The Mechanized Fairing
The Wixoms Use Vacuum Forming To Save Time, Cut Costs
HENRY FORD did it for the automobile industry. The Wixom brothers are about to achieve a similar feat in the motorcycle fairing and accessory business. Ford automated his production facilities, to eliminate costly hand labor, and thereby slash the prices of his cars. Dean and Stan Wixom, disciples of the same philosophy-to replace men with machines-have reduced from days to minutes the time required to manufacture a handlebar fairing. And, of course, the cost to the customer also has tumbled.
Using a new process, the brothers are able to offer their latest product, the Fairwind 300 fairing, at only $37.50. As a comparison, they sell at a minimum of $54.50 similar fairings formed by conventional methods. Thus, the “mechanized” fairing is priced at 33 percent less than the handmade version. Secrets of the savings lie partly in the inventive minds of the Wixom pair, and also in a new plastic-like material, known as ABS, which possesses some remarkable qualities. Until now, fairings usually have been constructed of fiberglass, or sometimes, of aluminum. It appears that the introduction of ABS is about to cause a considerable disruption of the status quo. An explanation of the process involved in production of an ABS-based fairing illustrates why. The Wixom brothers, who share a passionate enthusiasm for motorcycles, occupy a plant amid the silently oscillating pumps of oil-rich Signal Hill, Calif. A 30-min. freeway ride distant lies the workshop of Race-Craft Inc., in South San Gabriel.
Race-Craft boss Ken Nign owns a vacuum forming machine. Onto this $10,000 machine is clamped a 35by 26-in. rectangular sheet of ABS, 0.15 in. thick. The sheet is drawn into an oven, heated to approximately 350 F, at which point it is in a semi-solid state, and then withdrawn. The edges of the sheet are clamped to an aluminum plug, formed in the shape of a Fairwind 300 fairing. A vacuum is applied to the underside of the plug, and affects the ABS through minute holes in the plug surface. The vacuum is maintained until the ABS, aided by two fans, cools. By that time it has inherited the shape of the plug.
The entire mechanical process occupies only 3 min. Human hands then take over, and require another 15 min. to trim and deburr the part, cut a hole for the headlight, and attach mounting hardware and plexiglass screen.
The methods are very simple, very swift. A considerable amount of human labor is saved, and little expensive, special tooling is required. A large sum is invested in the project, but pattern making and foundry work for the aluminum plug accounted for much of the cash. Thus the plug, not the machine tools, is the component that allows changes of design to be achieved. A production run can be maintained as long as the Wixom brothers desire. When a batch of fairings is complete, Ken Nign quickly removes the plug, installs an alternative one, and the vacuum former can churn out, for example, helicopter transmission covers.
Purex, known to housewives for its household cleaner products, is the company responsible for the development of ABS. Dean Wixom describes it as “a form of plastic made by extruding it in sheets. It is more similar to nylon and teflon than fiberglass.”
The material itself is actually a composite of three different forms of plastic-acrylic, butyrate, and styrene. A blend of all three offers an end product which embodies the best points of each. Acrylic, for instance, is very durable, butyrate is the most pliable of the three, and styrene’s characteristics include high impact resistance, and ease of forming.
Dean is generous in his praise of ABS. “Fiberglass is fairly rigid in comparison with ABS. Fiberglass has terrific impact resistance, but once it reaches its elastic limit, it breaks. But ABS is incredibly resilient, and considerably lighter than fiberglass. It also possesses what is known as an ‘elastic memory.’ That means that if it is dented, it can be heated to its forming temperature, and will spring back to its original shape.”
Dean likes to demonstrate to visitors his point about resiliency by picking up a Fairwind 300, less its plexiglass segment, and bending it in half so that the two edges meet. A Fairwind’s total weight of 4-5 lb., including mounting brackets and plexiglass, proves its lightness.
However, ABS does have one disadvantage. Although a damaged section can be heated back to its original shape, minor scratches and abrasions are difficult to remove. This is where fiberglass scores, for that material is fairly easy to repair.
But, to the Wixom boys, the greatest snag with fiberglass is that it cannot be heated and mauled into shape. Indeed, the production process involved in manufacturing a fiberglass fairing sounds almost clumsy and laborious in comparison with the brisk turnover of ABSbased units. First, a coating of the color required for the fiberglass fairing is sprayed into a mold. The mold is set aside for up to half a day, until the fiberglass is laid inside it. The fiberglass is allowed to cure, or harden, overnight, and then is removed from the mold and given more time to cure. In fact, the part may require more than a week in storage before it is 100 percent hardened. Finally, mounting brackets are bonded in, using fiberglass as a bonding agent, and the unit is trimmed and polished.
Minutes instead of days? No wonder the Wixom brothers are turning to ABS!
The final design and shape of Fairwind 300 has been the subject of experiments lasting some two years. Protection for the rider, predictable machine handling, and a lack of drag are obvious benefits that are sought in the production of any fairing. In its initial form, the Fairwind incorporated only the first of these characteristics. It had a rather flat profile, when viewed from the side, and appeared to increase drag, and adversely affect machine stability. “Its flat shape made it act more like a sail,” said Dean Wixom.
Continued experimentation resulted in the production version. This fairing has a far more pointed profile, a shape gained by extending its nose slightly forward of the headlamp, and then turning it back in a lip. In this way, the headlamp beam is unimpeded, and buffeting from winds is considerably reduced.
An additional benefit is improved air penetration. The resulting appearance may look non-aerodynamic around the headlamp area, but Dean and Stan Wixom discovered that drag was actually reduced. They explain this apparent oddity by pointing out that air builds up within the circumference of the headlamp lip. As the machine rushes along, the air about to be penetrated “senses” this area of stationary air, and is deflected either to the left or to the right of the fairing. This phenomenon was proved by extending a metal proboscis horizontally forward of the headlamp, and attaching a piece of string to its far end. As the test bike gained speed, the string always was diverted to one side or the other; wind pressure never forced it straight back toward the motorcycle.
In its final form the Fairwind 300 should give an infinitesimal increase in a machine’s maximum speed. The total speed benefit, amounting to around 0.5 mph, is so slight that the Wixoms do not stress this as one of the advantages of their product.
The fairing will fit approximately 80 percent of the motorcycles in the 150to 500-cc range. The Wixoms insured this by measuring “all the bikes we could get our hands on.”
Their company is banking heavily on ABS, and the labor saving production methods it allows. Already in the final stages of production, and soon to be released, is a luggage carrier for mounting above rear fenders. It is intended to sell for 33 to 50 percent less than similar items now being marketed in fiberglass. Naturally, Dean and Stan also intend to produce lightweight components for competition. This is hardly surprising, in view of their connections with Harley-Davidson, whose 1968 road race fairings they supplied. But, racing components formed of ABS are another story...
