Gidday,
Advise on leading edge floxing sought from classic builders.
I have a classic with the leading edge cores all setup for the big day.
Only a few tidyup jobs to do and "on with the show". HOWEVER, I was
wondering if I could get the collective wisdom of those that have gone
before me.
My question is this: "I want to flox the ribs in advance so that I have a
perfectly flat surface to skin over. I have sought advice from Andy who
recommends against this method but says that it should not degrade the
required strength in this area considerably. The triangular sections either
side of the ribs are 1/4" or 6 mm wide, so the total width should be approx
1/2" or 12 mm. My width is 15 mm and about 6-8 mm in depth. This increase
in area combined with the fact that my wing skins will be perfectly flat
over the ribs should equate to a strength neutral position and leave me
with less to do in one go during the big layup. I intend on peel plying the
flox and carefully sanding it prior to skin layup.
So this is what I want to do, and I am keen to hear whether people think it
is a dumb idea or a good one. In conclusion I figure if the wing flexes so
much that the upper surface skin wants to depart the flox surrounding the
rib below, that the wing is under tremendous stress already, and that a
compromised or slumped wing skin that had the flox placed at the same time
will not cope as well as my setup which will maximise the inherant strength
of the skins. I know people will tell me that it isn't that bad to do all
at once. The fact is that I don't really feel confident I can get the
required standard I want with floxing in the vertical plane which is
something I have never done before. I know my way I can get uncompromised
skins.
Help?????Pleeeeeeese.
Reg Tony Renshaw
Reg
Tony Renshaw
Builder No.236
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