More On Outer Rotor Blades
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 11:49 am
Hey Fellas,
For those who are among the "movers and shakers" in the Brantly world, and if you have "contacts" to be able to provide input into solving the FAA possibly blessing a blade-rebuild STC, my
findings in this thread may be of some benefit. My belief is a stronger, more technologically-advanced way of bonding the skin on, will not only make rebuilding blades easier (=cheaper),
it will eliminate the cracking problem by spreading the damper loads over more area of the 0.018" skin AND even letting the foam carry some of the load. It will also eliminate that coin tap-test
to see how much of the skin actually stuck to the foam. This will result in 100% bonding. That "Seal-Pak" goop that the Brantly factory used was an old-fashioned way of doing it. There are
better ways now.
This modern film type adhesive from 3M was developed for Airbus for composite/metal bonds and is FAA certified. I am building Mini-500 tail rotor blades with it. I have professional coaching
from an appropriately trained 3M person.
http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showth ... 15&page=64 (starting with post 951)
Then to this thread ...post 164....http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showth ... 51&page=11
For those who are among the "movers and shakers" in the Brantly world, and if you have "contacts" to be able to provide input into solving the FAA possibly blessing a blade-rebuild STC, my
findings in this thread may be of some benefit. My belief is a stronger, more technologically-advanced way of bonding the skin on, will not only make rebuilding blades easier (=cheaper),
it will eliminate the cracking problem by spreading the damper loads over more area of the 0.018" skin AND even letting the foam carry some of the load. It will also eliminate that coin tap-test
to see how much of the skin actually stuck to the foam. This will result in 100% bonding. That "Seal-Pak" goop that the Brantly factory used was an old-fashioned way of doing it. There are
better ways now.
This modern film type adhesive from 3M was developed for Airbus for composite/metal bonds and is FAA certified. I am building Mini-500 tail rotor blades with it. I have professional coaching
from an appropriately trained 3M person.
http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showth ... 15&page=64 (starting with post 951)
Then to this thread ...post 164....http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showth ... 51&page=11