on 12/16/01 5:05 PM, Jim Couch at JamesBCouch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
snipped a bit...
> Polycarbonates, already offer both of these advantages, at less cost.
> Polycarbonates can also be easily molded into useful shapes. It is much more
> difficult to do this with typical CF construction. Polycarbonates also have
> much
> higher shock and impact resistance compared to typical carbon fiber
> composites.
> One reason that you don't see the fantastic weight reductions one would expect
> to
> gain with CF in bicycle frames is because of the need to address impact
> resistance.
>
> Jim Couch
I think many point-and-shoots are molded in polycarbonates, or at least some
parts of them. Fiber-reinforced plastics ("engineered plastics") can be
tuned to offer specific strengths, such as dimensional stability with
temperature change, rigidity and other factors can be well-controlled. For
cameras I think CF is not the best material, its specific benefits aren't
that important in camera construction (although a CF lens barrel might make
a 1000/5.6 quite a bit lighter...) The other problem is that CF is not as
'moldable' as the "engineered plastics" (fiber-filled) or polycarbonates.
Molding is a really low-cost way to make large quantities of parts, once you
buy the mold.
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-1's, -2's, -4's, (no -3's yet) and no OM-oney...
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