new flying wing anyone?

[stevext]

Keep you figers crossed as it's curing as we speak.............

Here's a few photo's - it took a while as i made a couple of mistakes along the way and the vac bag had a tiny leak which required the pump to be run overnight but it's in the curing oven now......
First the carbon leading edge was added followed by the living hinge peel ply.
Then the cores were wet out followed by the carbon and added to the mylars before being positioned onto the core, repeat a few times and the add some cling film followed by some breather cloth ( kitchen towel ) to help pull an even vacuum  and its into the vac bags.
Overnight at -20hg and now it's cooking at 30 deg so fingers crossed - i'll probably need it!

Cheers

Steve.H

[stevext]

And the others.....

[olivers dad]

Good luck mate. Impressive ballasting. Just about right into days winds

                            Nick

[olivers dad]

Well,

[stevext]

Patience patience young man! - i'll take them out of the bags tonight after the kids are in bed.

Photo's later with either a beer or a box of tissues depending on the results!
The mould just needs the wooden reinforcement on one side and it's finished too so a fuselage by next weekend with any luck - a good strong one for the ' at least it's down moments'.

Steve.H

[stevext]

Pass me the kleenex!

The mylars came off easy this time ( thanks Rich ) but the finish is not so good. The surface has lots of tiny pin holes and where the breather was joined it's left long indents in the surface on one of the panels. These wings won't be good enough for taking moulds off so i'll have to make a bow and cut some or see if someone can do me a nice set to use for plugs. My mates just infused a set of canoe paddle blades and they look fantastic but he took the moulds off an existing set of blades, a nice cnc'd set of moulds would be top of the wish list but the cost would be huge i bet!. They should fly well enough though so they're is some good news but i'm a bit disopointed really.

Left wing was 316g and right 320g before trimming and end cappings added. I'll sand them at the end of the week and see how they turn out.

Cheers

[olivers dad]

they look alright steve, think your being hard on yourself, some of my stuff looks dead naff but its all a learning curve.

                          Nick

[olivers dad]

http://www.flyquiet.co.uk/smf/index.php?board=23.0
get it stuck here bud you will get more tips and advice.

[thermaled]

They look pretty good Steve, you just need to make a few more to get a perfect set, practice makes perfect. I am sure you know already but a good rolling of the wet fabric on the mylars with a wallpaper seam roller or something similar helps squeeze out those pesky little air bubbles, I put a sheet of polythene over the lay up before rolling mine as it helps to stop the fabric lifting off the mylar, also squeezes some excess epoxy out of the lay up.
     I have made up some breather/release sheets for different sized wings like on the Phil Barnes video, basically its just a sheet of polythene large enough to wrap around both surfaces of the wing with some breather fabric spray glued to the outside, as long as the sheet is larger than the wing the breather will never come into contact with the epoxy and can be reused many times. For each size vac bag I have a sheet like this made up, easy to make and saves time and hassle during lay ups. Last piece of advice is that I use 350 micron mylar which is thick enough to bridge small imperfections and leaves a flatter surface, it costs more than thinner materials but is well worth a few quid extra, you may already be using it but if not I recommend getting hold of some.

Mark

[stevext]

Hi

Whilst the finish isn't great i sanded one of the panels root and tip edges today and the carbon skin has followed the contour really nicely, the trailing edge sanded to a really nice edge so i'll get the other panel done for the end of the week before i cap the ends.
Bearing in mind it's going to be transportable, do i go for putting the servo's in the wing or the body and drive them via torque rods?.

Cheers

[olivers dad]

What bags do you use Steve

[stevext]

Hi

I used some polythene tubing that's about 30 inches wide and then slit it down the middle and joined with tacky tape, in future i'll use 12 inch wide poly tube so i can just heat seal one end with a bag sealer off fleabay as this will save the tacky tape usage and probably be more leak free. It's probably worth getting hold of a breach unit for connecting the hose to the bag as it's quicker and less prone to leaking but the tube through the end seal works ok.
I'm probably going to hand lay a fuselage and wet seam it so i've got one to play with and then do a nice shiney one for best, a much stronger one will be layed up for Thermaled as without the wing cores this project wouldn't have got started!.

Cheers

steve.H

[stevext]

Afternoon All

Her's a pic or two to keep you going, the moulds aren't bad at all but theres a couple of gel chips that i'd like to fix before i take the first pull from it. There are no openings in the mould bar the end as i plan on either using a bladder or if i can find a way of making an end peice , resin infusion. The tail end is only 1/2" diameter so getting the vacuum outlet and resin inlet both in there might be a bit much, good old hand layup with a bladder should give me good usable parts.
Hopefully the first fuselage should be done for the following weekend so then it's bench fly time!.

Cheers

Stevext

[thermaled]

Looking good Steve. My next mould will be designed for inflatable bladder use, from what i have read most people backfill the mould with sand or poravor to withstand the bladder pressure without deflecting, I see you have some substantial wooden supports on yours and am interested in how that works out. What sort of pressure are you using in your bladders?

Mark

[stevext]

Hi Mark

I was running approx 40psi and the pod mould had wooden bracing at the ends only, i considered the sand but went with the bracing as the moulds nearly 6mm thick so should take the pressure ( he hopes ). The clamps will be 2" wide aluminnium flat strip so as to spread the pressure, as soon as i've sorted the gel chips and frekoted the mould i'll pull one out of it, do you mind if yours has carbon tow around the wing seating or does it have to be all glass?.

Cheers

Stevext