Axis to gong wing adapter

yes, or actually it’ll be carbon/glass mix.

This adapter looks a bit smaller than my design, i think it has to do with it being for the red fuselage, the gong fuse end can be sunk lower into the plate than in the smaller ART wing (black) fuse.

After translating the posts on the french forum I understood that he actually recycled an old Gong Rise wing.
Basically he cut the needed part off the old wing, glued inserts and laminated over it with carbon.
Genius idea!
I would love to use my Axis wings (red fuse) on my Gong Masts, so I plan to go down this easy way!

clever, but isn’t it a shame to cut a wing - almost better to buy an axis fuse then.

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Do you rally want to laminate it this way, with the holes positives in the mold? That will be tricky, better leave them out and drill them with a drill jig in the end.

I have an original Axis fuse, but it doesn’t fit the Gong mast. At the moment I can only use it with the Axis masts.
You inspired me to make an adapter for those awesome Axis front wings to be able to use them on a Gong fuselage.
Just found an old used Gong wing for 50€ that would be able to sacrifice, and of course it’s a waste to destroy that wing but it will save me lots of time…

no, it’s just a mockup still. I’m looking at the insert alternatives currently so i didn’t bother fixing it :smiley:

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Thats and easy adaptor to make. I’ve done Gong V1 to unifoil fuse before.

Your Axis fuse is probably better and potentially lighter.

What about molding the piece around a Gong Fuselage coated with release agent

or taking its measurements with a caliper (tapered) + printing a 3D replica that will act as a male tapered piece + molding a female carbon piece around it ?

that’s basically what i am doing in this thread…

for @tosh.jah to just cut it from a wing surely saves a LOT of time and effort, you’ll only need to build a foot for the piece so for 50eur it’s a great option

Finally I ditched the idea of cutting the Gong wing, cause Jeremy was right.
The Axis Fuse is way lighter and I’d like to stick to a well tested setup of front and backwing.

So I checked the Axis Doodad, it’s just a tiny bit larger than the Gong mast opening and luckily I had a spare one that I’ve simply trimmed with a Dremel.

It’s a rather functional than beautiful adjustment, due to the lack of proper machinery. But it’ll do the job! :smile:

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Yeah, i think you’re going the right route, the Axis fuse is both sleeker and better if you already got one!

Anyway, adapter build is moving on, I’m printing a test mold right now, then making a test part. I’m expecting to need a loop or two before getting it just right😄

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I switched direction of the mold as can be seen here:



Splitting in the horisontal plane made the upper and lower laminate hard to locate, vertical will be better, but i’ll have to reinforce the splitline on the adapter with additional layers.

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Printed a new mold: added a clamp to hold the fuse and a prefabricated tube in place during molding, corrected some missed clearances. Spent 10 minutes flattening the splitline on it:


Then some trials with different braided sleeves to make the tube:


I went with a simple layup to be able to add thickness later:
1 glass braided sleeve
2 carbon sleeves
peel ply
Four wraps of electric tape,
1000 holes with a needle

It’s now curing in the oven at 60 deg C :smiley:
Fingers crossed that it will release OK (i’ve had issues getting tubes to release before, high surface area and good clamping means endless possibilities for sticking, regardless of release method🤞)

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Had an amazing session today with Axis PNG 1010 and ultra short fuselage with 340 backwing.
Was totally worth sacrificing the Doodad!

Thanks again for the idea @Larsb @Jezza

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That’s great! A hackjob of the best kind👍

As for my adapter, I had a rough time getting the tube released, couldn’t pull it off even with a hydraulic press. In the end i had to split it lengthwise and then it released easily, so there was actually no adhesion.

I’ve not found a robust release method for tubes, this time i had 5 coats of mold release and one coat of PVA and cured at elevated temperature. Still the clamping was too high!

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Use a solid aluminum shaft as a core when moulding,
And cure the whole part in a oven.

Aluminum expands when heated and shrinks in room temperature.
the expansion coëfficiënt of carbon is different than aluminum.
This will cause automatic release of your core from the composite,
and you can pull it out easy.

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Sure, that’s exactly what i did… i wouldn’t call the extraction easy or automatic :smile: i tried extracting the tube both hot and in the freezer.

Did you ever successfully do this yourself? I’d guess if you can build up a sliding layer somehow it’ll release better.

I’ve no personal experience but have you considered using compressed air and/or something like dry ice to flash freeze it?

Yes I did, but only with prepreg carbon.
Mirror polished aluminum shaft and chemical release agent.
And cured in a oven to 110 degrees C.

No problem with releasing it.

I think the compression from the wrapping is the problem, the residual pressure on the surface is not countered by enough thermal shrinkage. If i’d though about it i’d molded in a nut to be able to crank it out with a screw but i thought the elevated temperature curing would be enough.