Carbon Tubing with infusion?

Hi,

I am planning on making some carbon tubing and because I find it tricky/messy wetting out around a tube I was thinking of using vaccum infusion.

I have an aluminium mandrell that I will cover in release wax
Then place the materials on dry, with a layer of peel ply on top.
I was planing to use two lengths of spiwrap, (a plastic strip wound into a spiral to make a tube) on on the top as a vaccum gallery and one on the bottom as a resin gallery.
The whole lot will then be bagged and sealed.

Hopefuly the resin will flow along the bottom gallery and then infuse into the cloth and fill up to the top.


Does this sound like a workable method?

 

I have made wet laid carbon tube where the unidirectional was wet out while flat on a board and then rolled up on to a short tube, then roll it back out onto the mandrel. This way working flat is easy and you can use a rubber squeegee also to remove as much resin as possible.

I then used the regular shrink wrapping tape and did the shrinking with a hot air gun. Looked like the real thing when done but not as light as pre preg. You could also wrap it tight with peel ply tapes.

 

I like your tube transport idea, I may give that a shot.

I have used peel ply strips wrapped tight to consolidate as well as shrink tape and both have worked well if a bit bumpy in places where the wrapping is not quite even.