where to buy spars

[jgerard]

OK gang...

My buddy Karl and I just pulled the fabric off his BC12D wings. Both rear spars are rotten at the root under the doublers. We plan on doing the gross weight mods, and from searching the various threads out there It looks like Aircraft Spruce may be the place to get the blanks. Does any one have ready to go spars? I may call the factory and see if the have any for sale. Are there any forum members that can build up a set of spars for him? What spar varnish is everyone using?

I am knee deep in my fuse/tail restoration so I plan on mostly advising him and checking his work. We are going to be working side by side in our hangar. Feels like a race to see who is going to get done first. I want to do the up gross mods to my fuse and read about boxing in the front spar attach fittings. Mine are already gusseted on the bottom. Is that all there is to boxing them in?

Jason
N43643

[zero.one.victor]

Re: where to buy spars

Don't know if this information will be helpful, Jason, but there's a specialty wood outfit in Port Townsend where some guys I know have bought aircraft grade spruce for spars, etc. Edensaw Woods Ltd 800-745-3336 www.edensaw.com

Eric

[crispy critter]

Re: where to buy spars

Jason,I can build up a set of spars for him if he doesn't to do it for himself.

[mulwyk]

Re: where to buy spars

Jason:

Spars from blanks details here. It's an easy, enjoyable project and not terribly expensive.

Bob Gustafson

[N96337]

Re: where to buy spars

Jason, I got my spar material from Flounder Bay Boat shop in Anacortes. Great people to deal with and like Bob said, truly enjoyable project! Whatever you do, don't let anyone talk you into using epoxy for the glue... it's NOT approved and not a good idea!! I use PolyFiber's expoxy varnish and love it for a finish. AC43.13 has alot of good information on wood work for airplanes.
John H.

[zero.one.victor]

Re: where to buy spars

John, I wouldn't be too surprised if Flounder Bay actually got your material from Edensaw. Port Townsend is the self-proclaimed "Wooden Boat Capitol" of the world, or the country, or at least the northwest (can't remember exactly what they claim!),and Edensaw supplies a lot of the boatbuilders around Port Townsend and Puget Sound. You might be able to get a better price from Edensaw- or maybe vice versa, depending on mark-ups, etc. Wouldn't hurt to talk to both....

Eric

[Doc]

Re: where to buy spars

Hello. Good luck on your spar venture. My new spar blanks were delivered today from Aircraft Spruce East after a 3 week wait...I will have them finished out with doublers with help from an older gentleman in San Antonio who restores wooden wing aircraft. I will use epoxy varnish and will probably bush the wing attachment fittings. I was unable to find "finished" spars, and Harry at Taylorcraft was unable to answer if he could supply finished spars for my '46 BC12-D. As an aside, I disassembled a pair of '40 BC-65 wings and the spar roots were rotted; my spar roots had the beginning of dry rot...this airplane had been hangared for the past 20 years in South Texas. Doc

[gmackay]

Re: where to buy spars

I would not buy spars any more from Wicks. After 3 or 4 shipments of bad wood, I gave up (lost money), then went to Aircraft Spruce. Their wood looked much better, but still took 2 shipments (due to shipping damage).

I now have 4 spars all with ends milled and doublers glued(Resorcinol), and one pair is drilled. Now I may part with them since I've found much more work on my fuselage than I hoped for. I may go back to my clip wing idea. Still thinking.....

Greg MacKay

[alwaysoar]

Re: where to buy spars

Are all the sources of spruce that are mentioned on this thread selling certified spruce? Is there a blind eye to whether or not spruce blanks are certified? You can't write a 337 for new spars if the wood is not certified.

[N96337]

Re: where to buy spars

It's an owner produced part... read the regs. As long as it meets the specs set up in AC43.13-1B, you can build spars for your airplane all day long. I'd recommend ANC-19, ANC-18 and even a copy of MIL-S-6073 as well, but you can do it without.
John H.

[zero.one.victor]

Re: where to buy spars

Jason, is this T-Craft the airplane Karl was gonna put on floats? Does he still have his Clipper?

Eric

[VictorBravo]

Re: where to buy spars

What's wrong with using epoxy as wood glue? Some of the older wood glues that WERE certified disintegrate over time. I'd rather have epoxy that is not on the type certificate than approved glue that has turned to powder. The stuff they used to make the DeHavilland Mosquito I understand just falls apart over time. I'd like to hear from a knowledgable expert just what is wrong with using epoxy to build a spar...

Bill
(with 800+ hours in airplanes that were 50% epoxy by weight)

[jgerard]

Re: where to buy spars

Yeah, this was the supposedly ready to fly airplane that just needed to be assembled and put on the floats. We've all heard that before.

The clipper was sold and is over in Cashmere now.

Jason
N43643

[N96337]

Re: where to buy spars

You can contact a guy named Jeff Morfit with the FAA in WA. He's in the Seattle ACO, 425-917-6405. He's a great guy and very very knowledgable about glues.
They had a Tiger Moth come up for certification that had used T-88 epoxy glue and when they did some tests, the glue lost strength as soon as any heat was applied. It got down to 1/3 the strength of wood by the time it reached 140 degrees. Sounds like really hot, doesn't it? Well, if you're taking the temp inside a wing, on a nice sunny day, according to DuPont's "effect of color on solar energy absorption" chart, on a 50 degree day, in direct sunlight, your wing could reach 160 degrees if it's black, 145 if it's green, 140 if it's red. If we raise the temp outside to let's say 70, that wing will be about 150 if it's orange, 165 if red, 170 green, and 180+ if black. A white surface (the coolest), can reach 140 if the outside temps are 90+. I'll stick to Resorcinol, thank you. It doesn't lose strength with heat.
The Tiger Moth mentioned above wound up with a thermocouple in the wing and a temp gauge mounted in the aircraft, and a "no-go" limit on temp, even with an experimental certificate. Seems like alot of trouble to me. I know there's lots of aircraft out there that are flying with that glue... but that doesn't make it right.. in my mind anyway.
John H.

[zero.one.victor]

Re: where to buy spars

Did the Stewart's buy that Clipper? I know they're short-wing buffs.....