Draco

If you were to take a 91" one piece wing and cut it in half.. would it be possible to put the wing back together and make it strong enough to be air worthy again?

ksechler

Of course you could, but it could end up being a lot of trouble. Is this a one-time deal or do you want it to be a 2-piece wing?

Draco

This would be a one time thing. The wing is too large to ship.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

It could be done, but there would be some fairly major surgery needed to put them back together.

brsseb

What if you just cut it in half, splitting the wing joiners, and then make new wing joiners that go outside of the old broken onces..? They might be abit smaller, but if you made sure the wood is strong enough it should be possible..but i guess it depents on the wing structure.

bbbair

Yes;
I have a friend that does this regularly with no problems.

He does it to change the dihedral and change (improve) the flight characteristics, but that being said he does it with smaller AC (40" -80" wings).

I beleive that brsseb has the right idea;
But I'd suggest that you also fiberglas the joint for the extra strength.

Basically what you would be doing is joining a wing together - something that is done regularly. The difference is that you are separating it first.

The trick is to take it apart in such a way that you can put it back together, then to make joiners that will fit retroactively and securing them properly.

All in a days work for a modeller!!

Draco

Do you think there would be a way to cut it in half but make two wings instead of one solid one again? it would be easier to get to the air field if the main wing could come apart.

bbbair

You are talking about a major redesign of the wing, it is possible (I guess) the question is do you want to do that much work?

If you are the adventurous type have a look at the mid wing sports AC at your field. They have a series of interlocking aluminium tubes built into the wings to attach to the Fuse. If you are suitably creative you should be able to create something similar...be sure to let us know how you fair out.

brsseb

The ppl into sailplanes should know alot about this. Some of those wings are longer than an average car so they got to make the wing split into parts in minutes. But I bet its alot of work...

Ed Smith

Draco,

Two piece wings are quite common, there is nothing unusual about what you want. For those people that usually build their own aircraft it would be easy. For those that have used only ARFs it could be a nightmare.

Can you post a picture of the wing?

Ed S

bbbair

If your only desire is to move an oversized wing around in a vehicle that is "Undersized" you could always consider plans 'B';

Buy/Make a trailer to transport the wing and plane to the field.

These are becoming quite popular and have several advantages, keeping fuel leaks out of the car are a big one. Freedom to acquire any sized AC is another.

- Just another option!

brsseb

Hehe yeah, so basically if you wings dont fit the car, dont saw off the wing. Just get a bigger car

bbbair

A Bigger Car - no - not necessarily.
That would take a lot of money, cost more in gas and insurance etc.

A lot of this depends on where you live, but locally (Canada) a utility trailer does not cost anything to insure. You buy an old Skidoo trailer for about $200-300.00 Cdn, then build up a frame and walls for another $200.00, add a few extras like a large pull out for the AC plus tie downs for another $100.00 and you are good for go.

The advantages; lots of room, no extra insurance, gas consumtion only goes up when you are actually using it, fuel spills and engine drips stay in the trailer, damage to the AC does not occur when trying to load it into the back seat or trunk.

As I said - It is another option.

DMyer

My Feedback: (2)

Boy is that EBAY buyer going to be surprised