RE: Sailplane Wing Design Round II
Yeah I'm leaning towards inadiquate gluing of my shear webbing as a possible cause for the first wing's demize. I dimmly recall "spot welding" the webbing in place with thin CA. Now that I have a better understanding of what the webbing actually does I realize not gluing it in place completly along each edge was a big no no. I also know what you mean about the C shaped spar. Combined with my "gappy" butt joined sheeting, the front edge of the spar had little if no support. Yes you're correct, some areas of the spar enjoyed webbing both front & rear but not the area that failed. I can't coment on the quality of the spruce as I've already tossed the old wing.
Unfortunatly my wing rods which were glued into the outer wing pannels all fractured on impact. Faced with major surgery to replace them & a doubtfull spar I chose to toss the entire wing, outer sections included. Probably for the best.
Anyway this has been a good, if somewhat painful, learning experiance. Combined with all the great advice I'm getting, my future wings will be far stronger because of it.