Long on seniority, short on fiberglass knowledge.

[John Taylor]

Been involved in rocketry since 1968.
Just started building all Fiberglass rockets for a couple of years. I've never wrapped a paper tube.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each compared to the other?
Thank you for your time.

 

[OzHybrid]

Been involved in rocketry since 1968.
Just started building all Fiberglass rockets for a couple of years. I've never wrapped a paper tube.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each compared to the other?
Thank you for your time.

You don't need a mandrel. The cardboard tube IS the mandrel. It's just a light glass fiber finish. Strength is higher than cardboard, lower than complete fiberglass. If you glass on the outside(the usual method) you can use the normal standard couplers.

 

[tsmith1315]

A glass-wrapped paper tube doesn't compare to the strength of a glass tube - apples and coconuts. Try driving one of each into dirt with a sledgehammer to test this statement, or be unfortunate enough have one of each fail to eject and come in ballistic.

Glass-wrapped tubes are more than strong enough for average (nominal) HPR flights, glass tubes are way overkill for most HPR flights.

Glass tubes are far more durable in everyday wear and tear, and easier to finish. They sound cooler when you tap them with a screwdriver, too.

Wrapped tubes are cheaper, lighter, more of a mess, but fun if you like to cuss like a sailor and doodle around with such things.

Working with a glass tube on your kitchen table can cause fussing. Wrapping a paper tube with glass on your kitchen table has the potential to test the strength of a marriage.

 

[bad_idea]

Cardboard is easy to work with compared to fiberglass, even when wrapped. Wrapping is a PITA though. I've taken to wrapping most of my cardboard tubes going into rockets that will fly on much more than a D motor simply because the wrapped tubes are so much more durable than bare cardboard at a relatively small weight penalty.

I especially like glassed tubes when using shear plates with cardboard. It's not too hard for me to work on the exposed outer layer of a coupler when puttiing in a plate, but several times I've accidentally gone all the way through a cardboard tube when trying to lay a shear plate on the inside. It's harder to do that by accident if there's a layer of fiberglass backing up that cardboard.

I'm probably moving to fiberglass and carbon for most of my larger rockets after the next few I have partially underway, but I'll likely still use wrapped cardboard for many mid-power projects.

 

[Hobie1dog]

No question...fiberglass tubing is smoother than a baby's butt, and no messy resin, fiberglass cloth to deal with and still end up with a major pain to get smooth...NO SPIRALS.

 

[John Taylor]

You don't need a mandrel. The cardboard tube IS the mandrel. It's just a light glass fiber finish. Strength is higher than cardboard, lower than complete fiberglass. If you glass on the outside(the usual method) you can use the normal standard couplers.

Thank you