Building and Flying Related Boards › miniMax, Hi-Max, and AirBike General Discussions
sbank1957March 21, 2019, 5:54am
Well now I have another dilemma, I have all the wood ( spruce ) needed for the fuselage sides except the 1 1/4 pieces and the rear top longerons from mid cockpit back, what I have isn't long enough, I called wicks today and they said they only have cap,strips and not of that length, said once they get rid if what they got they wont be selling anymore spruce, I ask why and was told that they cant get good wood anymore, the tree's just aint there, didn't expect that, this leaves me to do what I didn't want to do, source my own wood, I didn't want to mix wood but Im going to have to, is this ok? furthermore I don't know what I might find locally white pine or douglas fir, I would like to stick with only one other type of wood so Im gonna call around tomorrow and see what I can find, I have heard of people digging through lumber only to come away with nothing.Is white pine good enough for spar's?
cdlwingnutMarch 21, 2019, 12:40pm
Try Aircraft Spruce if you are set on spruce, the wood will be expensive and shipping will cost as much or more than the wood for the long pieces.
If you source locally you might find some good white pine but finding sections long enough with good enough grain and no knots will be hard. I would find douglas fir flooring. that will have tight strait grain and will be stronger but heavier than spruce.
another option is poplar, several peitenpols have been buit with poplar. I myself wouldn't use it for spars though
TomMarch 21, 2019, 9:34pm
Do remember that you can scarph shorter pieces to length if you have to. I love to have long lengths, but if you can't get long lengths with perfect grain the whole way you are going to be better off scarphing to length anyway. Cost to ship aside. Of course it costs less to ship if you order everything you need at one time. Its the one piece you need thing that really causes the shipping to be expensive in relation to the wood. We used to sell drafting splines and the cost of shipping was invariably more than the cost of the spline. Completely out of our control but I got really nasty responses from people even though I'd tell them in advance what it would cost. Finally I had to raise the price of the splines. Then everyone was happy. It wasn't the total cost that bothered them. It was the fact that the shipping cost more than the spline.
I've worked with wood all my life and have often been told that particular woods aren't available anymore. So far I've found it is more a matter of finding the people who cut that particular species.
Tom
radfordcMarch 22, 2019, 3:19pm