What weight of Carbonfiber to add to wood formers?
 

Ok guys Im building a Ziroli Panther Turbine conversion, I once did a Byron F16 conversion and I got some carbon fiber off some guy and at the end it was way to heavy.

So I want to laminate the thin light ply formers that go into the fiberglass fuse.

2 peaces of the light ply has the wing tube and retract mounts going throw it.

So what weight carbonfiber mat should I use? 5.7oz? or lighter?

Thanks Mike

Mike, in my opinion 3k carbon cloth in standard weave is way overkill for your app. I laminate this same cloth over balsa to make firewalls for gas engines (up to 60cc)

Let me suggest that you try regular fiberglass that's been dyed black. Around 3 ounce cloth will give considerable added strength and stiffness if both sides are done, and it won't be heavy or expensive.

If you must have carbon, suggest you look into Composite Innovations website. They carry spread tow carbon cloth. It is thinner and lighter than regular cloth but it has many great attributes one of which is strength. It is woven except the widths of individual strands are about 1" (thats spread tow). It comes in a variety of weights and you should use the one that is about 1.7 ounce. Beware this is rather pricy material.

+1
just use good fiberglass .. "s" type if you can find it. Comes in 1 inch up to 6 inch rolls .cheap
epoxy 635 from us composits.
Use "peel ply" over it to smooth out glass weave. Plenty strong for formers
use 4oz "warp" cloth also . Has more strands in one direction
carbon fiber over rated , best when bagged or autoclave ,
hard to get resin into, all strands ,to take advantage of design
use heat gun to thin resin after applied ," wicks" into weave much better. Do not thin !!

Get rid of the crap lite ply and replace it with an aircraft ply

Good catch Thomas, I completely missed the lite ply.

Mike,
I agree with most of the comments above. I only use carbon on landing gear plates and bulkheads that mount a nose gear. If you want it very strong and light forget the plywood and make it all carbon but gets expensive.

For light cheap bulkheads I have been using 1/4" thick blue foam with 3-4 layers of 3.2oz glass cloth. I cut the center out of the foam leaving about a 1/2" wall on the outside. Next I round the inside edge of the cutout with a sanding block. I cut strips of cloth about 2-3 in long and wide enough to cover the front and back side of the foam and wrap around the inside curve edge. I leave the outside edge of the bulkhead exposed foam. This results in a very ridgid bulkhead and very light. To glue the bulkhead in the glass fuse I put a light coat of gorilla glue on the outside exposed foam. The buikhead will slip in the fuse without leaving hardly any glue where you don't want it. If you still want more strength and ridgity I wet out a length of carbon tow with epoxy and tamp it in the joint between the inside of the fuse and the bulkhead.

If I had any good pictures I would post them, all my bulkheads are in the F-94C I built from scratch. See at http://www.sidgates.us/HOBBIES/F-94C/F94C%20PROJECT.htm