Plywood Substitute ?

[mthieme]

Stupid question of the week!
I expect to start building my next hydroplane after Xmas.
Typical construction consists of lateral braces typically spruce or marine plywood (made similar to manufactured beams in construction) with many small stringers along the top and bottom and then sheathed with thin marine plywood. Simple!
A neighbor who worked on planes has sheets of interior panels out of Boeing 737's. He passed away two weeks ago, so I can't ask him. They are about 1/2" thick, are honeycombed and are made of a very strong, light and waterproof material and are very rigid (perfect !). I'm wondering if I can use these for the lateral braces. I don't know squat about jets much less the construction of them.
I was wondering if anyone out their who might have worked on planes can comment on these sheets. Are they as strong as plywood?

 

[oops!]

Re: Plywood Substitute ?

Stupid question of the week!
I expect to start building my next hydroplane after Xmas.
Typical construction consists of lateral braces typically spruce or marine plywood (made similar to manufactured beams in construction) with many small stringers along the top and bottom and then sheathed with thin marine plywood. Simple!
A neighbor who worked on planes has sheets of interior panels out of Boeing 737's. He passed away two weeks ago, so I can't ask him. They are about 1/2" thick, are honeycombed and are made of a very strong, light and waterproof material and are very rigid (perfect !). I'm wondering if I can use these for the lateral braces. I don't know squat about jets much less the construction of them.
I was wondering if anyone out their who might have worked on planes can comment on these sheets. Are they as strong as plywood?

test them !

take a peice the size you want......in the case of a lateral frame....that would be about 14 inches long by 4 inches high......

so cut a peice out of ply....then a peice out of the stuff you want to use.....place the plywood on edge......and find out what its crush stregnth is....do the same to the other peice.....if you have a stronger material there....AND you can figure out how to get epoxy glass to bond correctly to it.......you might have a winner.......because its a hydro plane...im guessing you are going epoxy....connect?

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Plywood Substitute ?

Sounds similar to a construction material called Nidacore.

Check out this page, Bateau.com sells the stuff... see if it looks similar:

http://boatbuildercentral.com/proddetail.php?prod=NIDA_H8PP_3/4

If it's Nidacore or similar, it's a great material for building boats. Waterproof, light, very strong. Check out the Bateau message boards and tutorials and also the Nidacore company pages for info on working with it.

If you have a lot of it, consider selling it too ... check out the per-sheet price on Bateau's page

Erik

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Plywood Substitute ?

The floor in my jet boat is made from Honey Comb that came from Boeing surplus, a store Boeing had that closed a year or so ago, had great stuff there at times.

I've seen many different types of Honey comb products used at Boeing, so it's hard to say if what you have will work.
Check to see if the resin you're using will bond to it and if it's actually waterproof. Many (most) of the products like that purchased by Boeing are designed just for/by them for a particular use, so you can't assume that a similar product will have the same properties.

If you're going to rely on the fiberglass to support the load and just looking for a light, easy to shape form, then most anything will work. If you want the Honey Comb to support the load, then test it well before use.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Plywood Substitute ?

I have a freind who is an A&P mechanic, most anything aviation is good enough and superior, just look at their 1/64th inch plywood but don;t look at the prices. Its just a matter of finding the correct application for the materials you can get hold of. Play around with it, see what resin it takes.