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Hi Frank,
In the Stachiw book their is a reinforcement ring glued round the inside
base curve to support this weak point.
And he talks of reinforcing joins with a carbon fibre / acrylic resin
laminate in the section on joining acrylic.
As said it would have to be annealed. My main reservation is wether the
fiberglass in the resin would have
compatible expansion rates with the acrylic & wether the acrylic
matrix bonds to the fibers. Some fiberglass
mattings have different coatings to assist with the matrix to fiber
bond.
There are huge numbers of acrylic baths out there with fiberglass backing
on them.
Was looking at the stats on Brents old dome & the margin of era didn't
look too good re operational depth & crush depth.
The cast domes cost $1000s more than the blown ones, so I'm looking at
this as a means of making the cheaper alternative
safer. Maybe it could add another 500ft crush depth on a blown
dome.
I'd really like to be in the position to put my life on the line but its
several months of building off yet.
Seriously though I'll look into it a bit more deeply, its good to be able
to put these ideas out & get feedback on them.
Thanks
Alan
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