Larry's SuperCoolBullbarredTribalStickered-HoodventedATRACedBrotacularWhip Build

[Lrgrnr]

.....that dude looks just like me........

 

[AlienXtx]

Larry?

looks like hes checking out the dudes package then his ass..

 

[Lrgrnr]

Hey John you still want a snorkel? localish guy selling one cheap......whole kit.

 

[TacoXpo]

All great, none directly relate to what I'm asking, which is: Does anyone know exactly what did or didn't change in their tophat "redesign"? I don't. It may be nothing. It may be something. I haven't checked, I can't be bothered enough to do so (mine are doing fine at the moment). Skepticism is fine, I don't blame you one bit. I'm saying conjecture doesn't give me any information.

I hear you. Call them and ask. They are VERY NICE AND GOOD PEOPLE! I think the question is moot. Until they make that hat out of steel or titanium, their design will fail. I am only saying that from a engineering perspective.

The plastic range of aluminum sucks. Steel would be about 40% stronger (if you want to put it that way) - that design is guaranteed (alumnium) is guaranteed to crack whereas if it was steel, it would be stronger (Yield point of steel ~36,000 PSI vs ~24,000 of Aluminum) and would bend at the time the aluminum would crack.

Look at aluminum skid plates vs steel skid plates and you will see what I am talking about. Steel will be all banged up and aluminum will be ripped and cracked.

The cross section of the failure point is WAY TOO SMALL for the material to be aluminum.

Come to my lecture at 7:15 am tomorrow morning at McKensey Hall. This application was the subject of last week's assignment and relates directly to the lab the week before.

 

[TacoXpo]

More...

Stiffness is quantified by a parameter called Modulus of Elasticity. Without getting overly technical, we can look at the relative stiffness of steel versus aluminum by comparing this parameter:

Aluminum’s modulus is about 10 million psi.

Steel’s modulus is about 3 times that: 30 million psi.

In other words if they made a steel hat, it would take about 3x the abuse before failing.

 

[Silverback]

Carbon Fiber is about 35 million PSI. Only reason I know this is that this past weekend I bought my son a new set of carbon fiber shafted Calaway clubs (RZR X irons and RZR Hawk drivers) and the marketing above the display mentioned it.

 

[TacoXpo]

Carbon Fiber is about 35 million PSI. Only reason I know this is that this past weekend I bought my son a new set of carbon fiber shafted Calaway clubs (RZR X irons and RZR Hawk drivers) and the marketing above the display mentioned it.

And if there was no risk of delam - I'd say do it!!!

 

[Silverback]

Yeah, I see guys with CF mtn bike frames and I think "first nasty wreck and that frame is jacked!"

 

[TacoXpo]

Yeah, I see guys with CF mtn bike frames and I think "first nasty wreck and that frame is jacked!"

I know how many times I've spilled on my mountain bike and I think the same thing.

CL Ad:

Carbon Fiber bike. I paid $9,500 will sell for $1,500 - only slight crack near crank bearing boss.

 

[AlienXtx]

Yeah, I see guys with CF mtn bike frames and I think "first nasty wreck and that frame is jacked!"

catch a splinter of that shit in his ass and he will never own another one, I've had some get in my hand from my hunting arrows...ouch

 

[Silverback]

You know.. I have a CF seatpost on my mtn bike, Easton EA70. It scares the piss out of me. I'm afraid I'm gonna break it off and then have this sharp stick pointed at my ass while bouncing up and down on a trail.

Honestly I want to replace the post with an aluminum one, just haven't done it.

 

[AlienXtx]

 

[Oswego]

.....that dude looks just like me........

except he ain't got a gut

 

[wrmathis]

maybe its lurry during the meth/crack years?

 

[cmack]

maybe its lurry during the meth/crack years?

I thought he was still in those years?

 

[Silverback]

Yeah, I thought those where 2010-present day? WTF?

 

[AlienXtx]

He's in his "Shine-prime" right now

 

[Oswego]

party on Larry...your what 24yo? Still plenty of time to kick the habit later on

 

[Jandrews]

Hey John you still want a snorkel? localish guy selling one cheap......whole kit.

Nah. I should never be in water deep enough to need it. PLus my compressor is mounted to my CAI box now

I hear you. Call them and ask. They are VERY NICE AND GOOD PEOPLE! I think the question is moot. Until they make that hat out of steel or titanium, their design will fail. I am only saying that from a engineering perspective.

I have no intention - I'm really not invested in this problem. My tophats are fine at the moment (inspected them a couple weekends ago when the C/Os were out of the truck for spring swap - no fractures/cracks/hairlines, etc.)

People who are worried can get info from Icon on what they did, exactly, to "upgrade" the top hats.

The plastic range of aluminum sucks. Steel would be about 40% stronger (if you want to put it that way) - that design is guaranteed (alumnium) is guaranteed to crack whereas if it was steel, it would be stronger (Yield point of steel ~36,000 PSI vs ~24,000 of Aluminum) and would bend at the time the aluminum would crack.

I'm certainly not claiming any formal engineering education, but wouldn't all that be extremely alloy dependent? 7075 Aluminum, for example, has extremely high strengths right?

I submit Wikipedia's page on it, for what it is/isn't worth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7075_aluminium_alloy

(I only know this because it's the material of choice for a lot of rock climbing and mountaineering equipment. Given that this gear is life-critical but needs to be lightweight as possible, a lot of time and R+D goes into material selection).

Look at aluminum skid plates vs steel skid plates and you will see what I am talking about. Steel will be all banged up and aluminum will be ripped and cracked.

The cross section of the failure point is WAY TOO SMALL for the material to be aluminum.

Again, I'm not claiming your wrong. I just want to know the details. What material IS Icon using for their tophats? Aluminum? If so, what alloy, what are the specs, what's the QA cert like on any heat treating/forging processes?

All my end point is: There are ways the tophat could be stronger and look identical. I can't prove or disprove that this is the case. I have no data.

That's all I'm saying.


Edit: Thanks for your thoughts on this stuff, by the way. I'm in a specialized field with a high level of education myself (Physical Therapy, Doctorate), and understand how expertise is often tricky for people who don't have it - that is to say, people who aren't experts are often so ignorant of a topic they don't know what they don't know. I just happen to have an amateur interest in materials science because I'm also into rock climbing, and there's a ton of materials engineering that goes into the safety gear in my sport.

Your thoughts and discussion are appreciated.

 

[Lrgrnr]