Making Bamboo bi-plane wing struts

[Derek B]

What you see here is the end of a six foot length of bamboo - I shall cut a short piece off to illustrate how I used to make my own bamboo bi-plane struts.

 

This is approximately 4.5" long.

 

After sawing the bad end off, I made a vertical cut and sectioned it along the length of the cane, leaving a usable piece about 70mm in length.

 

I then cut the sawn section into a thin sheet approximately 1.5 - 2mm thick.

 

After filing and sanding the slice to the correct overall thickness (and for this - not having a 1/32 bi-plane kit, I decided on a fictional typical wing strut that measured 1.5" thick x 4" wide x 5ft in length, which roughly equates to 1.2mm x 3mm x 50mm respectively in 1/32).

 

Next stage was to start cutting out the strut - it was possible to get three out of this slice, but I am only going to make one.

 

Stage one of shaping; Getting the outline correct (again, this one is simply one that I have made up from my imagination).

 

Stage two of shaping: Filing and sanding the trailing edge to the correct aerofoil shape and sharpness.

 

Stage three of shaping: Filing and sanding the rounded leading edge of the strut - this completes the shaping of the strut which can now have the ends drilled and either a short length of wire or plastic rod inserted and glued to form a location spigot for the kit wing.

 

Any hard wood can be used for this task, although as shaping it to the correct aerofoil shape takes the longest time, it would be a good idea to use the longest strip that you can make (or buy some wood strip that is already approximately the correct width and thickness).

 

If you decide to use anything other than hand tools (i.e. power tools), please take care to take safety precautions to prevent any possible personal injury or splintering or grabbing of the wood, which could fly out of your hands.

 

Derek

 

[Zero77]

Thanks Derek !

Very nice tutorial. And it looks great !

 

Personnally my main issue with biplane struts is not really the strut itself but both ends of the struts. That's always there that they broke, where they are glued on the wing (and i've already tried to replace the plastic locating pin with metallic wire, but it broke again... Too bad, i reglue it twice, three or for times... ).

But the idea to make them with bamboo is pretty good, and no need to make the wood grain with paint.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Zero77