DonStegall

My Feedback: (1)

I have documented making molds in the past. But I have not documented making anything this big.

CNC cut wing molds are obviously the optimal solution for composite wings. But they are very expensive and the resulting products are also expensive.

I wanted a composite version of the Viper airfoil, the S8064, so I made a plug back in 2005 or so. About a month ago, my Dad and I made the parting plate in his wood working shop and finished it except for gluing in the tip plates. It’s been raining here a lot and I’ve been busy. But the weather was nice today and he was home, so I went to his house and we finished it up. I had to put it in the bed of my truck as it is 64 inches long. A little longer than it had to be, but I made the base long enough for Q-40 wings as I am doing some of those as well.

Here are pictures of the parting plate. It is made up of 3/4 inch MDF. It is not solid and it would be even heavier than it is. It has a frame around the perimeter that somewhat corresponds to the opening for the wing. It is 4 layers thick on the edges. There are 6 dimples on each side. If I cut off the ends of the molds there will still be 4 dimples per side.

The pink foam inserts hold the wing up. I will be putting a little ledge around the inside to hold clay to seal the gap before the epoxy surface coat is put on. After I get the ledge on, I will prime and paint the parting plate. I still have to final prime and paint the plug also.

The parting plate is too heavy to carry up and down the stairs, so it will live in the garage while I finish it up. So I have to clean up the garage some.

I think some of you may be interested in the process, so I will try to take pictures along the way.

wrstew

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Don- the four layers around the perimeter are for rigidity? Or is it two full sheets with two layers of spacers, kinda a box beam structure? Defiantly document for us. Randy

DonStegall

My Feedback: (1)

The two layers around the bottom are for rigidity. Full layers would weigh a ton. Plus it gives me something to hold onto. It is still heavy, but I can carry it by myself. Sort of. Steps with corners are a challenge.

With everything together the maximum deflection is less than 1/32" ... It looked to be more like less than 1/64" ... And I will have it on a flat surface when the molds are laid up.

This wing will have plenty of uses besides the Viper. I have the Screamer that I am going to test fly in a few days now that I'm almost caught up on orders. I am going to pot the wing to the Smasher fuselage plug and make new molds. I don't even have to make a new parting plate as the fuselage is split on the sides. The new plane will be called the Lance. And I should have my first laser cutting of the Venom in a week or two. The Venom was designed by Dan Kane and is very similar to his HurriKane, but with the Viper wing.

BUDMAN27

Cool

DonStegall

My Feedback: (1)

I didn't realize until this morning thatRCU had pruned the forum messages. So a lot of stuff I did back in 2002-2003 is now missing. I have some of it on RCPRO like the making of the Smasher. I will post links as it is informative.

Here are the plugs and parting plates for the Smasher tail and fuselage. Also pictured are the male molds that were made from the virgin females before they were put into action.

If there is enough interest in the Viper composite wing, I may make male molds from the resulting females so that I can make extras for myself or to sell to others. I can probably sell a set of epoxy wing molds for around $1000 which is a lot less than CNC molds.

GSJames

Good idea making males from the virgin female molds so that you can always make new females when the originals wear out. Hopefully I'll be a good enough pilot someday to warrant getting one of these.

flyngfrog

Excelent!
Keep posting please. I vvant to make this process for a dominator I'm building.

regards,