blade almost done

[willib]

this is the blade now , its curing in the vacuum bag.

i hope this comes out ok.

i've finised the outside shell on both sides it looks really nice.

i had a tough time figuring how to get the two halves to meet correctly at the trailing edge .but vacuum baging seems to do the trick..





i just checked it , it looks done !!

i'm going to leave it on for a little bit more

[willib]

why does the blade look like the foam blanks i was doing before ,you might ask?

thats because i didnt know how the canned foam would turn out , so i made another blade and first epoxied it to one half, then i epoxied the leading edge , and just now i epoxied the windward half to the shell , and the trailing edge.

[willib]

it was still tacky so i used a few clamps to seal the trailing edge a little better

[willib]

really shiney huh?

that is the lift part of the blade you are looking at .

the shell is epoxy and glass , the inside is shaped foam

now i have to trim the trailing edge , epoxy the root base on , (that i hook the blade to the hub with ) and test it.

[jmk]

 Nice work! That vacum bag must realy help to lay the fiberglass down. What tsr do you expect to get out of them? Do you have an alternator-machine to put it on?  

[willib]

They are TSR 6

although i did vaccum bag the first half of the mold that i made ,and this last step , those were  the only times i used the vacuum bagging.

because i found out that to make the mold i didnt need vacuum bagging , because i layed up the glass in strips , with the same orientation as the foam, and was able to get a really nice finish on the mold without vacuum bagging. ie no seperations and no bubbles

i really like the sound it makes when i tap on it with my  finger , just like a surf-board.

on the next one i  have to try the canned foam , so the steps will be

make another shell , both halves,

make a mold to hold the shells in place as i use the canned foam for the core.

easier said than done , but that is the next step.

yeah i have a small alt allready made , but i'm going to change that around a little , down the road i'd like to redo the stator , and rotor , to use more magnets , because i have the room in there for three more coils , for a total of twelve . but thats not on my priority list.