We were attempting to reinvent the wheel. Then my wife told me about youtube!
Bringing shaft manufacturing in house is a big goal for us because of the savings we could realize. Actually there are many more reasons. The fact that we would not have to wait on delivery of ordered shafts and the ability to go with specific colors are two big ones.
So I was trying various methods I thought up to spin shafts of glass on a mandrel. The removal of the tube is the problem to be overcome. I tried two things. One was pva on the mandril and air pressure to remove the part. The other involved wax! Crazy.
Christabelle found this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3wtcNTd9wg
It appears he is making tubes for model rocketry. Very cool.
We applied his method yesterday and immediately produced a great sample with three different glass schedules.
We had no mylar on hand and to keep cost down we were going to need to find a less expensive substitute. Tyvek came to mind as it has several similar qualities: Resin doesn't stick to it and it has dimensional stability. (Does not stretch).
To get even wrappings with speed and efficiency we are going to engineer a geared mandril.
That is the next step.
But the hand laid tube looks good and is very strong.
