Goodwinds is now fully stocked on some beautiful .750 inch diameter solid carbon rod. This solid carbon fiber has a lustrous finish and is perfectly straight. Strong and light (compared to, say, steel), this 3/4 inch carbon rod is ideal for reinforcing big structures. We have it listed here, and we even put a 12-inch part number online, but, as usual, you are welcome to call us and order any length of it. You will not be disappointed in this fantastic solid carbon fiber rod!
Archive for the ‘Carbon’ Category
Three Quarter Inch Solid Carbon Rod
Monday, August 9th, 2010Lazer Mic-ing Carbon Tubes
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010Some of Goodwinds’ customers require extremely straight rods and tubes for their applications. Perhaps their end products are precision tools used in physics labs or aeronautics. Perhaps a super-straight rod helps their arrows fly true or the airplane stay in balance.
Getting straight pultruded carbon tubes is no mean feat. Sure, every 48-inch length of carbon fiber tube might look straight to the naked eye, but might in fact deviate more than five hundredths of an inch over those 4 feet. That minute deviation can be critical do the structure of a design.
We have a couple of different ways of testing our carbon tubes for straightness. First, we can roll them along a straight, flat surface, like a slab of granite, and check for roll variance. Though this is low-tech, it is quite effective.
Another method is to use our lazer micrometer to measure the deviation of the tube from the center. The machine slowly spins the tube as a lazer passes over the center. A computer interface generates a graph and, with a lot of math, a precise measurement of the deviation. In this manner, we sort our tubes for straightness, setting aside those that deviate less than two hundredths of an inch over 48 inches in length.
There are inherent difficulties in created straight pultruded tubes. During the manufacturing process, the carbon fibers are oriented and drawn through a die with a binding agent (usually epoxy or vinyl ester resin). They are then pulled to a second and a third die, each time getting closer to the goal diameter. As this is done over several feet, gravity and other forces can pull the carbon fibers to one side or another of the tube, causing it to lose a small degree of straightness.
Beautifully Braided .394 Heavy Wall Carbon Tubes Now Available
Thursday, July 1st, 2010Goodwinds unearthed some beautifully braided .394″ OD heavy wall carbon tubes from our recent purchase of Avia Sport Composites. They range in length from 40 inches to 48 inches and have an inner diameter of .175″. We have about 500 pieces available at $16.99 each (but we’ll make you a deal if you want a few), so if you are interested, give us a call a 206-633-6151 or email info@goodwinds.com or order direct here.
Check out that braid!:
Paul de Bakker Joins Goodwinds Staff
Friday, June 18th, 2010Goodwinds.com welcomes Paul de Bakker to our staff! Paul has joined us as the Deputy Director of Sales, and he brings to Goodwinds his extensive knowledge of carbon and fiberglass (he has a degree in Composites Engineering!) as well as his vast experience designing, building, and flying kites.
Paul is originally from Holland, and he has lived in the United States for the past couple of years with his wife, Delita. During that time, he formed his own boutique kite company, Focus Kite Designs, with a longtime friend and fellow kiteflyer, Hunter Brown. The two design and build upscale, high-quality kites for shipment all over the world.
We at Goodwinds lured Paul and Delita away from North Carolina with the promise of hiking Washington’s beautiful mountains, kiteboarding in the fantastic Puget Sound, and participating in kite competitions, such as the Washington State International Kite Festival, in the Pacific Northwest. Paul is quite the competitor, routinely placing in both indoor and outdoor kite competitions:
We are so excited to have Paul with us at Goodwinds.com. He’s young, he’s fun, and he’s extremely knowledgeable. He will be working with a variety of industries, including hobby and RC stores, to meet their carbon and fiberglass needs. Drop us a line and say hello to Paul today!
0.098 Carbon has arrived!
Friday, March 12th, 2010Some of you might know that Goodwinds has been out of 0.098″ diameter solid carbon rod for some time – our manufacturer moved and had to set up a whole new microcarbon pultrusion machine. It’s now up and running and we have lots of 0.098. This is a great size for standoffs in kites and also has lots of applications in model airplanes. Visit our solid carbon page to order your 0.098 carbon today!
NW Model Hobby Expo a Great Success!
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010For the second year in a row, Goodwinds has displayed at the NorthWest Model Hobby Expo in Monroe, Washington. This year, the show was held over Valentine’s Day/Presidents’ Day weekend, so Leland made sure to ply the women in the office (myself and our mom) with chocolates beforehand. There were more vendors than in years past, and more attendees, too.
Model shows are a great lot of fun for us, because we get to interact with RC and hobby enthusiasts who use our carbon to build awesome machines. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be had in seeing the pleasure on a person’s face when he dreams of the things he will build with a piece of micro carbon. Just one of the many reasons we love this business!
In addition to selling as little as one piece of carbon at a time to end-users, we also supply many hobby and RC stores across the country with carbon and fiberglass rods and tubes. Micro carbon, carbon that is under about .080 inches in diameter, flexible and strong, and often used for pushrods in model planes and other applications, is one of our more popular product categories among hobby enthusiasts, and we are happy to sell it.
Let’s Talk Carbon
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009So many of our customers purchase carbon rods and tubes. They are used in kites, R/C hobbies, archery arrows, and various industrial purposes including framework for different types of projects.
But what is it, exactly? Are there different types of carbon rods and tubes? How are they made?
Carbon rods and tubes are made up of carbon fibers (mostly carbon molecules bonded together and woven or twisted to form a long fiber or fabric) that are pultruded (or pulled) through a resin that binds the fibers together (called a composite, because of the two products). The fibers are uni-directional, or all oriented in the same direction, the length of the rod or tube. This creates an especially high strength-to-weight ratio, which is what makes carbon rods and tubes popular choices for a variety of applications. The properties of carbon fiber are high tensile strength, low weight, and low thermal expansion.
The resins used on the carbon rods and tubes that Goodwinds buys are epoxy and vinylester. Vinylester resins form a chain of molecules around the carbon fibers to essentially “wrap” the rods and tubes. Epoxy, on the other hand, forms a sticky “weave” of molecules around the fibers to bind them together. The properties of the vinylester and epoxy carbon rods and tubes that Goodwinds sells are close enough that for kiting purposes, they might as well be the same. However, in many industrial purposes, the added strength of the epoxy “weave” is important. In the near future, we will be denoting the vinylester and epoxy rods and tubes as separate in our catalogue so that, should you have specific requirements, you can make an informed choice. Watch for that change soon!
Goodwinds purchases carbon rods and tubes from an American manufacturer, Diversified Structural Composites, in large quantities – we are then able to sell smaller quantities to wholesale and retail customers alike. We keep lots of carbon stock on-hand to make sure you can always get what you need, and we are able to offer attractive quantity discounts.
You might have also noticed that we offer tapered and/or wrapped carbon tubes. Tapered carbon tubes are just that – the tube changes diameters from one end to another. This is useful for archery arrows, some kites, and R/C sailboats, for example. All of the tapered tubes we sell are wrapped tubes, but not all wrapped tubes are tapered.
Wrapped carbon tubes are created by wrapping carbon fiber tape around a mandril and then binding it with epoxy or vinylester. Wrapped carbon tubes can be tapered or straight and are extremely light – the carbon wall is much thinner than that of pultruded carbon tubes and has more torsional strength. We sell two brandsof wrapped and tapered carbon: SkyShark and G-Force. Wrapped carbon tubes are used in archery arrows, kites, sailboats, and other hobby purposes.
We would love to talk to you about your carbon needs. In many cases, fiberglass rods and tubes are a lower-cost alternative to carbon, but they are heavier and more flexible. Give us a call and we’ll help you choose!
