In search of the first step on the Moon...

Télescope en carbone 

A little SICOMIN resin, great achievements for all enthusiasts.

If you are the kind of person who is head in the air, eyes fixed on the moon every night looking for the crater where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed, find the interview with Christophe Bousquet below:

SICOMIN offers a wide range of carbon fabrics, dedicated to light constructions:

"Passionate about astronomy since my childhood, I have always had my eyes turned towards the sky. From my first telescope to my first Dobson (400mm), a wooden design weighing about 40 kg, I wanted to move on to ultralight [...] a minimalist and simple design: All-carbon Spider. "

Thanks to its lightness and high mechanical performance, the choice of carbon fabric C 293 (carbone HR 3k T300 Sergé 2/2) and Sicomin SR 1500 + SD 2503 epoxy resins have become popular because of their ease of impregnation of the reinforcements, their simplicity of application and, above all, their mechanical performance.

I laminated 15 plies of carbon fabric HR 3k T300 Sergé 193 g/m2 in SR 1500/SD 2503 for the realization of the bars and the brackets to obtain a final thickness of 3 mm.

"With the help of clamps, to increase the fiber content, the mechanical performance and to reduce the weight of my bars, I compressed my laminate between two sheets of plywood. Be careful to put a separator film between the plywood and the laminate to avoid gluing. "

For a glossy surface finish: 

"I glossed the whole thing with the beautiful SR surf clear Evo epoxy + Surf clear Evo Medium hardener which gave the carbon fabrics depth. "

The secondary cage was made of balsa wood:

"Cutting and laminating both sides under 3 plies of HR 3k T300 Twill 193 g/m2 carbon fabrics still under the same principle of confection. "

"Finishing of the fields with the 0° carbon tape HR UD 174 g/m2, the whole is also glossed with the Surf clear Evo which increases the rigidity of the part. The whole instrument was made this way, which has the goal of having a totally ridiculous weight but extreme rigidity. "

Thanks to Christophe Bousquet.