edgeflyer

My Feedback: (15)

Anyone used carbon cloth, or veil for glassing their wings ? I am thinking about doing this on my Yellow f18 twin for strength. I know there are no reported problems, but with this much money whats an extra hundred bucks for insurance ? What wight did you chose ? I assume there would be no signal interferance if you ran enough satalites ? Thoughts ?

saramos

CST Sales had a new product on display at the AMA EXPO that really caught my eye. It is two layers unidirectional layed at 45 degrees to the roll (90 deg from layer to layer) which allows for a non-bais cut giving full use of the roll. It weighs about 2.5 oz. If applied with a vaccum bag, I bet it would be a great performer. They did not yet have it in stock, but I would keep an eye open for it. I would also go with a .5 oz glass cloth on top for a smooth surface and to protect the carbon.

Scott

Launch Pad McQuack

Edge I have a couple planes that have the carbon vail instead of fiberglass. I picked it up from the local control line guys they use it quite a bit to stiffen up there stunt ships. I used dope to put it on vs resin. Dope works great and works a bit easier gives you a bit more time. You don't want to work it to much as the random weave starts to come apart. Once doped, sanded and primed I painted normally and get a great finish. The final product I think is stronger structurally and lighter than glass. Down side is glass and resin are better with the bumps of hanger rash. The vail being so thin and with no resin you don't get that, so there is a trade off. I have not had an issue with my Airtronics 2.4 system. However I have never done the fuse. They have always been premade fiberglass fuses so it has only been wings, stabs and controls. The vail is so fine I don't think it makes a difference to the 2.4, but that is just speculation. If you have questions let me know.

edgeflyer

My Feedback: (15)

Cool, I'll check out the new product. what weight glass do ya"ll use. Does it vary on diferent types of planes ? Do you think the difference in using .5 oz cloth verses 2.5 oz makes a very big diference in weight. Are we talking a few ounces on a plane the size of the Yellow F18 twin, or more toward half a pound or so. Obviously the weight of the cloth is easy to figure, but I'm more conserned with the amount of resine it can absorbe. My first plane I glassed I used half oz and sanded it thin for lightest weight possible, but it is not very forgiving to hangar rash. My clear is also very thin for weight, but I am going to hit it with another coat of clear, so that problem should go away. Just wondering if half ounce is maybe way lighter than most use. thanks guys !

cutaway

Might consider just embedding some of that very thin thin carbon rod around the edges of the most commonly dinged areas as protection. I've done this with unsheeted beaded foam wings on a fairly thin TE and it worked well.

saramos

Another consideration about how to cover is the type of construction. If the wings are a standard buildup with balsa skin over ribs, bagging isn't probably an option. If the wings are foam core sheeted with balsa, it would most likely be a candidate for bagging. I've used carbon only for reinforcement up to this point. I also played around with carbon veil a little. One thing that I found is that if you are doing just a regular layup without a vacuum system, carbon soaks up lots and lots of epoxy resin, making for a heavy application. Like LP McQuack, I have heard it mentioned that control line guys use it as a covering, but I don't know what they use for a matrix, or their technique.
As for weight difference between .5 cloth and 2.5 carbon, if the carbon is vacuum bagged with breather material to soak up the excess, the result will be pretty light. Not having done it myself, I can't give a good real world comparison. I am sure it will be several times the weight of a light .5 glass application, but if you can really use the extra strength of the carbon on a foam wing that is ready to be covered, it might be worth while. One of the characteristics of this new product, besides it being unidirectional and without a weave, is that it is ligher than the most common light carbon weave products. Most the carbon fabrics I've looked at, weigh over 3 oz. However, I did just note that CST Sales has a 2 oz carbon weave fabric listed.
I would think that this two layer uni carbon product would really shine in molding applications. I have interest in using it in the cockpit section of a fuselage to allow for a very thin yet strong shell leaving the fuselage fully open for doing a detailed cockpit.


Scott