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Messages - av-mech

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16
Hangar Flying / Re: Flying Simple
« on: November 03, 2011, 07:24:57 AM »
Bill,

Love your post, you always write with such clarity that your point is hard to miss.  Despite being of the computer/gadge age(41) I am carefully condsidering ways of further simplicating my VE.  I do currently have a starter but it's already planned for removal.  The two things that have stopped that from happening is that I did not have a parking brake installed (which I now have but not installed yet) and the other is that my mags are old and a bit worn out.  I pulled the engine right off my old 150, no modifications and slapped it on the VE, sans alternator.  So although I have hand propped it several times, it's not currently always easy to do.  I have no desire to run electronic ignition (although I like its potential benefits) so an alternator is simply not needed.  A lighter aircraft is a better aircraft, no way to argue that point.  A simpler aircraft is a better aircraft, might be several aurgments for that.  As soon as I can spend the money on overhauled mags, starter will gather dust on shelf.

I have calculated that removing everything related to having the starter will reduce my empty weight by 22 lbs, somthing like 3.2% of my current empty weight.  On 66 sqft of wing area, that's not peanuts!!

17
Hangar Flying / Re: Cleaning Battery Terminals
« on: November 01, 2011, 06:58:57 AM »
Rick,

I have been watching and waiting to see how long the battery is going to last.  I did buy a cheaper battery just to get a feel for how the constant trickle charging was going to work.  The good news is that I have been doing this since mid June and I have not yet seen any degradation of the charge or discharge cycle.  I have not been doing any scientific measurments just seat of the pants observations but so far so good.

Well I hear Paul Adrian taxing up with his Long, going to do a dynamic balance on his new Hertzler prop.  Gotta go.........

18
Hangar Flying / Re: Cleaning Battery Terminals
« on: October 31, 2011, 07:57:55 AM »
Mike,

Does the boiling water have any neutralizing effect with regards to the acidic corrosion?

19
Hangar Flying / Cleaning Battery Terminals
« on: October 30, 2011, 10:37:02 AM »
Friends,

I had been noticing that the battery terminal on the negative side of the battery was starting to corrode.  I have the battery on a constant trickle charger because I don't run an alternator.  My battery will last about 6.0 hours while running all avionics.  It will go about 8 if I don't use the transponder.  Anyhoo, I decided that I needed to clean the terminals up and this is what I did.  See pictures below.

1.  Used soft brush to knock off loose corrosion
2.  Disassemble connections
3.  Spray with CRC brand battery terminal cleaner on battery stud and all connectors

              a.  the areas that turn pink are the areas with that contain corrosive acid.
              b.  Watch out, this stuff will stain paint and hands with a yellow color

4.  Flush with water to nuetralize
5.  Inspect for any corrosion not removed, brush with wire brush if needed to remove
6.  Dry with compressed air
7.  Reassemble connections
8.  Spray with CRC brand battery terminal protection

20
Hangar Flying / Great flying today
« on: October 27, 2011, 04:25:06 PM »
Friends,

Had a business trip down to Ft. Lauderdale Exec today and took the Vari.  What a great pleasure it is to get there in an hour and fifteen vs. 4 hours of driving.

21
For Sale/Wanted / Re: In the market for a VariEze..Long-EZ
« on: October 26, 2011, 07:27:01 AM »
Tim,

Welcome to the group, I hope you find something you like.  As for my Vari, you would have to pry it out of my cold dead hand.

Drop me an email if I can help in anyway.


22
Hangar Flying / Re: Brake Disk resurface
« on: October 24, 2011, 05:44:25 PM »
Yeah, those legs are kinda long and skinny.

23
Hangar Flying / Re: Brake Disk resurface
« on: October 24, 2011, 03:02:50 PM »
Radioflyer,

Thanks for the post, I did not use a dial indicator to check for warpage (sp?) but based on general mechanical knowledge, it seem the most likely cause.  I was surprised that the tech rep at Matco bet felt that it was unlikely and he went on to say that in all his years with the company, he had never seen that as a problem. 

24
Hangar Flying / Re: Trailing Edge Fences.......WOW
« on: October 24, 2011, 11:11:18 AM »
Steve,

Agreed with regard to drag, position to airflow is critical.  I am hoping that I will see an increase in aileron authority.  Though it's more of a science project than anything else.

I have never flown any other Varieze so I don't have any comparitive data to go by.  Maybe I am just expecting to much with regards to roll rate.

25
Hangar Flying / Re: Trailing Edge Fences.......WOW
« on: October 24, 2011, 07:29:15 AM »
Steve,

That's a great post, full of good useful information, just what I like....  Did you look at the link I posted regarding the leading edge fences?  I am going to try a more aggressive fence if for no other reason that just to try it.  I am happy with my landing speeds now, just flew this morning and was touching down about 66-67 kts with full control.  I still think the ailerons are not as powerful as they could be though.  Despite having the fences both front and back, I can still run out of aileron in a moderate Xwind.

26
Hangar Flying / Drag reduction as a function of vibration
« on: October 23, 2011, 02:15:45 PM »
Friends,

One of the things I offer in my business is Dynamic Prop Balancing.  I have been doing this for about 10 years.  This works very well on tractor type aircraft but has always been a bit of a disappointment on pushers.  I have been talking this over with people much smarter than I.  We are aware of course that the prop ends up getting really dirty air and this plays a very large part in making the engine run smooth.

It recently occured to me that we should be able to qualify drag reduction/airflow improvemnet around the fuselage and cowling by comparing inflight vibration signatures.  I have flown my Vari with vibration equipment installed on the engine, which is what led to me trying to figure out why it was smooth on the ground but had more vibration in the air. I believe that cleaning up the airflow should produce a reduction in vibration signature. 

Anybody have a thought on this??

27
Hangar Flying / Brake Disk resurface
« on: October 23, 2011, 02:08:37 PM »
Friends,
Since I started flying my Vari early this year, the one thing that really bothered me was that the gear legs had a shimmy in them.  This would only occur when my speed was something less than 10 mph but it was really pronounced.  This only occured when brakes were applied.

I had come to the conclusion that the brake disks were slightly warped.  I talked with tech support at Matco (I have older Rosehan which became Matco) and they assured me that it was very unlikely.  My disk thickness was .248" when I took them off the airframe.  Tech support said that they are .250" out of the factory.  So I suppose loosing .002" over the span of 30 years and 1000 hours is not too bad!

I gave them to a friend who is a proffesional machinist and he used both a lathe and a surface grinder to true up the disks.  They really came out looking great.  My new thickness is .225", my friend told me that in fact the disks were warped, though just a little bit.

Fast forward to today, I finally got it all back together and went flying.  Brakes are as powerful as you could ask them to be and the shimmy is completly gone!  Fantastic, one more thing checked off the list.


28
Hangar Flying / Re: Trailing Edge Fences.......WOW
« on: October 16, 2011, 07:44:42 PM »
http://www.b2streamlines.com/WingFences.pdf

Using this information to design my new LE "potential fences"

29
Hangar Flying / Re: Trailing Edge Fences.......WOW
« on: October 16, 2011, 07:17:37 PM »
Finally getting around to posting pictures of my TE fences.  Still need to run a fine brush around the joint and get some white paint in there.  The little black spots you see on the wing surface is bug/spider poop.  I wipe those off everyday and the next morning there's more......drives me nuts.

I think, after some research I am going to pull off my standard vortilons and make more of a fence that covers both the top and bottom wing surface.  Somthing like you see on the LE of a T-45, much more like the shape of the letter "C" that extends back a couple of inches from the LE.

30
Hangar Flying / Re: Trailing Edge Fences.......WOW
« on: October 12, 2011, 08:20:49 PM »
Just out of shear curiosity, any idea what the LE/TE sweep angle is on the starship as compared to the Long or Vari? 

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