Electriceddie

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know where I can find some decent info. about Hardwoods like - Maple, Birch, Basswood, Spruce. Looking for Comparison Charts, Recomendations for woods in the area of use ex. ( Stringers, formers etc). Density and Strength comparisons of woods to be used in specific applications. Where what wood would be better suited over another type of wood for use in certain applications having to do with building RC Airplanes. Types of Plywood and thickness recomendations for specific uses, in regards to sheet count in the plywood or any pertinent type of info that may be useful in building RC airplanes. Anything that a builder would need to or would like to know about when trying to build, re-design, repair, modify or kit bash an RC plane.

I have looked around on the net and did not hit on exactly what I was looking for. I am looking for Charts , pictures, graph's etc. to hang in the shop as well. Ex. There was a chart that Sig put out years ago explaining the way Balsa is cut from a tree in regards to the quality and grain. It explained the Grain and types of balsa cuts. It also explained which cuts were better for certain uses etc. These are some of the things I am looking for, so if anyone has similar items and they would not mind passing them along, that would be Great!

Thanks

Ed

longdan

Here is a link to a useful article that deals with the properties of wood in aircraft construction (fullsize homebuilts)

http://www.auf.asn.au/scratchbuilder/timber.html

Wood is something that is very difficult to pin down to exact numbers. Values for the mechanical properties of various species are at best a rough average. Because wood isn't 'manufactured' like most other materials commonly used for construction of pretty much anything, any figures that you do have for wood need to be treated as a guide only. Wood of a particular species will change its properties depending on what part of the tree is used, the age of the tree when felled, what direction the grain runs, imperfections in the grain structure, moisture content, etc etc.
For the most part, those supplying wood for model builders do a pretty good job of selecting the best wood, and cutting it up properly to give us the desired properties from a particular type of wood.

Before my father passed away, he was a timber engineer and well respected as an expert in his field. through my model building, and boat building that I used to do, I would pick his brains for every morsel of information I could get on various woods and what was good and bad about them. What I learned most was that wood is a whole field in itself and not something that can be put down into a few graphs, paragraphs, pages, or even books.

I know that I have done little to answer your question, but I guess I was just trying to show you what a wide scope wood covers.

TFF

I dont think I have seen a density vs strength charts for balsa although I have seen it matched to other woods but the density was mediumish. I dont know if there is an official grade system for balsa. The Aircraft Spruce catalog has some materials information and it is fun to look at.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...L+Sig+fpex1704
http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...L+Sig+fpex1704
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http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...L+Sig+wbcc7088
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http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...L+Sig+wbcc7088
http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...L+Sig+wbcc7088
http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...L+Sig+wbcc7088

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/wp/spruce.html

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/wp/plywood.html

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...wood&search=Go

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...A+++&search=Go

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...ood+&search=Go

https://www.balsastore.com/store/categories.php?cat=27

dhal22

http://skyhooks.ca/balsa.htm

http://www.yahoo.com/http://www.pela...ty%20chart.htm

dhal22

whoops, you could try the above 2 links.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

The two links do not work?

longdan

They came up 'page not found' when I tried them

dhal22

sorry, i should have checked 1st. i haven't visited those sites in a yr or more.

david

szig

http://www.pelaero.com.au/density%20chart.htm

regards