Reinforcing help

Hi all,

Getting ready to place an order for some epoxy and some fiberglass. Thought I'd see about ordering some carbon fiber also for some of my more extreme projects. Mainly for fin roots and maybe some general fin reinforcement.

I am ordering from US Composites. Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of CF to get? I see all different kinds.

https://uscomposites.com/carbonpage.html

Would appreciate any tips anyone can give to this newbie's foray into CF.

Thanks!
Mike Walsh

I like Soller Composites for price and the 5.7oz carbon twill.

rharshberger said:

I like Soller Composites for price and the 5.7oz carbon twill.

Click to expand...

would that be the 3k carbon 2x2 twill? They have it listed as 5.8oz. I'm not sure what would be best for my application, so that's why I'm posing the inquiry to TRF

-Mike

Mike,

3K is typically 5.7 oz, I like standard weave and twill, both are easy to work with. US Composites is a great place, but I prefer to order cloth from Ebay. There are sellers that offer 10, 12, and 14 inch widths, which I find more manageable than 50 or 60 inch wide rolls. Unless you are rolling tubes, you don't need cloth that wide for fin-to-fin layups.

Just my .02

I always used US Composites. Always had a good experience ordering, and the products are good quality.

Since you're not rolling your own tubes, I might suggest checking their discounted carbon page. https://uscomposites.com/shortroll.html

Good luck with your project.

If you’re interested in reinforcing fin roots, multiple layers of a lighter weight cloth conform better to smaller radius fillets. Some places will sell you a kit of cloth samples of different weaves and weights so you can see what you like.

I haven't mentioned these for a while, so I'll point anyone towards them that is using fiberglass cloth again. Not sure about them on CF, but I suspect just as good.


If you are making chopped fiber you just roll the cutter backwards and forwards through a pile of cloth. Works a treat!

Further details here: https://forum.ausrocketry.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=5383&p=62657

The larger one works on CF pretty well though I am not sure of blade life yet.