Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Carbon Tow

Here you can exchange your experience and datas about your home build boards
User avatar
downunder
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2811
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:16 am
Gear: building my own
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Perth, Australia
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 160 times

Carbon Tow

Postby downunder » Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:42 am

So today tried to purchase Carbon Tow from http://easycomposites.co.uk:

http://easycomposites.co.uk/#!/fabric-a ... -15mm.html

Paid for it, did not notice shipment message since ordered the same item before, and BANG:

"Thanks for your email and for your order. Unfortunately, I have bad news that your order requires a full export license and therefore, we are unable to ship this to you, as such, I am sorry to inform you that I have had to cancel the order and to refund you accordingly onto your payment card. The reason for this is that the Carbon Ribbon is classified as a Mono-Filament Carbon Fibre and needs export licensing when sold outside of the European Union – unfortunately there is no way around this situation.

We are currently working with Spire, the UK’s Export License Authority to find a solution to allow us to ship to certain countries including Australia but until this approved, I’m afraid we’re unable to.

I apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience and will arrange for the order to be refunded immediately."


The EU has gone mad...Yep. we Australians are punished for living where we live, yet more and more EU citizens are moving here. Thanks to the EU bureaucrats!

Rant over...

User avatar
decay
Frequent Poster
Posts: 461
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2002 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Local Beach: Muizenburg, Cape Town
Favorite Beaches: Ruakaka River Mouth
Style: ALL
Gear: Stuff I design
Brand Affiliation: Lacuna CTO
Location: Muizenburg, Cape Town
Has thanked: 65 times
Been thanked: 146 times
Contact:

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby decay » Wed Aug 30, 2017 12:46 pm

The problem is carbon tow is a vital part of any modern aerospace development - including serious things like Nth Korea's missile program. (Missile bodies are usually filament wound carbon tow)

Tho I could get plain tow when I worked in a factory in China we ran into this exact same problem in trying to source/purchase pre-preg carbon tow from the USA.

You can run into the same problem trying to source a 3 phase motor drive that goes past 400Hz to run say, a high speed CNC router spindle. 600 to 1200Hz is what is required for Uranium enrichment centrifuges and suitable motor drives are considered restricted exports by most western countries.

You should be able to find a source of dry tow in Aus tho?

Cheers

DK

User avatar
downunder
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2811
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:16 am
Gear: building my own
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Perth, Australia
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 160 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby downunder » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:14 pm

Yeah,
but the legislation is punishing only small customers, coz of this:

"For orders over £500 the export licence application process is free however we will need your cooperation in completing the licence application which will include an End User Undertaking (EEU) explaining who you are and how the goods will be used.
The licence application process takes around 30 days."

It's not like we in OZ would build something to launch on Bali :)

Nah, we are so small and insignificant market I can't even buy an Entropy epoxy here. Isolation is sometimes a bless and a nitemare :)

D.

Mossy 757
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1860
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:10 pm
Local Beach: First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Style: Kitefoil
Gear: Delta Hydrofoil and board. Cabrinha Velocity 9m, Flysurfer Sonic2 11m, Ozone R1V2 15m
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby Mossy 757 » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:35 pm

downunder wrote:
Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:14 pm
Yeah,
but the legislation is punishing only small customers, coz of this:

"For orders over £500 the export licence application process is free however we will need your cooperation in completing the licence application which will include an End User Undertaking (EEU) explaining who you are and how the goods will be used.
The licence application process takes around 30 days."

It's not like we in OZ would build something to launch on Bali :)

Nah, we are so small and insignificant market I can't even buy an Entropy epoxy here. Isolation is sometimes a bless and a nitemare :)

D.
AUS and NZ are the high performance sailing hub of the world and you're having a hard time sourcing maritime composites?

User avatar
downunder
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2811
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:16 am
Gear: building my own
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Perth, Australia
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 160 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby downunder » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:56 pm

Well, yes. Small quantities as a hens teeth apparently :)

There is no manufacturing of any carbon in AUS as I understand. And we do not have one single nuclear reactor on the continent (since they worry I might built one with 50m of carbon tow :)

Apparently, we are the biggest exporters of uranium. And no use of it. Amasing.

User avatar
decay
Frequent Poster
Posts: 461
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2002 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Local Beach: Muizenburg, Cape Town
Favorite Beaches: Ruakaka River Mouth
Style: ALL
Gear: Stuff I design
Brand Affiliation: Lacuna CTO
Location: Muizenburg, Cape Town
Has thanked: 65 times
Been thanked: 146 times
Contact:

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby decay » Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:15 pm

Doesn't look that hard to find locally:

http://www.carbonfiber.com.au/category9_1.htm

60m of 12K for AUD$20

User avatar
downunder
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2811
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:16 am
Gear: building my own
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Perth, Australia
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 160 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby downunder » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:09 am

Thanks, but that is not the same product....

Im after this:
Image

Huge difference :)

I would have a hard time to wrap the HF fuselage with a tiny tow :)

jannik
Medium Poster
Posts: 148
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:39 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Denmark
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 20 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby jannik » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:54 am

If you search on Aliexpress you will find a seller which has 12K 28mm*10m. rolls for $30 + shipping. I don't know if that will do it for you?

User avatar
fluidity
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 657
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2016 11:20 pm
Kiting since: 2015
Weight: 115kg
Local Beach: Ngati Toa, Plimmerton, Titahi Bay, Waikanae, Petone, Seatoun, Lyall Bay, Eastbourne, Lake Wairarapa
Favorite Beaches: Plimmerton
Style: Wave, jump
Gear: Transitioned from Kiting to Wingsurfing late 2019. Building my own foils from my CAD designs and 3D prints, CNC machine.
Brand Affiliation: Designer of hydrofoils and many other things.
Location: Porirua New Zealand
Has thanked: 46 times
Been thanked: 91 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby fluidity » Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:58 pm

These guys sell it: http://www.sollercomposites.com/composi ... fiberglass
I've bought braid from them before, they export to NZ so should to Australia too.

TomW
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 3585
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:43 pm
Kiting since: 2001
Local Beach: Vejbystrand, Lomma
Gear: TW Surfboards hydrofoil board 110
Gong Veloce M, 100cm carbon mast
Ozone Hyperlink V1 7m
Hyperlink V2 9m, 13m
Concept Air Wave 4,5m
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Sweden
Has thanked: 53 times
Been thanked: 193 times

Re: Carbon Tow

Postby TomW » Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:07 pm

Have you considered buying the 1m wide UniD at 100g and slicing off stripes? Will that get past?
It's easy to cut with a razor blade. Much cheaper too.


Return to “Gear Builders”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 56 guests