Hi all,

I'm primarily interested in composites in relation to amateur boat-building.
I have some experience working with fiberglass and epoxy.

My current project is a dinghy mast, which will be my first experience in building with carbon fiber.
And I hope there will be many more projects down the line.

I've been reading a lot about how to determine and design for the strength of carbon fiber components.
I expect I'll be posting some questions related to this, and probably many other things down the line.

Thanks,
Nate

Hello and Welcome to the forum

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David Stevens
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Hi Nate,

Welcome to the forum, great to have you 'on board' [sorry!].

A carbon fibre mast is an ambitious first project but there are some great people on this forum who might be able to give you some help in the right direction (myself included). If you're really interested in doing the calculations and/or modelling the mast to determine fibre orientation and optimum layup then there is an amazing new free (for non-commercial use) software package from AutoDesk called Fusion 360. Paul (our technical director) has been putting it through its paces this week and it's really amazing what can be done with it (usually FEA modelling in a 3D package will cost you thousands). This type of modelling and analysis certainly isn't totally straightforward and you will need a lot of data about the cured mechanical properties of the material you're considering but it is possible, if you wanted to go down this route.

Here's a link to the package. We've also been using it to model 3D patterns and then output G-CODE for a CNC router. The idea that home users can do this for free is simply mind-boggling! Good work Autodesk!

http://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/fusion-360/overview

Best regards, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Could not agree more about Fusion360 !

I recently finished building a LinuxCNC milling machine and used to hand code gcode, but every spare moment I get now it's Fuson360 time!
Just finished making this breather cover for a hayabusa engine, I am just thinking about mould making with Fusion360 as Matt said it's mind boggling!!


Looking forward to seeing your project

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David Stevens
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Composite Projects
Body Package for Dax Rush
RC Car Touring Body 1/10 Scale