Made my very first composite centering ring. I need to make one from lite ply tomorrow so I can compare the two, but I already can tell that this one will win.
Yes, it looks large, but it is to test my technique and make everything easily testable. It can be scaled down or up, but I wanted to know if my method would even make a nice usable CR before I thought about making them for actual builds. I was also a little miffed at real life at the time I made it, so I wanted to do a layup of anything to relax my nerves, and this fit the bill perfectly.
It's one layer of 6oz. CF, 1 layer of 3/32" or similarly thin balsa, then 2 layers of juxtaposed .75oz glass cloth.
It is extremely thin, lightweight and rigid.
The best part about it is that it takes five minutes from raw materials to finished product if you don't count cutting out the center hole or the sanding afterward to true the edges, meaning you could sit down with raw materials and knock out 12 rings per hour.
At smaller scales, I believe the production speed would increase on some form of exponent.
I'm going to use this instant laminating method to make some fins tomorrow.
It's raining outside now, and this is definitely an outside job!
I'm also figuring how to role a tube with this method.
I'm going to go find a paper printable quadcopter or something similar tonight, template it, and make it from this exact same composite structure just because I can with the exception that I will also CF the outside of the biased-glassed layer, so it all looks uniform.
I will make the contoured parts with the same method too, so long as they are simple parts like ducted fans cowls and struts or landing gear.
Anyone got any suggestions?
And I know little about RC, so I'll put the frame in the yard sale section, so that atleast someone who is into them can try to get it airborne,
It will be free ofcourse, but only if you promise that you'll stick a motor in it and fly it.
It won't be custom built to order if I don't even know what I'm trying to do, but I will guarantee that it be based on a proven design if research yields one.
Surely someone has made drawings or templates of various quadcopters, and there must be millions of profile pictures of actual models that will be easy to scale and print with my $29 dollar HP Walmart Special.