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Gluing A Lamination

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lake_harley

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,071
I'm working on building a RW-2 biplane in my nice warm basement during these cold days. In constructing the tail leading and trailing edge it requires a 6 layer lamination of 3/4" X 1/8" strips that are then rounded to a "D" profile after gluing them up around form blocks. It makes me cringe to build something so heavy compared to the "light tail" leading and trailing edges that were on my MiniMAX build, but I guess I'll be a good boy and not stray from the plans. I've been using T-88 for the work I've done so far on the ribs, spars and fuselage, but building up 6 layers with T-88 seems it will be a challenge time-wise to get all of the parts coated, put into place and then clamped tight to allow it to cure before the T-88 starts "going off" on the first couple layers. Maybe I'll have to do it in at least a couple stages of 2 to 3 layers at a time with cure time in between? I have considered using Tightbond III on these laminations, but would continue using T-88 through the rest of the project. Thoughts on using Tightbond III anywhere on an airplane build?


In the past, I have done some sample joints with Tightbond III and they were definitely good enough joints to break out wood at the joints rather than merely separating at the glue joint. I have read some build reports of people using Tightbond III when building wing ribs, but then I don't know if they lived through their test flights or not. :speechles


I'm all about building within plans and avoiding excess weight but this "heavy" lamination (about 30 linear feet) is making me cringe. I'm shooting to make Part 103 weight and it's going to be a challenge, at best.

Lynn
 
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