Helicycle Hatchery

Nice Job!

Nice Job!

That is very nicely done Stan.

No glue showing, no rough edges and a perfect fit.

It looks like the blade of a certified helicopter.

Thank you for sharing, Vance
 
Wow and Wow. Oh and by the way. Did I say WOW.

Like those blades.
 
Vance and Chuck...Thanks. I am satisfied that I did them properly and that they will serve the purpose of spreading the root loads out. Its interesting to study the curves and they just look like a good design by B.J.

Vance- There is still a little glue that I havent cleaned up yet. Those mothers are a chore....but I loved every minute of it.




Stan
 
Stan,

Any chance of using a higher resolution setting on your camera? All these great pictures would be even better if they were a little bigger to show the fine detail in your work.

Thanks for letting us tag along on your adventure,
Mike
 
ylf- 150K is the max I can upload here. Others are loading much higher resolution pictures...but I have never been able to figure out how they do it. I just load what is fast and simple....sorry.


Stan
 
No problem Stan, I figured there must be a reason but hadn't seen it mentioned in the thread.

Mike
 
I bonded one side of the 2nd rotorblade today. I tried the factories recommended way of NOT putting the blue tape on against my gut feelings.

If you look back a few posts....I bonded the first blade both top and bottom sets at the same time...but had blue taped it.

Todays glueup turned out very nice....but.....I was aware of now having my bare wood clamping cauls sitting on epoxied aluminum.....not good if say I left it overnight. Those wooden cauls would have been a nightmare to remove. After four hours I removed the clamps and took a super sharp chisel....I mean SUPER sharp shave your face sharp...and carefully peeled the epoxy out of the stepped area between the doublers. Had I waited till tomorrow when that epoxy is rock hard....it would have taken HOURS to make it look proper.

I have one more glueup and it will be blue taped off. Two big reasons for blue tape.....MUCH less cleanup....and most important....the clamping cauls though sitting in epoxy squeeze out will pop loose from the aluminum because the blue tape bond isnt that tough.
 

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I am ready to do the last bonding on my rotorblades in the morning. I taped off this one as it is far easier to cleanup,,,and pop the wooden clamping cauls off.

It will just be a matter of cleaning them up...them shipping them back to Idaho. There they will have the blocks milled down parallel and the exact thickness to fit my blade grips.

Stan
 

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Stan,
I read back through some of the post but did not see which epoxy you are using. Is it just for aluminum? Does it have to be heat cured?
 
A silly question for you Stan, I was wondering why this isnt done at the factory seeing you have to send the blades back ??
 
Mark- I dont know the specifics on the epoxy except it glues my samples very strong. There was no heat requirements given....


Brian- Thats just the way it the system is setup.....we do the blade doublers...and ship them back. Maybe they get kickbacks from the shipping company?? HA

It was interesting doing it anyway.


Stan
 
Laurent- I am sure the liability of those rotorblades rests on my work with those doublers. Thats fine with me as I feel they are bonded correctly. Its not like I am never going to inspect them visually, or audibly with a nickel. If they fail, you wont hear me whine about it! ................Passin thru-.........I suppose it has something to do with the 51% rule.....Stan
 
Laurant- I just got off the phone with Caroline Schramm, and she said that since shipping costs are so high, for $895.00, Eagle R&D will make and install your doublers on your rotorblades before they ship them to you. This offer is not available to anyone in the U.S. I think that is a good deal, as I just checked my logbook and my doublers took 29 hours. Stan
 
I finished bonding all 16 doubler plates today. The first shot is right after I sandwiched the four epoxied doublers together and tightened up the two 1/4 inch bolts. I found that it is easier to start at the top of the steps...clamp and squeeze the glue as you go down. This allows easier access to the glue squeeze out.

These doublers are all scotchbrited and they eventually will get sanded down to very fine ....then power buffed.

Working on these were a lot of fun...a little stress once the glue is mixed..

Stan
 

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Laurent- Glad that was good news for you having your doublers boned on. My blades are readt to be shipped to Idaho for final machining. I still have 2 weeks to do some other stuff to them, so I will be drilling holes for the draglinks, fitting the root and end plugs. I will have them on the truck next week sometime........ When did Eagle R&D say the first shipment would be? I would guess at least spring of 2010. Stan
 
Laurent- Rest assured they will give you all the technical information you want, they are not hiding anything. When you buy a Helicycle...they will allow you on the builders site....and there are tens of thousands of posts...and pictures to search.

I will be looking forward to the start of your build as I enter the final building on my machine. Just prepare yourself for slight delays in your shipments. You will find its worth the wait because they dont skimp on quality of their parts or their workmanship.


Stan
 
Stan, what type of Epoxy was that? somthing special for aluminum?

I assume there is no chance that once the blades are in the grips that the sag will not pop the bond.
 
gyro- I used what they sent....and followed the directions religously. They havent had any problems with the builders doing the bonding...and there are several ships flying with hundreds of hours on them. The highest one is over 500 hours now.

Its something that will be checked all the time...I feel a bonding failure will not end up in a catastrophic failure until many flying hours of careless disregard to a known doubler that had its bond popped.

I took this operation extra serious....and I dont know at this time what I could have done to made them any stronger. I am going to have a mirror finish on these blades...and this will keep me looking closely as I routinely polish the blades.

Stan
 
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