ATM Carbon tube

["Scott Berfield" <sberfield@xbox.com>]

Just finished the raw fabrication of my carbon cloth tube. This will get sectioned and reinforced with wooden end rings. I learned a lot from this and, as always, could do it a lot better if I did it over again. It is made of an inner layer of standard 5 oz carbon cloth, a layer of baltek mat, an outer layer of the same carbon cloth, and finally some fairing compound to smooth it out before a final layer of carbon twill. The tube is 15" OD, 36" long, and weighs 6 pounds. It could be at least a pound or two lighter if I had done it differently. The tub is strong enough that I can stand on it with it on its side and it barely flexes (I weigh 185). Overkill for what I am building, but I wanted to learn how to work with this stuff.

 

If anyone is interested I can document the process and can give some pointers on how not to screw things up like I did.

 

-sb