carbon fiber pole DIY?

[olson34]

After watching for a deal on a lightweight pole for a stern-mount radar antenna for several years... and not seeing anything appear on eBay or Craigs...

I got to wondering about just buying some carbon fabric and rolling my own.
Maybe use some sched. 20 plastic pipe for a form. There would need to be a lay up schedule devised.

No vac. bagging machinery at hand, but it seems like epoxy could be squeegied out just like all the flat panel stuff I have built over the years.
Anyone here done this? Have any thoughts on it? (Like this group will be shy about sharing their thoughts!)


I need a light weight pole about 3" OD and about 9' long.

I already have some honeycomb for the top antenna mounting plate.

Thanks,

Mr Olson

[scottyt]

i would not use a plastic center. i would get a thin AL tube and use that as the core. then get carbon fiber ribbon, aim for about a 3 inch width, and spiral wrap it. over lap it about 50 % then wrap from the other end, this would give you every other wrap roughly 90 degrees ( or maybe 60 ) to the last layer. the nice thing is the ribbon is you can presoak it with epoxy and squeege out most of before you wrap.

basicly on a table layout the table length of CF pour on epoxy squeege, then roll up the "wet" part,and roll out more and wet it out. once you figure out how long each wrap is you could plan it out pretty easily. then support the pipe and have someone rotate the pipe as you lay the wrap on in the spiral.

or call this company and save your self 20 hours

CST Composites: Product List

[capttb]

Crazy thought, poles used for vaulting (you know, pole vaulting, an obscure field event) are made from carbon or fiberglass, how about checking with colleges et al for a broken one. At least I remember in the dark ages a lot got broken and they are hollow (light) and pretty strong).

[olson34]

Scotty is asking the logical question, of course...
Best thing to do is write to them and see if the freight from Down Under to the NW USA is affordable. Guess I had always assumed (there's that pesky word) that it would be unaffordable.

It's been many a hazy decade since me college days, but weren't those vaulting poles a lot less OD than I need? Hmmm.... I shall do some "googling" on that one.

Thanks!

Mr O

[pdqaltair]

Originally Posted by olson34

After watching for a deal on a lightweight pole for a stern-mount radar antenna for several years... and not seeing anything appear on eBay or Craigs...

I got to wondering about just buying some carbon fabric and rolling my own.
Maybe use some sched. 20 plastic pipe for a form. There would need to be a lay up schedule devised.

No vac. bagging machinery at hand, but it seems like epoxy could be squeegied out just like all the flat panel stuff I have built over the years.
Anyone here done this? Have any thoughts on it? (Like this group will be shy about sharing their thoughts!)


I need a light weight pole about 3" OD and about 9' long.

I already have some honeycomb for the top antenna mounting plate.

Thanks,

Mr Olson

But I know what I would do. I would get a broken mast (I have a snapped Hobie mast in my yard) and use that. There are many good reasons why aluminum is the material of choise for "light tubes."