Help - Need photo of mounting bracket of Carbon Fiber Wing
Discussion
I am in the process of building a carbon fiber rear wing. I have access to a CNC cutter to make the foam core and a friend of mine has extensive CF manufacturing experience. I have no access to the Radical CF wing. Mine is the older style aluminium wing. Could someone please post a picture of how the wing bracket looks which attaches the wing to the rear wing mounting frame. I am in particular interested how the bracket is embedded/attached to the wing. Any additional photos of the wing would also be appreciated. Does it have the same profile as the aluminium wing?
Coldaswell said:
Hi BioBa
The old tin wing is a different profile to the shiny but bloomin' expensive carbon one.
When looking at Myd's picture the profile looks virtually the same except that i have a small upwards facing 90 degre e lip at the trailing edge. The old tin wing is a different profile to the shiny but bloomin' expensive carbon one.
Thanks for the pictures!
In terms of dimensions (not profile) I was using the same as in the aluminium wing.
Do you know anybody in the UK who makes Radical cf wings at a reasonable price?
Coldaswell said:
Hi BioBa
The old tin wing is a different profile to the shiny but bloomin' expensive carbon one.
When looking at Myd's picture the profile looks virtually the same except that i have a small upwards facing 90 degre e lip at the trailing edge. The old tin wing is a different profile to the shiny but bloomin' expensive carbon one.
Thanks for the pictures!
In terms of dimensions (not profile) I was using the same as in the aluminium wing.
Do you know anybody in the UK who makes Radical cf wings at a reasonable price?
LCM said:
This raises a number of questions.
Firstly you don't tell us whether you are going to use pre-preg, vaccing, autoclaving; resin infusion or wet hand lay-up. The choice of method will make a big difference to the weight, strength and cost of your wing.
You mention that you are going to cut a foam core. Are you planning to use this to make a buck or as the core of the final wing, wrapped in C/F cloth with a join at the TE? If the latter then are you sure that you can achieve a good and consistent bond between the core and the wrap? I ask because with my laminator we have been experimenting with this methodology and have been unable to achieve a consistent bond. Without this bond the normal cube rule doesn't hold and the wing is insufficiently stiff to take the aero loads and collapses prematurely (which can be, at least, unpleasant).
Remember that a decent sized wing with a decent section running at decent speeds will generate decently high loads (think a couple of hundred kg). So, both your construction and mounting methods need to be up to the job. Most professional wing makers use spar, spar and rib (sometimes with foam core infill) or (cheapest and easiest) a spanwise tube connecting upper and lower surfaces, normally at t-max; formed internal aluminium plate to give the pick up point and serious Aramid reinforcing around it to spread the loads. My personal preference is to also use a fabricted external aliminium saddle to connect the wing to the wing tower although you have to accept that this will disrupt the airflow more on the underside that the purely internal mount shown on Trev's pretty PR6 picture.
To be clear, the only place you can get a Radical wing is from Radical. However there are a number of other manufactureres who can supply wings of different profiles that will fit a Radical (amongst whom are, as Myd says, MVS)
Happy laminating!
Edited by LCM on Wednesday 5th September 13:45
super fill the foam, use it as a core and wet hand lay the carbon fiber. Considering that the wing is 1700 mm long I was very concerned that having only a plain foam core would not be strong enough to withstand the load. Your comments that you have problems achieving a good bond between the foam and CF is an additional problem I have not considered. Are your bonding problems maybe related to the fact that you have not super filled the foam?
I have been building RC pylon racers in the past. The wings of these race planes take tremendous loads and I was trying to adapt some of the RC building principles on the car wing.
Building 4-5 ribs with a CF wing spar seemed the best solution to the problem but your idea of using a large diameter spanwise tube (what material are you using? CF?) seems even easier.
I still have not come up with a good solution to connecting the wing to the wing tower. I prefer not to use an external aluminium saddle but have not quite figured out how to do it.
I also do not have the right equipment to fabricate an aluminium end rib (it might have to be timber) to attach the wing end plates.
In the meantime MVS has provided me a quote for a 1700mm CF wing and I must say adding up all materials and hours required to build my own their offer is almost too good to refuse. Let's see what happens. By the way what else do you sell besides the gurney flap?
Martin B said:
When I made my fibreglass wing for my Clubsport, I bonded in some alloy plates in the lower half of the wing in the areas where the wing supports would go thereby giving the rivets for the external supports something to really bite into instead of just the fibreglass.
Yes I agree bonding in alloy plates to mount the bracket is easy, effective and makes perfect sense to spread the load.Gassing Station | Radical | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff