My plans call for a one piece blade type undercarriage made of solid uni glass. It tapers from 30mm thick at the top to 20mm at the wheel axles. As I have many rolls of carbon tow hanging around I'm thinking I could save some weight by replacing the glass with carbon. I have a resin impregnator and can make up a manifold system for laying say a dozen tows at a time so I can do the complete layup within the slow epoxy gel time. I would make a simple mould and wind the tows around nails at each end to keep the fibres straight.
My question is how much can I reduce the thickness of the blade to end up with the same stiffness? Should I keep the overall thickness but replace some of the neutral axis with pvc foam?
I will wrap the outside with double bias once out of the mould.
Mark
My question is how much can I reduce the thickness of the blade to end up with the same stiffness? Should I keep the overall thickness but replace some of the neutral axis with pvc foam?
I will wrap the outside with double bias once out of the mould.
Mark