Fabrication
We began by brainstorming the idea of how we wanted to make the treestand. This included what we wanted to incorporate into the stand, the size of the stand, and how we wanted to make the floor. The initial idea for the floor was to make a frame and have slats for footing.
We made the floor from a carbon fiber/foam-core sandwich panel using a wet layup process. Both facesheets were assembled from ten layers of carbon fiber that were manufactured using a hand-layup process. The foam was abraded and adhered to each side during these layups.
Once the layup process was completed the floor was cut to the dimensions of 36.25 in x 27.5 in x 0.875 in by Jackson, Kaleb, and Trevor.
Kaleb can be seen holding the platform after it was cut and before any drilling, any sand was added, and the rods were attached.
Kaleb, Morgan, and Trevor can be seen drilling 0.5-inch holes into the floor to allow for water drainage.
After the holes were drilled, the inside of the holes were painted with epoxy, so the foam would not get wet while in use. Then the filament wound rods and aluminum teeth were attached. The floor was also covered with an epoxy/sand mixture to increase the coefficient of friction.
To create the initial rod, we cut a foam core into different lengths, but always at 1 in x 1 in width and height. Once the foam was cut, we would draw a braided carbon fiber sleeve over the foam. They were then placed on the small winder and coated in resin until they cured.
Jackson and Trevor can be seen running the large filament winder to increase the strength of our rods. On the filament winder, we did a helical and circumferential wind with carbon fiber.
Kaleb can be seen cutting the rods to the desired shapes and angles for the final assemblies.
Once all the rods were manufactured, they were attached with connectors, nuts, bolts, and a threaded rod for additional support. The threaded rods were placed within the small vertical beams and connectors were used at the corners before being bolted. The angled rods had the foam cleared out to some extent, so a wire could be added for climbing the tree. A pin was used to hold the wire at the desired depth.
Updated 4/24