Composite Paddle Questions

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#1

I will be attempting to help make a carbon fiber paddle and am wondering if some of you would be able to give suggestions on how to begin.

I will only be helping with the making of the paddle blade, for the handle and shaft are already made. The blade itself is only about 1/8" thick, made of plastic, and is not symmetrical (Looks like a kayak blade).

I am wondering what your suggestions are to make a replica in Carbon. We were thinking of casting the blade in a gelatin type material, then pouring foam inside of that to make a plug I can then wrap in carbon. The other option that came to mind was to layup over top of each half and then epoxies the two halves together. I am open to suggestions or any other recommendations.

Thanks once again guys.

#2

Is this for a touring paddle or a whitewater paddle?

Adam

#3

Its for a touring paddle.

#4

Then your plan may work well. It’ll be a fair bit of work. :slight_smile:

Usually it’s cheaper to buy one then try to make one. Although, If you are keen on doing it then the project could be fun. I’ve made lots of whitewater paddles using beefy two piece press/molds. This technique would probably be too heavy for touring.

#5

One of my customers makes prepreg paddle blades in hefty aluminium moulds. (heated) but that is out of the question for a low volume run.

I would probably make a rigid top and bottom mould, laminate a paddle blade in that, and press the 2 moulds together, with some foaming epoxy in between. Or a well impregnated RTM mat. (Rovicore, Polymat). Or even a Coremat.

#6

I have been experimenting with paddle construction recently and have a all in one, shaft and two blade paddle currently at plug stage.

I think this link might be of help.

http://www.rollordrown.com/kayak/paddle.html

#7

Thanks guys, Sounds like the best bet would be to try and make a splash mold of the current paddle and then layup on that and epoxy the halves together. I agree that the easiest and most cost effective way would be to just buy one already made, but once again it is a requirement to make it ourselves as it is a project that will get graded. I plan on keeping you guys informed on how things went and if (make that a when) I have more questions.

I agree that having an aluminum mold would be ideal, however, for now it will be just a one off part and the time required to design the paddle on CAD would be a bit too time consuming for our purpose.

Thanks again for the link to the paddle; I am sure that we will be referring to that time and time again.

Thanks everyone, you have all offered great insight and help.

#8

Have a look at my Aluminum Paddle Moulds, http://www.bladerunneroutriggers.com/accessories.htm
they are the best way to go for repetition pre-preg products, but they are expensive to set up initially, I have made quick moulds the normal way taking skins off the original Blade, then backing them up with Reichhold LP to reinforce same, this is a lot cheaper for you to produce a mould for a small production run, hope this helps!.

#9

If your in an engineering program see if the school has a 3d scanner or printer that scans. Makes rapid prtotype much faster. Orrrr see if a local company will help you that has one.