- This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 11 months ago by
Doug Gerrard.
Doug Gerrard.-
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Jeremiah Johnson
I don’t want to take the time to make my own CF tubes. I want to build a 38mm rocket that is CF and leave it naked. Would it sand and polish up nice like that fancy work that Jim J did? I’m thinking I’ll buy the CF from PR.
John A. Wilke
Jeremiah, the carbon fiber in PR kits comes in two types – convolute (which is rather mundane looking) and filament wound, which looks something like snakeskin… a very exotic, patchy, sort-of-repeating-but-not-quite-repeating pattern… it looks absolutely awesome. If you have seen a Mongoose or a the rocket that I flew on an M1450 at O’fest, you will know what I mean. I think it looks quite striking. I don’t typically use convolute wound carbon, as I really like the “snakeskin” look. (BTW – I much prefer convolute glass over filament, but that is another thread).
When I build with this carbon, I try and leave as much of the carbon exposed as possible. It seems utterly wrong to cover up that nice appearance. The issue is if you do a tip-to-tip layup to strengthen fins, you will have a different weave of carbon fabric vs. what is used on the tube…. sort of like mixing plaid and stripes. That is why I painted the fin area (and only the fin area) of my last rocket. I left 100% of everything else naked.
If/when you scratch — or even sand — the carbon, the appearance comes back nicely with regular clearcoat. In the case of my M project, I didn’t even do that. Clearcoat does enhance the look a bit, and it does keep it looking like the rocket is wet. That said, it looks pretty nice w/o clearcoat, too…
I can show you the tubing at the next launch if you’d like.
JW
greywolves
JW, I never did get to see a price list. Curious about, 29mm,38mm, and 54. I have couple rockets on the drawing board.
Heres a link to another carbon tube maker. I have bought nothing from them. Have had many email replies, very helpfull to Our needs. I did think was expensive, but prolly super strong weight ratio. oh yeah, and the look i think your looking for,
http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com/large%20tubing.html
well theres the address anyways.
David
John A. Wilke
Doug Gerrard
Heres a link to another carbon tube maker. I have bought nothing from them.
http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com/large%20tubing.htmlI have bought from them but not the pretty stuff. I was happy with them and their product.
Doug
Jeremiah Johnson
John A. Wilke
greywolves
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