Carbon tube rigidity

[Madmox]

I have got a line on some hollow carbon tubing i want to use to build a body and I am looking for a genius way to give the body some additional rigidity. I have not decided what i want to fill the void with whether it is wood rod or maybe resin and inserting a UHMW enclosed track. I was thinking maybe stainless T-Bar? Anyone have any ideas/ input?

Mox

 

[Madmox]

Ok new idea.... I know that some hockey sticks are braided carbon fiber. I think i have a broken one around what if that space was filled with aluminum or fiberglass honeycomb to add to the structural integrity then filled with Resin.

 

[Madmox]

With the tube i think the name of the game would be to sleeve it with an aluminum tube. though i still haven't figured out how to incorporate an enclosed track if that is even realistic.

 

[foxfish]

You have lost me a little bit with this one - why dont you buy a carbon tube that is strong enough in the first place?

 

[jtkwest]

????????????yeah, fox, thats what i was gonna say?????????
madmox: if you have a carbon fiber tube, there is no need to reinforce it, since it is around 50 times stronger than it needs to be already. if you fill it with stuff, it will become too heavy. have you ever built a gun before?

 

[Madmox]

Ok what i have found is a box of carbon fiber kayak paddle shafts. I need to go in and look at them again but as i recall they are about an inch and a quarter in diameter but i need to check the thickness again. I am making the assumption that they are not as thick as what i would feel comfortable putting under that amount of pressure though i could be totally wrong. I am in the process of building one other laminated gun right now. I think i can get the tubes ridiculously cheap since they are at an e-waste recyclers and he just wants a lot of the stuff gone and he doesn't deal in carbon fiber. I would absolutely rather err on the side of caution from a safety standpoint and sleeving the inside of the carbon tube will add a fairly negligible bouyed weight to an already ridiculously light gun especially for the peace of mind it would add. Like i said it is still all supposition as i cant get back in to take a look at them till early next week. And to say that the carbon is 50x stronger than steel is somewhat of a over-simplification. Yes, by weight but carbon fiber doesn't weigh much. I also know that there are a few different types of carbon fiber weaves, uni-directional and the other which has greater crush strength but less rigidity.