Modular Carbon Fiber Trekking Poles
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This is my first post to BPL. I had an idea floating around in my head for a while to make some ultralight modular trekking poles.
I wanted poles that could be broken down easily and used for various purposes. The poles I created are adjustable in height from 42 to 51 inches. The segments can be separated and stacked to make one long pole that is 82 inches long.
The poles fold down to 22 inches. The tubes are straight, allowing for use a blow gun if needed.+
These poles cost me around $45 to make. I bought the most affordable (free shipping from China, about $35) Carbon Fiber tubes that would suit my purpose from eBay. The tubes wound up being 12mm and 14mm OD, a little narrow and more flexible than I would like, but I wanted to keep the cost down in the event the project did not work. The other parts and pieces were sourced from hobby and hardware stores. The list includes small hose clamps, a few inches of shock cord, a few feet of Kevlar cordage, any strong string or cordage will work, electrical shrink tubing, tapered rubber stoppers, threaded inserts, wood glue, two part epoxy, and sheet cork. The tools I used were a hacksaw, drill with 1/8 bit, and a lighter.
The cork handles were made by layering cork sheet typically used to make bulletin boards. This process was relatively easy, but time consuming. After the layers were all dry, they were shaped with sandpaper, then filled with wood filler or glue and cord dust from initial sanding. After filling, the grips were sanded again. I experimented a lot with different processed to create cork grips, and this method was the easiest and resulted in the best product.
A view of the adjustment mechanism. It does require a tool, but I always carry a multi-tool, and improvising a flat head screwdriver is relatively simple.
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