|
Gary,
it was difficult, being the first one I had made, and it was done with an "expert" mate who had done some fibreglassing before. In simple terms it was a matter of building a suitable former to wrap the resin and fabric around. A layer of foodwrap film to allow separation once the resin had set, and then layer of resin, layer of matting. The matting we started with was Kevlar, but it wasn't stiff and hard, but more slightly flexible, so another layer was added, this one being C/F.
In the end I slipped a thin layer of fibreglass on the inside ends, where the most stress was going to occur, to stiffen it further.
Once set I made tube baffles from old formica laminate, and glued these in place. They were mainly to provide contrast etc, but I knew they would also add more stiffness. There are about 10 of them, plus a swag opposite the focuser.
Work? Yep, I am happy with it, and previously the tube (sono-tube) complete weighed in at about 14 plus kilos. Now it is about 10 and a bit.
|