My OperaThat’s one small step for a man….
Sunday, October 10, 2010 6:04:00 PM
And one giant leap for mankind. That’s the famous words of Neil Armstrong said when he set foot on the moon in July of 1969. I like to think that when Neil said those words he was thinking about the Wright brother’s trip to Kitty Hawk, NC. And the one small step they took. Not in 1903 and the first powered flight, but in 1900 and their first glider flight. The Wright’s knew that the secret to manned flight was balance and control of a flying machine, balance of the machine in the three axes, pitch, the up and down of the nose of the machine, yaw, the side to side movement of the tail of the machine and the roll the up and down movement of the wings. Past flight enthusiasts and some nuts had shown the pitch and yaw axes in some of their machines but not the roll axes, sometimes with disastrous results. The Wright’s knew from watching birds in flight how they would twist their wings to roll in flight, but the problem was how to make a mechanical machine act the same way as birds in flight. The solution came to Orville Wright one day at the bicycle shop while playing with small long cardboard box that a bicycle tube came in, he would twist the ends of the small box causing the box to raise one end, while the other end lowered. He told his brother and together they built a small kite, and low and behold the wings twisted making the kite turn to the left and right. Controlled flight at last. The next step was to build a man carrying glider to test their theory, but where to fly it? Not Dayton Ohio that’s for sure. The Wrights did not want prying eyes of any reporters to see or photograph their experiments. They needed steady winds and an isolated place, Kitty Hawk, NC. was it.
OK, enough of the history lesson on with the build. I decided to build the wing first after all the rudder and elevator are attached to the wing, and the wing has all the controls. First up is to make the wing ribs that will define the shape or curvature of the wing. I am going to throw some engineering words at you, and I will fill you in what they mean. Leading and tailing edges. Leading edge of the wing is the part where the air first strikes the wing; trailing edge is the last part or the back part of the wing. The chord line, in simple terms is the width of the wing and the camber is the curvature of the wing. The Wright’s in the 1902 glider used a chord of 60 inches and a camber of 1/20, with the curve of the wing near the leading edge, in my 1/3 scale I used a chord of 20 inches and a camber of 1/20. The Wright’s were obsessed with weight and strength. They instead of making the wing ribs of one piece of wood curved they laminated the ash wood rib for strength using a process in woodworking called steam bending. This did not work to well; over a period of time the wood returned to its original shape the wing curve was lost. Next they use the only glue available at the time Hyde glue made from animal skins. Using 3 thin strips of Ash glued together they bent the wood around a form in shape of the wing rib. When dry the wood was in the shape of the rib they wanted, but this failed also, when damp the glue softened and the rib delaminated. They solved this with the Hyde glue and small nails driven through the wood and bent flat on the other side, the ribs held their shape. I decided to use off the shelf modern wood glue and a made wood press instead of the peg and board way of bending wood. I know that’s not the way the Wright’s did it, you broke your own rule, (see past posts for my rules on the build), The Wright’s used the available technology of the day, and so I am following their lead. Besides Hyde glue is very hard to get. I used Ash cut into thin strips, glued together and then pressed to build strength to the wing.
Comment: We all have our one small steps, Neil had his on the moon, the Wright’s had theirs at Kitty Hawk, I think this build is mine, thanks, Neil, Wilbur and Orville
I posted some photos of the build, more will be added, enjoy
OK, enough of the history lesson on with the build. I decided to build the wing first after all the rudder and elevator are attached to the wing, and the wing has all the controls. First up is to make the wing ribs that will define the shape or curvature of the wing. I am going to throw some engineering words at you, and I will fill you in what they mean. Leading and tailing edges. Leading edge of the wing is the part where the air first strikes the wing; trailing edge is the last part or the back part of the wing. The chord line, in simple terms is the width of the wing and the camber is the curvature of the wing. The Wright’s in the 1902 glider used a chord of 60 inches and a camber of 1/20, with the curve of the wing near the leading edge, in my 1/3 scale I used a chord of 20 inches and a camber of 1/20. The Wright’s were obsessed with weight and strength. They instead of making the wing ribs of one piece of wood curved they laminated the ash wood rib for strength using a process in woodworking called steam bending. This did not work to well; over a period of time the wood returned to its original shape the wing curve was lost. Next they use the only glue available at the time Hyde glue made from animal skins. Using 3 thin strips of Ash glued together they bent the wood around a form in shape of the wing rib. When dry the wood was in the shape of the rib they wanted, but this failed also, when damp the glue softened and the rib delaminated. They solved this with the Hyde glue and small nails driven through the wood and bent flat on the other side, the ribs held their shape. I decided to use off the shelf modern wood glue and a made wood press instead of the peg and board way of bending wood. I know that’s not the way the Wright’s did it, you broke your own rule, (see past posts for my rules on the build), The Wright’s used the available technology of the day, and so I am following their lead. Besides Hyde glue is very hard to get. I used Ash cut into thin strips, glued together and then pressed to build strength to the wing.
Comment: We all have our one small steps, Neil had his on the moon, the Wright’s had theirs at Kitty Hawk, I think this build is mine, thanks, Neil, Wilbur and Orville
I posted some photos of the build, more will be added, enjoy
