Laser cut Mo'Best parts..

I now have a prototype of the laser cut Brodak Mo'Best kit in my hot little hands, and will start fabrication this weekend. I'm particularly impressed with how it cuts the 1/64 and 1/32 plywood parts, which are used in the laminated spars, fuselage sides, and such. It's quite a capability to exploit.

As I build, I'll see if I can get my cheapie digital camera to work well enough to post some shots of it here. I should be able to illustrate some of the ideas which have been mentioned here.

I can already see some minor tweaks that I'll be making to the cutter drawings (e.g. compensate for laser cutter widths, (my) flubs, etc.) but initially I'm extremely impressed with what I've seen so far.

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(John said it was OK to let the cat out of the bag. The kit should become available in '05, God willing and the creek don't rise..)

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"I tell ya when I was a kid, all I knew was rejection. My yo-yo, it never came back!" -Rodney Dangerfield (God love him)

Tim

I took three test shots, and here is the best one, which is about what to expect in my posts:

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laser cut wood for the Mo'Best stab..

BTW, the original Mo'Best crest was multicolor, but had to be reduced to 4 or 5 colors. Here's what it originally looked like:

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Apologies in advance; I hope the poor digital camera photos will be useable.

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"I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent back a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof." -Rodney Dangerfield

Tim

You mean I'm stuck with this Cardinal and if I waited I could of had the Best!!!!

Also, Tim, my camera is a Vivitar 3615, with 2.1 megapixels, and "auto focus macro lens". Next, I'm going to try something completely new for me - (break down and) RTFM..

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"I met the surgeon general. He offered me a cigarette." -Rodney Dangerfield

You'll be surprised what they put in those things...

Tim

Interesting. Was the lettering also applied with the laser? On low power, no doubt..

also you guys would be surprised if you watch the sale papers for big stores like best buy or circuit city, even wal-mart you will find some really good cameras for pretty cheap...

anyway, just a thought,
a.l.

We'll see if anyone is clever enough to figure it out.

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"I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. He told me to wear a brown necktie." -Rodney Dangerfield

Bill

Click here and scroll down to the construction article:

http://www.control-line.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=22

Great articles, BTW. Some of the very best info I've seen about building profiles.

Thanks, I'm very glad you like them. However, some of that informatio is obsolete.

Steven Yampolsky has just posted my 10-part Laser-cut Mo'Best Builder's instruction series on the PAMPA site, which I predict you'll like even better. Much of it applies to the upcoming laser-cut kit from Brodak, and it may give you some ideas, if nothing else.

Enjoy! (They are highly compressed, and you need Acrobat Reader 6.0 or later to read them.)

Meanwhile, here's the first of my crummy digital photos:

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Here I have gathered the laminated pieces and stuff I need for the Mo'Best stab construction.

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"Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in the world." -Cesare Pavese

Here's one, by my friend Robert Compton:

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Ain't that a pretty paint scheme? I reminded him to connect the control rod..

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"My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend." -Rodney Dangerfield

I'm being forced to locate my balsa, tools, glue, and other supplies. And my friend Gary Marchand is relentless, he and my wife are ganging up on me. Hauling out all my junk and making a trip to the Lowe's to get me proper shelves and drawers. I'm out of excuses!

Worse, I OWE this guy a lot now. One of these days (and that day may never come) Gary Marchand is going to come to me and ask a favor..

My kingdom for my balsa stripper! I'm sure it will be in the last place I look (yeh, I know, even I am not stupid enough to keep looking after I actually find something..).

Now I'm going to have to BUILD it.. (Boy, this laser cut stuff is pretty.)

More soon, fellas. Actually, it sure feels good. I love the smell of a laser burning balsa in the morning..

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"I had a lot of pimples too. One day I fell asleep in a library. I woke up and a blind man was reading my face." -Rodney Dangerfield

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Laminated construction is: 1/16" bottom sheet, 1/8" bottom laminate, 1/32" plywood center laminated, 1/8" top laminate, 1/16" top sheet. The 1/32" plywood is intended to provide spacing for the hinge pockets.

Here's the middle laminate, 1/32" plywood. Notice the hinge pocket areas:

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The very narrow areas in the hinge pocket cutouts of the 1/32" plywood serve only for temporary alignment while the laminate is glued. Before I put the next 1/8" balsa laminate over this, I will use my Exacto blade to cut these areas away. This leaves a slot where the hinge can be plugged in.

Note that the center area of the 1/32" plywood is also missing, which leaves an area for the stab control horn.

Man, I just *love* lamination. I'm always amazed at just how rigid it all gets when it is glued up. The simple reason is that for it to bend, something has to stretch (longitudinally), which is doesn't want to do. By comparison, a solid piece of balsa that size would be more flexible..

There's another advantage - you don't have to look for a straight 1/4" thick piece for a spar or perimeter edge. It's made straight as you build it.

(Yes, it is more detail work and a little more time. But well worth the effort.)

When this piece is finished, I'll weigh it and tell you. More tomorrow.

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"If you don't want to work, you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work." -Ogden Nash

Steven Yampolsky

Here's what it looks like before the top 1/16" sheet is glued on:

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The diagonal formers are oversize in width, custom cut and fitted. Then a flat sanding block levels the top edge, before gluing on the top sheet.

I glued the top on, and I'm happy with its rigidity and straightness. I have only used a long flat sanding block to dress up the exterior edges. All but the trailing edge will be rounded to a semi-circular edge, which will reduce weight a little. Right now it is just left square.

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I tried to weigh it tonite, but my little OHaus digital scale says it weighs: bAt.. Naturally, I can't even find a fresh battery for it. Try again tomorrow.

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You can see the pre-made hinge pockets in the trailing edge here, which is one of the main objectives of this laminated approach.

The elevator is solid 1/4" sheet, which is tapered to 1/8" on the trailing edge. I'll be using steel rods as sanding guides for that. And the root areas will have 1/64" plywood external laminations, which I'll show.

Virtually all gluing used CA. I used drops of medium CA to tack pieces into position, aligned with peripheral edges, then final gluing used all thin CA, poured onto the joints and allowed to wick into the balsa. Tight joints are required, of course, which are not a problem here. Medium CA was used, spread on the top edges and surfaces, for the final top sheet.

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"The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost a law." -H.G. Wells

"Let's get the flock outa here!"

'Cunningham' means "milk pail town".. Take it from there!

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"When I was born the doctor took one look at my face, turned me over and said, "Look, twins!" " -Rodney Dangerfield

Steven Yampolsky

There's your clue.

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"In any organization there will always be one person who knows what is going on. This person must be fired." -Conway's Law

When I taper sand the 1/4" sheet elevators, I will weigh them before and after, just to see what sanding does.

Same with the prefinish and the addition of the control horn. I hope to get back to this soon, I have this WORK (my job) which keeps getting in the way.

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"Grass Gear"

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"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." -Herman Melville

My buddy Larry began this thread for a total of 11 postings out of 25 total until I came along. That's a 44% record, and I do believe it is a record.

My sincere congratulations, although Zambelli will surely view this as some sort of threat to his position of influence at Brodak, Inc.

Golly, Dan, I'm sorry! Equal time for you..

start here ==>

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"I wrote a few children's books...not on purpose." -Steven Wright

12-for-27, 44 4/9%, and still counting...

Ya Big Lug,

Dan

P.S. Did you see Rossi win championship in MotoGP? Great stuff, especially when he ran 220-plus hp Yamaha off on the grass! On the first lap!

I would also like to tell you something I'm sure you'll like to hear. In one of your older articles on MoBest( and on this forum as well) you've talked about a way to stiffen a profile fuse without all the extra weight gains that result from most other tecniques. I used nitrate dope to glass the entire fuse of my Pathfinder with .5 oz glass cloth. I then covered it with silkspan. The fuse became stiff as a board. Recently, a good firend of mine who happen to be an expert builder visited my shop. After playing with the fuse his comment was: "This is the STIFFEST profile fuse I've every seen!"

It may not be a new idea to glass the fuse but the choice of glue is key here! It allows an inexperienced builder such as myself to apply glass to the fuse without inherent danger of gaining too much weight if one were to use epoxy instead.

Another key to the process, in my oppinion, was use of silkspan over the glass cloth. Not only did it save me from having to apply lots of dope to fill in the grain(and add weight in the process) it also made the fuse even more stiffer(think sandwich construcion here)!

To me, MoBest is a collection of all the best building ideas that people have come up over the years. I sincerely wish it success!

Steven Yampolsky

My unrounded Mo'Best stab has a weight of 37g. A similar, slightly larger (26 inch span vs 24) not using the laminated construction, but a thicker 3/8" tall balsa perimeter version is 44g, which I believe is a similar weight based on volume. Finally, I have an "airfoiled" planked foam stab from an SV-11 here, which is similar size but 4" longer (at 28") and it weighs 47 g.

In some ways, the planked foam SV-11 stab is the most appealing, it certainly is attractive and was easiest to build. And it has an airfoil. As for the 5 laminated layers associated with the Mo'Best stab, clearly I'm paying some price for the 1/32" plywood center laminate, plus the additional CA glue. And it the most labor intensive of the three. But it definitely feels like the strongest one in torsion.

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"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is." -Chuck Reid

Fork over dem cash!

Best answer so far. Google my last name plus the phrase.

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"In the next century it will be the early mechanical bird which get the first plastic worm out of the artificial grass." -Bill Vaughan

Tim

For those who don't know, Larry and I are about as close as two people who have never actually met face-to-face can be. Factor in that I am small-l libertarian, Larry is off in left-wing outer space, and it is a most interesting friendship.

Also, the first time I looked at a set of Mo'Best plans I was stunned. Mainly 'cos I could see, in just moments, how many things I had been doing to such a low standard when it comes to profile CL models.

I am hoping for commercial success, although it looks to be mite big for one of those unmentionable engines.

Larry, are we still looking at November 4th as being a significant day? Gotta talk to the Big Guy, don't want to be misleading...

My best,

((Think we'll know by November 4?)) Oops, thought you were talking about the election. I'm delayed another month at least on the November 4 thing.

BTW, do those moto bikes really have 225 HP? That has to be at least as good in power/weight as F1.. No, better, right?

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"The only reason I would take up jogging is so I could hear heavy breathing again." -Erma Bombeck

That is an excellent point, one I must keep in mind.

>
>((Think we'll know by November 4?)) Oops, thought you were
>talking about the election. I'm delayed another month at
>least on the November 4 thing.
>
>BTW, do those moto bikes really have 225 HP? That has to be
>at least as good in power/weight as F1.. No, better, right?

Yes. The real trick is that they are *detuned* to current power levels of 220 to 240 horsepower. Remember, even at 220 rating the bikes are wheelie-limited to about 90 mph, meaning full throttle simply lofts the front wheel and they have to get off the gas. Also a big problem keeping them hooked up and driving off the corners when a higher-net but harder-hitting wad of power gets to the rear wheel. Some of the "strange" noises coming from certain Honda V-5s said to be a big-bang arrangement where all cylinder fire at the same time and then there is a lag during which rear tire gets traction once again. Over and over...

Formula 1 cars still have better power-to-weight. Latest Honda 3.0-liter V-10 is said to be developing 1,000 bhp. They don't weigh much more than 1,000 pounds...!

We're going to get grief over conversion of this thread. You defend to the right, I'll take the left...

Dan

>
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>
>"The only reason I would take up jogging is so I could hear
>heavy breathing again." -Erma Bombeck

Took a break from slot car web sites to visit SS, CONGRATS!!!!!!(took long enough)

Mark Boesen

Do you have further updates?