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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 1:54:06 AM   
WhtBronco



Posts: 2084
Joined: 10/3/2002
From: Winchester, VA, USA
Status: offline 		I am building a Tower Hobbies Fun 51, I know it won't 3D well if at all. Heck I don't care, I just wanted a plane I could build cheap and have fun flying. This thing should be in the air for less than $60 since I had most everything needed on hand. Anyway, the fuselage forward section is made up of 2 sheets of light ply epoxied together and then a sheet of balsa on each side CA'd on. After the fuse was complete I set it on my plane rack in my bedroom and it has warped a bit. The nose is out by almost a 1/4". The warp begins around the leading edge of the wing cutout. It has not yet been covered.

Anybody know if using hot water, bracing to get it straight and using a heat gun to dry it quickly and thoroughly will work here as well?

This is what I have used in the past but not on a structure with so many sheets glued together, just on a framed structure. Such as the fuselage tail on my DPM Ultimate 40.

TIA

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Chris
Wish I was flyin'!
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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 3:53:11 AM   
m.gramling



Posts: 1787
Joined: 1/8/2002
From: Atoka, TN, USA
Status: offline 		I think you can spray the fuselage w/ water out of a spray bottle where its warped, then sandwich between 2 things that are firm and and heavy on top. And wait a couple of days. It should straighten out the warp.

I am not for sure on this tech. but I have read it somewhere. Somebody should pop in here tonight and tell you if I am right or wrong.

As for the fun51, I had the extra special, its brother. i really like it. Its what got me hooked on funflys. I have probably had 10 profiles since then.

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warped - 8/24/2003 4:01:18 AM   
fadmuker



Posts: 376
Joined: 5/1/2003
From: MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline 		try not to think of it as warped,
think of it as a built in bend!!
that when steamed, ironed, braced, and jigged, vaguely resembling the desired shape,
then it will be warped ,
only to absorb the slightest whiff of moisture, and return to the bend you built in to your structure,
in my vast experience of the mysterious self bending balsa syndrome, I learned one lesson!!
scrap it and start again with new straight balsa

its fun to fly funfly

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 5:41:31 AM   
777M8


 

Posts: 944
Joined: 4/30/2003
From: Sapulpa, OK, USA
Status: offline 		I would have to concure with fadmuker I have tried everything the only thing that got it close to being straight was using the covering to help hold it straight.

B Bill

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 6:17:10 AM   
WhtBronco



Posts: 2084
Joined: 10/3/2002
From: Winchester, VA, USA
Status: offline 		I should have mentioned previously that I have tried to soak it and leave it for a week with a good bit of weight on it. I didn't really expect that to work and it didn't.

Thanks for the replys, but you guys are not making me feel real good about this, though. I really don't want to start again. Course at $40 I'd be inclined to start with a whole new kit.

I will give the hot water, I mean boiling hot water, and heat gun thing a try I think before I consider another kit right now. I just wonder if I will be able to get enough water to soak in since there is so much glue and epoxy in this fuse.

The boss said no more airplane money this year already, other than fuel thankfully. Heck I have only flown about 1/2 gallon this year though so fuel lasts me a long time.

I tried using the hot water and heat gun on my DPM Ultimate 40 that had the aft end of the fuse out by about 1/2" measured at the horizontal stab tips. It straightened it and has not warped since, it's been 7 months now.

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 6:29:08 AM   
ChuckAuger



Posts: 5134
Joined: 12/5/2001
From: Pampa, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Shoot, if it's just warped 1/4" and it's in the front, I'd just fly it. If your lucky enough to have the warp to the right, you won't have to ad right thrust in your engine.

You'd be amazed at some of the planes I've seen that had a lot worse than 1/4" warp wrong with them and still fly pretty good.


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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 7:05:37 AM   
jester1a



Posts: 200
Joined: 2/18/2002
From: Merrimack, NH,
Status: offline 		Have you tried alcohol? It's supposed to do a better job than hot water from what I've read in the past.
Just a thought,

JESTER

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Fibreglass Cloth? - 8/24/2003 8:36:07 AM   
Daryl Martel



Posts: 595
Joined: 2/10/2002
From: WinnipegManitoba, CANADA
Status: offline 		I'd epoxy on a layer of thick glass cloth on either side. Just sandwich it between wax paper useing slow cure epoxy clamping it down with a good thick straight piece of wood. Bet that'll work.

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 8:54:54 AM   
Balsageek



Posts: 381
Joined: 1/8/2002
From: Bentonville, AR, USA
Status: offline 		If you're worried about 1/4 inch, you're way too picky. Just fly the thing! chances are you'll be regluing the thing in a few weeks (or months) anyway.



Matt

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 4:55:39 PM   
Zpat



Posts: 558
Joined: 11/9/2002
From: Lima, OH,
Status: offline 		I believe if you soak the wood with a strong ammonia mixture, use an aliphatic resin to put another balsa skin at a paralell angle to the original skin and apply massive weight to the repaair area, the problem may solve.

Then again, it may not.

Hopefully it's right thrust.

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fillasofickle veuw point - 8/24/2003 11:30:04 PM   
fadmuker



Posts: 376
Joined: 5/1/2003
From: MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline 		you see,
you must look at the building process as a spiritual journey,
you must become the fuselage!
be at one, with the wing!
draw upon your inner CHI,
only when your yin and yang are truly balanced will you be able to build both light and strong!
for the same applies to the art of remote flight, you are on the ground! yet you are in the air.
this is more than just a physical thing we strive to master,
it is in the mind long after the prop stops spinning.
think of it as a test, like kwuy Chang cane!!
every Friday night, he had to lift that red hot cauldron,burning his forearms!!
those blisters must have been bloody agony??
but it was always his turn to go for the beers!!!!!!
so find your inner strength grasshopper, and bash that balsa

its fun to fly funfly

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/24/2003 11:46:42 PM   
ChuckAuger



Posts: 5134
Joined: 12/5/2001
From: Pampa, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Well, if you follow the teachings of Reverend W. A. Spooner, I'd have to agree with the last poster.


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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/25/2003 5:06:47 AM   
Hacker



Posts: 596
Joined: 12/6/2002
From: st. augustine, FL, USA
Status: offline 		your best bet is straight ammonia...soak it then over bend and hold it in that position till dry (overnite). your really going to have to soak it to get penetration through the laminations. should work.
however as Chuckauger said a few posts back, if its only out 1/4 inch or so just fly it....you would be amazed at what flys.

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Warped profile fuselage? - 8/25/2003 6:08:27 AM   
BotleRocketWar



Posts: 810
Joined: 1/5/2003
From:
Status: offline 		I don't see how soaking it could work...The layers of wood will have to detach from the epoxy between them for it all to move. I don't see that happening.

If that warp got there from sitting around, there is something else going on here. It should have been glued on a perfectly flat surface. Not realyl possible for it to warp afterwards without breaking.

I'd just go fly it...Maybe even warp the tail to compensate.

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Brian Richman
BotleRocketWar@Aol.Com

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Soaking wood to remove warps... - 8/25/2003 8:15:42 AM   
Daryl Martel



Posts: 595
Joined: 2/10/2002
From: WinnipegManitoba, CANADA
Status: offline 		Wood warps to relieve internal stresses in the wood; i.e. it takes it's natural "set" as it dries out after it's cut. My take on this is that while you may temporarily take the warp out using water, alcohol or some other substance absorbed into the wood, usually as the wood dries back out the warp will return. By enclosing the wood in glass or plywood, the bend is taken out by these materials as outer layers holding the underlying material straight by being in tension or compression - they are after all stronger (and heavier) materials.

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