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Messages - Rick Hall

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31
Hangar Flying / Re: Cleaning Battery Terminals
« on: October 31, 2011, 11:30:55 PM »
Quote from: av-mech on October 30, 2011, 10:37:02 AM
I have the battery on a constant trickle charger because I don't run an alternator. ...

When that one craps out (won't be long), plenty of newer battery options abound. I've been running an AGM in my motor scooter for years. It appears to be a similar size to the one in your VE. But no maintenance, and slightly larger capacity than flooded lead/acid.

Odyssey batteries are the current bomb (pun intended). High capacity in a slightly smaller package, longevity, deep cycle, and no maintenance either.

More on the horizon, lithium for one.

Oh, warm, but not boiling hot, water and a light brush works for me too. Err, used to ;) A baking soda and water wash is best reserved for bee stings.

Rick

32
Hangar Flying / Rough River canard fly-in
« on: September 18, 2011, 11:15:25 PM »
Greets!

I don't post here much (but should?), I'm building a Cozy MK-IV currently about 1/2 done.

Just a quick post (ya, right) to notify everyone about what I think is the premiere canard fly-in at Falls of Rough State Resort Park in Kentucky, the last weekend of this month. FAA identifier 2I3 (Two India Three). This will be the Silver anniversary (that be 25) of the fly-in.

As long as I've been attending RR, there have been ~60 canards in attendance, a few metal planes, and even a "Goose". A head count of warm bodies (pilots, builders, potential builders, and fanatics) typically exceeds 150.

www.roughriver.org for details. Rooms at the RR lodge are sold out, but an unlimited number of camping spots always available.

Rick

33
Hangar Flying / Re: Varieze Rudder trim
« on: July 09, 2011, 09:45:23 PM »
Quote from: av-mech on July 06, 2011, 07:33:30 AM
Man o man, do I seem to chase that left rudder trim around.  I have the old sawtooth rudder trim and it seems that one tooth is to much either way.  My vari requires a lot of left rudder trim on climb out, a different setting in cruise and different again on decent.  Not unusal on the surface but it seems like I'm using a lot of trim on the rudder.  Any thoughts from you high time fliers???
Not a hi time flyer, or flyer for that matter, but what say the engine isn't pushing along the centerline. Say it was canted a degree to the left or right. Your trim setting would depend on speed and thrust.
Quote
Also, when braking at slower speeds I sometimes get some shimmy in the main gear legs.  If I let go of the brakes it stops.  Seems to happen at slow speeds, anybody else have this phenomonon?

Easy, I think, a rotor is warped or glazed in one spot. Is the 'shimmy' proportional to ground speed?

My $.02

Rick

34
Hangar Flying / Re: oil separator
« on: April 30, 2011, 12:11:57 AM »
I'm more/less with Dave. Except any blow by past the rings will get in the oil regardless.

I've seen a couple of planes that have the vent tube strapped to the exhaust, metal tube of course. Any oil mist basically gets burned to a crisp. An issue is if this vent gets plugged (like frost). Most have a 'whistle' tube or small slit in the rubber tube way upstream just in case. Don't want to be blowing a crank seal out!

Rick

35
Hangar Flying / Re: Long Eze needs a new engine
« on: February 06, 2011, 01:31:36 AM »
Quote from: toelaer on February 05, 2011, 05:28:18 PM
...
2.  I have not seen the Cozy plans.  How does the Cozy attach the engine mount to the firewall?

The Cozy IV engine mount is flat on the firewall on four pads. The firewall has AL hardpoints for the engine mount bolt shanks, and fiberglass wraps sandwiching these hardpoints forward onto the longerons (upper and lower), as well as into the landing gear bulkhead structure.

There is no machined extrusion, as I understand the Long and VE use.

Rick

36
Hangar Flying / Re: New guy
« on: February 01, 2011, 08:57:28 PM »
Quote from: Screw on February 01, 2011, 06:09:15 PM
...  I work for UPS as a driver. ...
My UPS driver Chuck dropped off my plans a few years back. "What's in the box Rick" he asks. "Plans for an aeroplane" I says. "Oh, a model one?" he replies. "No a real one, four seats, 200MPH, ..." I says.
As Chuck heads back to the truck he's shaking his head and I can hear him mutter "I'm delivering him a whole friggin plane, piece by piece..."
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Where can I purchase plans, instruction booklets, ect. for a Long EZ?  I've seen the Aircraft Spruce sells some stuff, but not the basic stuff like plans or pre fab wing or fuse for an EZ.  What's the deal on the EZ?
Rutan Aircraft Factory (RAF) stopped selling plans, and support, for the Long several years back for various and sundry reasons. If you poke around the interweb a bit you may find references to OpenEZ. Might be prudent to follow them, might not. They might be copies, they might not.

You didn't mention your location... I might suggest heading to one of the canard fly-in's across the US and poke and prod. I've found all canardians are genuinely enthusiastic about showing/explaining their planes to potential canard owners/fliers/builders.

Sun and Fun in FloriDUH has a nice turnout of Canards; Rough River (2i3 in KY) is 80-90% canards; CopperState in Casa Grande, AridZona; California has a west coast fly-in "Canards de Mayo" at the Columbia airport; and of course there's the ever popular KOSH.

Beagle (David Orr) is the guy to contact about buying a pre-owned canard. He knows his stuff. canardfinder at att dot net

Rick

37
Hangar Flying / Re: What killed the Long EZ?
« on: January 13, 2011, 04:43:14 AM »
Quote from: Cougar68 on January 13, 2011, 04:03:42 AM
My wife and son came up there with me this past year. ...

Oh man, I missed ya! I was the rude obnoxious guy on the motor scooter. I had the patent on gin&tonic under the circus tent at night, and flapped my gums a lot during the Sam/Dave show Saturday evening. Balding, 5'8", glasses, ... Hard to miss ;)

Ya, I look forward to chatting wit ya! 25th anniversary of the fly-in this year, shaping up to be a stellar event :)

Rick

38
Hangar Flying / Re: What killed the Long EZ?
« on: January 13, 2011, 02:13:18 AM »
Quote from: Cougar68 on January 12, 2011, 03:23:17 PM
So I guess it seems that the opinion is the time commitment is too off putting? 
I dunnow. I think if you compare a RV kit to one of our canards, the build times are similar... about 2,000 hours. But you can buy pre-built sub assemblies for an RV. Other than AeroCanard parts, a canard is mostly built from pictures/text on paper

Also occurred to me, you'll never see a canard builder building in his/her Sunday duds. And there's times a canard builder will just let the phone ring, sometimes it's difficult to take a few minutes/hours off a procedure.
Quote
BTW, I'm in Smyrna, TN just south of Nashville. ...

Falls of Rough State Resort Park (KY), AKA: 2i3, AKA: CSA Rough River Canard Fly-in. End of September, be there, total canard immersion. Total. 25th anniversary this year too, should be a big event.

Rick

39
Hangar Flying / Re: What killed the Long EZ?
« on: January 12, 2011, 12:20:09 AM »
Quote from: Cougar68 on January 11, 2011, 08:12:44 PM
... I'm gearing up for building a Long myself ...
  ;D  ;D
Quote
... and trying to figure out if maybe there's a hidden gotcha that I need to know about. ...

Threat of a lawsuit can cost big bux, even if the suit is w/o merit. I can't fault RAF in the least for getting out of the 'consumer' business. There's still support for canards, this forum is but one example.

1) The "spam can" boyz can tell a good rivet job from a bad one, there's even a gauge they can use to prove it. 2) Many, if not all, of the metal bits come pre/match drilled from the factory, assembly is often "Insert tab A into slot B"...

A) How can you tell a good fiberglass layup from a bad one, there is no gauge. B) Some people are allergic to epoxy, others have no desire to work with cloth/foam/resin.

Rick

40
Hangar Flying / Re: Long EZ use of IO-320B1A
« on: December 15, 2010, 12:48:07 AM »
Russ:

I'm not fluent at how a LE engine mounts to the firewall, but...

A conical ring, or just the cups, is readily available at Wicks or ACS. If you know of a tube/frame welder (race/drag/rock-crawler frame fabricator) in your area, it should be a matter of a case or two of suds to have one fabricated.

If you want to buy an engine mount 'off the rack' I might suggest you contact Chrissy or Randi at www.cozygirrrl.com They'll know where/when/how to sent them a template of your current mount points to ensure thrust line remains per plans.

Rick

41
For Sale/Wanted / Re: WANTED - Varieze plans and templates
« on: December 07, 2010, 01:12:14 AM »
BC:

I won't try to dissuade you from starting a VE build (much  ;) ), but construction times will be about the same whether you're building a VE/LE/CZ, approx 2,000 hours. Total costs may be similar, though power plants for the first two are easier/cheaper to find.

Getting your 'feet wet' is somewhat of a moot point, and may be a waste of time.... Two to ten years until first flight. After the first few chapters you'll be mostly on par with every other builder.

IOW, If your mission indicates a Cozy MKIV, spend your time (and $$) building one. There's a ton of support, trust me here :)

Rick

42
Hangar Flying / Re: Long EZ Large Rudder Mod
« on: December 06, 2010, 12:44:02 AM »
I understand (read: covering my butt) Cozy and LongEZ wings/winglets are substantially the same. If so, search for aerocanard PDFs, or Open EZ plans, which will have the cutout and layup schedule. If totally stumped, I may be able to...

I think your biggest issue may be where the rudder conduit exits the outboard end of the wing. It should be approx 1.4" from the wing trailing edge for the newer/taller rudders.

Rick

43
San Diego EZ Squadron / Re: blue foam or pink for the body of the plane
« on: December 04, 2010, 01:03:50 AM »
Whoa Trigger whoa I say!

The sky blue (or pink) is generally extruded polystyrene, and is not the same as expanded... the white bally stuff used in inexpensive foam coolers... but I digress.

Use the plans Divinicel where it's called for; like the sides, bulkheads, strakes, ...

It appears to be generally acceptable to substitute extruded polystyrene (blue or pink) wherever urethane foam is called for. Like the NACA scoop area, the nose, and the little PITA blocks when making the canopy.

The blue (or pink) insulation foam sheets you can get at the big orange store is kinda workable, but it's not the same as you'd get from Wicks or ACS. It has a microscopic bubble structure which is not the best to ensure good peel strength.

Spend the bux, it's not that much more in the big picture. Have wicks/ACS cut the sheets to 2' x 4' to save on oversize shipping, and include the 'drops'. I know Wicks is quite accommodating for this.

Rick

44
Hangar Flying / Re: The ez.org site is moving to brand new servers and data center.
« on: November 17, 2010, 01:50:02 AM »
No issues here, me thinks the transfer went well  ;D

Sign of a good admin: Major move, or reconfiguration, nobody notices/complains  ;)

Of note, page loads seem much faster now, much.

Rick

45
Hangar Flying / Re: How does finishing a project work?
« on: November 10, 2010, 09:19:45 PM »
My opinion (or cover my butt  ;) )

Only one Repairman's cert given to an experimental, not transferable.

If you buy a stripped project, good luck getting a Repairman's.

If your project is 'bare', and you find a substantial # of items in need of correction/repair before final paint/DAR inspection, document everything... everything. Every dis-assembly, every repair, every ... Then submit for a Repairman's. Worst they can say is no.

Since these are experimental, you can do anything on your aircraft, anything. Issue is signing off the annual condition inspection. And/or major airframe modification, which will require an additional 'test' phase.

IMHO, FYI, don't forget to floss...

Rick

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