Valant cables

[Rob1519]

Done and looking forward to seeing the product

[eric]

I'm sure its an interesting product but there were too many intrusive personal questions.

[di luca]

done

[DMF]

Just curious, how will this product differ from Carbon Nokons, that admittedly were an absolute failure for real world usage? I gather those were just carbon rather than carbon reinforced nylon, but is the latter really less prone to cracks due to compression?

And will nylon really be truly compressionless?

[valant]

Once again, thank you guys for best wishes!



@plpete prototype product that I'm using on my bike right now, has no problem flexing around bends, that have 2.5cm (1") radius.


@eric, making the survey I had no intentions in collecting any personal data. I assure you, these informations will be used exclusively for development of the cable set and won't shared in any way.
(P.S. I'm an mechanical engineer and I have basically no experience in making surveys. If I was intrusive I appologize, it was unintentionally )



@DMF thanks for asking! This was out primary concern. The problem with nokon carbon fiber cable set was the combination of production process and the shape of the links. Nokon produced their links on turning machines, cutting them form a pre-made carbon tube. Any kind of cutting a carbon fiber composite once the resin is hardened causes microfractures that weaken the material. These microfractures combined with the male/female cone shape of the links caused the links to break under pressure.

Production process that we're using is injection moulding, to avoid the surface damage caused by cutting mentioned above. The shape of male/female part of the housing link is redesigned in a way, that it generates as little transverse tension as possible.

Regarding the nylon material; On it's own, Nylon's highly compressable compared to aluminium. Once you reinforce it with carbon (or any other fiber), it becomes up to twice as hard, plastic deformation is next to nothing and all this at 1/3 of the weight of the Aluminium.

[sugarkane]

Any chance if the segments been self lined? Like the Aicans.. I links are good but the liner is the worst part about it and it's the high friction point.. Aicans work way better but the segments can be fragile. Eleminate that and you have a winner!

[cmdr199212]

Done, definitely interested to see how these come out!

[valant]

Hi guys, it's almost three weeks since my last post.
Sice then we've been busy, working on moulds, fine-tuning the design, trying out different variations of the material.

@sugarkane, I considered lining the cables the way you suggested, I even made a prototype that was self lined however it didn't come out as good as I expected it to. The problem is dirt getting inside the lining as the design of cable links is much more "opened" as Aikan's design.

Here are some photos that I took in the past few weeks:

Raw kevlar reinforced nylon composite:


Some prototype cable links, made out of kevlar composite instead of carbon (the material wasn't as good as carbon plus the moulds had to be corrected - therefore the links were s*itty):



Here is the latest product of our development, left is the shifter and right is the brake cable housing... At the moment I'm working on smoothing the surface, as some links apear to be a bit rough:



I'm pretty satisfied with the flexibility:


Compared to Nokon cable housings:

[Berk]

Great!!

[gt5504b]

Looks promising. It will be interesting to see how it feels and shifts. Let us all know how it goes.

[deltree]

What's the weight difference, for say, a 10cm long section of it compared to the Nokon?

[russianbear]

I'm sure its an interesting product but there were too many intrusive personal questions.

You don't have to participate.

Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

[bura]

Quote: At the moment I'm working on smoothing the surface, as some links appear to be a bit rough:unquote

Valant,hope you will find a way to polish them . Working on the molds for that reason will make your product heavier
New molds

Wish you all the best on the way to the end product.

[Pugrot]

Have you considered tumble finishing with shot to clean them up rather trying to perfect the moulds?

Anyway as a fellow mech eng all the best with the project and don't forget that proper testing before release to market involves lots of users in different conditions with different set ups...

[Spinnekop]

Done.

Good luck! Will be keeping an eye open for the product