We have been busy over the last year making a computer numerically controlled foam cutter, for cutting foam glider wings. We have also been working on a vacuum bagging system that is still under development!
Here is a picture of our foam cutting machine. The foam cutting table is powered by four stepper motors. These are special motors that can turn very slowly and precisely under the control of a computer – in fact a common use of these motors is in a computer printer. The motors guide a heated wire so that it cuts the desired wing profile in the foam.
The motors have to be controlled by a special driver board that sits between the motors and the computer. We built a driver board using the Hobby CNC kit that is available from the USA.
The circuit board connects to the computers parallel printer port.
John has loaded the polars for over 2,000 wing profiles onto our old computer – another Ebay purchase – most of this kit has come off Ebay!!
So all we have to do is choose the wing profile and then set the chord etc and get cutting!