Hi Barry

 

For the coupons, you normally want at least 1/8" thick casting and preferably flat on both sides.  It doesn't need to be very large.  The bottom of paper cup is normally large enough (not very flat but should be OK).  Better to make a mold out of three pieces of 1/8 - 3/16" aluminum say 3" x 3" with one having a 2" dia hole in it and some alignment screws to hold everything together.  Slide the piece with the 2" hole over one of the blocks and pour the resin in, slide the top piece on, bolt up and let the excess run out.  Once hard, separate the three mold pieces from the resin puck and your set.  Just mark the mix date, resin and hardner expiration date and resin batch numbers.

 

I have written a maintenance manual which in the aircraft world is used to define your processes that you used to build the plane with.  It describes how often you check the resin, how you measure the samples, how you do open lamination, fill in voids, do repairs, your QC procedures...practically anything and everything.  For certification this is mandatory and a very important document.  It will have to be given to the FAA prior to starting the building process for certificated aircraft.  Since we don't have a certificated aircraft, it has no legal standing but if you can show that this is how you built the plane, I believe it shows the quality to all that care to look how you went about building your pride and joy.

 

Dave Morss has a different take on it.  He believes that it may add to the burden of proof that the builder has to do should an accident occur and may increase his liability to the person he sells the plane to.  But Dave is also a professional FAA Designated Airworthiness Represenative (DAR) so has more exposure than the pure amateur. 

 

It was at the suggestion of another DAR I work with often who suggested I write a maintenance manual so you can choose your poison.  The history of homebuilts suggests that it is extremely unlikely that anyone will get sued for selling a homebuilt to another party that subsequently gets killed so I will probably go ahead with presenting my maintenance manual to the FAA.  Regardless, I will stay within the guidlines I wrote for how I build and test it.

 

Dan Newland