Foamy Season is here - Milling Depron Foam -> A How To

[ckoerner]

It takes awhile to get the jig made. What ever you do don't make the jig out of 3mm depron. If you have a small gap between holes, it won't stay straight when you do a pass with the router and you won't get a straight line.

[Wojcigitty]

This is really smart, I want to build an F3P plane for this season and I plan on doing this.

Has anyone tried cutting all the way through, then covering it with something?

[Matchless]

Cody, I've not done the experiments myself, but every report I've read from others who tried found that it was not any lighter than simply milling carefully and leaving one outer skin.

Post some pics when you're done!

[gareth.ky]

I'm in the list of people who tried. I cut a test part and then covered it with Solite. We are talking 80% of the surface area was cut away. It came out exactly the same weight on a 0.1 gram accurate scale.

Maybe with tissue or super light film over a larger surface you would save something but it think milling gets you more.

[Huckeneer]

I did my first milling this weekend. And the milling was a success. It took a while but it got the plane soo light. It was amazing. I got just a router bit and used my dremmel cutting guide. i didnt go out and buy the $30 router assembly. But my design for the milled out foamy was not a success. Oh well. I will do another milling later. I need a new design though.

Thanks for the help!

[Matchless]

Good Job Huckeneer! Great to hear more people trying this stuff out!

Sit tight on the design. I'm betting there will be some stuff coming around soon. : )

[buttface]

I want to know where to get 3mm Extrupor foam.That is the stuff Donuts models is using now days.I got a fusion and wheyed the parts .I then cut out one from Depron and wheyed the parts.The 3mm Depron LOST!It was 1oz. heavyer and the parts where not as stiff.
I want to get some 3mm Extrupor to mill!!!

[Matchless]

As of right now, there is no one importing Extrupor/Gediplac, etc. I'm on the same page as you though. I want some!!!!!

[Donatas]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Matchless
	As of right now, there is no one importing Extrupor/Gediplac, etc. I'm on the same page as you though. I want some!!!!!

I build my planes all my indoor airplanes from Extrupor, but it is also hard to get it in Europe... Anyway last year i send one box to friend in New Jersey, he might have some left to sell, send PM and i give his contacts.

P.S: Matchless, i was inspired by you and start Milling my F3p planes Will post some pictures soon, have to say its fun and looks cool but on extrupor you can win many weight...

[MrFlash]

Great thread Jeremy.

Jerry (Combs) has just finished his milled Ballerina and it easily trounced the non-milled one for weight. I made a Ballerina from HiDensity 3mm EPP (first pic) which is lighter than pukka depron and Jerrys milled depron version (flying pic) still came out the winner.

Looks like ill have to get my router out

[Huckeneer]

is the ballerina a plane from plans?

[HuckinChikn]

I finished up my foam milling last night. Looks like crap because i didnt use
the plexiglass or the brass tube...I thought i could get by with out it
It worked pretty well, it was just hard to keep the dremel on the lines
that i had drawn. All of the foam before milling, 44grams... After milling,
32Grams. Not a ton of weight lossed, but hey, thats 12grams less than
before, so i'm happy

[MrFlash]

Hi Huckeneer,

I managed to get some basic plans from Jerry for a magazine article Im doing on it over here in the UK. There was talk of it being kitted over your side of the pond so Im not shure if the plans are readily available stateside. If your interested it might be worth PM'ing him over on RCGroups.

As for Gediplac, Ive searched high and low for the stuff. It seems strange its only mentioned on model aero sites (and one photography site). Surely it must be used for something else ? ..wonder if we're being put off the scent with a false "trade name " ??

Jeremy do you use any extra bracing (carbon / kevlar) for the milled ones ?

[Matchless]

	Quote:
	Jeremy do you use any extra bracing (carbon / kevlar) for the milled ones ?

Mr. Flash, I use the same carbon bracing I always use on the milled ones as well. I hate kevlar bracing for most applications, so I stay away from it.

I'm working to learn more about Gediplac right now and where it could come from, etc. We'll see if anything comes of it.

	Quote:
	I finished up my foam milling last night. Looks like crap because i didnt use the plexiglass or the brass tube...I thought i could get by with out it

Chikn, doing it without very quickly explains why it makes sense to do it with the changes to the tooling doesn't it! : )

[HuckinChikn]

darn right! I could kick myself for not following your instruction...
But indeed, there will be a version 2(bipe) Where i will deffinately
spend more time on the prep work before i start tearing through the
foam.
Gediplac looks AWESOME...i hope you can find out more info on it!