Bow pole

Self reliance has gotten the best of me....  Upon hearing a quote from the local composite tube supplier saying " you're not gonna find anyone who will build the bow tubes for under $10K" ,  I said to my self........"Self" ...I'll build them for free. + materials.

Since Boeing decided to build it's Dreamliner out of carbon, material cost alone for the bow poles comes in at $1400. So..... if I pay myself zero dollars per hour, It makes good business since to build my own tubes. 

First step was to build a nice table that would allow me to roll the carbon onto ready made mandrels.  I built a couple of articulating "L" brackets that I could operate with a foot pedal and would allow me to handle the rolling process by myself.  I trimmed schedule 40 PVC pipe down to the  correct diameter by slicing a segment out and taping the seam back with 3M packing tape.  This allowed me to create a custom mandrel diameter for very little cost.