Choose
from 4 stock offerings plus custom!
Uni-Directional Here
are a few close-up pictures of our small tubing in different lighting
conditions.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Sanded Smooth Uni-directional
Fabric
Sanded
Smooth Fabric
NEED
A SAMPLE?
We
listened to what our customers wanted and this is our
response. In our sample pack you will get four sections
of carbon tubing between sized from .500" ID and
1.00" ID and at least three inches long. Each section
has a different outlook so that you can make an informed
decision with regard to the visual appearance of our tubes
before buying a full length tube. The 4 outlooks are uni-cello,
uni-sanded, fabric cello, and fabric sanded. No guarantees
are made with regard to sizing other than each tube will
be sized within a range of .500" ID and 1.00"
ID. If you email us before you order we may be able to
make sizing substitutions depending on our current stock
of remnants. We do not cut down full length tubes to provide
samples but we make every effort to accommodate our customers.
Please note we DO NOT offer free samples of our tubing
due to the high cost of the materials involved and the
number of requests we receive for samples. When it comes
to most projects $18 ($28 for international orders) is a small price to pay
to make the right decision.
Now
you can create tubes longer than 60"! Our new inner ferrule tubes
are designed to splice our most popular small and medium tubes together
to give you any length you desire. Each ferrule has been sanded to
provide a .005-.006" bond gap which is ideal for many structural
adhesives. For instance our .490" OD ferrule is sized to fit
inside our .500" ID stock tube. Our ferrules save you the cost
of buying a full length tube to connect two larger tubes. In the image
below you will notice our ferrules look different from our other tubes.
On the very last ply in the tube layup we add a prepreg fiberglass
veil which offers a few benefits. One reason we added the fiberglass
veil is to provide some shock absorption to the joint. Fiberglass
isn't quite as stiff as carbon so it does this job very well. Another
benefit in some applications is the ability for fiberglass to insulate
a joint when bonding carbon to metal. If you cannot insulate the joint
galvanic corrosion may become an issue. For a "how-to" guide
on bonding tubes please see our cut
and bond page.
*Ferrule pricing includes First Class Mail Shipping*
OD inches
ID inches
WALL inches
LENGTH inches
WEIGHT lbs
/ ft.
PRODUCT
ID/DESCRIPTION
PRICE
BUY
NOW
1.240"
1.125"
.058"
6"
.143
LG124FER
\ Roll Wrapped Uni with Fiberglass Veil
$20.97
1.365"
1.250"
.058"
6"
.158
LG136FER
\ Roll Wrapped Uni with Fiberglass Veil
$22.21
1.490"
1.375"
.058"
8"
.173
LG149FER
\ Roll Wrapped Uni with Fiberglass Veil
$33.04
Sanded
Smooth Uni-Directional EMAIL
FOR VOLUME PRICING Please
specify OD tolerance needed when ordering
Sanded tubes typically end up about .008" smaller than the OD shown
below
Sanded tubes are machined to order and take 2-3 days to ship
Sanded
Smooth FabricEMAIL
FOR VOLUME PRICING Please
specify OD tolerance needed when ordering
Sanded tubes typically end up about .008" smaller than the OD shown
below
Sanded tubes are machined to order and take 2-3 days to ship
OD
inches
ID
inches
WALL
inches
LENGTH
inches
WEIGHT
lbs
/ ft.
PRODUCT
ID/DESCRIPTION
PRICE
BUY
NOW
1.370"
1.250"
.060"
60"
.165
LG1360FSS
\ Roll Wrapped Sanded Smooth Fabric
$166.37
1.370"
1.250"
.060"
72"
.165
LG1372FSS
\ Roll Wrapped Sanded Smooth Fabric
$181.41
1.494"
1.250"
.122"
72"
.353
LG1472TWFSS
\ Roll Wrapped Sanded Smooth Fabric -Thick Wall -
$317.85
1.495"
1.375"
.060"
60"
.181
LG1460FSS
\ Roll Wrapped Sanded Smooth Fabric
$180.69
1.495"
1.375"
.060"
72"
.181
LG1472FSS
\ Roll Wrapped Sanded Smooth Fabric
$197.16
1.619"
1.375"
.122"
72"
.385
LG1672TWFSS
\ Roll Wrapped Sanded Smooth Fabric -Thick Wall -
*We can sand tubes larger than 2.120" OD. Please ask for pricing.
Our tube Q&A is designed to help answer
specific questions about our small carbon fiber tubing
What tolerances can I expect from your tubing? Our tubing is manufactured using precision ground
mandrels and closely monitored material quality. Our goal is to
provide our customers with very high quality tubing balanced with
reasonable pricing. All of our small tubing is sold "as molded"
and the only machining that is performed on the tubing is cutting
to length. A qualified machine shop may be able to help you tighten
up your tolerances if needed. We do not sand the outer diameter
on all of our tubes because that adds additional cost to the tubing.
Not all of our customers require sanding and those that do will
want a specific tolerance anyway. Please don't hesitate to email
us with any questions about tolerances sales@carbonfibertubeshop.com
-As
molded tubing tolerances-
TUBE
OD
TUBE
ID
LENGTH
+/-
.008"
+.002/-.000"
+/-
.0625
OD tolerance applies to as molded tubing. If your
tube is a sanded smooth fabric tube the OD tolerance is +/-.005".
We sand to a look first and then a dimension on sanded fabric
tubing so the OD is usually about .008" smaller than the
diameter listed in the ordering charts above. Over sanding a fabric
tube will cause the pattern to degrade and under sanding will
leave cello lines on the tube so possible tolerances aren't as
tight as you might find with our sanded uni tubes. Sanded uni
tubes will end up about .008" smaller on the OD than what
is listed in the ordering charts above. We can hit a tolerance
of +/- .002" on a uni sanded tube.
What texture can I expect on the inner and outer diameter? As you can see in the photos the outer diameter has a slight
texture from the manufacturing process. After each tube is laid
onto the mandrel and compacted it undergoes a winding process
where a proprietary cellophane wrap is carefully wound at a specific
pressure around the diameter of the tube. This step is really
the key to producing a high quality composite tube. Once the tube
is wound it goes into a high temperature oven for curing. As the
mandrel is heated it expands slightly while the cellophane is
contracted. This provides super compaction pressure to the layup
and once cured the cellophane is removed. After the cellophane
is removed it leaves a slight stepped texture in the epoxy resin.
This imprint is only about .003"-.004" thick and can
be removed easily with an additional machining process or even
sandpaper if cosmetics are more important. See more about this
on our cut
& bond page. The inside of our tubing is very
smooth because the mandrels used to cure our tubes are machined
to a tolerance of +.002" / -.0.00".
What layup is used in these tubes and how strong are
they?
All of our small tubes are laid up with most of the layers/fibers
running axially down the length of the tube. This means that our
tubes will display most of their stiffness in bending. All of
our small tubes are laid up using uni-directional carbon fiber
prepreg. With uni-directional carbon fiber you can design in stiffness
exactly where you want it. Using a woven carbon fabric isn't an
option when you're designing a tube with the best mechanical properties
(stiffness/weight ratio). A major benefit to using composites
tubing versus metal tubing is not only the weight savings but
the ability to design stiffness where you want it as apposed to
a metal tube where the only thing you can do is add wall thickness
and weight. Most of our small tubes feature a layer of prepreg
glass at both ends which offers some torsional (twisting) stiffness.
Many carbon fiber tubes on the market are pultruded. Pultruded
tubes are much less expensive and there is a reason for that.
The mandrel and the carbon filaments are pulled through a machine
and cured at the same time. The downside is that you get very
little torsional value from a classic pultruded tube since all
of the fibers run in one direction. In real world situations this
can be a detriment because with the slightest twist under loading
can split the tube. Also pultruded tubes are typically heavier
(more resin rich) which degrades the stiffness. More fiber and
less resin is always best. All of our tubes are roll wrapped to
avoid these problems. Like the old saying goes "you get what
you pay for". It is important to note that we refer to classic
pultruding in the above text. With a pultrusion process called
pull-winding it is possible to include a non axial fiber orientation
around the diameter of the tube. Pull winding is an automated
process that runs continuously and reduces the per unit cost but
also has high start up costs compared to roll wrapped tubing.
Pull wound tubing is not generally available off the shelf but
instead is typically used in proprietary products.
We do not offer specific load ratings for our tubes for several
reasons. The first reason is because there are so many ways to
load a tube that any loading data we distributed would not be
useful. We offer basic information on our material
properties page to calculate how a given tube might
perform under your loading scenario. The next reason is legal
liability. Some applications may involve threat to life and limb.
Since we cannot control how our tubes are used and what safety
factors are held to for a given application we do not quote any
load ratings for our tubing.