Maybe an alternate source for carbon rods...

I have a FolgerTech Kossell revB and am going to try docpayce's magnetic rod conversion (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1540203)

Looking to source parts for this, I had the bright idea of using carbon-fiber arrow shafts as a source for the carbon rods. Searching eBay I found quite a few at varying diameters. I chose a set of three 30" arrows with 7mm outer dia (and 5mm inner) for under $10 shipped (China). After 'topping and tailing' there's about 72cm of useable rod per arrow, so you could get up to 2 full rod sets out of these if using shorter rods, or easily one full set for up to 35cm rods.

There are many other arrows out there at differing lengths and diameters (and prices!) to choose from. You can order online, or at sporting goods stores (even Walmart in season) .They come in both "mixed" (carbon+fiberglass), "carbon" and plain fiberglass construction, so pay attention to that when buying/ordering.

Just putting this out there as an idea for those interested. (I did a search and this didn't show up, but apologies if this is 'parallel invention' )

Be careful with arrow shafts there are MANY different flavors, at the cheapest end you do get simple parallel aluminium/fibreglass/carbon shafts, but as you go up in sophistication you get features like aluminium cores, barreled ODs and tapered cores

Arrows are generally sold by length and stiffness, and there is a complex relationship between these factors and the power of the bow, ultimately, stiffness tends to boil down to construction and OD/ID measurements

3 arrows for $10, is EXTREMELY cheap, when I was doing competitive archery, I was paying about $40 PER ARROW without points or fletchings.

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

What do the arrows weigh? It seems to me that a 2mm wall thickness is overkill, and maybe increases weight unnecessarily, and therefore reduces print quality?

For comparison,
[www.aliexpress.com] has 4pcs of 6mm OD x 4mm ID x 500mm for US$14 plus shipping.
[www.aliexpress.com] has 3pcs of 7mm OD x 6mm ID x 500mm for US$27 plus shipping
[www.aliexpress.com] 3arrows 7.8mm OD x 6.22mm ID x 800mm for US$7.34 incl shipping

It may be that cheaper arrows have thinner walls (which may be better for us?) or have failed some kind of archery criterion (weight distribution, straightness) which we don't care about?

Quote
frankvdh
What do the arrows weigh? It seems to me that a 2mm wall thickness is overkill, and maybe increases weight unnecessarily, and therefore reduces print quality?

2mm wall thickness would be overkill but OD 7mm and ID 5mm is only 1mm wall thickness

the actual weight of arrows is the other part of the complex relationship between length stiffnesss and bow power, reducing weight is important, without compromising stiffness

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

Quote
bgkdavis
2mm wall thickness would be overkill but OD 7mm and ID 5mm is only 1mm wall thickness

Doh!

I've used rcfoam.com lots of times. That could be because I was living 5 minutes away from their warehouse in Colorado Springs at one time.
If they are out of stock of an exact tube you want, call them up and ask them about it. Sometimes their website doesn't match the warehouse. If it is truly out, they can at least tell you when it will be in stock next.

[www.rcfoam.com]

You can see them on my BazBot: [www.youtube.com]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2016 10:07AM by MrBaz.