Berkut Kit

[EW1066]

Keep going Bro. Looks great!

[WolfManSpecial]

oh .really you´re my hero:cool:

[tonyslongez]

Today I started rigging the control linkages. In the berkut kit you receive a teflon bearing that is secured to a piece of plywood. The plywood is then glassed to the fuse and console. When I started on the Long Ez I used bearings to rigg my controls, which makes for a very smooth (stick) action. this time I'm using these spherical bearings. Here are the pics.

 

Pic 1) Here is the teflon bearing that comes with the kit.

 

Pic 2) I had to make a housing for my bearing. I started with a piece of 3"in dia, fortal aluminum. Unfortunately this was way to big and it took a while to turn it down to the diameter I needed.

 

Pic 3) Here is the housing with the bearing pressed in. It's hard to see but the corners have been radiused.

 

Pic 4) Here is a side view of the bearing and housing. the flange is .200 thousandths. The housing is very lite. The wall thickness's are .100 thousandths

 

Pic 5) This is the start of the assembly as it will be in the airplane.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to use these bearing as they are. I have another idea for rigging the stick. which may be a little more elegant

 

 

Tony

[Cozy1200]

Nice looking work Tony. I'm curious, how long did it take to turn that on your lathe?

 

I can certainly do that on my lathe, but my amateur skills make it painfully slow. How tight of a fit is that bearing?

[tonyslongez]

how long did it take to turn that on your lathe?

Drew

 

The bearing housing took me about 2.5 hours to rough cut it to the diameter.

Another 1.0 hour to make damn sure I got the tolerances right. Trust me it was painful for me too.

 

How tight of a fit is that bearing?

the bearing is pressed in. the O.D. of the bearing was 1.190 the I.D. of the embossment is 1.1895. When you start getting down to your I.D. your turning hairs off of the material. A bit time consuming without CNC.

 

I've got to get me a few cnc machines.

 

Tony

[tonyslongez]

Today Dale and I got to work on the consoles. We installed our newly machined flight control bearing as well. I was going to get cute with the mounting of the flight controls. I figured, I'd better just make it straight forward per the plans. Here are the pics

 

Pic 1) You can see here the bearing and the associated bulkhead. I had to mill the bottom of the bearing flange so it wouldn't interfere with the elevator input. This took a while for us to install

 

Pic 2) Here is a pic of the upper console placed on top to get my trim lines.

 

Pic 3) Here is the seat belt layup. The edges where slightly frayed. Not a bad layup just not as pretty as I'd like it to be

 

Tony

[Cozy1200]

Tony,

 

I really, really, want to know what you do for a living and if I can get the same job. I don't have a clue how you get so much done.

[tonyslongez]

I don't have a clue how you get so much done.

Drew

 

Thats really funny. Actually what's happening is, when you have two people working on the same project, you can get things done alot faster. I don't have to tell Dale what to do he just comes over and does it.

 

Tony

[tonyslongez]

Today I insatlled the phenolic for the flight control bearing.

 

Pic 1) Here is the rear of the phenolic bulkhead. I layed up two plys of carbon 2"in onto the fuselage across the face of the phenolic lapping 2"in onto the outer console. It's sorta in the shape of an "S".

On the frontside of the phenolic. I layed up two plys of carbon lapping 2"in onto the fuselage across the face of the phenolic lapping 2"in onto the inside face of the console.In the shape of a "C" If you look close enough you can see that the layup was a little long. It was more like 3"in onto the fuselage and console.

 

Pic 2) Here is the bearing mounted against the bulkhead. I layed one ply of bid across the rear face to insulate the aluminum from the carbon.

 

Tony

[Big Steve]

Why did you use phenolic which is heavy and then put a bearing on top of it? I thought the only reason to use phenolic was when you are using it as the bearing? STeve

[tonyslongez]

Why did you use phenolic which is heavy and then put a bearing on top of it? I thought the only reason to use phenolic was when you are using it as the bearing? STeve

Steve

 

The plans call for plywood for the bulkhead. I'm sure plywood would've worked just fine but I didn't want to use it. The bearing is shperical which will keep the torque tube alligned with the downline bearing. I think that if it where just the phenolic it's to rigid. If the allignment isn't perfect it can bind. The spherical bearing makes this portion of rigging the flight controls so much easier. Now keep in mind I'm doing what was conveyd to me people who have built these things before. Don't kill the messenger:D To answere your other comment I'm pretty sure you can use phenolic for more than just bearings. There are several types of phenolic. Some have very good bearing like qualities, others not so good. Phenolics are used exstensively in this kit for all sorts of missions.

 

Tony

[Big Steve]

Tony Said:

To answere your other comment I'm pretty sure you can use phenolic for more than just bearings. There are several types of phenolic. Some have very good bearing like qualities, others not so good. Phenolics are used exstensively in this kit for all sorts of missions

I guess I am a weight nut a 1/4" chunk of phenolic probably weighs more than the same size chunk of 1/4" plywood or single ply covered foam. They all would do the same job. Of holding your bearing. I plan on doing something very similar. STeve

[Jon Matcho]

Tony, pretty work there!

 

When using carbon, do you need to insulate for bolts/screws as well?

[tonyslongez]

When using carbon, do you need to insulate for bolts/screws as well?

John

 

No I don't think so. As far as I've ever heard steels are more ressistant to the "battery" condition that occurs with the aluminum. Now I read if you anodize the aluminum you don't need to insulate from the carbon.

 

Tony

[tonyslongez]

I guess I am a weight nut a 1/4" chunk of phenolic probably weighs more than the same size chunk of 1/4" plywood

Steve

 

Hey I'm a weight nut too or just a nut

Anyway I personaly don't want to use plywood in my airplane. Plywood can absorb moisture and a single ply of bid over foam might not be quite strong enough. You're right though I'm sure they all would've worked just fine. I just personally like to use phenolics over plywood.

 

Tony

[Marc Zeitlin]

When using carbon, do you need to insulate for bolts/screws as well?

If you want to do it right, the answer is yes. Except for SS and some Titanium flavors, there should be something between the carbon and the metal.

[damyankee]

Hi troops

 

I have found when dealing with dissimilar metals and any thing medal that comes in contact with carbon fiber is to use a insulator. In the marine industry we use a product called tuffjell. It is used when SS and aluminum come in contact and when SS or alum. comes in contact with carbon fiber such as masts, booms and spinnaker poles. last i knew it was avable at West marine, if not contact me and I will find a supplier in your area the manufacturer is about 10 minutes from my house and I know the owner of the company here in west palm beach.

 

 

Cheers Damyankee:cool:

[tonyslongez]

Today was a HOlY SH!% I CAN'T BELIEV I DID THAT, day.

Disaster averted.

For some strange reason I got it in my thick skull to install the longerons before a very critical layup was performed on the upper engine mount. I'm really not sure why I did it but now I had to face the music. Talk about painting yourself into a corner. Here's what happened. A few days ago John Andrewjeski came over and gave me a copy of the C-Kit plans. Obviously included in those plans is the installation of the longerons. So on the first page it says in big letters "LONERON INSTALLATION". Great! I'm way ahead my longerons are allready installed, next step right? WRONG!!!! It seems that you have to layup your upper engine mounts before the longerons go on. OH SH!%!! I thought the layup went over the longeron. NOOOOO!! under the longeron. Here are the pics (BTW) I called Dale in a panic. He quickly came over and smacked me around a little, then we got to work. Here is what we did to solve our dilemma.

 

 

Pic 1) Here is the EMB installed with flox. Notice the bottom of the longeron above the spar. In the plans it calls for a 1/4in gap above the spar and a 1/2in gap from the firewall.

 

 

Pic 2) Here is the first engine mount layup so far so good.

 

Pic 3) O.k this is where it gets U.G.L.Y. using the aluminum foil method, Dale and I where able to essentially walk the layup into place. I don't have any pics of that because it took both of us to make this work. sorry! It took us about 2hrs to get this layup in here ( Note to self! upper engine mount layup goes before the longeron:irked: ) Damn it

 

Pic 4) This is the outside of the rollover structure. When I first received the airplane the area for the spar cut out was an inch to high. After watching the video and reading the plans, I can see how a builder could mess that up. In the video the guys airplane they used for the shoot had been cut the same way. Dave mentions in the video that it is of no

consequence. This one inch is what saved my Ass. I would not have been able to perform this layup if this one inch had not been there.

 

Pic 5) Here is a flox fill in the corners of the layup.

 

 

 

 

NEXT

[tonyslongez]

Pic 6) Here is the layup all trimmed up. Not to bad. Now we have to install the aluminum and finish the rest of the layup for this section more pics coming

 

Tony

[EW1066]

Jeez bro!

 

It must have hurt to pull that one out!!!!

 

Another in ,what I'm sure is, a growing line of great saves. Of course you know this will be brought up again at the most embarrising moment possible

 

Good save

 

Vince

 

ps RTFM......FIRST!!!!

[tonyslongez]

Yeah I know. It's not all that I fixed it didn't I?

[tonyslongez]

Dale and I where hard at work today here is what we did. Now I know it doesn't look like much but I can assure you these are the most tedious layups to date.

 

Pic 1) The longeron is hollow so before I packed it with flox and micro. I placed a piece of crbon tubing in between the rollover structer and the longeron you can't see it of course. The tube is sitting on top of the spar under the longeron. The tube will allow me to run wires from my engine thru the longeron. So! micro the corners and layup two extra plies of bid for the o-540 option.

 

Pic 2) Now we have to replace the foam in the turtle deack around the longeron with a large micro fill. This was difficult, with this much micro it's hard to manage. No matter how dry you make it, the micro wants to sag. I did the best I could with it.

 

Pic 3) Next we layup two plies over the micro lapping one inch onto the firewall and engine mount extending forward down the longeron.

 

Pic 4) The last layup is the aluminum plate. The plate is floxed, and one ply of bid is layed up all around. I'll knife trim this later.

 

 

Tony

[tonyslongez]

This is a bit boring. This is all the time I had for layups today between my honeydo's.

 

 

Pic 1) I figured I better cover my longerons before they get any unwanted drips or smears on them. I just used 2in wide scotch tape to cover them up.

 

Pic 2) This is one ply of bid inside the rollover structure. This one really tried my patience (gravity) I'm not sure why this one ply is here, it's what the plans call for. SoOOO here it is damn it!!!

 

Tony

[tonyslongez]

Today I was only able to do one layup for the rollover structure. Here are the pics.

 

Pic 1) This is the micro fill used to replace the foam in the rollover structure. I'll let the micro cure, sand it and then do the layup. This is the right side of the rollover.

 

Pic 2) The micro on the left was cured, so I sanded it and layed up four plys in carbon. Each ply is stepped back a 1/2in" starting 4in above the end of the foam. (OR about 7in" above the top of the longeron) (roughly)

[Lynn Erickson]

Today I was only able to do one layup for the rollover structure. Here are the pics.

 

Pic 1) This is the micro fill used to replace the foam in the rollover structure. I'll let the micro cure, sand it and then do the layup. This is the right side of the rollover.

 

Pic 2) The micro on the left was cured, so I sanded it and layed up four plys in carbon. Each ply is stepped back a 1/2in" starting 4in above the end of the foam. (OR about 7in" above the top of the longeron) (roughly)

This would be a good place to use peel ply both on the micro and on the stepped back plys. nicer finish and less sanding