Aerowerx
Well-Known Member
My apologies to all the English Literature majors out there.
Today I cut some wood strips out of Hickory. My intent is to epoxy them together and then try to break them. This will give me some more confidence in the numbers I am getting from the Landing Gear Spreadsheet.
It turns out that the strips are flexible enough that I may not have to steam bend, which will simplify construction. However, this would 'pre-stress' the wood. But if I steam bend there would be not built in stress but, from what I understand, there is some amount of damage to the fibers at a microscopic level.
Another factor to consider is that the template I have come up with is not a constant radius curve (part of a circle), but a conic section (part of an ellipse). If I bend without steaming, will it form the desired curve? But with steam bending, I know I can get it to fit the curve. Then again, the conic section curve is defined by only 5 tangent points (the two ends, at the two fuselage walls, and the center line), so would it matter at all?
[Clarification: There are no sharp bends at any point in the curve, but it is not a constant radius as stated above.]
So, my question is: Should I steam bend or not?
Today I cut some wood strips out of Hickory. My intent is to epoxy them together and then try to break them. This will give me some more confidence in the numbers I am getting from the Landing Gear Spreadsheet.
It turns out that the strips are flexible enough that I may not have to steam bend, which will simplify construction. However, this would 'pre-stress' the wood. But if I steam bend there would be not built in stress but, from what I understand, there is some amount of damage to the fibers at a microscopic level.
Another factor to consider is that the template I have come up with is not a constant radius curve (part of a circle), but a conic section (part of an ellipse). If I bend without steaming, will it form the desired curve? But with steam bending, I know I can get it to fit the curve. Then again, the conic section curve is defined by only 5 tangent points (the two ends, at the two fuselage walls, and the center line), so would it matter at all?
[Clarification: There are no sharp bends at any point in the curve, but it is not a constant radius as stated above.]
So, my question is: Should I steam bend or not?
