marvinwus Posted November 14, 2008 Posted November 14, 2008 What are other CS17 builders using for their masts? I cannot find the 2.5" x .083" tubing specified by the plans. Marvin Newberg, OR Quote
Docpal Posted January 29, 2009 Posted January 29, 2009 I had Online Metals ship me 2 sections of .125" by 8', and 2 sections of .0625" by 8' ,as well as one section of .125" by 3' a few weeks ago. Very reasonable I thought when you consider they were shipped from Seattle to New Jersey ! The (5) tubes were $328, and shipping was just about $35 ! I got the 3 foot piece so I could do some "testing"and main mast placement alignment a lot easier while the hull is still in the garage. I'll also use it to wrap some cloth around and made the "receiving tube" for the main mast. Thinking about saturating this layup with graphite in the epoxy/cloth as well... The trick was trying to get the "upper" sections to fit into the "lower" sections. I saw the drill rig which is pictured on the CD that came with the plans, but I wanted a round mandrel, and being Winter my lathe is buried under various types of debris so I came up with the following: Just took an empty caulking cartridge (that was in the upper debris layers), ran a carriage bolt through it and epoxied it all in place. A caulking cartridge is very close in diameter to the internal diameter of the .125"mast section so all I had to do was wrap some emery paper around the mandrel until it was barely able to fit inside. Then I turned on the drill, squirted in some cutting fluid, and had at it...Tried different grits of emery paper, but it was finally 60 grit sandpaper that made the fastest progress. I then used the same mandrel, wrapped an old sock around it with metal cleaner/degreaser and got the remnants of the cutting fluid/aluminum slag out of the tube, and then I was easily able to slide the upper section the full recommended 9" into the lower section with a nice thick coating of epoxy lathered on both sections. I used a "V" file and scored the upper section many times to get some extra "tooth". Now I'm thinking about the upper section. What has worked best for most people, wood,carbon fiber layup,all glass, etc.? Quote
Rod Thompson Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 Cool idea. That step is coming up for me and I've been wondering. Bought my tubes from the same source at the same thicknesses. Appears that you stapled the paper to the mandrel. I wonder if that "spray on glue" would work well? How much sanding did you have to do with the 60 grit? I plan on using spruce or fir for the top section. Quote
Docpal Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 It took more time than I thought it would since I was really trying to keep the inside diameter as close to round as I could. I'd say between 60-90 minutes for both tubes.One nice thing about the cartridges is that they are close to 9" long. Cutting fluid helps take off material but it really loads up the paper faster. Do your self a LARGE favor and make some sort of "measuring gauge" so you'll know when you have reached the proper diameter. I originally tried to fit the upper section of the mast inside and it got stuck about 3 inches inside the tube so I had to hammer it off ! I found the bottom of a plastic container that was the right diameter and nailed it to the end of a stick so I could be SURE the upper was going to penetrate the full 9" the next time I tried it... Quote
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