Here's a sneek peak of the new wing design for the Belite aircraft. Notice: carbon fiber spar tubes, carbon fiber ribs, carbon fiber false ribs. Also note plywood veneer (0.4mm) which is bonded on top of carbon fiber rib cap strips for purposes of bonding to ceconite covering. Some of the glue joints have been made (EG: rib to spar) while others haven't yet been made. (EG: front false ribs). The entire weight of everything you see here is less than 14 pounds. (Not counting sand bag and level. :-)
Also note the really cool wing work benches we made. The stripes are exactly 6 inches apart, and the entire work surface has been leveled.
The end ribs have a solid sheet of carbon fiber bonded to them, for appearance. They are beautiful and they are completely visible, even after the ceconite covering has been finished.
I will have a completed aircraft, along with a completed airframe/wing without covering on display at Airventure. Come take a look!!
2 comments:
This is a stunning looking wing frame.
I'm very interested in understanding how you built the ribs from carbon fiber (CF). Did you CNC mill the rib pattern from a sheet? The clean, sharp edges of the rib inner edges look almost machined. I read that you modified to add plywood during the G load testing. I'm flying a Searey and the wings are similar enough that I'd like to chew on CF ribs and spars also. -Ken
Hi Ken, This is a waterjet cut Carbon fiber rib. We have a vendor who does them for us.
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