Carbon fiber pump arm

[Bloencustoms]

I was looking through the sporting goods section of Wal Mart recently, and noticed some carbon fiber arrows. They are much slimmer than the regular aluminum shafts, and the thought occurred to me that you could make a lighter pump arm for a cocker out of one of these. You would have to butcher an existing pump arm, but it might work. I was thinking you could take a titanium pump arm, and make a cut about 1/2 inch past where the bend is, and thread the half inch of overhang. Then you would epoxy the threaded end inside the carbon fiber tube. Next, you would have to extend the threading down the back end of the arm you removed in the first step. Cut this off and epoxy it inside the other end of the tube. You now have a lighter pump arm. It won't reduce the weight by much, but it might increase cycle speed on a really fast electro cocker just a bit. If you could find a way to form a carbon fiber tube into a bend, you could reduce the weight even more. This wouldn't be that much on an improvement on mini cocker bodies, because the part of the arm you are replacing would be shorter.

[JT Pimp]

The bodies of the arrow crush easy so it wouldn't hold against paintballs hitting it.

[Bloencustoms]

Next time I see one of them at the store, I'll pick it up and do some testing with paint at point blank range @ 300 FPS to see how easily they crush.

[sain]

yeah if they are hollow they wouldnt seem like they would be extremely strong, but if it works it would be an cool pump arm

[pbpi]

carbon fiber is essentially like fiberglass except stronger and lighter and a lot more expensive. for your given purpose though, i don't know if it would be worth it because of the possibility of a paintball hit and the fact that the part is going to be flying around and taking quite a bit of wear and tear, i would think that a titanium rod would probably work almost as well in the long run, if not better.... that's just my opinion

[Teamcompound]

But, would there be a great performance difference? Probably not, its not gonna be much lighter than aluminum.

[BunkeringKing]

Yea it would probably work but you would have to be careful with the carbonfiber when you are cutting it. the dust can be very harmful to your lungs and it can give some pretty nasty slivers if not handled properly. make sure you epoxy over all of the exposed threads so it doesnt flake off. if you wanted a bend in the carbon fiber you would have to have it made that way. it wont bend and stay that way. it will most likely just snap off. but sounds like a good thing for one of the company's to start produceing. they would make a good chunk of change if the price was right due to people wanting to say they have a carbon fiber pump arm. If you want some custom arms made email sales@robotcombat.com Here is a link to thier site where the carbon fiber is http://www.robotcombat.com/marketplace_carbonfiber.html

[kanNONfoda]

Carbon fiber is extemly strong i have a piece and i still hav not managed to break it with my bare hands. Aerospace material i dont think it will break:P not a chance. but i dont think it is a good idea, it wont make much diff in weight:crazy: