Alright, new plan. Instead of g10 I'm thinking of doing balsa core with carbon as it will be slightly cheaper, easier to shape, and much lighter. Thanks for all the input so far everyone. Going to aim for 1000-1100 cm^2 surface area and ~20mm wing thickness.
Having contours built into the core material makes shaping much easier
If using something like Balsa for a core, it might be worth considering building the blank for the core from thin sheets of balsa to make a balsa 'ply' (maybe 1/16" sheets and with alternating layers at 90 deg to each other) the resulting contours will make it much easier to see and correct any asymmetry between the left and right wings.
At the expense of slight weight increase (but still much lighter than g10) It would be easier just to use bought plywood for the core.
Another good thing about plywood is, it is easy to gauge the thickness when sanding by looking at the width of the laminations. Also cheap and strong. I use 1/2" plywood with 1 layer of 6K carbon fiber and it is plenty strong enough - so far. A really big wing might need 2 layers.
Thanks. I'm now thinking instead of relying on sanding for shaping I'll stack and laminate much thinner 1/16th sheets of balsa that I can cut to shape so the profile should be more balanced between sides.
Thanks. I'm now thinking instead of relying on sanding for shaping I'll stack and laminate much thinner 1/16th sheets of balsa that I can cut to shape so the profile should be more balanced between sides.
I wouldn't bother with any glass between layers. It'll just make the sanding more unpleasant and you core will be plenty stiff enough without - you only need to stop it from flopping about while you put carbon skin on. The finished stiffness really comes from the carbon skin.
Thanks. I'm now thinking instead of relying on sanding for shaping I'll stack and laminate much thinner 1/16th sheets of balsa that I can cut to shape so the profile should be more balanced between sides.
I wouldn't bother with any glass between layers. It'll just make the sanding more unpleasant and you core will be plenty stiff enough without - you only need to stop it from flopping about while you put carbon skin on. The finished stiffness really comes from the carbon skin.
Thanks. Yes I think I'll stack and glue the profiled 1/16th balsa sheets without glass. I might try emulate the outline of the new ketos xl wave wing for the main rear wing and I might even try put a light anhedral underwing curve as the layered balsa sheets should make that easier to do. http://www.ketos-foil.com/en/front-wing ... -wind.html
