blkbird

With all the advancements in composite materials I was wondering if it would be any advantage to cut kits in carbon fiber??? Outside of the obvious need to use different adhesives what do you think would be different??

daven

My Feedback: (1)

$$$$$$$

jmohn

I was thinking about that too and considered making a Fokker D7 from carbon tubes. It would be very light and strong. Aluminum tubing would be mor expensive ...I think and weaker too. You would need a very thick or very large diameter aluminum tube to even get close to the strength of carbon tubes.


Jeff

dreadnaut

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I agree, or to put it another way. CF used for the sake of using CF will lighten your wallet more than anything else.

jmohn

I don't think it woudl be that much. I use carbon fiber all the time at work and it's come way down in price especially if you get the "off the shelf" stuff. The expensive part would be making all the joiners for the tubes. I guess you could use plastic for these and just drill them out your self. I might have to try this



Jeff

blkbird

As far as a "how to" I guess if you purchase enough Carbon Fiber sheets you can cut them to fit a separate template for each part of the kit, or plans you use. I would put two templates for the ribs "head to toe" on each sheet and have them cut out. Seems like it would require a great deal of cutting to get a full set of ribs, etc. Seems interesting, but as previously said $$$$$ becomes an issue.

jmohn

I think I would try to use carbon for the large pieces like the spar, leading edges, and other structural pieces that just need to be cut to length. I really want to try a D7 with carbon fiber tubing. Very simple and if you had a set of plans you could make it all yourself and just need to purchase the wing ribs and other cut pieces.


Jeff

jmohn

Looks like the cost of caron fiber tubes are between $4 and $6 per foot. Rods are a little less expensive (about $0.5 to $1 less). Wood dowels (cedar) run about $1.5 to $2.5 per foot, so a little less expensive but not as strong.

Again, would be fun to try and build one.



Jeff

SCALECRAFT

My Feedback: (13)

Also radio signal obstruction. Carbon is known to block/absorb radio frequency. Receivers for carbon put aerials outside the carbon area or fuse.

Steve

daven

My Feedback: (1)

wood may not be as strong, but in most cases it is "strong enough" to do what we need it to do.

Carbon has its places, and I use a bit of it, but in many cases it is overkill for our needs.

blkbird

"I don't think it woudl be that much. I use carbon fiber all the time at work and it's come way down in price especially if you get the "off the shelf" stuff. The expensive part would be making all the joiners for the tubes. I guess you could use plastic for these and just drill them out your self. I might have to try this "

That sounds intriging...use plastic for the ribs etc. That should be a much cheaper alternative, just curious how thick they would have to be to be rigid enough for an R/C airplane.

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

I had the same idea for building a Citabria using CF tubing to build a scale airframe..

My thought on joints was to use small pieces of solid CF rod that fit inside the tubing to pin the joints together.
Obviously angles and corners would require drilling or grinding a hole in the tubing to insert the pins.

Maybe wrap the joints with some carbon tow for extra strength.

Not a project I'll get to anytime soon but fun to think about.

I also wondered if sheet balsa could be replaced with foam laminated with carbon veil for use in bulkheads ribs and other flat applications that don't require shaping.