CNC Machining Firewall and Bulkhead Corners

2025-06-05

CNC-Machined Firewall and Bulkhead Corners

A friend of mine machined the firewall (tailwheel version!) and the bulkhead corners for me on his CNC machine. I decided to use birch for some of the bulkheads - C1, C2 and C3 - where the expected loads are higher.

CNC-machined Okoume pieces.
CNC-machined Okoume pieces.
Firewall, fresh out of the machine.
Firewall, fresh out of the machine.
Bulkhead corners made of marine birch. Strong, but too heavy!
Bulkhead corners made of marine birch. Strong, but too heavy!

Weights

The corner weights were higher than expected. The density of my Okoume plywood seems to be a bit on the higher end. The birch corners are unacceptably heavy; I would already be over 1 kg above budget at this early stage.

234.8 g
234.8 g
236.0 g
236.0 g
275.5 g
275.5 g
125.4 g
125.4 g

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