best carbon fiber?

[anaka]

Hi everibody

I'm at the 4th version of my custom frame for 8engines MK, until now i ever worked with aluminium saving a lot of moneys for development, i reached a good stability and now i think is time to care of weights so carbon fiber looks like the best option in terms of weight and rigidity but it's expensive so I'm wandering wich plate to chose for that, most of you build it's own CF frame with CNC so you for sure can give me the right tips and it would be useful for all the one that want to try this way.

thanks to everione in advice

 

[jes1111]

Don't know where you are in the world, but in Europe this is the best quality/price I've found: http://www.carbon-shop.eu/xtcommerce/index.php?cat=c1_Carbon-Fibre-Sheets.html - their "raw" sheets have unfinished edges which is no problem if you're going to CNC it. The matt finish is "delicious" - I much prefer it over the gloss.

 

[anaka]

hi jes

yes I'm from europe so you link is perfect
good also for the price, what abouth mechanical caracteristics? is this CF plate the same of Cinestar?!? or similar?!?!

 

[jes1111]

Never seen a Cinestar in the flesh, so couldn't say about that.

Images attached - difficult to capture the real-life look since I had to use flash and it has picked up the highlights.

I've also bought from http://www.carbon-team.de and http://www.carbonscout-shop.de/ but the tolerances and finishes from both of those was "disappointing". On the other hand, these guys only do pultruded tubes, which is not the ideal - the pulwinded tube from http://www.carbon-team.de is a better option.

 

[anaka]

i can see...great links, thank you

absolutely will go for raw plates

everione is pointing on CF tubes, why not square tubes?
they should be light the same but more handful..
what do you think about?

 

[jes1111]

Square is an easier shape to deal with (mounting blocks, motor alignment, etc.) but it's not the best shape to have in the airflow - the flat surface catches the air and produces vibration in the arm. Most square tubes are pultruded, meaning the fibres are all aligned along the length of the tube - this makes them stiff (against bending) but not against twisting (torsion) or crushing (sideways). Hence circular pulwinded tube (the fibres spiral around the tube) is probably the best choice - much more resistant to torsion and side pressure. The type of tube with a twill (woven) outer skin is really for looks only - it usually has a pultruded core with just a single woven sleeve over it. Plus the dimensional tolerance on that type tends to be very poor.

 

[anaka]

ok so round tube is the choice!

thank you very much for all your support Jes, i'll keep you informed on the next steps

 

[hobbycarbon]

www.hobbycarbon.com

 

[anaka]

nice website hobbycarbon
where are you located? USA or EU

 

[kloner]

dragon plate is a super high quality material. there cutting services are super reasonable too. they lay the weave 45 degrees to each layer. you can use thinner material for the same strength

 

[hobbycarbon]

nice website hobbycarbon
where are you located? USA or EU

Thanks anaka, we are located in Shenzhen, China.

We have received respond of our "CUT VIDEO" aout the dirty, and be suggested of water cut.

But for the composite materials, if by immersion in water, plate surface shape will be changed.......

 

[Chris Duncan]

Some of the high performance multicoptors are built with G10-F4 epoxy fiberglass because C.F. blocks radio signals.

 

[PeterLester]

You can make your own carbon fiber plate quite easily with a simple vacuum bagging system..... but best done at sea level or even lower if that is possible! Infusion methods are sometimes better but check out freemansupply.com or joing compositerocketry yahoogroup for methods for making your own tubing. There are some serious concerns about the danger of inhaling carbon fiber dust however as yet not completely proven.... could be as bad or worse than asbestos due to nanoscale issues with the carbon particles. Optimum ratio for superstrong carbon fiber plate is about 40% epoxy to 60% carbon fiber. We use twill weave a lot in High power rocketry to work around tight curves especially in the ariframe/fin areas. Carbon fiber tubes are superior to square tubes geometrically and aerodynamically and easier to remove a tube from a circular mandrel ofcourse. I would not be very concerned about radio signal attenuation using the tubes but would be slightly concerned about the proper placement of the antennas with CF plate close by. Don't forget that CF tube and plate are higly conductive so watch out for electrically shorting near the CF (same issue with aluminum ofcourse). Above applies best to custom requirements. Cheaper to buy standard materials from a quality and reliable source from China IMHO. Big CNC machines can be more accurate than the hobby CNC machines and all the setup and development will be costly to say the least.

 

[Flash-FX]

I've purchased materials from these guys http://www.sollerpaddles.com/

They offer colored fiberglass sleeving. Make your own. Check out the tech section.

 

[Bartman]

thanks for the mention Kloner that Dragonplate is reasonable for CNC cutting. I've tried a bunch of different places and they all seem to be very unreasonable.