NJ Georgee

My Feedback: (3)

Im scratch building a plane and i would like to lighten the wing ribs.What would work perfect for me ,does'nt exsist. A nice set of miniature hole saws.What do you think of that Idea.I tried to get a tool company to produce me a few sets at a time to sell,But to no avail. So I sujested my idea to Dremel .
I have about 18 ribs to do. what would work to make steped down size holes in balsa ribs without tearing them up. If I had a drill press mabey I could do them sevral at a time,But not the case.Any sujestions?
Also dont you think my Idea for a set of miniature hole saws is good. I never heard back from Dremel and the outher two tool makers thought I was nuts.Mabeee.

LaBam

Do you have a drill press? If you do, that should work good. Tape 5 or so ribs together and drill a couple of hole in 'em.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

NJG, unless you're building giant scale, there's no point in hogging out the ribs. If you save up all the removed material and weigh it, you won't even come up with 1/10th of an ounce, and in the meantime will have weakened those ribs quite a bit. The best way to go for a 1/2A wing is to get light weight 3/32" make the ribs from that. A lot of designs use way too many ribs. For 1/2A wings, a rib every 3 or 4 inches with a strip of vertical webbing adjacent to each rib and tacked to the spars will eliminate compression failures on any 36" span, one pound plane.

If you insist on swiss cheesing the ribs, a paper hole punch works for pilot holes, as well as sharpened K&S tubing. A drill bit just chews it up, but there are specialized plug cutter bits that work real slick. But like I said earlier, weigh the results of your work and ask yourself if it was worth it

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

you can take brass or copper tubing it comes in sizes from 1/8 to 3/4" sharpen one edge and use it as a hole saw..I havent done it but have heard of it being done..not sure of how you would affix it to a drill but you could do it by hand that way too....Rog

Jim Thomerson

I use sharpened brass tubing and cut holes by hand. Just take the tubing and use your # 11 blade to ream out the inside of the tube to make a sharp edge. Then make some little nicks around the edge with the blade. I suppose you could mount the brass tube in a drill press and pretend it was a drill.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Jim gave you the way to sharpen a core drill like you want. But CP is 100% right, you aint gonna gain much by whittling the ribs and have alot more to loose. I do the tube tool on a regular basis but not for what you are trying to do. It works great to cut a nice hole in balsa, plastic, or rubber.

BMatthews

Just use lighter 1/16 sheet and loose the holes idea. I've only ever done one wing with holes in the ribs and that was done for aesthetic reasons rather than weight. It was a HLG wing covered with a transparent material. The weight I saved was almost nothing.

The most weight to be saved in a 1/2 A model is in the fuselage and choice of radio gear. Strive to lighten those areas first and use built up structures on the tail where practical for lighter weight. Aside from that use chosen light wood and use a lighter covering material. Monokote and Ultracoat are HEAVY! There's lots of other options that'll easily save up to an ounce just by chosing the right covering material.

NJ Georgee

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks for your Ideas,I never thought of using Tubing and also The hole puncher Idea is good too. I just wanted to do it for looks Like the 3D planes I see in Magazines.
Combat made me laugh with the amount of weight reduction...lol Now I can put a payload in the cocpit like a ant or something..lol

KidEpoxy

The weight of the Ant-pilot aint the problem, its the weight of the teenie tiny Ejection Seat and O2/pressurization systems for the Ant-pilot... you dont want OSHA coming down on you. The ant has insurance, right?

adam_s_101

from your post im guessing you have a dremil, so why dont you just tape a couple of them together, drill a small hole in them, then use the sanding bit to make the hole bigger, the edges will be nice and smooth if you do that

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

If it's being done for appearance sake, the most beautiful ribs are those built up ones, where the outline wood is curved around a form, and the interior members are done like a truss. You see this style of rib in some of those full scale planes and in the Proctor kits too. There is an uncovered old timer at the LHS done like this.

NJ Georgee

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks for your imput Adam S. Just im trying to cut down on the balsa dust around the house. I may go your route if I work outside on them. When I first started back to this hobby,I didnt realize the mess Balsa makes.You dont see it right away but after a while I found my A/C filter clogging up on a weekly basis and our lungs tooo..lol
Yeah Combat I know what your talking about I realy like those ribs too.
especialy with sauce on them..lol Ah these ribs I made are only about 7 inches long.
what wound be nice ,would be if I made angled ones too that you see joyced against the heads of them. Well now to sharpen tubbing after I buy some. I have a regular gasket hole punch set I bought for this purpose,But they mostly split them. Mabey I gave Dremael a good idea too. If only they would send my comish..lol
Thanks for all your help.

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

NJ, when you sharpen those tubes, use a no.11 exacto and shave the inside at an angle. Hold the knife steady and turn the tube. The blade will actually last pretty good if you get it to start curling up.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

I think this is why my Blink weighs an ounce more than Hfenns', I forgot to hog out those ribs .

adam_s_101

yeh your clothes get covered in a really fine dust, it gets everywhere[:@]. hope it all goes well

Bipe Flyer

Get a set of Forstner bits. They are made for cutting very smooth holes. I use them on balsa and they don't tear like a reglular or spade bit.

flybug

Hey Bipe do you have a source for these

Sneasle

id like to know as well

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Harbor Freight

Sneasle

you know, i was betting you were gonna say that

Bipe Flyer

You can get them at almost any hardware store.

Home Depot
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS....jsp?pn=165831

Harbor Freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=1903 - These look like a great deal. On sale for $7.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47128
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=39811

I started Googling around for more sites, but none came close to Harbor Freight's prices.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

Those Chinese tool makers [8D]


I got a set too. You can also put your tubing core drill into your drill press if you want to have a nice clean way to turn it.

NJ Georgee

My Feedback: (3)

wish they had a set for dremel

BMatthews

Forstners take a lot of torque and not much RPM. Things the Dremel doesn't really excell at.

If you use a set of forstners for balsa then I'd suggest keeping that set for balsa only. Once they dull even a little it'll be back to tearing the wood fibers out rather than cutting them.

Bipe Flyer

Good advice Bruce; my set is only for balsa. I use a spade bit on anything heavier. Also, don't force them, let the tool do the work.