carbon fibre neck reinforcement

[christian]

Hi Guys,

This may have come up before, but has anyone know of a good supplier of carbon fibre neck reinforcements Aus or NZ
any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,

Christian

[Nick]

I've used the Stewmac stuff Christian, but I believe our Aussie brothers have a supplier of all things CF their side of the Tassie.

[Allen]

I use a few places out of the USA. I've dealt with all of them and they've been good.

The Composites Store

Graphite Store

DragonPlate Composites

Los Alamos Composites

This one is in Australia but I haven't used them.

Hobby and Engineering Supplies

[Kim]

Jim Watts of Los Alamos closed up shop a couple of years back...real pity because his stuff was first class. I purchased some 2 x 19 mm strips from Hobby and Engineering and found service to be good but they are exie and the material was quite heavy with epoxy. Read good things about Dragon Plate and the Composite Store so will probably give them a try next.

But then many people will receive the correct number of grey/black sticks of material in the dimensions of their ordered and they'll be happy because that is all they expected. But not all CF composite material is created equal. The material Jim Watts sold was based upon prepeg which had been pressure baked to form. As I understand this keeps the ration of CF to epoxy within the composite at its highest. The process is more time and labour intensive than cold lay up so the end product is a bit more expensive. But it produces material with the greatest stiffness to weight ratio possible.

Cheers

Kim

[Phil]

The stuff you get from Stewmac works.

You can be a cheapskate and purchase carbon fibre rod from the local aeromodelling craft shop.

AND REGRET IT BIG TIME
Been there, done that.

My 3 meter glider plunged from 1000 feet and scared the daylights out of some council workers when it "landed"
Hobby shop carbon fibre rod wing connectors to blame. Snappeeed straight across.

After 15 years my Stewmac CF rod is still straight and true. A little flex when strings are pulled to full tension then it is rock steady. Steel strung Medium Guage only a single CF rod 1/8" X 3/8" Three other experimentals built about the same time with CF rod are still playable

Phil.

[christian]

Thanks so much guys!!!
all good info to take into consideration, seems not all CF is created equal.
I know about wood my own wood and not much else so composites are other worldly.
I did find a online NZ hobby store here with a good selection but man they were hopeless!!! everything was out of stock
but not updated on their website. grrrrr
I was thinking of laminating up some strips of thin CF but by the time I do that I might as well have brought the proper stuff.
shame about your glider Phil tough way to find out something is poorly manufactured.

Cheers,

Christian.

[Tod Gilding]

Hi Christian, I have used poltruded rod from from this Oz supplier and was very good

http://www.carbonfiber.com.au/

[christian]

Just had a little comparison session online theres a $6.00 difference between stewmac and Lmi for the 1/8 x3/8 x18 !!!
Dragonplate looks the business !!! thanks Allen !!! DragonPlate Carbon Strip (Rectangle) ~ .125" x .325" x 48" $10.05 USD or 24" $5.53 USD everyone seems to be selling annoying lengths though, one day someone will put us luthiers first hahaha.
as we know shipping costs can burn us though, will have to investigate that side. I do have friends in NY where Dragonplate is so may be able get around that will let you guys know how I get on.
Thanks again for all your imput guys.

Cheers,

Christian