Carbon fiber rods, tubes and strips

How-to Info for Carbon Fiber Rods, Tubes and Strips

If you're looking for information on carbon fiber rods and tubes, then you've come to the right place!






Carbon fibre, which can refer to carbon filament thread or to felt or woven cloth made from carbon filaments, is a polymer which is a form of graphite and graphite is a form of pure carbon.

In graphite molecules, the carbon atoms are arranged into large sheets of hexagonal aromatic rings which resemble chicken wire. The carbon fiber graphite sheets are long and thin, almost like ribbons and they like to pack together.

The filaments themselves are stranded into a thread and carbon fibre thread is rated by the number of filaments per thread, in thousands. Therefore, 3,000 filament carbon fiber is 3 times as strong as 1,000 carbon fiber, but is also 3 times as heavy. This thread can then be used to weave the above mentioned carbon fibre cloth.

The appearance of this cloth generally depends on the size of thread and the weave chosen. Carbon fibre is naturally a glossy black, but recently colored carbon fiber rods have become available.

The ribbons mentioned above are then combined with epoxy resins to form reinforced composites which are very light and very strong for their weight. In fact, carbon fibre composites are often used to replace metals in airplanes, tennis rackets and golf clubs!

Carbon fiber rods and tubes are made by pulling or wrapping carbon fibers and epoxy resin to a specific diameter which in turn forms a densely reinforced carbon composite.

How to Work with Carbon Fiber
Here's a handy tip: did you know that CA or "Krazy Glue" debonder (acetone) dissolves CA glues but does no damage to carbon fiber rods? This means that you can re-use old rods and tubes by soaking the part in acetone for a couple of hours and then wiping it off!

Cutting rods: use an abrasive cutoff wheel chucked in a Dremel tool or else a very fine 32 teeth-per-inch hacksaw. Do not use a band saw. However, to cut small rods up to 3mm in diameter you can also use a bicycle braided-cable cutter available from many bike stores. The V-shaped jaws prevent the ends from splintering. If you work with a lot of carbon fiber they're well worth buying.

Attaching overlapping carbon fiber rods: tack the rods together with a small DROP of medium CA, let dry then take a length of cotton thread (or Kevlar thread for super-strength) and wrap the joint several times all the way around, then soak the joint with thin CA. You'll be amazed at how strong and flexible the joint is!