Anyone drilled a carbon frame for Di2?

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by notsew

I personally wouldn't hesitate to drill some holes in a frame. I'd want to make sure they holes clean and that I didn't delaminate the surrounding carbon when I was drilling. I'd probably want to find some scrap piece of carbon to flush out my technique.

But then again, I'm just a crazy stranger on the internet, so I probably wouldn't trust me.

I don't know you, so I can't trust you, but I do agree with you.

[weiwentg]

Raoul Luescher of Luescher Teknik wouldn't recommend it. He repairs carbon bikes. Video explanation here. He basically says you don't know what the long-term effects on structural integrity will be. You can also cause a delamination when you drill (i.e. cause a fracture), which will allow water ingress into the delamination area, which will then degrade the resin. He would prefer to do a stress analysis on the tubes as well. In the short term, this may be OK, but he doesn't recommend it long term.

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by chiasticon

I wouldn't have any problems doing this, for the most part. probably depends on the bike though, and you may not be able to do it fully internal. for example: pop the rivets out of a cable guide and use that hole, enlarge if needed. then maybe enlarge the hole from the (no longer needed) cable guide under the BB and route RD wire along the drive side chain stay.

I actually was under the impression that it was a fairly common thing for shops to do for you.

I was thinking about using the rivet hole as well from one of the cable guides. Any idea how to safely pop the rivet off??

[chiasticon]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

I was thinking about using the rivet hole as well from one of the cable guides. Any idea how to safely pop the rivet off??

just drill it out?

another option to consider is sending it to a carbon repair service and having them make sure the holes are properly reinforced and the frame is structurally sound.

here's one option, but there's others out there: https://ruckuscomp.com/news/2015/10/...n-sleek-unique

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by chiasticon

just drill it out?

another option to consider is sending it to a carbon repair service and having them make sure the holes are properly reinforced and the frame is structurally sound.

here's one option, but there's others out there: https://ruckuscomp.com/news/2015/10/...n-sleek-unique

So here's the thing, I'm doing this on a $300 US frameset, and I already have internal junction box needed, internal battery needed.
So I don't want to do this di2 project if it involves buying the under BB junction and a new battery and a new charger for said external battery. Nor do I want to spend money to send the frame away to be tested/inspected. Its obviously not worth it on a $300 frame.


Appreciate all the replies. Frame is due to arrive in few days, ridley excalibur, I'll have a look at it, and also see if any of this is possible depending on what the BB insert is like, if it blocks everything, etc.

Cheers

[Hank Scorpio]

I sanded. I had to remove the rear cable guide to run the wire and get the tape nice and flat so at that point the front guides are useless. If need be someone could pop rivet new guides on but this is the only bike i have kept in the past 10 years so realistically isn't going anywhere.

The second pic shows where I opened up the seat tube for the wire. The shrink wrap is a little long and it is causing the wire bundle to stand off the seat tube too much. It looks like it is rubbing the tire in this angle but it isn't. Still a shorter piece of shrink is in order this weekend.

[jpritchet74]

When 10s Di2 first came out (~10 years ago?) I drilled my Cervelo SLC-SL - that was before they made "internal wiring kits" too, so I cut apart my external wiring kit and spliced it back together so that it was internal.





I also drilled this Colnago Extreme Power a couple of years ago for Campy EPS.


The key is to only drill where the carbon is "thick".

[oldguy00]

How did you run the drill? Really slow and just slowly grind it through? Or the opposite, high speed?
thx!

[jpritchet74]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

How did you run the drill? Really slow and just slowly grind it through? Or the opposite, high speed?
thx!

High speed, started with small bit size and slowly made it bigger. Went with 1/4" as the final hole size for all holes - that is what was needed for the early Di2 connector size and that is what also fits the rubber grommets (as shown in the Colnago pic).