Weight saving exercise.

"Fortunat1" wrote in message ...

Mmm, maybe. Plan was to borow my buddie's TIG, though! I do know someone
who can do it for me, alright. On the other hand, ACS have atank for this
airplane.
By the way, I'm hurt! I learned to weld steel and it only took me a few
months! And it was fun, too..

So. . . Go for it! Practice on some 1/8" and gradually decrease the
thickness. Anything more than 1/8" will conduct the heat away too quick and
anything less will tend to melt, so it's a good thickness to start on. It'll
be an experience learning to sharpen your Tungsten just the way you want and
to control the heat to get a clean weld without birdpooping the Aluminum
into your shoe.

Good luck - and. . .have fun. )

Rich S.

Wood or Metal is also a q of balance, if the plane tend to be tail heavy a
metal prop is better then adding weight, or the other way if...

The hollow steel prop that is/was on Stearman was/is noticeable more
efficient then the common replacement Sensenich wood.

Beach, Ash or Beech is very strong to weight, a mahogany with a lot of clear
coats is a perfect thing to make the other plane owners being jealous.

Jan Carlsson
www.jcpropellerdesign.com

"Fortunat1" skrev i meddelandet ...
"Jan Carlsson"
:

To save weight, if an alu prop weight 30 lb. a birch will be 7 lb.,
mahogany 5.5 lb.

for efficiency, use the aluminium!


Well, in this case the prop would be very efecient indeed. It's a 76 inch
ground adjustable Ham Standard with a very nice section. That menas, of
course, that I can screw around with the pitch to get the perforamnce I
need.

"Jan Carlsson"
:

Wood or Metal is also a q of balance, if the plane tend to be tail
heavy a metal prop is better then adding weight, or the other way
if...

The hollow steel prop that is/was on Stearman was/is noticeable more
efficient then the common replacement Sensenich wood.


Coincidentally, that's pretty much what I have, on a smaller scale.

"Rich S." wrote in message
...
"Fortunat1" wrote in message ...
Yes, you would wrap the sheet to form the overall tank shape, weld in
a baffle or three working from the open ends and then weld on the ends
to close things up.

'Kay. makes sense. Al I have to do now is learn to weld aluminum!

Or, you can drill holes in the outer skin where the baffle flanges are
located and then weld them from the outside. It's a lot easier than trying
to get a stinger in the tank.

Learn how to weld Aluminum? After a couple thousand in dedicated
equipment, and a hundred hours of practice, you'll certainly be qualified.
It's a little easier than turning crankshafts, I suppose. If it was me,
I'd spend my time doing fun things and leave the 20 minutes of welding to
the pros.

Rich S.

It isn't all that bad, Rich. I use the same Smith torch and tanks for
aluminum as for steel. Use an aluminum flux and soft aluminum filler rod.
I would use a cheap spot welder to tack in the baffles. They work great on
aluminum.

Leave your outside seams as bent out flanges. Brush a little flux on the
flanges and melt them together with the torch. It really isn't terribly
tough. The flanges melt down and you don't even need filler rod! See the
Tinman videos on welding aluminum with a torch.

Highflyer
Highflight Aviation Services
Pinckneyville Airport ( PJY )

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
To save weight, if an alu prop weight 30 lb. a birch will be 7 lb.,
mahogany
5.5 lb.

for efficiency, use the aluminium!

Jan Carlsson
www.jcpropellerdesign.com


Aluminum will weigh 5 x the mahogany? Wow.

At 100-110 mph how much (WAG) efficiency would the wooden prop lose, on
say an Ercoupe?

What's the cost difference between aluminum and wooden props?

Why do people buy birch instead of mahogany?

Cool, a prop person g


Montblack

The wood prop is probably 3 to 5 percent less efficient, especially in
climb.

A new sensenich wood prop is about $1500. A metal prop is twice that.

Birch is more readily available and stronger and cheaper. Aircraft mahogany
is real hard to come by any more. It has to be real mahogany, not "luan" or
some other tropical wood that looks sort of like mahogany.

Highflyer
Highflight Aviation Services
Pinckneyville Airport ( PJY )

"Highflyer" :


"Rich S." wrote in message
...
"Fortunat1" wrote in message
...
Yes, you would wrap the sheet to form the overall tank shape, weld
in a baffle or three working from the open ends and then weld on
the ends to close things up.

'Kay. makes sense. Al I have to do now is learn to weld aluminum!

Or, you can drill holes in the outer skin where the baffle flanges
are located and then weld them from the outside. It's a lot easier
than trying to get a stinger in the tank.

Learn how to weld Aluminum? After a couple thousand in dedicated
equipment, and a hundred hours of practice, you'll certainly be
qualified. It's a little easier than turning crankshafts, I suppose.
If it was me, I'd spend my time doing fun things and leave the 20
minutes of welding to the pros.

Rich S.

It isn't all that bad, Rich. I use the same Smith torch and tanks for
aluminum as for steel. Use an aluminum flux and soft aluminum filler
rod. I would use a cheap spot welder to tack in the baffles. They
work great on aluminum.

Leave your outside seams as bent out flanges. Brush a little flux on
the flanges and melt them together with the torch. It really isn't
terribly tough. The flanges melt down and you don't even need filler
rod! See the Tinman videos on welding aluminum with a torch.

Kay, thanks John. I did try welding aluminum when i gt my bottles first
years ago, but gave up early on! Anyhow there was nothing for me to weld..

"Highflyer" wrote

It isn't all that bad, Rich. I use the same Smith torch and tanks for
aluminum as for steel. Use an aluminum flux and soft aluminum filler rod.
I would use a cheap spot welder to tack in the baffles. They work great
on
aluminum.

Isn't it true that most pros use TIG to weld aluminum? A good aluminum TIG
weld is a work of art. Can gas welding make as beautiful a fillet as TIG?

I tried gas welding (or soldering) with a cheap torch with some of that
"miracle rod" quite a few years back before I was interested in building
planes, or really, even welding. The results were horrid. I'll have to
give it a try with some proper rod and stock, now that I have a good torch.
What size tip, by the way? (Smith)
--
Jim in NC

P.S. Nice to see you back, for a while, even. The yahoo count is somewhat
low right now, with the right kill list! g

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 01:46:36 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote:

Isn't it true that most pros use TIG to weld aluminum? A good aluminum TIG
weld is a work of art. Can gas welding make as beautiful a fillet as TIG?

How do you supposed aluminum was welded before TIG was invented? They
used a torch. It just takes practice.

Corky Scott

"Corky Scott" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 01:46:36 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote:

Isn't it true that most pros use TIG to weld aluminum? A good aluminum
TIG
weld is a work of art. Can gas welding make as beautiful a fillet as
TIG?

How do you supposed aluminum was welded before TIG was invented? They
used a torch. It just takes practice.

Corky Scott

How long has TIG been around?
--
Jim in NC

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 10:07:36 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote:

How do you suppose aluminum was welded before TIG was invented? They
used a torch. It just takes practice.

Corky Scott

How long has TIG been around?

I think it was invented during WWII. Thought I saw some information
to that effect from "tinman".

He actually prefers to weld aluminum sheet using a torch, instead of
Tig. He sells special goggles for the purpose too.

Corky Scott