Wing Profiling Advice

Thanks guys - that helps.

Anyone out there have any experience with heating the
wings to get to a stable post-curing shape? I'm a bit
concerned about being the first person on the planet
to easy-bake my glider.

9B

At 16:48 07 September 2004, Tomnkeylargo wrote:
What BB said happened to mine also. I also got blowen
off with no help offered
except bring your checkbook. My bottoms were really
bad with waves of great
than .009 or worse. Some approaching .018 to .022.
Now, everything is fine and
they are down to .002 or less. Mr. Fidel did mine,
he does great work, as do
several others around the country. BUT you have to
get it done for the
performance to be where it should be. # 711.

Thanks guys - that helps.

Anyone out there have any experience with heating the
wings to get to a stable post-curing shape? I'm a bit
concerned about being the first person on the planet
to easy-bake my glider. But at the same time I don't
want to make this a bi-annual event for the next half-dozen
years.

At least I have a convenient, lame excuse for my competition
performance this year.

9B


At 16:48 07 September 2004, Tomnkeylargo wrote:
What BB said happened to mine also. I also got blowen
off with no help offered
except bring your checkbook. My bottoms were really
bad with waves of great
than .009 or worse. Some approaching .018 to .022.
Now, everything is fine and
they are down to .002 or less. Mr. Fidel did mine,
he does great work, as do
several others around the country. BUT you have to
get it done for the
performance to be where it should be. # 711.

Snip

(John Cochrane) wrote in message . com...

BTW, I contacted the factory under the warranty, but they blew me
off. We're on our own with this. On the good side, once it's done you
have a great glider!

John Cochrane (BB)


John

You may need to look into the German or EU warranty rules. It seems to
me that this would be considered a manufacturing problem.

Bob

Andy Blackburn wrote in message ...
Thanks guys - that helps.

Anyone out there have any experience with heating the
wings to get to a stable post-curing shape? I'm a bit
concerned about being the first person on the planet
to easy-bake my glider. But at the same time I don't
want to make this a bi-annual event for the next half-dozen
years.


One repair man I know gets the recommended repair cure temperature by
putting black polythene over the trailer.

Just moving back to Arizona may be good enough.


Andy

In a similar vein, I was thinking about using a toilet
plunger to pull the dimples out.

It was only 105 in the PHX area today - autumn must
have arrived!

;-)

At 23:18 07 September 2004, Andy Durbin wrote:
Andy Blackburn wrote in message news:...
Thanks guys - that helps.

Anyone out there have any experience with heating
the
wings to get to a stable post-curing shape? I'm a
bit
concerned about being the first person on the planet
to easy-bake my glider. But at the same time I don't
want to make this a bi-annual event for the next half-dozen
years.


One repair man I know gets the recommended repair cure
temperature by
putting black polythene over the trailer.

Just moving back to Arizona may be good enough.


Andy

(Bob) wrote in message


John

You may need to look into the German or EU warranty rules. It seems to
me that this would be considered a manufacturing problem.

Bob

With enough people pitching in it may be possible to win a class
action. The fix may be worse than the problem though as it could put
Schleicher out of business. I just wish Schleicher would offer an
option for cured sailplanes. I'll be reluctant to buy another "rare"
one.


Andy

(Bob) wrote in message . com...
Snip

BTW, I contacted the factory under the warranty, but they blew me
off. We're on our own with this. On the good side, once it's done you
have a great glider!

John Cochrane (BB)


John

You may need to look into the German or EU warranty rules. It seems to
me that this would be considered a manufacturing problem.

Bob

It sure is a manufacturing problem under anyone's rules. But the cost
of a refinish is a bit below the time, effort, and acrimony it would
cost to sue them, so I sighed, signed the check, and now have a
gorgeous glider and perhaps a bit more goodwill when I want to buy the
next one. Those of us who bought with the Euro at .9 got cheap gliders
in the end anyway!

John Cochrane BB

John Cochrane (BB)

(John Cochrane) wrote in message . com...
Welcome to the club. Every recent 27B I know of has had this problem
to greater or lesser extent. Mine had awful shrinkage and dimples
after only three months. I gather this is due to curing of the epoxy
gluing the spar to the wing skins, and will happen eventually in hot
or cold weather. I had mine fixed. The decline and then restoration of
the original (amazing) performance was noticeable. I was advised to
wait 3 years so the curing and dimpling is complete before fixing. I
ignored this wise advice and have a little additional shrinkage in the
two years since I had it fixed, but not yet enough to consider doing
it again. It's important to have someone you really trust do this; a
poor job can screw up the entire wing profile. I would advise paying
more to be sure the profiling is done right. BTW, I contacted the
factory under the warranty, but they blew me off. We're on our own
with this. On the good side, once it's done you have a great glider!

John Cochrane (BB)

Hi John,

I have some issues with my ASW 27A as well however I do not have
dimples in the true sense of the word. Have you or anyone else
measured the depth of the reported dimples? I thought I had dimples
which appeared in regular rows both spanwise and cordwise, however,
they had no depth and could not be felt. They were visible only when
looking at the wing obliquely in the sunlight. I am told they are
produced when the wing is being made. Apparently, when the wing is
made there are vent holes in the jelcoat which are filled with a
somewhat different material and then finished leaving what look like
dimples but are completely smooth. Do you have any depth measurements
of the dimples or further obsevations? By the way my ship was
manufactured in Oct.'98 and has flown about 750 hrs.

Lorry Charchian (LJ)

Larry,
The dimples you see are from holes in the foam core
that allow resin to penetrate the foam and insure a
good bond between the cloth and core. Usually don't
cause a performance problem.

Some ships are perfect and stay that way, others go
to hell in no time at all. Ever wonder why? We have
a 27 here in Northern California that is absolutely
perfect and it shows. It's owner just won the 18 meter
nats with it.

JJ's theory--------------Oh, lets hear yours first.
:) JJ

Thanks to all for the input and theories. I'm going
to go find/build a wave guage and measure the depth
of all these emerging imperfections and report back
here. My ship arrived with perfect skin, the blemishes
didn't arrive until 'puberty' (age 18-20 months --
this year).

Anybody able to point me to a source and/or plans to
make a wing wave guage?

Thanks!

9B

At 18:18 15 September 2004, John Sinclair wrote:
Larry,
The dimples you see are from holes in the foam core
that allow resin to penetrate the foam and insure a
good bond between the cloth and core. Usually don't
cause a performance problem.

Some ships are perfect and stay that way, others go
to hell in no time at all. Ever wonder why? We have
a 27 here in Northern California that is absolutely
perfect and it shows. It's owner just won the 18 meter
nats with it.

JJ's theory--------------Oh, lets hear yours first.
:) JJ