>
> > Paul
> >
> > what will it take to make a composite bell housing?
> >
> > Tony
> >
> > Good idea.
> > A female mold and high temp epoxy.
> >
> > As I recall the 2nd gen man tx bell weighed 7.5 pounds
> > so you should get a lot of pounds out of that.
> > Probably about to .125 wall thickness would be enough.
> > My guess is 13 plies of carbon cloth will do the job.
> > Vacuum bag would be wonderful.
> >
> > You could sell them or rent the mold out to a composite
> > shop and let them make and sell them for you.
> > Carbon fiber would be required for the stiffness needed.
> > You need to embed some small aluminum spacers where the
> > bolts go so the composite is not crushed when the bolts
> > are tightened. You can buy spacers from McMaster car.
> >
> > I'll do a sketch of the required spacers for you.
> >
> > http://www.dragonplate.com/sections/technology.asp
> >
> > .0956 oz per square inch for 13 plies (.124" thick) of carbon
> > fiber. You will need roughly 6" x 6" x 3.1416 = 113 square
> > inches for the front and 12" X 3.1416 X 3" deep = 113 square
> > inches for  the sides or 226 square inches times .0956 = 21.6 oz.
> > looks like 1.35 pounds. Add another pound for misc reinforcements.
> >
> > It would be a significant weight savings.
> >
> > Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
>
> One thing to remember is carbon eats aluminum by galvanic action -
> attach points for aluminum will need an insulating layer of fiberglass
> or whatever.
> You might be able to get away with some plastic, wood or just the > carbon
> for the hardpoints
> if the stresses are low enough.
> Weight savings do look extremely attractive...
> Cheers
> Cary

The guy we need on board here is the guy building the race cars
and has an all carbon airplane with a corvette motor in it.
I have his card somewhere what is his name again? anyway,
he would be the guy to do this one, without a doubt. I tried
to convince him to make just redrives when we talked at OSH
he seemed open to it if he could get rich doing it. I think
his concern was the market was a little lean for all the work
involved but a simple bellhousing shouldn't be a problem. Plus
his workmanship is unbelievable.

Tony

Paul I liked your drawing of the bell housing but I was hoping
the design would look a little more like what Algie is doing.
IMHO I think the housing needs to look more like an airplane
part. That Aquapour stuff I bought will work real nice for
making a mold. maybe I can convince Algie to vacuume it up
for me or if anyone else can do that kind of work I can send
them the mold. I'll use Doug Muellers redrive as a reference
I can mold that in real nice. What brand of heat resisant
epoxy do I want to use?

Tony

Good question for Algie.
-- 
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

I think it would be a good idea to contact Dave [ Mr. Algie] and see what
he'd charge. A word of
caution however, in the last while I read a note on his list about
rotaries, and it would appear
as though he's not exactly "Pro-Rotary". A good hint is the engine he's
putting in his
craft... Ls-1 and/or Ls-7. He mentioned that someone had come up to him at
Osh, trying to
convince him to put a rotary into his plane and the response, wasn't
entirely positive.

I'm still curious to see what he'd charge us for one of these.

Jarrett

The Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://www.rotaryeng.net
Copyright 1998-2006 All world wide rights reserved.