Page 5 of 8 FirstFirst 12345678 LastLast
Results 41 to 50 of 77

Thread: i am making a rudder

  1. #41
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Joan helped me get the rudder in the bag I had for it, after doing all the layup, finding out that I hadn't cut enough triaxial to quite get to the trailing edge on both sides, removing it and laying it all in, again. Here it is, hanging from a line between two sawhorses.Name:  vacuum-bag1.JPG
Views: 885
Size:  1.88 MB

    One end of the line is tied to my truck, the other end is tied to some Highland Games weights. There are bolts driven into the end of the rudder, with big washers on them. The bolts/washers fit into loops in the rope, to suspend the rudder off the ground, trailing-edge down.

    Name:  vacuum-bag-hang1.JPG
Views: 869
Size:  1.89 MB
    Last edited by AlanH; 01-15-2018 at 08:36 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  2. #42
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Then, on with the pump....and another lesson...get the butyl tape on the bag BEFORE hanging it. Sealing the bag took 45 minutes, seriously. Oy, ve.

    Name:  vacuum-bag-pump1.JPG
Views: 846
Size:  1.91 MB

    And finally, two space heaters going, and all tented up...

    Name:  vacuum-bag-tent1.JPG
Views: 845
Size:  1.59 MB
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  3. #43
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Inside the tent...

    Name:  vacuum-bag-tent2.JPG
Views: 796
Size:  1.61 MB
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  4. #44
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Greg says that the orange pump pulls air faster, so I ran it for about two hours. He loaned me another one, which I set up in the other end. It's been running for about an hour, now. I'll shut it down pretty soon. I never got a really excellent seal, so needed one or the other to be running to keep the bag down on the rudder. At this point the epoxy has started to seriously set up, so I doubt anything is going to get pulled into the breather. Anyway, neither of the pumps will run for more than 2 hours at a time.

    I'm going to be moving the space heaters around under the "tent" until about 9:00 PM. That means they'll have been under heat for about five hours. Incidentally, there's more plastic on the "tent" now, so it's more or less touching the ground everywhere but one end. I estimate it's about 85 degrees at the "top" of the tent and 70 nearer the ground.

    {{sorry for the big images}}
    Last edited by AlanH; 01-15-2018 at 08:20 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  5. #45
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    This has been a high-stress day. Hopefully what I've learned will make the next one lower stress, and with better results!

    Also, very curious to see this rudder when it comes out. I'm concerned that I was a bit skimpy with the epoxy
    Last edited by AlanH; 01-15-2018 at 09:00 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  6. #46
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    It's the next morning. I un-tented the rudder and turned off the heat at about 10:00 PM last night. I strung it up in my 50-deg. garage overnight and went to bed. This morning I went out and pulled the peel-ply off. It did not want to come off all that easily. The laminate was very sticky. It was very tightly adhered to the wood, but sticky.

    Name:  vacuum-bag-post-cure1.JPG
Views: 690
Size:  681.5 KB
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  7. #47
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Good news, I have contact/coverage all along the trailing edge of the blade.
    Badd, but not unexpected...The impossible "inside angle" of the leading edge where the stock is set back 3 inches from the blade is ugly...big surprise. I'll have to grind out about 5 inches of stuff. No biggie.

    However, now I know why the bleeder didn't absorb any excess epoxy. There wasn't any. The mixture is rather epoxy-starved, darnit. There's a lot of bonding to the wood, but also areas that need more. I only found two very small "silvery" areas, in non-structurally important places, where the glass didn't wet out at all. However, this *meh* bonding is not good.

    Upper half of rudder close-up..
    Name:  vacuum-bag-post-cure-closeup-stock.JPG
Views: 708
Size:  761.3 KB

    Blade close-up..

    Name:  vacuum-bag-post-cure-closeup-blade.JPG
Views: 606
Size:  706.4 KB
    Last edited by AlanH; 01-16-2018 at 11:23 AM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  8. #48
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    Well, the rudder was still very tacky, so there were still chemical bonds forming. I quick-like got the rudder outside and hung it on some sawhorses. Then I mixed up some epoxy and wiped it on there. It took a surprising amount to fill in the weave, but it did wet out really well. Lesson Learned!

    So this rudder is less than optimal. There is now probably too much epoxy in the epoxy/glass mixture for optimal strength. It'll be really strong, no question about that, but not optimal.

    Name:  vacuum-bag-post-cure-fillin-hang.JPG
Views: 742
Size:  946.6 KB

    Here's a closeup of the top half.
    Name:  vacuum-bag-post-cure-fillin-closeup-stock.JPG
Views: 728
Size:  952.0 KB

    Here's a closeup of the blade.

    Name:  vacuum-bag-post-cure-fillin-closeup-blade.JPG
Views: 712
Size:  963.6 KB

    The fact that I did this while the overnight-coat was still pretty tacky is good. It will probably bond really well, and from the appearance of the rudder, it SEEMS like there's a lot more wood/glass/epoxy filling-in-the-gaps going on. Still, it's frustrating. However, this is why I did the E rudder first, before the primary rudder. Next time...MOAR EPOXY in the layup!!.
    Last edited by AlanH; 01-24-2018 at 12:05 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  9. #49
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    I really want to finish this one off, but I need to get the vacuum pumps back to Greg. Next weekend is the cruise-in, the weekend after that is the 3BF, but I have the afternoon, after I do RC to set up the primary rudder and bag it.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    2,095

    Default

    The epoxy kicked off all day yesterday and last night in the garage. Rudder finish looks really good, tight to the wood and smooth, yay! On to the primary rudder!
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •