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Floor boards

floor boards

I have checked with a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics about the danger of Carbon Fiber floorboards. He specializes in compostie structures and especially carbon fiber structures. He says the fracture issue is not a problem or concern for this application. He has a lot of data on layup designs if anyone is interested.
 
My CF manufacturer said it wouldn't concern him with all of that structure behind it.

We have available a Carbon Fiber/Kevlar weave fabric with a thin foam core - It's extremely light and stiff. Still debating on using it for the floor - it is what we will use for a dash. One slight advantage of the Kevlar mix is that you can get those pretty colored weaves, so cosmetically it doesn't need any paint. I'll try to get some weights.
 
I was told by the guy that I bought mine from that for one layer of fabric laid up you double the fabric weight, and thickness. So if you have a 8oz fabric, laid up it will be about 16oz per yard, divide that by 27 and that’s what it will weigh a square foot. Add in the foam and it should get you close for estimating .
 
Floor Boards

Darrel Starr said:
We purchased precut floorboards from Earl Edgar back when he was running Northland Aviation. They are 12 ply Birch, 6mm (1/4 inch) thick from Finland. Earl told us the name of his supplier so we could buy more for the baggage areas. Th supplier is: http://www.bd-international.com/
We sprayed the floorboards with Polyfiber Epoxy Varnish and sanded multiple times then sprayed a final coating to get the shine. Yes, I know some folks don't care for the smooth possibly slippery finish but so far this has not been a problem for us.
Darrel
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Darrel “Nice job”
Look so good a person would not want to put their feet on them.
 
Talked to some guys in the know, (Faa), and they reported back to me that Carbon Fiber + Saltwater + steel or aluminum = lots of corrosion! :crazyeyes:

I will use a different option on my plane.

I have carbon fiber for sale if anyone wants it.
 
Yeah the corrosion/galvanic action is apparently bad with carbon/ aluminum. But if the last layer is kevlar it is not as bad. And as stated above kevlar is pretty. I am not an expert, just a web searcher for this kind of info.
 
It is the contact of the carbon fiber and aluminum that makes a battery at that location. A layer of separation would need to be addessed.
 
What am I missing here? Where is the carbon/aluminum contact? It seems the carbon fiber sheet would be attached to the steel structure of the frame. Are we talking about aluminum side panes? Thanks in advance. Greg
 
A very simple way to solve this issue is to laminate a layer of 4 oz. fiberglass as the outside layer to insulate the carbon fiber from the structure.

Of course, any through-fastenings would have to have an insulating bushing, which would also be necessary to eliminate crushing of the foam at the fastener.

"Bushing" can mean lots of things. A simple way is to drill the fastener holes at each location, then chuck up a bent nail in a drill and 'hog' out the foam inside the hole. Fill this hole with high strength putty and re-drill after cure.
 
Thanks for the comment Mark-B. So far after 85 hrs, the floorboards don't seem to have suffered at all. That epoxy varnish is great tough stuff.
Darrel
 
aktango58 said:
CF reacts with steel also...

Thinking about a couple of years down the line, I see corrosion issues...
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Any dissimilar metals will 'react' to one another. Simple measures (primer, etc.) render this a non-issue.

Hey, as far as floorboards go, a hunk of 1/4 ply works fine and can be attractive.
 
I am in the process of building a wide body cub, and have decided after reading all these Posts, and comments , that I am going with the painted aluminum .063 tread plate. Now, does anyone have a floor pattern for a wide body that they would want to share, or sell me a copy to keep it simple for me ?
 
Start measuring on YOUR cub :)

I did my floorboards using poster-board templates, cut and pieced and taped together, and and cut and pieced and taped together again, cussed, then cut and pieced and taped together again - - and they finally fit in place just fine.
 
brekkeaerial said:
I am in the process of building a wide body cub, and have decided after reading all these Posts, and comments , that I am going with the painted aluminum .063 tread plate. Now, does anyone have a floor pattern for a wide body that they would want to share, or sell me a copy to keep it simple for me ?
Click to expand...

WAY too THICK and heavy, than whats needed.... it's an airplane! not a TANK!!!
 
brekkeaerial

Unfortunately, there seems to be a pretty wide variance between the PA-12's. Even if you were able to get someone else's patterns they probably would not fit very well, so ......sigh...... I'm afraid you will have to make your own patterns. Add up your square footage, to include the baggage area. You may find that you can save a fair amount of weight in this area. I know a lot of folks that used hardware store plywood added 10 pounds Vs carbon fiber, or just light weight plywood. That is 10 pounds less Moose meat you can haul, and lower performance ALWAYS, for ever, for the life of the airplane.

Best of luck and hope this helps

Bill
 
Dakota Cub has them cut out already if they are for a Airframes Alaska wide body fuselage otherwise I would use posterboard and make a pattern. You will figure out quickly why Piper made the openings so big in a lot of areas.
 
Are there any updates on what builders are using for light weight floor boards? Im tracking the 1/4” carbon/foam floorboards at 8oz per sqft and .032 aluminum at 7.2 oz per sq ft. The aluminum would be powder coated and gain additional weight. What size floor board up front and for baggage in aluminum? What size for wall panels?
 
60 years ago Sikorsky was using an aluminum foil honeycomb core between thin aluminum dimpled sheet for floorboards on their helicopters. Does anyone make honeycomb panels anymore? They are strong and light weight.
 
Old thread. Maybe John Schwamm will post a pic of the floor in his lightweight Husky. Best floor I’ve ever seen for a Cub type. I like my smooth CF floor but it’s slippery. Not a problem in the front seat but a big problem in the baggage area.

My no-skid solution.

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In my very limited experience in building floor boards for a 12 that was a bare fuselage. Starting with poster board, then foam, then plywood, then aluminum. End product being aluminum. It seemed to me the added sub structure below the aluminum floor board added enough weight to make the aluminum vs wood argument more of a personal choice vs weight savings. Wood had less flex which meant less support needed.

I put the carbon/foam sandwich from carbon concepts in for back seat, baggage, and extended baggage. It worked well and tolerates sitting and kneeling on well. Very stiff like wood, but lighter. In the extended baggage if I were to do it again I would use something even lighter since I just haul light bulky stuff back there.

PA12
Front Floor Board
Wood 4# 4oz
Aluminum .050 3# 9oz

PA12
Back Floor Board
Wood 4# 11oz
Aluminum .050 4# 1oz

Using thinner aluminum would make it lighter. Wood is easier and faster for me to build. 12's are wide and probably require more support than an 18.
 
I made carbon fiber floor sections. One layer 6oz twill, a 1/8 layer of divinycell foam, one layer of 6oz. Crazy strong/stiff. Vacuum bagged the assembly. Overall, as Bill Rusk said earlier in the thread, I saved 10 lbs (!!) versus the std plywood flooring. PM me if you have questions or more info. Happy to help.
 
What do you other CF floor guys do for traction in the back? My dog can barely stand up on my floor when the plane's parked.
 
I have a seven foot slide back there. Anything I put back there shifts around. Diamond plate rubber works well but isn't light.
 
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