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Messages - D

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16
Hangar Flying / Molded composites question...
« on: July 13, 2006, 02:46:44 PM »
Hi Noel -

If it's a UAV, chances are the "aerodynamic" penalties for simply peel plying an external tape to the LE won't be too costly.  However, if it's a UAV with nice, slick, gel coated wing skins... well... yuck.    :wink:

You can butt the skins together at the LE like an open book and tape the joint externally w/ duct or packing tape (depending on your external surface).  Bond your ribs and such to the inside of the "bottom" skin.  When you're ready to close things out, run a wet fiberglass tape down the length of the internal LE joint overlapping both skins, add flox the top of the ribs, and close the "book" with clamps on the TE.  The external LE tape will serve as your clamps up front.  Make sense?

Another option would be to make a sample wing, run a fiberglass tape down the external LE, and then cut the LE off after it cures to create a fancy, female LE flange tool.  Coat the inside with release agent, lay in your tape, cure it, and then pop it out.  It'll give you a rigid LE shape to bond to your lower skin along with the ribs.  When your're ready to close out, flox the LE flange just like your ribs and clamp away.  The external duct/packing tape trick works as a nice LE clamp here, too.

Good luck!

D

17
Hangar Flying / here's a stupid question on fuel systems
« on: June 20, 2006, 04:56:45 PM »
Mike -

Section II calls out 3/8" OD soft Al tube from the fuel valve to the gascolator, and from the gascolator to the fuel boost pump.  However, there are a few plans changes in the CP's that address the issue.

CP31 contains a MAN-GRD change to replace Al fittings with Steel (MAN-GRD) as depicted in this figure:  http://ez.org/cp31-p8.htm
That's clear enough.  However, there's more...

CP49 contains a MAN-GRD change that states "Inspect all fuel system plumbing and fuel system components for approved fireproof components.  Substitute approved fireproof components (steel or stainless) for any aluminum components and be sure that fireproof sleeves are used on all hose components.  Any exposed aluminum tubing or fittings should be corrected with approved stainless steel or steel aircraft fitting.  If your gascolator bowl is aluminum, wrap it with approved fire sleeve material similar to the hose sleeves."

I'll leave it up to you (and/or your lawyer) to determine whether CP49 says "firesleeve your aluminum and forget about it" or "replace all of your aluminum with steel/stainless and forget about it" or "replace all of your aluminum with steel/stainless THEN firesleeve it THEN forget about it."  :wink:

D

18
Hangar Flying / Ken Brock Mfg
« on: June 02, 2006, 12:30:25 PM »
Yep, Brock is gone.  The remaining inventory was sold to Aircraft Spruce when they closed the doors.

However, here's a good alternative:

http://www.cozygirrrl.com/aircraftparts.htm

Their inventory is growing and the prices are reasonable.

D

19
Hangar Flying / The "essential bus"
« on: May 01, 2006, 08:03:22 PM »
Howdy Bruce -

Perhaps a Spare1 and Spare2 (and maybe even a Spare3) just to avoid any major surgery when you decide that something needs to be added to your "get me home" bus?

Other random thoughts that may/mayn't be applicable to your architecture:
-- Any nav to go with that comm?
-- Electric nose gear or electric landing brake?
-- Secondary ignition?
-- Voltmeter (to know how long you can prolong the agony)?

One final thing that caught my eye was that "EVERYTHING operates off the Master solenoid."  I'm guessing that this statement applies to everything except your E-Bus circuit breaker... which is fed directly from the battery (or the battery side of the Master solenoid) through a switch?  Perhaps your E-bus is also dioded to your Main bus (bus side of the Master solenoid) which makes the "EVERYTHING" true... as long as the Master solenoid is pulled in?  Just wondering how your buses are tied together.

Hope to see some pics of your handiwork once the rewire is complete!   :D

D

20
Hangar Flying / Stratomaster Instruments
« on: April 20, 2006, 06:26:21 PM »
Howdy Ghost --

I haven't used their display, but I'm using the OEM instrumentation head (RDAC X) on a project to pull data off of a Rotax 914.  This is the same instrumentation box that catches data for the Strato and Ultra systems from MGL, I believe.

The only issue we had was a zener diode that was incorrectly sized in the tach circuit.  Luckily, the tech support from MGL Avionics was excellent.  The guy that runs MGL (Rainier Lamers) is top notch, as is the fellow over at Sport Flying Shop (Matt).    The product certainly has a favorable bang:buck ratio.

I thought they were working on a color version of one of the MGL products not too long ago??  You might wanna quiz Matt on that one before you drop the cash on a monochrome unit.

D

21
Hangar Flying / Electrical connectors - an accident waiting...
« on: April 08, 2006, 11:11:38 PM »
Yikes!  Glad you found it on the ground, Bruce!!    

I've had great luck with the PIDG blade connectors from Digikey, Allied Electronics, Mouser, SteinAir, Waytek, or any of the aircraft houses (for a modest markup).  Much better than the auto/stereo store variety... and when coupled with a decent crimp tool you'll get a good, gas-tight connection with extra strain relief.

The PIDG variety costs a little extra but they're well worth the peace of mind.  I've even added a length of heat shrink tubing over a few connections just to be double-damn sure.    :wink:

D

22
Hangar Flying / What exactly IS a BerkEZ??
« on: January 26, 2006, 07:34:41 PM »
Thanks for surfacing, Chris, and for the ditto, Frank.  I was sure I saw Berk-EZ a couple of times here but couldn't remember any names (the folks on the other forum clued me into Frank's new plane).

Chris - did you get your cowls from Dave R. while he was still producing them, find them elsewhere, or make your own?  Is your fuel system plumbed with the "old" style sump or like James Redmond's (www.berkut13.com)?  What flavor of engine?  Got a website?

Frank - gonna document your restoration on your website? (I know, I know.. free time)

Thanks guys, I appreciate your patience!

23
Hangar Flying / What exactly IS a BerkEZ??
« on: January 26, 2006, 11:36:26 AM »
I was told on the other forum that there are folks here (looking directly at Frank P.) that might have a few comments on the subject... so:

Specifically, what differentiates a BerkEZ from a Long and a Berkut?

I'm currently building a Long-EZ, but a ride in a Berkut started all of this canard mess for me.  If there are mod's that will make one bird (Long) act like another (Berkut), I wanna know about them!    :D

Also, I heard rumors about BerkEZ-related airworthiness nightmares (Frank?).  What specifically was/is wrong, and what can a current builder do to avoid such nightmares in their own construction?

Much thanks!

24
Hangar Flying / Back again... different spec's, though
« on: January 24, 2006, 09:56:02 PM »
Looks like the same plane is back on the selling block... but it has a different story and new/improved spec's attached this time.

EBay ID #   4607455240

???

25
Hangar Flying / Cleveland Brakes
« on: January 08, 2006, 05:52:22 PM »
Aircraft Spruce has all of the parts for the Cleveland brake sets (600 x 6, 500 x 5).

26
Hangar Flying / shipping big items
« on: January 05, 2006, 02:07:25 AM »
Hey John -

Perhaps it's www.uship.com per Omar Filiopvic's (filipo) post over on the other forum:

http://canardaviationforum.dmt.net/showthread.php?t=2090

???

D

27
Hangar Flying / Build or Fly
« on: January 03, 2006, 10:26:29 AM »
Ok, Robert "Ghost" Frost... I'm not buying ANY of that "two paths in the wood" crap.   :wink:   I see absolutely NO dilemma here.  You only have ONE sensible option -- and that is to do BOTH!

That way, when you grow tired of "enjoying the build" and "taking pride in your work" and all that other touchy/feely nonsense you can pull the prop on the Varieze and go fly!

"I have two planes and an engine... waaaahhhh."  That's pathetic.  :lol:

D

p.s. - ok, seriously, congrats on what sounds like a great find!  Does your friend need any other friends??!
p.s.s. - if you refuse his offer I hope you wake up next to a horse head (you made the first Godfather reference... not me!).   :wink:

28
Hangar Flying / fire warning
« on: December 20, 2005, 11:40:24 PM »
Charles -

Bill James installed a variant of the "melt through" fire detection on his Vari (a 2 wire pair w/ one lead hot and the other ground connected to a warning lamp).  There are a bunch of pic's and details about his airplane here:

http://www.ez.org/feature/F0502-1/F0502-1.htm

Neat guy, with a bunch of neat mod's.

D

29
Hangar Flying / Cooling plenums
« on: November 26, 2005, 10:24:35 AM »
Take a look at Bill's articles on ez.org ("Those EZ Chronicles" link on the left).  The one named "Plenty of Plenums" describes the materials he used.  I assumed he found some exotic material in the dumpsters at Lockheed but it turned out to be 3 layers of BID and EZ Poxy plus a few post cure cycles.  Maybe a little high temp BBQ paint to make it look exotic?

Haven't seen/heard anything about adapting the idea to an updraft config, though.

30
Hangar Flying / Cozy/other engine hardpoints on a Long EZ?
« on: October 07, 2005, 02:52:50 PM »
Thanks for the heads up, guys.  I read about the wings+spar idea somewhere and it sounded like a good idea.  I believe the article was written by/about one of the Scaled guys (Doug Shane, perhaps) that mounted his Long wings that way.  Seemed relatively painless.  We'll see...

I'll post my "lessons learned" after I successfully fling myself off the decision cliff.

D

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