We decided to design a carbon fiber tree climbing stick to utilize its lightweight and strength properties. We eventually came down to 2 designs that we liked. The first used glue to hold everything in place and had HDPE steps. The second design used screws and had steps made from a carbon fiber sandwich panel with a foam core. It also included a high strength Dyneema rope aider which provided a thrid step to increase performance. A design concerns table was created to compare the two designs and see how they matched up in areas such as strength, recyclability, and cost. Ultimately we decided on the second design to produce and manufacture.
Next, the designs of each major component were analyzed to determine how we planned on manufacturing them.
It was determined that the body would be made by wrapping layers of a carbon sleeve around a two-piece aluminum shaft. The shaft was removed and small aluminum plates were added between plies to ensure the part did not fail.
The step was made by vacuum assisted hand layup with three layers of carbon fiber on each side of the core. The core was made of PVC which was scratched before layup to ensure the bonding was strong.
The stand-offs were made out of 3/4" thick bar of aluminum. It was cut out using the SolidWorks drawing with a CNC mill.
