RC India

I am Vishwajeet Karmarkar, part of a company called 12C Composites. We at 12C undertake custom orders for carbon fiber components.  This post is to demonstrate our abilities to manufacture small to medium sized wings for various hobbyists requirements.

Making of the wing:
The wing order we received was a profile of NACA0015. The wing length was 2m, and chord length was 330mm. The client needed an aluminum ribs+spar assembly and carbon skins.(its also possible to make the rib+spar assembly in carbon).
Steps we utilized to build the wing:
1) Structural analysis: First step we undertook was to analyse the wing to prevent failure during operation. The carbon layup pattern, thickness, size of rib, spars was determined during this stage. Highly trained and experienced personnel(10+ years) , performed this analysis.(Licensed software)
2) Mold making: The wing profile was machined in MDF using a VMC. Various finishing operations with various easy to sand and gloss primers were performed on the mold.
3)Skin Layup: Once the mold was finished satisfactorily, the carbon skin layup was done.This was according to the layup pattern determined in the analysis report.
4)Ribs + spar assembly: 5XXX Series Al, was used to make this assembly. The ribs were laser cut high accuracy, and then welded using a TIG Welder. Highest level of quality control was ensured during welding.
5) Bonding: The rib+spar assembly was then bonded with the carbon skins using high strength structural adhesives.

Following this link will take you to some photographs during construction:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxOaXGSu212hOGdiblZPTXZ4OHM

Following this link will take you to a video of us doing a skin layup at our workshop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwk4oDQZbQ
 
I would love to hear your opinions and thoughts about this project. If you are interested in getting such wing blades in carbon, glass fiber feel free to shoot us a mail. Any other projects big or small, we have the team ready, right from design to analysis to manufacturing of your parts. We have a variety of techniques to manufacture wings, from the one demonstrated above, to skinning carbon on a foam core etc.

If interested please drop us a mail at contact@12cccomposites.co.in . We would love to undertake any of your needs of carbon fiber, at reasonable costs! You can also call me on +919881201968

We also have developed a carbon fiber frame for 10 inch props. You can buy it here:http://www.flipkart.com/12c-miscellaneous-electronic-hobby-kit/p/itmegsuxgvppukbj?pid=EHKEGSUXYTA5JZGY.

Visit our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/12ccomposites/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel, or our website at www.12ccomposites.in

Dear Mr. Vishwajeet Karmakar,

Its a good initiative you took. Nice built.

Thank you :)

Nice build... some pics of laying out the Ribs and joining the two halves would be great.

BTW The Mozart music and fast forwarded video made it look like a Charlie Chaplin Gig!! was kind of fun to watch

very impressive - world class capability ...
what is the weight of the wing ?

can you do Carbon fiber cowlings , landing gear ....?
you will get good response as these items are expensive to ship from abroad
.

Thanks a lot! Now that you mention it, it does seem like an old movie.Should have made it in black and white!! With regards to joining of the two halves we have used some tricks down our sleeve, and hence can't showcase it! ;) Its not as if I am trying to suggest we have some hi-tech out of the world technique, but we would maybe not like to share it out. I hope you are ok with it!

@saikat. Thanks for the kind words! We have a long way to go for world class facilities but we surely are trying very hard to get there! We can do pretty much anything if time and money prevails. I am personally not aware of how cowlings or landing gear would be made, but now that you mention it, I will surely have a look.

Weight: The carbon skin is near to a kg. The Al ribs+spar assembly is somewhere around 3Kg. These wing blades will power a 1KW Wind turbine.

@vishu14,
Great work and great video.  {:)}
Do you collaborate technically with your clients or just supply whatever is asked for?
I suppose weight is not particularly important in this application.
Just started wondering - with 2 or 4 blades of 2m x 33cm 0015, what windspeed and pitch would produce 1kw..., at what rpm... Etc.
I'm just a retired armchair guy, so would appreciate whatever you can tell us without revealing your proprietary data.
Best wishes and regards.

@K K Iyer
Thank you! We work as per the need of the clients. If they want us to directly manufacture parts we do that. There are some projects where the client only knows what he wants, we undertake the design, analysis and even testing if need be.
This particular project is for a Vertical Axis wind turbine. According to the client they have a unique design, for which they have also applied for a few patents. Beyond that I am unaware of particular details of how it will work.

Regards,
Vishwajeet

Great work 12c composites.
I have noticed following things which needs to be taken care of while manufacturing the composite parts using vacuum bagging tech:
1)initial layer of the resin-hardener should apply in the same direction for the better and glossy finish. it reduces the post processing work of finishing the product.
2) adequate quantity of the resin-hardener should be mixed before applying to the each layer of cloth( i have seen you guys were mixing resin-hardener 3-4 times for single layer of fabric) to retain the chemical composition of resin-hardener which will results in improvement of fatigue failure.
3)splits needs to be provided into the vacuum bag while working on uneven shape of mould as it results in even vacuum pressure throughout the mould without compromising the streching of the bagging film.

I would love to see your work in future.

_
Harshad

Thank you Harshad for your valuable insights! We will surely keep them in mind for future work.