At 08:07 PM 2/8/2005, you wrote: > >From the FAA A.C. 43.13 (You have read the FAA bible, havn't you?): > >1-43. REPLACING SOLID TYPE SPARS WITH LAMINATED TYPE SPARS >Solid spars may be replaced with laminated spars or vice versa, provided the >material is of the same high quality. > >There is also supposedly excellent book on wood aircraft design and >construction that someone mentioned a while back (Don Reid?).
> > How about making up wing spar caps out of several laminations of ply? > > As we are taught, a good scarf makes for any length you like without > > any strength compromise. > > > Using 5 ply must surely result in a bullet proof spar? The book is ANC-18, Design of Wood Aircraft Structures. It is the bible of wooden airplane design. You do NOT want to make spar caps out of plywood. In the FAA reference, they are talking about laminating using with the wood fibers oriented along the length of the spar. The grain may be oriented in a variety of different ways in spar lamination, but the wood fibers must run the length of the spar. There is a lot of science involved in structural design and it is certainly one area in which you do not want to do something stupid Don Reid - donreid "at" peoplepc.com Bumpass, Va Visit my web sites at: AeroFoil, a 2-D Airfoil Design And Analysis Computer Program: http://aerofoilengineering.com KR2XL construction: http://aerofoilengineering.com/KR/KR2XL.htm Aviation Surplus: http://aerofoilengineering.com/PartsListing/Airparts.htm EAA Chapter 231: http://eaa231.org Ultralights: http://usua250.org VA EAA State Fly-in: http://vaeaa.org
