Carbon tapes for tabbing?

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by henrikb, Apr 7, 2005.

  1. henrikb
    Joined: Jul 2002
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    henrikb Senior Member

    When tabbing bulkheads (carbon in both hull and bulkheads), do you use woven tapes of 0-90 or +-45 style?
    The +-45 would be preferable, but seems really hard to find in width less than 3 inch? To be able to get around curved areas, I am planning to put one (depending on tape weight) layer of tape from each side, with overlap in the fillet area.
    What is the common solution to this?
     
  2. War Whoop
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    War Whoop Senior Member

    A 0-90 would be a poor choice for any bonding reason is only half the filament cross over the joint if you can not find tape then cut the tabbing from a roll of +-45s or at a bias from a roll of 0-90
     
  3. henrikb
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    henrikb Senior Member

    As mentioned, thats why I want the +-45 :)
    Cutting diagonals from the 380g twill is not easy, really hard to keep it together, I am quite sure that it is not the way the pro's does it?
     
  4. yokebutt
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    yokebutt Boatbuilder

    Henrik,
    One trick that can work in certain circumstances is to wet the fabric on a strip of plastic film or some other suitable substrate, then gently peeling the plastic off after you've positioned the reinforcement. You can also wet a larger chunk of fabric on top of plastic and then cut your tapes. I would caution against leaving the edge of the tabbing in the radius, its better to run it across the joint.

    Lycka till,
    Jocke-butt.
     
  5. War Whoop
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    War Whoop Senior Member

    Henri ;What are you using to cut it shears ?? If you want a straight cut use an electric cutter..Like the garmet industry uses I have two one a round knife the other a straight knife..
     
  6. Herman
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    Herman Senior Member

    Use knitted reinforcement, not woven. The stitching in knitted stuff keeps it together quite well. at least enough to position it and wet it out.
     
  7. John ilett
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    John ilett Senior Member

    I use a narrow glass tape on my dinghies. It is a 0-90 tape but with the majority of the fibre across the roll.

    45 deg tapes are nice if you can get it. Buy a whole roll of stiched double bias and have it cut to your preffered width.
     

  8. henrikb
    Joined: Jul 2002
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    henrikb Senior Member

    Thanks for all ideas!
    Tried Yokebutts metod this weekend, worked really nice! Wetted out a large chunk on a piece of plastic, then cut the carbon diagonally together with the plastic. Really easy to fit even in curved areas!
    We have a 90kg roll of 0-90, so buying another roll just for tabbing is not an option....
     
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