Hi,

A friend of mine gave me a very nice carbon fiber wing paddle. The only
thing is that the two blades and the shaft are not attached. They are
all finished parts and the blades have necks that can slide on top of
the shaft, as putting your hands into a pair of gloves. I have no
experience in working with paddle building. I have done some research
but still have some questions:

1. Epoxy is a high viscosity material. I am concerned the air pressure
built up inside the paddle by the time I attached the 2nd blade to the
shaft. Subsequently, the pressure inside will push the shaft out. One
idea is to drill a hole in the middle of the shaft to release the extra
air and patch it up later. Is it valid concern? Is there any other
alternatives besides of drilling the hole?

2. I am thinking using the west system epoxy, just 'cause it is
designed for the maritime usage. Any other bonding materials you would
recommend?

3. what is the best method to measure the angle between the two blades?

Appreciate for any pointers.

Cheers - Peekay

Hi, I was advised to use a heat gun (carefully) to attach the blades to
the shaft. Use some tape to mark how far the blade should be pressed
(and the anglemark) on the shaft. The air was no issue for me, I do not
think that the fitting is completly airtight. On advantage is that it is
possible to change the angle now afterwards also (by (carefully) using
a hot air blower)

Arne

skrev:
Hi,

A friend of mine gave me a very nice carbon fiber wing paddle. The only
thing is that the two blades and the shaft are not attached. They are
all finished parts and the blades have necks that can slide on top of
the shaft, as putting your hands into a pair of gloves. I have no
experience in working with paddle building. I have done some research
but still have some questions:

1. Epoxy is a high viscosity material. I am concerned the air pressure
built up inside the paddle by the time I attached the 2nd blade to the
shaft. Subsequently, the pressure inside will push the shaft out. One
idea is to drill a hole in the middle of the shaft to release the extra
air and patch it up later. Is it valid concern? Is there any other
alternatives besides of drilling the hole?

2. I am thinking using the west system epoxy, just 'cause it is
designed for the maritime usage. Any other bonding materials you would
recommend?

3. what is the best method to measure the angle between the two blades?

Appreciate for any pointers.

Cheers - Peekay

wrote:

Appreciate for any pointers.

If you mess up with epoxy, the paddle is ruined. I'd use a (relatively) high
temperature hot glue. You don't want something that will soften in the summer
sun. You might have to look around to find something a bit better than craft
store hot glue.

You can use heat to set the paddle blade position and if it isn't right, you can
use heat to change it. Once cool, the glue should hold fine - there's likely a
lot of surface area to hold.

Hot glue is used to hold baskets on carbon fiber ski poles all the time.

Mike

Michael Daly wrote:
wrote:

Appreciate for any pointers.

If you mess up with epoxy, the paddle is ruined. I'd use a (relatively)
high temperature hot glue. You don't want something that will soften in
the summer sun. You might have to look around to find something a bit
better than craft store hot glue.

You can use heat to set the paddle blade position and if it isn't right,
you can use heat to change it. Once cool, the glue should hold fine -
there's likely a lot of surface area to hold.

Hot glue is used to hold baskets on carbon fiber ski poles all the time.

Mike
I'm not sure I agree. I use System 3 epoxy (pref 10min, but will use
5min) thickened with a little cabosil to glue paddles - in fact, that's
all I use. Hot glue works OK if the conditions are cool and will remain
so, but it will creep if warmed, typically to around 70C. A hot car
interior can easily pass that on a summer day - be very careful if you
go this route.

If you decide to change the pitch, or need to remove a blade to shorten
the shaft, it can be done - if done carefully. Heat the joint area
gently (I prefer boiling water), and then very carefully heat the joint
area with a hair dryer or heat gun and and carefully apply pulling
torque to the blade and shaft. It's best to have 2 or 3 people working
on this. When you get the expoxy warm, it will release (at least most
of the time). Starting off with the joint and surrounding material at
round 100C means less stress and shock to the material, and a better
chance of lightly and quickly heating the bonding epoxy to a breaking
point without doing in your shaft or blade.

Use thermal glue if you like - I'd prefer to save that for ski poles.

Marsh