners.
Cut 2 pieces to created double layer that will be crossed wrapped.
On some baking paper spread the mixed epoxy, laid the cut carbon on it and brushed also on top. Put another layer of banking paper on top and tried to squeeze the resin into the fibers and push excess out. Then wrapped the carbon tightly on the boom like you do with tennis grip. And did second layer from the other end. Used the trick of electrical tape sticky side out, to wrap it tightly in other to get a clean finish. Made also holes to get the resin out. Honestly i think i still used too much resin.
Let it dry overnight and took of the tape. Because of the thick layering with resin and taping it did create that structure of grip, so not very smooth... good lesson.
Took the sanding machine with 120 and sanded it to make it smooth and even. Otherwise it would be less sanding if you really used right amount of resin.
Standard neil pride front end wont fit because i increased the diameter. I need to get a maui sails front end to meet the 40mm on the head now.
Did it do the trick in the end? I think so, feels really sturdy and very stiff. Proof in the pudding. If i crash because to broke, i did a bad job. But is worth a try i thought.
Hope this helps others to give it a go
Lard
