katou said:
Checked out the lovac on the cozy girls site, what the heck do they mean about the aluminum foil?
Katou
So you ever think about the sound of that to someone who fnds that post first? Not that they realize cozygrrls means women building the Cozy aircraft. This popped up for me on Google when I was searching unrelated to Endless Sphere.
They are using aluminum foil as a release film. Cheaper than nylon. If you use the thinnest stuff you find at the store it'll tend to tear as you're peeling it off, you've seen it refuse to let go of warm chocolate, right? I'm not sure aluminum foil is the best thing for that. Even better, plus cheaper still, is butcher paper. http://www.uline.com/BL_1956/Butcher-Paper If you must use the foil, hit up a restaurant supply site and get the HD, thicker stuff.
You can get masonite and warp a curved shape to lay up a panel that isn't flat, then reuse the masonite flat. You don't even need a release film, you use RELEASE wax (Not what you find in the auto parts store) The casual user can be leery of that because even a professional screws it up sometimes and the part still sticks to the tool. I'm rather partial to http://www.fiberglasssite.com/servlet/the-102/Partall-paste-%23-2/Detail
You want to use Nomex honeycomb? What kind of money you got? Planning to take a 2nd on the house for this project? How about instead you use something almost as good? http://www.uline.com/BL_1856/Honeycomb-Void-Fill You can't use this one to wrap around a baseball in a perfect (Endless) Sphere, but one skid of that stuff could last this entire community as long as we all should live, at least for home life, for about what it could cost for one little project of the high priced spread. Not something that aviation is ready to substitute, but the construction industry will use this instead to build your shower, etc. (What, you DIDN'T know there's cardboard in the construction of your hottub, etc.?) Let's not forget that the Nomex honeycomb also requires film sealer, also not cheap.
You can buy a vacuum pump at Harbor Freight for less than $100. http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html Not getting to do this seriously at home yet so I haven't developed an opinion of it. I can't say I think the Cozygrrls explanation is very good, maybe you want a book. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/cm/vacuumbagging_instr.html Aircraft Spruce will have the supplies you need, DON'T SKIP THE CATCHTANK!
Sure you can build cardboard cars, one of my projects in fact. I'd guess that instructor is dead now, but Fullerton College had a staple class with cardboard competitions, such as bridges, chariot races, different theme each year. You should think of how strong cardboard pallet runners are without being wrapped in composite fiber. http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-7911/Pallets/48-x-6-x-4-Honeycomb-Pallet-Runners Make your own with your largesse from that one skid you bought.
What having a core is about that you can make the same amount of fiberglas, carbon fiber, basalt, whatever you're using to be 7 times stronger by adding another material that itself is comparatively eggshell. When your panel is two sides split rather than together, it becomes harder to bend. An inch of EPS foam wouldn't last a second under pressure on it's own, but when it separates the sides of what would have been a flat panel they then have to bend at different rates, which they don't want to do. You can use acetone to melt out the EPS once you made it but that structure won't be nearly so strong. You make it 2, 3, 4 times as strong and more just by making it wider with a fragile core.
Hmmm, people have said things about me not having anything interesting enough to post, maybe such a project as this would hold your attention.
Has anybody built anything actually structural out of duct tape? A bike? I almost don't doubt that it can be done.
