Pelican Parts Forums

Pelican Parts Forums (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/)
-   Porsche 911 Technical Forum (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/)
-   -   Building another wing for track use (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/865309-building-another-wing-track-use.html)

Jack Olsen 05-14-2015 01:19 PM

Building another wing for track use
 
An old 911 generates a lot of lift at speed. On a track, it's helpful to put some kind of wing on the back of the car (and a splitter up front) to keep the thing better-stuck at speed. I've had a bunch of different wings -- some of which I bought second-hand and some that I've made. The first was glued together out of aluminum and worked well, but was a pain in the neck to make. More recently, I've had EPS foam cores cut by a CNC hot wire cutting place and then skinned them, variously, with aluminum, heat-shrink stuff, packing tape, and even contact paper.

I had a wing fail last week, and now I want to try a different size of wing next. But the waiting time and price of getting a new core cut are enough that I've decided to try and cut my own with a primitive hot wire cutter that -- if it works -- will slice through (and seal) the foam, and give me a wing for not much more than the cost of a sheet of wall insulation.

The first step was testing to see if I had the stuff I needed to build a hot wire cutter. So I grabbed an AC wall adapter and a current-adjusting dimmer switch off from my deck, and clipped a piece of .023 wire from my MIG welder.

I think I'm going to document this project with video, so here's the first 3-minute clip of me awkwardly talking to a camera in my garage. :)

http://imageshack.com/a/img910/7219/TKsWoN.jpg

Let me know what you think of it. And anyone who knows more about this kind of project than me, please feel free to nudge me in the right direction where I'm doing stuff wrong.

juanbenae 05-14-2015 04:29 PM

jack has jumped the shark for no other reason than is there is too many new members that inhabit this place not aware of your godness...... haha...

ipapilot 05-14-2015 05:13 PM

Looking forward to the results of this one!

Trackrash 05-14-2015 05:26 PM

As usual, Jack takes DIY to a new level. I will anticipate the results.

I am thinking that using 1' long sections, cutting them to the airfoil shape, and gluing them together might be a strategy to consider.

rothaus 05-14-2015 05:34 PM

Jack, you got way to much time to play around... LOL

Cheers
Engelbert

tctnd 05-14-2015 06:10 PM

An old Lionel train transformer makes a good hot wire control unit.

regards,
Phil

proffighter 05-19-2015 03:44 AM

Hello Jack

Nice project! I have some expierences in cutting foam if you are interested. Made my own wing and door panels. Here you'll find some pics about them, just scroll down:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-930-turbo-super-charging-forum/634616-another-rust-combat-3.html

PS I spent about 150USD for my DIY cutting bow (or how that's called in english)

Helijohn 05-19-2015 05:00 AM

Hello Jack

You can use piano or gitar wire for cutting.

proffighter 05-19-2015 05:31 AM

If you wanna build your own power supply (german sorry, but I guess info is usefull):

seite - Page: 30 of 105

And I tried other wire like guitar before, useless due the heat transfer, hot in the middle, cold at the sides. Use wire made for cutting, not expensive and way better results.

Bergo 05-19-2015 05:49 AM

nichrome wire is what you should probably be using, same stuff they use in a toaster.

Taxi! 05-19-2015 05:56 AM

Jack's next project will be finally getting around to build that flux capacitor.

Alex973 05-19-2015 06:31 AM

a small aircraft wing maybe? please show us the final product.
thanks

Jack Olsen 05-19-2015 07:23 AM

Thanks, guys.

I'm waiting on some nichrome wire now -- and looking at different ways aircraft guys do this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by proffighter (Post 8628815)
Hello Jack

Nice project! I have some expierences in cutting foam if you are interested. Made my own wing and door panels. Here you'll find some pics about them, just scroll down:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-930-turbo-super-charging-forum/634616-another-rust-combat-3.html

PS I spent about 150USD for my DIY cutting bow (or how that's called in english)

Wow! I hadn't seen the thread on your car. I just got lost in it for awhile. Very impressive!

Kemo 05-19-2015 07:56 AM

thanks for posting this... interesting idea, will you be wrapping in Carbon? Curious to see how all this fits together.

Ferrino 05-19-2015 08:45 AM

What about a hot-knife like this from Harbor Freight?

130 Watt Heavy Duty Hot Knife

Cory M 05-19-2015 08:58 AM

here's a nice diy carbon wing build from a BMW racer for reference:

Foam Carbon Fiber Wing...DIY

douglas bray 05-19-2015 10:48 AM

Jack, I'm in the protective packaging business and deal with hotwired EPS foam almost every day. My foam guy has the materials and CNC equipment to make anything you'd like. I'm thinking I could pull some strings, so to speak.

joe payne 05-19-2015 10:51 AM

What about a fiberglass GT2 Wing w/ the aluminum adjustable extensions capped off with a carbon fiber banana wing?

ipapilot 05-19-2015 12:33 PM

Great idea joe, let's make that two!

Damon in STL 05-20-2015 06:45 AM

Hi Jack,

I played with with a homemade foam cutter a while back.....and never could get a good consistent profile over a long span.

I noticed in your vid the foam wing you have has a hole for a center spar. Can you tell me where you purchased it? Also, have you tried different NACA profiles? If yes....which one did you settle on?

Damon in STL

Edit: BTW...here is a link to what I've been playing with aero wise on my M3
Bimmer Forums CFD Link


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:36 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2025 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website


DTO Garage Plus vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.