Hi Adelaide. I take it that is where you are as well,I am not to far from the CBD in Adelaide and would like to contact you re blades etc. I have an old f/p ready for conversion and a lot of other projects on the drawing board. If you are interested you can contact me on the form provided at whirlwindaustralia.com. cya mate. whirlybird. [ Parent ]
I don't care to start a war on this subject, just state a fact. Lamination will NOT increase stifness by itself.
Lamination WILL alow one to avoid areas of 'bad' wood such as knots, compression grain and runout. One can also orient the grain better. Cutting a board into squares and orienting everything as close to vertical grain is an example of that.
In short, lamination alows one to use less desirable wood, orient grain direction better and use less expensive material. One can also build much larger chunks of material than mother nature provides through the lumber suppliers. It will not increase the stiffness of the material itself.
Several woodworkers and I were discussing lamination of aircraft main spars in aerobatic planes one day. The subject of lamination came up. Jon Staudacher, who is fairly well known, made the observation, 'I never could get as good a joint as the original manufacturer'.
Ron Adventure is just bad planning." -- Roald Amundsen [ Parent ]
I guess you and I will have to disagree. If so, the data I read from Gougeon Brothers is a lie. I have tested it in my own shop. I do laminate. Laminates are more flexible. I am familiar with Simitar props and the twisting. In fact, Wittman used that to his advantage.
The aerobatic planes Jon Staudacher built had cantilever wings. Like many small planes the tail surfaces were rod-in-tension braced.
I stated, 'Lamination will NOT increase stifness by itself.' I stand by that. In thin laminations the glue itself can lock the fibers and cause things to get more rigid. I mentioned other things that casue lamiantions to be more acceptable. Wooden structures are quite complex. I do not believe I will ever fully understand them.
I have seen a few interesting things in mixing Glass-strand or Carbon-fibre in epoxy and wood - and other substrates. There has been very litle published on fatigue of mixed composits (wood/modern-stuff).
Wood and laminated wood are the superior materials for fatigue resistance. As a structual material, it is difficult to beat.
Most boat fourmualtions of epoxy are good. As I never had the luxury of a heated and cooled shop I drifted to System3 epoxy. I have another friend who swears by MAS. I have used many gallons of WEST, which doesn't saturate wood even if the acronym claims that.
Adhesives are another thing 'taken for granted' by most woodworkers. In reality there is a lot of science and techinique to use them. As I have gotten older I have tended to stick to adhesives I know and avoid research. I am going to try some 'Titebond 3' this week. Always interesting to me one has to find the data sheets to find out temperature requirements and other critical data.
