|Pat wrote: I did make a gear spring as you describe, 55 layers in all of Bid and uni, came out to 7/8" thick and weighed in 20% heavier than the cessna spring I was copying and was not as stiff. I was surprised. Perhaps I used too much resin.| I laminated the the 78 layers for the gear legs on a cool day, about 50F. It took 5 hours to wet out each layer individually and press them into the mold. After curing, I took them to a commercial composite aircraft fabricator in town. He was impressed at how much less resin I used than he had anticipated. (Each layer was thoroughly wetted out.) I then wrapped them with BID, installed the brake line tubing and wrapped that. They are stiff, but with 200lbs they bend about 1/8", and are light, approximately 4.3lbs each at 29" in length. I still need to test them with more weight. As I cut out each leg from the single mold, 8"x30" I inspected to insure there were no air pockets. I will post pictures when I get a website setup.
Rodger
