It Pays to Keep Learning
by Ed Berris
I do realize that the subject comment states the obvious but I wanted to tell you about my own experience last Saturday.
Larry Sorenson agreed to spend the better part of the day helping Kevin Kavaney to bag his first fiberglass wing. Jack Perecman and I wanted to see what new tricks we could learn so we all went to Larry's house in the morning.
Now, I should say that I have watched as well as laid up my own glass wing but I was not thrilled with my success. I knew it would take a couple ten more times before I felt really comfortable. Mike Martindale was kind enough to work with me to show me the ins and outs of a fiberglass wing lay-up. He makes everything look so easy that I figured I had it knocked and felt confident that I would have no trouble repeating the process in my own shop. I even copied Mike's idea for a lay-up table. I had all the tools, the gadgets, the vacuum pumps. Good lord, I had enough stuff to open a bidness.
The day came for me to lay up some wings. The day ended abruptly when I tried to transfer the wetted out, bias cut fiberglass cloth to my mylars. When Mike did it he had no trouble. When I did it the glass immediately became elongated and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get it to the right position on my mylars. It was frustrating beyond belief.
On Saturday I again learned why watching and doing and watching again can really make a difference. Larry employed a neat trick to transfer the bias cut fiberglass glass to the mylars by a simple but very elegant trick. He cuts the planform out of waxed paper. Lightly sprays the waxed paper with 3M Super 77 and then applies the tacky waxed paper to the fiberglass at a 45 degree angle. Next he cuts the glass using the waxed paper as a cutting guide. Using a rotary cutter makes this a very clean and easy process. No snags or pulled threads. Just a clean edge. Now, everything is together in one piece – the cut glass and the waxed paper.
Next, a measured amount of epoxy is applied by roller to the mylars. Once the mylars are covered with epoxy Larry positions the fiberglass/waxed paper glass side down onto the wetted out mylars. Then the waxed paper is carefully peeled away from the glass. A quick pass with a wetted roller completes the process. Naturally, there are more layers of glass and carbon that go onto the mylars but the process is simply repeated depending upon how many layer of glass are used.
Had I simply said: "I've seen people lay up wings before and watched five videos so I know how to do it but I just need practice" I would have never learned this trick.
That's why I always like to see how somebody else does something. It seems like I always come away with a new trick and a better technique.
Photos
Links to construction photos can be found in the photo gallery. Here is a link to the album.
