Power Kite Forum

spars question

arkay - 12-5-2010 at 11:58 AM

Someone is shipping me a kite and they have single piece carbon spars which are "too long to ship". Let's work under that assumption. Say for example, the spars were cut in half. Could they just be joined back together with a tent pole joint and would they be more prone to break?

Any other options other than ordering new spars?

dylanj423 - 12-5-2010 at 12:06 PM

make them spend the extra $ and ship them to you, or buy a set of collapsible spars from angus at coastal wind sports

no such thing as too long to ship... just too long to ship cheaply ... the extra few $ shipping is cheaper than a new set, of that i am sure

macboy - 12-5-2010 at 12:11 PM

I shipped the V16 and one piece spars to Thad - wasn't too much. We sent the spars in a long box and the kite separately.

Otherwise I'll give HUGE recommendations to save the difference in shipping and apply that to a new set from Angus - those spars are rock solid...better than factory I'd say. Those are the ones I had sent to your place.

indigo_wolf - 12-5-2010 at 02:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by macboy
new set from Angus - those spars are rock solid...better than factory I'd say.

Everytime I see those spars on CWS, I always wonder why they haven't been migrated back as PL OEM.

Insomnia allows for a lot of pointless reverie. :yes:

Just seems like the better mousetrap should have gourmet cheese. :rolleyes:

ATB,
Sam

ripsessionkites - 12-5-2010 at 08:22 PM

what kite?

any spar can be cut and pieced back together with a Ferrule. the strength doesn't change, IMO or we'd have a lot more broken sport kites.

krumly - 13-5-2010 at 09:55 AM

If it's a pultruded carbon spar and you want an internal ferrule, cutting it isn't good. The spar will probably explode at the joint under load. The pultruded spars only have longitudinal fibers and nothing to 'tie them together' like a wrapped spar. An external ferrule will help with that... but pay a few more bucks to ship them full length and the risk of breakage goes way down.

krumly

awindofchange - 13-5-2010 at 01:50 PM

Krumly is correct. Cutting a pultruded rod will weaken it severely! I would either get a collapsable set or spend the extra to have the full rods shipped.

RonH - 14-5-2010 at 08:05 PM

Cutting a pultruded spar will not kill it. You will have to use an external ferrule so the added diameter may be a problem. Or not...

If you are really worried about the strength, load the spar with a solid stick or another tube. If you do go that way, taper the ends of the internal piece to reduce the stress on the point where the two rods meet.

If a spar does break it *will* be near where it can not flex. ( at a ferrule) I am not sure if an arc will stress a spar enough to worry about breakage. If it is a sport kite, It will not matter as most have 2 piece LEs

Ron