The plan is to make an AV bay that can be opened without unwiring everything. Here is my back-of-the-napkin design. The stiffener is a good idea, if nothing else is possible.Are you gonna use it as a coupler or something else.
Maybe get two pieces and join them with a loc stiffener inside or a piece of bodytube outside?
Thanks. I forgot to look at BMS.Balsa Machining has 3" coupler listed, they might have something bigger.
Maybe a couple of thin wooden (or 3D printed) half moon rings inside the coupler to help it keep shape? In a 4" tube you should have plenty of spare diameter for reinforcement.I have been thinking about this too. I suspect that I'll need to cut two couplers. Otherwise the saw kerf will prevent the coupler from being round. But I hadn't really thought about the structural issues that this could cause. If I'm going to do this, I definitely need to design something to compensate for the lost strength.