Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth  
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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/29/2002 4:33:37 AM   
bdphil



Posts: 659
Joined: 5/20/2002
From: Dothan, AL, USA
Status: offline 		I'm in need of some advise on laminating a piece of lite-plywood with carbon cloth. The resulting plate will be used for a rudder servo tray and mounting receiver.

First off, how do I apply the cloth to the wood? The same as glass cloth, by laying out the cloth and then applying resin, or resin first then cloth then more resin. Both sides will be laminated to provide stiffness.

Second, would a dremel router bit be sufficient for cutting the servo openings?

Thanks for any tips,

Ben
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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/29/2002 4:41:05 AM   
Jetman007



Posts: 295
Joined: 1/7/2002
From: Spring Lake, MI, USA
Status: offline 		Apply a light coat of epoxy to the wood, then lay the fabric on and apply another thin layer of epoxy and blot or squeegee off the excess epoxy.

You might want to consider adding it to both sides of the plate to prevent warping.

Cut with a rotary sanding drum or grinding bit.



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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/29/2002 4:47:20 AM   
rsieminski



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Joined: 4/24/2002
From: Sarasota, FL, USA
Status: offline 		Wear a dust mask, and use a vacuum for the dust. Carbon fiber dust is nasty stuff.
Do it exactly as bdphil says, both sides, and sandwich it between 2 weighted, waxed(or PVA if you have it), pieces of glass to cure. The surface will be awsome! I guess it wont matter if the part is hidden.


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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/29/2002 6:03:28 AM   
bdphil



Posts: 659
Joined: 5/20/2002
From: Dothan, AL, USA
Status: offline 		Thanks for the help guys!

What is PVA? Is it something that can be found at hardware stores (lowes, etc.). If not, what sort of wax would you use?

I'm looking for an attractive surface, but mainly a strong, rigid plate to mount dual rudder servos. But hey, sometimes people want to check out the inside of your plane too (it all comes back to the clean underwear thing )

Ben

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Nice Finish - 10/29/2002 7:56:53 AM   
Roderick-RCU


 

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Joined: 6/6/2002
From: Chile
Status: offline 		First of all, do it exactly as you were told and be specially careful with the dust of the carbon fiber and use quirurgic gloves for handling the resin, all this stuff is poisonus, for a nice finish you can use glass o a white board with wax on it acting as an unmoldant agent. Bes sure to apply at least 6 coats of wax if the surface has never been used for this....the aplication method is simple, apply wait 2 minutes, then make it shine with and old t-shirt...and so on....


Best Regards, Roderick

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/29/2002 4:36:16 PM   
Ed Smith


 

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Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Brantford, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		If you are going to go through all that trouble, use a piece of ordinary plywood. It will be just as stiff and strong as the cloth covered Lite-ply.

Ed S

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/29/2002 7:51:07 PM   
bdphil



Posts: 659
Joined: 5/20/2002
From: Dothan, AL, USA
Status: offline 		The size plate that I need is about 9"x14". I think aircraft ply would be a little heavy, plus I want to try my hand at working with some of these materials.

What about making the whole surface out of layered cloth? Any advantages, or just overkill?

Thanks,

Ben

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/30/2002 4:26:09 AM   
Jetman007



Posts: 295
Joined: 1/7/2002
From: Spring Lake, MI, USA
Status: offline 		Other option is to use a pre made cf plate. Some of the local giant scalers use our solid cf plate to mount their servos to inside their plane. Looks awesome (costs more than a wood laminate though).

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/30/2002 4:31:27 AM   
Ed Smith


 

Posts: 2854
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Brantford, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		A fair amount of weight will be added by laminating cloth to the size of plate you mentioned. The result will still be a liteply plate. Liteply is not the greatest material into which one would screw servo screws, the wood has very little "Body". However, as you are experimenting one has to try these things.

Ed S

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/30/2002 5:40:27 AM   
bdphil



Posts: 659
Joined: 5/20/2002
From: Dothan, AL, USA
Status: offline 		Ed,

I was thinking that the material would be a little "weak" for holding servo screws. Probably use some form of doubler to ensure the screws would hold up.

Art,

Can I get a custom made plate 10"x14"? I looked at the plates on your website and I would be interested in a 3mm plate . If this is possible, how much $?

Thanks,

Ben

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/30/2002 6:17:54 AM   
Jetman007



Posts: 295
Joined: 1/7/2002
From: Spring Lake, MI, USA
Status: offline 		To get the size plate you want, you would need to buy a whole plate. What the guys here do is build a wood frame in their plane to match the closest size plate available (in this case approx 12.6 X 13.3" . The plate is bolted into the frame. The frame is bonded to the fuse sides. For the servo screws, bond a strip of 1/8" ply to the bottom of the plate to accept the servo screws.

Regarding weight, a 3mm plate this size weighs 50 grams. Seems heavy but, you be the judge. The 1.5 mm plate weighs about 33 grams and would be plenty stiff, I'm sure. This stuff is real stiff!

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/30/2002 6:51:18 AM   
bdphil



Posts: 659
Joined: 5/20/2002
From: Dothan, AL, USA
Status: offline 		Thanks for the info, Art.

I'm going to give it some thought and see what I really need.

Ben

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 10/30/2002 9:50:07 PM   
deckerv



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Joined: 5/16/2002
From: Wellsville, NY, USA
Status: offline 		If the lite-ply is too soft for the screws, you could glue small pieces of spruce under the plate where the screws go through... that way from the top it looks like Carbon weave and you'll never notice the spruce underneath. Just food for thought
deck


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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 11/13/2002 12:31:54 AM   
bdphil



Posts: 659
Joined: 5/20/2002
From: Dothan, AL, USA
Status: offline 		Well I got my first laminated piece finished and it looks pretty good. I used partall wax and PVA and it popped right off the glass with no trouble. Looks pretty good, but not perfect. Maybe a little thin on resin in a few spots or not enough weight to even it out (might also be that the glass wasn't perfect, it's been collecting filth for a while in the garage).

For future reference, is there any way to "pretty up" a piece that doesn't have a perfect finish, or is it a one shot deal. Also looking into a simple vacuum system, any suggestions?

Thanks for all the help. A little more involved than I was expecting, but still fun.

Ben

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Laminating lite-ply w/carbon fiber cloth - 11/17/2002 4:06:08 AM   
Darrinc



Posts: 1028
Joined: 1/22/2002
From: Piqua, OH, USA
Status: offline 		Do the lay up on some thick, waxed Mylar, it will give a nice finish.

Use 1/8" balsa next time and pick up some garden variety 5.7oz carbon weave cloth. Its cheap and stiff and probably at your hobby store. Lite ply would defeat the purpose of building a lite