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DIY bar strength?

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randycasburn
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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby randycasburn » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:17 pm

Why do center lines have to pass through a "hole in the bar"? Think U mounted to bottom of bar. Why would that not work? Plus maintains integrity (strength) of tube without the need for hole.

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby Jyoder » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:35 pm

Like many things in kiting, lighter weight gear is usually better, but is this really true with the control bar? Anyone have experience comparing heavy vs light bars and have an opinion? Now that I think about it, I do really like the feel of my tiny ultra light no frills Flysurfer Peak 1 bar for landboarding. I also am not a fan of the large bar ends and floats that are currently in fashion.

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby kitexpert » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:58 pm

Center line does not have to go through the center, but if it doesn't bar will look/feel a bit clumsier. In the old times we used to have diy bars like that and some brands also.

If carbon tube is used two possibilities for through the center depowerline are: 1) separate part which is strong enough to have a hole, joints by having it inside of tube ends 2)plug inside of tube to strenghten the center for a hole. Even strong wood is possible, having lot of superglue/laminating epoxy to glue it in its place and to seal it from water. Bar end plugs can also be wood, again soaked with epoxy or superglue to make it resistant to water. Cutting L-shaped ends from marine plywood makes it possible to have usual type ends for the lines.

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby edt » Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:14 pm

randycasburn wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:17 pm
Why do center lines have to pass through a "hole in the bar"? Think U mounted to bottom of bar. Why would that not work? Plus maintains integrity (strength) of tube without the need for hole.
they used to make control bars this way and I've used one before, but if you have used them you'll find they are just not as nice. It's easier to get your finger trapped against the bar, also easier to have a chicken line wrap around the bar and get a powered death loop because all you have preventing the bar from twisting around on itself is a little steel o-ring.

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby randycasburn » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:55 pm

edt wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:14 pm
they used to make control bars this way and I've used one before, but if you have used them you'll find they are just not as nice. It's easier to get your finger trapped against the bar, also easier to have a chicken line wrap around the bar and get a powered death loop because all you have preventing the bar from twisting around on itself is a little steel o-ring.
Ah - makes perfect sense. thanks for sharing your experience.

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby Peter_Frank » Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:07 pm

But some of these bars without a center hole, got a soft big hole outside the bar - using such a thing like this or similar:

Image

Above would require some holes in the bar for the screws though, but something close to this without would be perfect, you get the point ?

Works just fine, but somehow it mentally feels a bit odd :wink:

8) Peter

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby evan » Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:14 pm

Jyoder wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:35 pm
Like many things in kiting, lighter weight gear is usually better, but is this really true with the control bar? Anyone have experience comparing heavy vs light bars and have an opinion? Now that I think about it, I do really like the feel of my tiny ultra light no frills Flysurfer Peak 1 bar for landboarding. I also am not a fan of the large bar ends and floats that are currently in fashion.
Difference is huge between the standard aluminium bars and carbon racebars, every other bar feels really clumsy now that I am used to ultra light bars.
You can make faster adjustments without straining your wrists in unwanted ways, big 60cm+ bars feel a lot smaller and unspinning your lines after a loop lets the bar automatically stop when the lines are untwisted instead of over rotating when given too much momentum. Overall a much more precise and direct experience.

And don't underestimate the strength of those carbon tubes, here I stopped at 170kg because I was convinced my center-hole construction was strong enough for me at the time, the bar even flexed totally back and was useable again. Will do a fully destructive test on the production run!
carbon bar.jpg
carbon bar 2.jpg


About the strength for foiling: any bar that fully supports 2x your weight should be more then enough. When building a bar, try to design it so that when it fails it does so at the centerhole. When failing at the part where you put your hands there is much more chance of injury. Like this nasty Naish-bar failure (note the glassfiber, instead of carbon they fit visable next to the centerhole :lol: )

naish snap.jpg

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Re: DIY bar strength?

Postby fluidity » Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:46 pm

I used this crowd before for sleeving: http://www.sollercomposites.com/ (they do some nice carbon/kevlar etc weave patterns in different colours)
I'd probably carve the bar out of Paulonia but replace the centre section with about 80mm of hardwood each side of the hole and put a Teflon block in the middle of that, shaped to pierce through the woven sleeving without cutting a hole in the the sleeve. Use some broomstick stubs glued at the ends to reinforce the back line holes. Go for about 4 or 5 layers of sleeving. Buy some heat shrink tubing from an electrical supplier or hobbyking.com and after wetting the fibre sleeves heatshrink them tight to the bar.


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