Rib Profile

[Vince Carucci]

Does anyone know what rib profile this aircraft uses? Does it have a name or NACA number or some other name?

[sonicapollo]

I believe Leonard M. used one of his own creation.

[Will Weidner]

I recall Leonard mentioned on the Yahoo group that he had Harry Riblett design the airfoil for this family of aircraft.

[scottiniowa]

I recall Leonard mentioned on the Yahoo group that he had Harry Riblett design the airfoil for this family of aircraft.

I don’t know of any Riblett airfoils that had a flat bottom,  Leonards does. So pretty doubtful.

[Will Weidner]

If you look at the coordinates you would see it's not perfectly flat, but close enough to call it flat.  There was a big discussion a while back about people substituting other wings/airfoils to the LE family, and his response on 7/16/13 was "... I went to the trouble to get a Riblett airfoil that has a bunch of good qualities ... Leonard"

[scottiniowa]

If you look at the coordinates you would see it's not perfectly flat, but close enough to call it flat.  There was a big discussion a while back about people substituting other wings/airfoils to the LE family, and his response on 7/16/13 was "... I went to the trouble to get a Riblett airfoil that has a bunch of good qualities ... Leonard"

Humm, I suppose I am corrected on this…and that is fine, I have nearly all of Ribletts airfoils…to pick one that is close………….well I guess it doesn’t much matter much at  60 mph… but would certainly be interesting to know of which one this is suppose to be.

[leshoman]

At Oshkosh last summer in his forum he told us it is a P2, short for pencil #2 lead, he laid it out and said that looks about right.

[scottiniowa]

At Oshkosh last summer in his forum he told us it is a P2, short for pencil #2 lead, he laid it out and said that looks about right.

   Yeah, I am back in the lead again… lol. Wasn’t really a contest…  
Leonard says "LP2" stands for Lead Pencil #2. 

No seriously, the reason  created the computer generated  X/Y airfoil, (graphic aids in the down load area)  was simply this. 
 I wanted a airfoil that came with known plot points. 
 I wanted it to be generated with a spline line ( a line that would only have a flat spot, when 3 plot points in a row, were on the same horizontal axis) 
I wanted to be able to produce it this year, next year and 10 years from now.  i.e. the reason or ability to produce “same” plans 
I didn’t want to know if I should use one or the other of the available rib profiles (not the same in my book, anyway)  
The long one or the 8.5 x 11” taped ones.
 

The reason almost solely being, was to be able to consistently build all the other parts to match the CAD drawings vs. making parts to fit the parts I have just made.

Will any one of the three work?- Yes, very much so.  Does this make any of them wrong for this aircraft, NO.   The type of aircraft and the speed it covers, these things will work out just fine.  

Best of success!

[flydog]

If your asking about the Legal Eagle I've gotta call BS.
Clearly "borrowed" from the Mini-Max/Hi-Max/AirBike !

Cant comment on the other designs.

[Vince Carucci]

It almost looks a lot like a Clark Y with a flat bottom. I only ask because I was trying to find data points for the profile. We've been having a little fun in a wind tunnel and it turns out when you consider the performance window (25-55 knots), it's an ideal design... and easy to build. It's one of the features that make this aircraft such a great project. I can't wait till the day I pull chocks.

[Bob S.]

If your asking about the Legal Eagle I've gotta call BS.
Clearly "borrowed" from the Mini-Max/Hi-Max/AirBike !

Cant comment on the other designs.


There are quite a number of differences in the Milholland airfoil and those you mentioned but then how many ways can a wing be built?

You being a Noob, you should do a bit more investigation and learning before putting down the design every one here loves!

[Sam Buchanan]

I've never spent much time thinking about it, but always assumed the ribs were basically MiniMax clones since the rest of the wing is very similar to the Maxes. There is nothing wrong with cloning a previous design that works very well....just about everything in light aviation is now a clone of something.  

[Jlwright]

I have a Himax rib jig I made several years ago and the Eagle ribs are almost identical in everyday. There are some subtle differences that in my opinion are an improvement over the original. Like Sam said most things in life are copied and improved from something that came before and this is no exception. Yes, we do love our Eagles!

[scottiniowa]

Just to follow up the previous two good comments,  if you talked to the folks that flew aircraft with the Clark Y, 2412, or 2415 airfoils. Nearly all would say they love how they fly. Though they are not the same, they work on the plane they are attached to.   While I did not go through the list of the aircraft with those airfoils alone, I think it would be safe to say it would number well over 50 different aircraft, probably a lot more.  Can it be said that these airfoils are taken from someone?- hardly-  NO one has enough fingers anymore to point at those that have borrowed things that work in the small aircraft world.  The Areo Lite 103 is a perfect example with its self proclaimed design borrowing from at least 5 different aircraft.

If you follow the simple rule of “making good things better”  changing a airfoil seldom is one of them that is put on the list.  Almost every good design, starts with things that have worked well in the past, and gets tweaked over the years.

I think it would be safe to say, that this is a very similar airfoil to many aircraft in this speed range  and is working well. And you could call it just about anything you want!

Forge on builders, forge on!  Success awaits your completion.

[flydog]

First let me state I'm not bashing Milholland for borrowing liberally from Wayne Ison's design. But when I see comments like "Leonard used one of his own creation", or he had Harry Riblet design it for him, or he designed it with an LP2 pencil, I just feel like credit needs to be given to Wayne Ison.
Theres just much to much MiniMax wing in the Legal Eagle to deny it.
    Bob S.,  I bought the plans in 2000, built it and since sold it, down in Virginia(?) now. Since then building the Air Bike, just need engine, covering, and instruments now. Very familiar with the Mini Max, and Legal Eagle.  What more do I need to do before I loose the noob status?