Pronexos has fulfilled an unusual and challenging order to produce several very long lightweight high-strength rollers made from wound carbon fibre for an application in the entertainment industry.
The order was placed by a British events company who can boast many famous names in the world of music and the arts as their clients. The rollers are intended to be used to operate backdrops and stage curtains in a large theatre onboard a cruise ship.
To fulfil the order, Pronexos has created three rollers of 14 metres in length and one of 12.5 metres. Making rollers of this length in wound carbon fibre presented some technical challenges which Pronexos engineers worked hard to overcome. “Our team applied their innovative approach to produce these very long rollers to a very high standard, while maintaining all the positive qualities that carbon fibre can offer over steel as a material in such an application” explains Jorn de Noord, Pronexos Sales Manager.
The Pronexos team manufactured one of the 14metre rollers last year, which was then collected by the customer and taken to a testing facility in the UK. “The roller was put through a range of tests to ensure its fitness for purpose” explains de Noord. “These included cycle tests, weight tests and emergency stop tests.” When the Pronexos roller confirmed its performance by passing these tests the customer confirmed the order for three more rollers. These have now been manufactured and will be collected in June and taken to the shipyard in Germany where the cruise ship is being fitted out.
“The customer wants to take advantage of all the qualities that CFRP can offer – light weight, high strength, low deflection and high durability. Furthermore, they expect a product of the highest quality because, when you are out at sea, a roller like this has to perform reliably” says de Noord. “We are very confident in this product and happy with the performance, and we expect to receive further orders in future for similar applications from the same customer.”
Do you have a requirement for a long or very-long carbon fibre roller?
Contact +31 (0) 54654 4030
