Seperating an Angel RS600 Mast

Originally posted by RS600653 But I'm a bit confused by the post quoted above, surely if the ali contracts more when it's cold than carbon it will result in a tighter grip on the carbon?

No, because these are tubes, and the alloy tube is inside the carbon one. So if you make it very cold the carbon tube might contract say to 1mm less diameter and the alloy tube say 2mm less diameter, so it gets looser. If you warm the carbon at the same time as chilling the alloy then the differential becomes even greater, because the carbon diameter increases...

I'd be inclined to tie the mast between two trees and leave overnight with loads of tension on, and then first thing in the morning warm up the carbon with warm water whilst whanging on even more tension. A spanish windlass might be convenient for getting the load on... I would be very wary about too much torsion as carbon sticks aren't particularly strong in torsion.

Edited by JimC

Originally posted by hollandsd Alright guys, i have tried everything, even resorted to tying one end to a fence post and the other to my car and still no movement. Any more suggestions?

If it won't respond to overnight loads and the warm up the carbon whilst the alloy is still frozen treatment I suggest above then you are pretty much stuffed. I suppose one could could try dissolving the alloy out with hot sodium hydroxide solution but I submit this should only be done by qualified chemists... Very easy to end up with some very serious injuries up to and including losing eyes... You'd also probably lose or at least weaken any other metal parts eg rivets.

If you are at destroy the bottom section stage then just saw it lengthways up to the join, and then see if you can extract the alloy from there, but frankly if its this stuck I'd leave well alone!

Edited by JimC

My main reason i want to seperate it, is so i can replace the old corroded bottom section with my far better condition spare, i dont want the mast to go bang on a windy day.

I have kinda given up all hope of seperating it, so i may just use it as is.

I want to see how it feels compared to the superspars mast.

Dan