Carbon Fibre tube supplier?

Friedn of mine is looking for a carbon fibre tube 1.6m long by 400mm dia. Astronomy application, any ideas of suppliers?

Thanks

Stuart

Try Hardy's and Grey's Ltd http://www.hardyfishing.com/en-gb/home/

or Attwater and Sons http://www.attwater.com/.

I can recommend both as they are suppliers to the firm I work for.They should be be able to advise you on a solution.

Edited By Ralph H on 05/08/2015 22:19:38

By coincidence 10 minutes ago I sent an email for a quote for a c/f tube. Its a company I have bought custom tubes from for several years now and have always been very satisfied. (no connection to me)

They are www.Tri-cast.co.uk

Ian P

PS I think they do up to 1m diameter at least

That's a serious bit of composite tubing - your friend will likely need deep pockets. Is carbon fibre necessary, would glass fibre do the job?

I would guess you'd be looking at a custom made tube, either filament wound or laid up from pre-preg sheet, if you can find a company that bcan do that sort of size you might have to alter the diameter a bit to make use of an existing former, a custom mandrel wouild be very expensive - ours were and they were only about 150mm diameter.and shorter than you're looking for.

.

Keith,

If it's for a telescope OTA, then carbon's near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion is very desirable.

MichaelG.

I fully realised that Michael

Thanks for the suggestions

.

My apologies, Keith ... no slight intended.

It's only a fine line between 'necessary' and 'very desirable'

MichaelG.

Stuart,

It's interesting to see that Orion Optics is using 'sandwich construction'

... 'though I'm not aware what core material is used.

See also, this page from DreamScopes

MichaelG.

.

Edit: This might be of interest.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 06/08/2015 06:21:39

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 06/08/2015 06:28:46

.

Oops ... that link seems to be wrong ... Try this

Stuart

Would 372.97mm internal diameter be big enough?

I have a list of mandrel sizes that Tri-cast use and this one at 900mm long seems to be the nearest.

Wall thickness can be whatever you want, most of mine have been between 3 and 6mm

Ian P

Would think the "Meat" is either honeycomb or extruded (Blue) foam.

Regards Ian.

.

Very likely, Ian

I should probably have been more explicit, and written:

"... 'though I'm not aware what core material is used by Orion in these particular tubes."

MichaelG.

.

There is a company in Runcorn called Sigmatex. (I did some work for them back in my sparking days)

They weave CF in a large number of widths and weights from something resembling fine silk to course mesh. I remember them telling me at the time that they supplied 90% of the F1 teams and a number of aircraft manufacturers. I also remember them telling me that it was also used to produce helicopter blades and to do this the weave layers were placed in varying directions and a mixture of course and fine fabrics.

They seemed quite open and approachable people. You may be able to purchase a 'roll end' off them and combined with a former make your own. ..... Possibly.!

Failing that, I would be surprised if they were not able to point you in the right direction of such a tube supplier.

Regards, Nick

Suitable tubes are available here

... wrong side of the pond, I presume.