A Bruce Hughes Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Hi Guys Due to the virus, I am stuck on Maui until a vaccine is available. I am much too old to "chance it" . We have had 1 or 2 virus cases in the last week or two. YES, Maui because, I was a Hawaii state employee for years and own this home. Usually we live in my wife's house from April 1st to late November. I guess I will get back to KOLM in the Spring (I hope). The Longeze is sitting there. The problem: I must make some flox. I can buy most of what I need from Fiberglass Hawaii Maui but they just carry "milled fibers". I am pretty sure those are glass, as I have the same thing in my hangar at OLM. I also have cotton fibers at OLM but I cannot find the order number to get some from ASSC. My brain is much older than yours so I cannot remember how I ordered the cotton fiber I used to make flox. I always just turned to the right page in the catalog. My references are all in the hangar and I am over 2500 miles away. IF you are curious: I have a large lot with trees. One is an Avocado tree that is close to 50' high. Around mid November the avocados will start falling. At my age I am not going to climb a 50' tree to harvest several dozen avocados. So i have a plan: a net to catch them. They fall with enough force that twice an avocado has broken a windshield; I have told my renter to not park under the tree. I have 3 nets that I will arrange under the tree. I got those from MacMaster-Carr and got nets that are resistant to UV. HOWEVER I found that the fine material (Polypropylene?) has NO edging. So I must make a strong edge of fiberglass and/or a strip of lumber. I have epoxy and hardener but no cotton fiber. I guess I could use the "milled fiber" that Fiberglass Hawaii has in stock. Don't really know how that would work. I have a few tall vertical metal pipes already in cement to hold the edges. And limbs and ropes will hold some edges. These are LARGE avocados. In good years I get close to 100 of them and every one is smashed when they hit the ground, the concrete driveway, or my renter's car. They fall from 10' to 50'. Potentially I can sell them (if they are not damaged) to a Mexican restaurant in Makawao. I am just afraid that a dozen will fall in one day and destroy my net. And the fall from Thanksgiving to late January. BTW I am at 1200'. The poor guys at sea level are getting temperatures of 90 to 94 every day. Yes, even in late October. They had 4 or 5 record days in the last 30 days. Thanks for reading this far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countach74 Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Milled fiberglass will work just fine. It is as strong if not stronger than flox. Not used in Rutans designs because it heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Zeitlin Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 7 hours ago, A Bruce Hughes said: I also have cotton fibers at OLM but I cannot find the order number to get some from ASSC. I went to the Aircraft Spruce website and searched for "flox". This was the first link: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/flockedcotton.php Quote Marc J. Zeitlin Burnside Aerospace marc_zeitlin@alum.mit.edu www.cozybuilders.org copyright © 2024 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Bruce Hughes Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 Thank you VERY much Jason and Marc. OK, the weight will not matter so I can fix the nets. Fiberglass Hawaii can ship by surface; I will check with ASSC on shipping cost which can be considerable to Maui. Now the problem is getting it all done; it is hot here in anytime after the sun comes up. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countach74 Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Another option is to go to Wal-Mart and get Bondo branded fiberglass mat, then start cutting it up with scissors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Bruce Hughes Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 Jason, that is a wonderful idea. I think the project will go faster that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Ashton Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Hey Bruce, post a picture of the netting or a link to the McMaster spec. Hard to say without seeing. I imagine you could thread light nylon cord through the weave at the edges and tie the nylon cord to some stakes at four corners. It sounds better than messing with flox which hardens to a ridgid state. Maybe construct a lightweight square of light PVC and tie the net to the PVC. Support the PVC with stakes, buckets, lines to the Avocado tree. Yep, I am full of ideas! I read that Avocados evolved as food for giant sloths. They could pass-through those big seeds and the calorie-rich pulp was great for them. 🙂 Quote -KentCozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Bruce Hughes Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 Hi Kent Thanks for the email. The mesh that I got from McMaster-Carr is polyester with individual threads that are 0.016" with a fairly fine mesh (11 x 11) which looked OK on their website. I just hope it is strong enough. I think I will have no choice except to use the matt. HOWEVER I see that the matt label suggests that I use Bondo resin. That means another trip downtown because I have epoxy on hand. I may not be able to bond to the polyester; I ran into that problem once already. Anyway I have three of them and the net is 6' wide and 10' long so that is a lot of edge to get the matt on. I thought that was a cheap way to get the avocados controlled. But the shipping to Maui was as much as the cost of the 3 rolls of net. Paradise has some problems. I don't have much choice; in 3 or 4 weeks the avocados will start to fall. About food for sloths; google up Megatherium (I hope that is spelled right). That giant was in "South America, possibly farther north". Yes there are bones of that thing along the Rio Grande. I once had a girlfriend who once lived on the river and used a jaw bone for a doorstop. The animal was very large. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countach74 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Use your epoxy. The directions call for using polyester to dissolve the binder that holds the random fibers together to make it easier to handle. When you cut them up you don't have to consider this. You will have a much stronger outcome with epoxy. Edited October 25, 2020 by Countach74 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countach74 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 https://www.epoxyworks.com/index.php/chopped-strand-mat-and-epoxy/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Bruce Hughes Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 I bought packages of FIBERGLASS CLOTH at Walmart. I did not see mat there. Maybe I missed it but I don't have to start immediately; I can check. I probably will just return the packages of fiberglass cloth. Monday I will go to Fiberglass Hawaii and get fiberglass TAPE and the milled fiber. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Ashton Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 How the pros do it. A V-curve in the device grabs the veg. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=915&bih=778&ei=xXaVX8vJGajAytMPutaesAI&q=harvesting+avocados&oq=harvesting+avocados&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQDDICCAAyBAgAEBg6BQgAELEDOggIABCxAxCDAToGCAAQCBAeUK8HWKcoYJVAaABwAHgAgAFCiAH4B5IBAjE5mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ved=0ahUKEwiLwLec5s_sAhUooHIEHTqrByYQ4dUDCAY Quote -KentCozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.