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Carbon Fiber Rudder
I've been working on making a carbon fiber rudder (RV-8 drop-in replacement) for a little while now and finally have a little bit of progress to share. I just fabricated the skins this past week while I was home from school for spring break. This project is primarily for my own education with designing/fabricating composite parts, and I'm quite happy with how the skins came out. The look is a bit different than the stock RV-8 rudder, with some influences from the GB1 Gamebird.
I'll try to include some pictures on here, but I have a lot more pictures and a fairly detailed write up on my website: https://sites.google.com/view/adamav...der?authuser=0 Let me know what you think! |
Awesome project
Hi Adam,
What a great project to learn about design and manufacturing . Liked the new shape of the trailing edge. Great write up on your website. Cheers, |
Wow...that looks really nice!! I?m sure you could sell a lot of those if you ever decided to produce them.
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Don't forget to flutter-qualify it!
And since the area looks reduced, be sure to run it through the full set of lateral-directional stability and control tests. Dave |
Ashley and Mark: Glad you guys like it. The mold is still in great condition due to many hours or prep time.. additional rudders may be something I would consider a bit in the future, but this one is for education and validation.
Dave: The area of the rudder is nearly identical to the stock RV-8 rudder. The rudder will be counter-balanced as well. When it comes time, flight test will be taken seriously. Thanks for your concern! |
Nice!! Are you going to bond real ribs in there for stiffness? Any projection on a weight comparison with the stock 8 rudder?
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That looks cool!
My only comment is that there isn't a fitting for the rear light. Can you make the entire trailing edge a combination position and strobe light with LED's? |
How does the torsional stiffness compare to the stock one?
Dave |
Boiler Up !!
Knew he must be a Purdue student !!!!
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