Quote Originally Posted by D.C. View Post
You are right, I stumbled across that while trying to find papers on the use of honeycombs or CF, there seems to be remarkably little available to be honest I was more taking away the general principle of 'honeycombs good if used correctly' rather than the specific application they refer to.



CF is brittle and really sucks for friction that's true, but every material has it's limitations hence why we don't use rubber for roof suporting girders. That said, it is a bit worrying that nobody else is doing it, I don't know if it's because it is a really stupid idea or because I'm a genius and smarter than an entire industry full of inteligent professionals. ( I vote for it probably being a stupid idea!)

Hmmmmm.

I think maybe the best thing to do would be to design 2 gantrys, if I can get the cost difference down to £50-£100 I might take a punt just to see what happens. I was orignally intending to epoxy the surface fittings on but if I bolt through the structure instead if it all goes horribly wrong I should be able to fix it by adding a couple of thick reinforcing sheets. ( I'll engrave one with 'JAZZ WAS RIGHT!' if I do just to remind me what to do with my next good idea.)
Hi DC
Welcome to the forum
I am really glad you raised this question, I have thought that a CF Gantry had to be more ridgid than all the ally extrusion, when i was @ the Model Engineering exhibition a couple of year ago there was a turbine driven photo graphic aerial platform (Heli Movie Camera thingy) and its space frame was made from 8mm thick CF composite plates.
I can see no logical reason why an exreemly ridgid gantry cannot be constructed using a mould and the vacuum infusion technique.
I made an item just using fibreglass and @ 12mm thick it was both ridgid and had substantial mass.
If i ever get round to building i would certainly give it a try.
Good Luck