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Designer's mind in design mode.
3 years ago
Coming up with design ideas is easy for me... many of you know this if you have been watching me long. So it's nothing new.
When you design something is it just for one thing or so it can fill different rolls?
Well I look at the my aircraft designs and wonder how much work is it going to be to change things around to fit another design without a redesign.
Wings it's fairly easy to do by moving things on the wing spars. With the fuselage it's a different story. A lot of stuff has to be move. What if you make a backbone or spine most everything attaches to? Like they did with the Australian ultralight design called Tyro. The aluminum tube they used is not available here in the States it looks to be 100 mm square and likely 2 mm wall thickness. The best I can do is 4 inches square and .125 inch wall or 3.2 mm. The last I checked the tube was 300 plus dollars a length and I would need two. Then add in a trip south of Seattle to pick them up.
So what can I get locally or have shipped to San Juan Island? Clear grain hemlock comes to mind it's less than half the cost of Spruce or Fir. Extruded polystyrene foam is readily available as is epoxy resin and fiberglass. Doing a rough weigh of what I'm planning it will be lighter than the aluminum tubing and it would be more complete when I'm done.
The spine would sat on and under if seating was tandem or beside it for side by side the only thing that changes is the width of the floor and cross braces. The cabin side panels and doors are fully removable... can you say wind in your face?
My mind at play is a scary thing!
The question is do I build the prototype tandem or side by side? What are your thoughts?
When you design something is it just for one thing or so it can fill different rolls?
Well I look at the my aircraft designs and wonder how much work is it going to be to change things around to fit another design without a redesign.
Wings it's fairly easy to do by moving things on the wing spars. With the fuselage it's a different story. A lot of stuff has to be move. What if you make a backbone or spine most everything attaches to? Like they did with the Australian ultralight design called Tyro. The aluminum tube they used is not available here in the States it looks to be 100 mm square and likely 2 mm wall thickness. The best I can do is 4 inches square and .125 inch wall or 3.2 mm. The last I checked the tube was 300 plus dollars a length and I would need two. Then add in a trip south of Seattle to pick them up.
So what can I get locally or have shipped to San Juan Island? Clear grain hemlock comes to mind it's less than half the cost of Spruce or Fir. Extruded polystyrene foam is readily available as is epoxy resin and fiberglass. Doing a rough weigh of what I'm planning it will be lighter than the aluminum tubing and it would be more complete when I'm done.
The spine would sat on and under if seating was tandem or beside it for side by side the only thing that changes is the width of the floor and cross braces. The cabin side panels and doors are fully removable... can you say wind in your face?
My mind at play is a scary thing!
The question is do I build the prototype tandem or side by side? What are your thoughts?
Vix