{"id":1194,"date":"2018-10-27T21:47:36","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T11:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leederville.net\/rocket\/?p=1194"},"modified":"2018-10-28T20:43:10","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T10:43:10","slug":"the-air-frame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leederville.net\/rocket\/index.php\/2018\/10\/27\/the-air-frame\/","title":{"rendered":"The Air Frame"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m constructing my own air-frames.<\/p>\n

The set-up<\/h2>\n

I have on my work-bench two posts at either end held in place using G-clamps. Then I have a sanded down\u00a0 length of wood with a Aluminium Mandrel that slides over this wood. The Mandrel is 38.10 mm in diameter and is 3 mm thick.<\/p>\n

Mandrel preparation<\/h3>\n

The Mandrel was sanded using 120 right down to 1500 wet sanded. I then cleaned it with Methylated spirits and then I used Brasso to bring up a really nice shine. Then I cleaned it again with Methlyated spirits and paper towels. I did many goes over this to ensure there was absolutely no grime at all. On the left hand side of the Mandrel I beveled the edge to ensure there was nothing sticking out that might stop me sliding off the air-frame.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Aluminum Mandrel – Made very shiny using Brasso.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NOTE<\/strong>: Brasso is a Coles product in Australia. It is supposed to be for Brass, Steel, etc, but Not Aluminium. It’s sister product Silvo is meant to be for Aluminium, but I found Brasso did a much better job.<\/p>\n

After the mandrel was cleaned up, I got some Glad Bake grease proof paper and cut to the following dimensions:-<\/p>\n

1300mm x 280mm<\/p>\n

This was wrapped around the Mandrel length-wise so that it went around twice + ~10mm. It was then glued to itself using a GlueStick. I confirmed that it was reasonably tight and could slide. The left hand side is the end I get the Air-frame off.<\/p>\n

The Peel Ply<\/h3>\n

I use Nylon Peel Ply.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5568-PeelPly\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It has a red-trace about every 50mm through it. I cut approximately 300mm of it off the 1270mm reel of material. I then used my USB heat gun device (that came with the 3-D printer) to cut off the 20mm off one of the long edges to give us a straight edge with no loose threads.\u00a0 I then did the same with the other long side so that I had the Peel Ply with dimensions 1270mm x 265mm – with no loose threads.<\/p>\n

The Carbon Fibre fabric<\/h3>\n

The fabric I used is Twill 2×2.\u00a0 It is a weave that a lot of other people use.<\/p>\n

Then I cut the Carbon Fibre fabric from the 5meter roll. I took GREAT care when doing this work. I did this all on the ground and because tidiness is so important, I vacuumed the ground before hand. I then measured out the fabric to look like the following.<\/p>\n

\"Shape<\/a>
Shape of fabric cut out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After it was cut, I weight it. It came in at 83 grams. You will notice that on the right side, the fabric is a bit wider. This is so the base of the air-frame is slightly greater diameter, so the rear closure is smaller diameter than the Air-frame. This will make two stage (where this is the second stage) a lot easier.<\/p>\n

The epoxy<\/h3>\n

I used K3600 Renlam epoxy. I made three lots of epoxy because I ran out. Batch sizes were:-<\/p>\n