Craymondw(at)aol.com
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 Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:40 am Post subject: Composite |
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A German manufacturer of Remark composite yachts and had just completed a production mold for casting RV4 fuselages out of carbon fiber, assisted me. When my German friend looked at the various parts supplied by Glasair he asked; "Vot are you building..a tank? " His brother was the Blackhawk division GM for Sykorsky Aircraft and puzzled over why the Glasair parts in were hand lay ups. Sykorsky buys pre cured composite sheets and stamps out patterns that are placed into molds that are heated to around 350 degrees and pressed into shape.
Apparently the designer of Cirrus aircraft is seriously considering switching over to Sykorsky's method of production and claims that by doing that Cirrus aircraft will cut production costs by as much as half.
I wanted my German friend to duplicate all my parts out of carbon fiber and felt I could lower the over all weight by two to three hundred pounds. A RV4 empennage I had recently completed weighed as much as my completed Glasair rudder! But I had time constraints because I was building my Glasair in the den and had only one year left before placing the house on the market.
Getting back to using heat for forming parts over lay up. Once you get expensive hand labor out of doing lay ups and go intio mass production, the price drastically falls. The molds can be made out of high temperature composite or ceramic material with chambers that allow heated air to flow through. The first kit manufacturer that introduces this method will corner the market for reasonably priced kits. [quote][b]
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