This is a new airfoil building concept. The idea here is to cut the ribs from the the actual flat wing, fold the ribs into position and glue them upright. It works out well because it allows for proper alignment and saves on material. Not not to mention if you cover the wing with a clear covering you would see the cool looking cutouts from the bottom
Its just a concept right now and I am not really happy with the way the design turned out but I thought that I would post it and let you guys mess around with it as well. I really want to add and bigger bottom piece and a foam spar in the center to hold the ribs in position. But at least this gives you a start and I believe it could be added to many wing designs. I just used a flying wing as an example.
Hope you enjoy it and are able to create many wonderful designs from it.
The PhlatFoil as we dubbed it, was created by Phlatboyz,LLC and is copyright 2009 The PhlatFoil is a free open source design/concept that anyone can use for non-profit and fun.
Thanks
Mark
You can watch a cut and build video here
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1748101




Attached files PhlatFoil.cnc (41 KB)Â PhlatFoil.skp (2.7 MB)Â

 

AnyAirRc, Cool!
I like the idea behind notching the ribbing to run a foam/balsa spar too!
Great job
Mark

 

I love this concept.
When I first saw you cutting that out the other night I thought you could just make two more wing panels for a symetrical wing.

 

That is a good idea.

 

tvcasualty, Well this really has been the first case where I have needed to tab a centerline cut only because the rib is a part that is connected to a large fold area that will let the rib fall out of the sheet if not tabbed but it does raise an interesting question. Maybe the ability to tab center line cuts that are deeper than 100% (hence protruding through the material) would make sense. Not really a crucial Phlatscript update but something that would be worth looking into for future releases.

66tbird, Thanks
3DMON, I agree, I think this concept could be used in many different wing applications, I hope to see something that flys with this idea I have a lot of work to do on this flying wing design before I can test it but you guys are more then welcome to give it a go and see if you can make it work.

 

foamlvr, That's a good idea Jeff!
Flashsolutions, I tried 3mm epp an it looked great, I did not have enough 1mm depron, but if I did it would look top notch! As for the Oracal, maybe the whole thing could be covered with it?
Mark

 

Here is a short video showing a Phlatfoil variation Gefahren made. It came out great. He is wanting to us it for a universal wing.
His thread is located here http://www.phlatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1021&start=0