I finished the hotwire power supply on Saturday, and after a little fiddling got it to work without smoking or blowing fuses.
Here's a hint for anyone else who is tempted to make a hotwiring bow using pultruded carbon fiber strip: include insulators. After a few failed attempts to cut foam, I discovered that my bow had only a little greater resistance than my wire. I am reminded that carbon is what they make resistors out of.
But don't expect color code marked wing spar caps...
On Sunday, I made some test cuts through some chunks of beaded polystyrene that I had around the shop. Hotwiring is fun!
page updated 9 December 2002 all text and graphics copyright (c) 2002 HP Aircraft, LLC