HP-24 Project

This summer I'd like to host a couple or three seminars on composite sailplane development. Each seminar would consist of two days of sessions, with two or three sessions each day. The seminars would explore low-tech approaches to high-tech composite development. These sessions would be centered around the real-world lessons, trials, and tribulations of the HP-24 and related projects.

The first seminar would be hosted at my Arnold, California shop, and would feature me and aeronautic engineer Steve Smith. Each seminar would cost $200 for both days or $125 per day for last-minute registrants or one-day attendees. Each registrant would receive a CD containing seminar presentations and related hi-res photos from the HP-24 project. Lunch and refreshments would be provided.

Lodging, recreation, and accommodations are available separately in the beautiful Sierra foothill towns of Arnold and Murphys.

What are your thoughts on these seminars? Are you interested enough to attend or consider attending? Are there other topics you'd want to see covered? Please let me know.

The three seminars I want to do this summer are:

Seminar I: Sailplane Design and Development (Tentatively scheduled for [Note New Dates] 12 and 13 April 2008) Cancelled

This seminar would cover a variety of chalk-talks (well, PowerPoint) and include examples of various materials and tools. If enough people want, we can reshuffle this one to include some hands-on composites as well. For example, we could substitute a session on vacuum bagged composites for one of these (except Steve's of course).

• Philosophy and adventure of amateur sailplane design
• Survey of sailplane design issues (weight estimation, simple structural analysis, strength and stiffness, other topics TBD)
• Selected topics in sailplane aerodynamics (Steve Smith):
  • Basics of laminar flow airfoils
    • general features and characteristics
    • why are they sensitive to rain and bugs?
    • why is smoothness so important?
  • Basics of Induced Drag
    • elliptical span loading
    • non-planar lifting systems
    • crescent-shaped wings and other urban legends
    • winglets vs span increases for performance
  • Basics of stability
    • Yes, you fly with an up-load on your tail!
    • c.g. range for T-tail and V-tail aircraft
    • c.g. location effects on performance
• Designing curved shapes (ruled surfaces, curves, splines, 2D and 3D shapes)
• Implementing curves in plugs and molds
• Making primary tools (plugs, bucks, and simple molds)

Seminar II: Composite Tooling (May 2008)

This seminar focuses on what you do with the designs and primary tools addressed in Seminar I. It would feature, for the adventurous, hands-on experience with various techniques and materials:

• Moldmaking materials and processes
• Moldmaking techniques
• Molding joggles
• Making jigs and fixtures
• Flanges and alignment features
• Mold stiffeners and trusses

This seminar focuses on home-workshop fabrication techniques for light composite structures:

• Composite material hazards and precautions
• Composite materials (resins, cloths, core materials, reinforcements)
• Molded composite processes (open layups, vacuum bagging, resin infusion)
• Moldless composite processes
• Reinforcements, pivots, and hinges
• Assembling composite shells
• Gelcoats and finishing

Again, please let me know what your thoughts are on these seminars, and let me know if you are interested enough to attend or consider attending.

Homebuilt aviation is not for folks who don't try things at home.

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