Model aircraft made of balsa wood

Light as a feather

Today balsa wood is one of the most widely-used materials in the model making branch. Due to its light weight and high degree of mechanical strength, it is ideally suited for model aircrafts in particular. But there are a whole series of less well-known technical applications that also make use of these material properties.

Benefits of laser processing:

• Contactless processing so no breakage, not even in the finest of details
• Only very low laser power required
• No chipping waste, less cleaning required
• Less material waste
• Cutting and engraving possible in one operation

Balsa wood is a material that is ideally suited to processing with laser. The laser beam makes it possible to cut and engrave extremely filigree details in the material in one work step. Due to its very low density, this wood can be cut quickly and chiplessly with a very low laser power of 30 to 100 Watts.  In addition material damage caused by clamping or tool contact is prevented. The fibre direction has no effect on the quality of the cut. If optimum results are to be achieved, the raw material must be stored in a dry place before processing in order to keep the moisture content as low as possible. This results in an imperceptible browning of the cut edges.

For further detailed information please click the links below:

• Wood
• Laser engraving
• Laser cutting
• Shuttle table system
  

Further material information:

The name “balsa” derives from Latin and means raft, because balsa wood was originally used for building rafts. Balsa trees are fast growing flowering plants that are cultivated in plantations in the vicinity of tropical rain forests in the northern part of South America and then felled when they are between 5-7 years old. An exceptional property of this wood is its light weight combined with a relatively high structural strength. In addition balsa wood is very pliable and elastic making it an ideal material for processing.

Facts

Other applications for balsa wood include:

• Architectural model making
• Aerospace technologies
• Table tennis bats
• Surf boards (core material)
• Rotor blades for wind turbines
• Stage sets, special effects
• Sound and thermal insulation
• Cork substitute
• Car manufacture and ship building
• Mould construction