Wings only project

[gbrungra]

Great work!

Fun application for 3D printing.

Have you considered a female mold instead of a male mold (core)? That way you would not have to worry about bonding to the printed plastic.

On fiber types, Kevlar for impact resistance, carbon for weight/stiffness/strength, glass for cost. So skip the Kevlar, use glass for prototyping, and carbon once you have a wing shape you like?

[mcfly777]

Great work!

Fun application for 3D printing.

Have you considered a female mold instead of a male mold (core)? That way you would not have to worry about bonding to the printed plastic.

On fiber types, Kevlar for impact resistance, carbon for weight/stiffness/strength, glass for cost. So skip the Kevlar, use glass for prototyping, and carbon once you have a wing shape you like?

Thank you. Yes making a female mold is doable. But, I don't understand how I'd sandwich the layers in a 2 part closed mold. Do I need a core, or does it make a solid composite piece?

thanks

[plummet]

Is 2 layers enough? depends on how solid your core is. 2 is definitely enough for my bamboo core.

Can you print pvc? epoxy sticks to that. Make sure the surface is rough. scour with rough sandpaper.

Consider the thickness of your outer laminate. 600gm will be about .75mm

[mcfly777]

Can you print pvc? epoxy sticks to that. Make sure the surface is rough. scour with rough sandpaper.

PVC is an experimental material, there's one company producing filament out there, couldn't find it for sale.

Leo

[plummet]

Can you print pvc? epoxy sticks to that. Make sure the surface is rough. scour with rough sandpaper.

PVC is an experimental material, there's one company producing filament out there, couldn't find it for sale.

Leo

If you have access to a couple of different plastics do some test pieces. See what sticks. What is most important is the surface is checked in rough so the epoxy has surface area to stick to. Abviously it needs to be clean to and free of any oils.

[downunder]

Great work!

Fun application for 3D printing.

Have you considered a female mold instead of a male mold (core)? That way you would not have to worry about bonding to the printed plastic.

On fiber types, Kevlar for impact resistance, carbon for weight/stiffness/strength, glass for cost. So skip the Kevlar, use glass for prototyping, and carbon once you have a wing shape you like?

Thank you. Yes making a female mold is doable. But, I don't understand how I'd sandwich the layers in a 2 part closed mold. Do I need a core, or does it make a solid composite piece?

thanks

This is how the pro's are doing it. But, not 3d printing the female mold, rather CNCing off an alu block (or whatever).

I have no access to CNC, if I did, would be flying long time ago:)

[foilonfoil]

Instead of 3d printing while also keeping it cheap... using something like a wood CNC machine is probably a better choice using G10 or something similar then wrapping.

Professional wings are build by CNC'ing a metal mold and carbon layup and a big multi ton press.

[Blackrat]

once the wing has been sanded and it ready to be wrapped , cut a slit using a jigsaw etc from about 60-70mm from each end along the maximum thickness of the chord. using biax carbon or 0-90 weave placed on the bias (which is a pain to work with) pull a piece about 50mm wide thru the slit so that each side is equal and fold on the core . an there is your shearweb , id recommend 3-4 layers of 200gsm minimum

for the skins , if you using 200 gsm twill/plain (not an ideal fabric to be placed at 0-90 as 50% of the fiber isnt utilised as hoop strength is unnessary) i would lay a minimum of 3 layers in the 45-45 orientation , but i would also have another 3 layers of uni

take pics of progress

[gbrungra]

Great work!

Fun application for 3D printing.

Have you considered a female mold instead of a male mold (core)? That way you would not have to worry about bonding to the printed plastic.

On fiber types, Kevlar for impact resistance, carbon for weight/stiffness/strength, glass for cost. So skip the Kevlar, use glass for prototyping, and carbon once you have a wing shape you like?

Thank you. Yes making a female mold is doable. But, I don't understand how I'd sandwich the layers in a 2 part closed mold. Do I need a core, or does it make a solid composite piece?

thanks

Could use female molds to make two separate skins, then attach them. Probably easier to just add a shear web as others have suggested. That way your wing won't rely on bonding to the core. The cores will almost act as empty voids, but that will be fine. Also, since you are 3D printing, you could print your core in two pieces (leaded edge portion, and trailing edge portion) instead of building a core and then cutting it to make room for your shear web.

[downunder]

^
Yes, but that is a mech bond, would be heaps better chemical.

Is a shear web applicable to the mast? I was thinking about that...