I am wondering if anyone out there knows of the availability of plastic sheeting that could be used as the material for model rotor blades. I am thinking of an ideal dimension of 3.5 inches wide by 24 inches long by ¼ inch thick. Of course it would be ideal if they were at least roughly shaped into the form of an asymmetrical airfoil but even just slabs of ¼ plastic could be useful.
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plastic for model rotor blade use
- Thread starter jplot
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Theres a company in the uk called fibreforce, what they actually do is manufacture fibre reinforced pultrusions for another company called BAE SYSTEMS who inturn manufacture the wings for the airbus series of airplanes.(the full size ones)
They make a carbonfibre pultrude with a very high fibre to resin content (damn strong and light) which is for the trailing edge of both the flap and aileron honeycomb centre section
my recolection was that it was around 25 x 6.5 millimetres and aerifoil shaped (well a v you would need to profile the lead edge)
As the tolerance of the section was quite tight as far as the manufacturing process was concerned they did tend to scrap a few lengths if you try them they might have some rejected material
The number is a uk number and you may find them on the net
They make a carbonfibre pultrude with a very high fibre to resin content (damn strong and light) which is for the trailing edge of both the flap and aileron honeycomb centre section
my recolection was that it was around 25 x 6.5 millimetres and aerifoil shaped (well a v you would need to profile the lead edge)
As the tolerance of the section was quite tight as far as the manufacturing process was concerned they did tend to scrap a few lengths if you try them they might have some rejected material
The number is a uk number and you may find them on the net
Hi,
If you are building a static model almost any material that can support its own weight will do, balsa each side of a hardwood central spar should be easy to sand and then paint.
For a flying rotor blade even a model, your oprions are again wood, wood covered in composite material, hollow/foam/honeycomb filled composite.
Trying to carve/sand a blade from solid carbon fibre pultrusion is NOT the way to go.
In any rotor blade it helps if the centre of rotation, the centre of gravity and the centre of lift are as close as possible, frequently at about 25% chord.
In order to achieve this it requires a nose heavy construction and very light tail section, hence the requirement for at least parts of the blede to be hollow/ foam/ honeycomb filled.
The other problem with using most pultrusions is that all the fibres are running along the pultrusion and as such the section has very little torsional rigidity as well as being prone to splitting.
If you are really serious about building flying blades, email me at sms@performance-composite.com
Before I set up Performance Composites Ltd. I was an engineer at Westland Helicopters, developing composite rotor blades since 1975
If you are building a static model almost any material that can support its own weight will do, balsa each side of a hardwood central spar should be easy to sand and then paint.
For a flying rotor blade even a model, your oprions are again wood, wood covered in composite material, hollow/foam/honeycomb filled composite.
Trying to carve/sand a blade from solid carbon fibre pultrusion is NOT the way to go.
In any rotor blade it helps if the centre of rotation, the centre of gravity and the centre of lift are as close as possible, frequently at about 25% chord.
In order to achieve this it requires a nose heavy construction and very light tail section, hence the requirement for at least parts of the blede to be hollow/ foam/ honeycomb filled.
The other problem with using most pultrusions is that all the fibres are running along the pultrusion and as such the section has very little torsional rigidity as well as being prone to splitting.
If you are really serious about building flying blades, email me at sms@performance-composite.com
Before I set up Performance Composites Ltd. I was an engineer at Westland Helicopters, developing composite rotor blades since 1975
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