Royal

I thought about making chop strand molds that would be a one time use to vacuum form your own bodies and wings. Mostly because I can make those way cheaper than laying up fiberglass cloth.

I have a buffer with an 8" mud hog wheel on it. Is the blue foam structural as well? I feel like there is lots of threads on the foam as well.

Get a tow plane. Glide it home.

The blue foam wont melt when glassing it? Also love the nose idea. I had a similar idea.

1 hour ago, macleodm3 said:

If they aren’t built as strong as they are supposed to be, they’ll fail in flight, hit the prop, and likely cause loss of thrust.  So perhaps they aren’t structural, but the strength of the cowls are critical.

I only wondered because the place that makes john deer parts and lots of other things made an engine cowling for an airplane he had sitting in his shop. 

Buy hanger. Live in hanger. work on plane and throw plane building parties.

My wife would divorce me if I spent that much time building an airplane.

2 minutes ago, Marc Zeitlin said:

They're not. But there are 5 lb. cowls, and there are 20 lb. cowls, even with cloth. I don't even want to guess what they'd weigh out of chopped rovings. No one makes cowls from anything but cloth, and some use carbon and fiberglass to minimize weight. It's an airplane, not a Corvette body.

I'd have to weigh some of our chopped fiberglass parts vs our new weave parts. But yeah the old corvettes were pretty hefty. Our chopped parts were surprisingly light not that I would want to use them on an airplane.

How are they Structural?

Builder of many things. Planes, trains, car, and anything else i would like to try. Also learning CAD. CFD soon.

Do the cowls need to be weave? or can they be chopped fiberglass?

https://www.generalplastics.com/product-finder

I looked up Dennis Oelmann. He lives pretty close to me. 

15 hours ago, Voidhawk9 said:

It isn't really US carriers that are the concern, nor here in NZ. It is the places that put pilots with absolutely minimum time and experience in the cockpit, and especially those people when they move up to captains and have someone with equally little experience beside them. So many pilot 'sausage factories' teach to pass the exams (even to the extent of memorizing question banks), not to create the best pilots.

Sounds like high school.

On 7/15/2020 at 2:02 PM, Barron111 said:

Are these templates still available for downloading ??

I have not finished them. Might want to talk to Jon

 https://www.canardzone.com/profile/126731-jon-matcho/

21 hours ago, macleodm3 said:

Yeah I suppose you should when someone says you’re a big mouth with clean hands.

My comment wasn't directed at anyone. Mostly just forum people. Been on forums before and I have seen people talk lots and not lots of work. I'm sorry if it came off that way.  

71 bronco I built at my show. Custom cowl hood.

700 hp 73 trans for james contos

72 442 with a custom cowl hood and billet inserts

A brand new skin for a 77 datsun hatch. I am building this one still. Whole car is 5 inches wider and has an all new metal front and rear end. Glass has been changed too. 

Ls7 80 trans am with aluminum engine covers painted by Mike Levalle

https://www.thisweekinmotors.com/sema-2010-1980-pontiac-hells-ta-trans-am-protouring/

I also built the plugs and molds for anointed aero up until I moved. https://www.bing.com/search?q=anointed+aero&FORM=HDRSC1

I have many more cars i could post but you get the point.

OIP.jfif

4 hours ago, macleodm3 said:

Well... you can't patent a method to make homebuilt airplanes because people can do what they want.  Your idea can work, but it does seem to require molds, which is extra work.

Plans:  Cut foam, cover with glass (then filling and sanding)

Your Method:  Make a mold, cover with glass, fill with foam (no filling and sanding... use gelcoat like a fiberglass boat)

Molds are much better for mass production.... but moldless is less work at home for single airplane construction. 

Big Mouths... dirty hands?  I built this with my dirty hands....  

Should I post stuff I have built too?

I have to patent the method first before I go all willy nilly. I'm not  blowing smoke or some Keyboard Professional. And just because someone hasn't thought of it before doesn't mean it cant be done. I don't blame you for being skeptical. More big mouths out there on the internet than dirty hands.

Yamaha makes some amazing boat engines. Seems the Waverunner engines would be an even better airplane engine. It just insane what HP numbers they can get out of a 3 cyclinder 1000cc engine. 

160 lbs and 130 hp

I think these would be crazy fuel efficient since you wouldn't need 130 hp to cruise. 

https://www.boats.com/reviews/new-yamaha-waverunner-tr-1-ho-engine-ushers-in-era-of-compact-performance/

That plane looks like it would fit me perfect. 5'8" 120 lbs 

Kent

2 hours ago, Kent Ashton said:

When Rutan debuted "Moldless Composite Construction" in the 70s, it was a revelation how easy (EZ) it became to build near-perfect airfoils and aero shapes.  And it does not take 1000 hours of sanding--maybe a week or two of normal work after the structure is built.

I respectfully suggest you're going backward from that.  First you have to come up with perfect, finished airfoil skins built around wing spars, control linkages, attach points for ailerons, and attach points for the wings themselves.  There's 1000 hours of work right there.  Then the skins, spars and the rest must be jigged and held in the correct shape while you inject (expanding?) foam in the voids with some sort of machine you have yet to develop and do it evenly without distorting the structure. 

A "better way" to make wings is to pull them from molds or used matched-hole metal construction but that ignores the 10,000 hours it takes to make the molds or the $10,000 it takes to buy the hole-punching computer and equipment.

There is no free lunch.

While I very much do respect you and your opinion, I really do because I have always asked and listened to the older guys when figuring out how to do something, I do know there are other ways to do things. I did come up with a way to make a fast, cheap and perfect mold. Found it by accident actually when we got a kitten 3 weeks ago. And with the CNC machines and 3d printers becoming extremely cheap I think its all doable.  I already 3d printed a CNC machine from my $200 printer. The automotive collision industry already has different kinds of foams that are low pressure and structural. Most of the companies are always willing to email you back. From what I have been reading and experience  in building things its better to improve the process than to change what its made off. Keep the foam, fiberglass  and all aspects about the plane. Just make it easier to build. Very little sanding. I believe it can be done.

I have been trying to find a company that can blow foam straight into a fiberglass shell without adding pressure to the skins. I think the ends would have to be open. Only reason doing it this way would be to save the 1000 hours of sanding it takes to make them straight. I don't know why someone hasn't come up with a better way to make the wings yet.  

Dark aero uses this method for their wings. Be nice if they could do something like this for the EZ.