project C:Stef
On Thursday December 8, 2011, the first meeting with Stef, of tyrecentre van Kleef was held. The previous day, contact was made with van Kleef centre about the possibility of making customized inflatables by means of car inner tubes and vulcanizing techniques.
The meeting on Thursday was about the use of car inner tubes as inflatable units. To have customized inflatable car inner tubes is no problem for Stef, he can cut and close the tubes wherever we want, also the placement of the valve is no problem. The only critical point in using inner tubes for the inflatable unit, is that the tubes are pre-shaped. This means they will have that shape when air is in the system, and when there is no air in the system, it will be completely flat / no stiffness. Therefore Stef thinks using car inner tubes is not the best solution for Spacebook.
The possibilities that Stef gave were to either look for a different material or get the inner tubes BEFORE they are shaped. For the different material Stef talks about industrial hoses and tubes. Such are used for the laser cutting machine and for sewer drainage. The main advantage of those systems is that the connections are universal, and don't have to be custommade, as is the case with inner tubes
The straight inner tubes can be aquired via Vredestein (a Dutch company). They have been contacted.
Stef is more than willing to still help the project by giving his advice, answering questions and vulcanizing rubber.
