9" tubing

Does anyone know where 9.0" OD airframe-suitable tubing can be acquired? Need 12 feet or so.

Ken at Performance Hobbies has 9.25" tubes, if that works.

I don't know if they do custom work, but https://www.carolinacompositerocketry.com/ might be able to help you out.

That said, the "off the shelf" 6" x 4 feet tubing is $400, so 12 feet of 9 inch tubing would not be cheap.
You might try Tim at Wildman - he sells up to 8" fiberglass and might be able to get something bigger...again, not cheap...

Also- whatever you're thinking of, there better be a build thread. 12 feet of 9 inch tubing would be ...massive.



blackbrandt said:

Ken at Performance Hobbies has 9.25" tubes, if that works.

Click to expand...

I used them for my 98 Deuce - pretty soft, glassing required. Ken also had a nose cone, couplers, and centering rings.

Rocketjunkie said:

I used them for my 98 Deuce - pretty soft, glassing required. Ken also had a nose cone, couplers, and centering rings.

Click to expand...

Were they heavy? What is the ID?

DeeRoc29 said:

Were they heavy? What is the ID?

Click to expand...

I never measured the ID, but the wall is about 3/16". Weight is about what you would expect for a paper tube this size. Of course, glassing adds weight. I used 3 layers of 7 oz.

Rocketjunkie said:

I used them for my 98 Deuce - pretty soft, glassing required. Ken also had a nose cone, couplers, and centering rings.

Click to expand...

If its soft anyway....just throwin' this out there......but how about Sonotube or similar? I have seen a few bigger projects use that. I know, there are a lot of opinions on that both for and against. I was planning a big build and was going to use it.

The tubes from Performance Hobbies are what we used on the Our Children's Future build... pad weight ended up around 110 pounds for 17 feet of rocket.

We considered sono tube but that just soaks up epoxy like nobody's business.

Yes sono tube or check out Yazoo mills

McCordmw(? Spell) seems to have gotten good results by using adhesion promoter on the sonotube to .... well...Promote adhesion , and reduce epoxy absorbtion.

Doesn't anybody soak the sonotube out anymore? We glassed some and threw them in my buddy's pool to let them soggify. Totally rank amateur attempt using jigsaws, routers and glassed foam parts. It flew. 20-25 years ago.

fyrwrxz said:

Doesn't anybody soak the sonotube out anymore? We glassed some and threw them in my buddy's pool to let them soggify. Totally rank amateur attempt using jigsaws, routers and glassed foam parts. It flew. 20-25 years ago.

Click to expand...

If you were going to do that would it make sense to wrap the sonotube in mylar first? It would come out a lot cleaner after soggification, I would think.

Sorry-yeah we just used them for mandrels of sorts. We used parchment paper. And crappy surfboard epoxy!

Ken has those tubes made in large quantities so he can sell them to you cheaper than if you order 2 6' sections yourself from a manufacturer. I did my Patriot with them, I had 1 layer of glass put on them 10 years ago and I wrapped them with 1 layer of drain sleeve sock. Turned out great. A lot cheaper than G12 tubing.
He carries thick-walled couplers, too.

You can't beat the price on the 9" nose cones, either. I used 1/2 birch 9-ply for my fins, best way to do a large rocket.