Nose Gear Doors - Dimensions?

[rnbraud]

Hello All,

 

While my main gear hoop torsional layup cures, I will be working on my nose gear doors.

 

I plan to make them a pair, the front of which are each 1/2" wider than the aft so the hinges from a "V" opening towards the front.

This is due to a tip form Wayne Hicks website and is there to keep the door open via wind blast.

 

After tracing the outline on the fuse, 1/2", for each, looks kinda wide.

 

Just curious what others have done in this regard for their nose gear doors???

 

Later.

 

P.S. Yes I plan to e-mail Wayne directly, but am curious about others opinion.

 

P.S.S. Not that Wayne's opinion isn't important, but .... oh nevermind.

[Lynn Erickson]

Hello All,

 

While my main gear hoop torsional layup cures, I will be working on my nose gear doors.

 

I plan to make them a pair, the front of which are each 1/2" wider than the aft so the hinges from a "V" opening towards the front.

This is due to a tip form Wayne Hicks website and is there to keep the door open via wind blast.

 

After tracing the outline on the fuse, 1/2", for each, looks kinda wide.

 

Just curious what others have done in this regard for their nose gear doors???

 

Later.

 

P.S. Yes I plan to e-mail Wayne directly, but am curious about others opinion.

 

P.S.S. Not that Wayne's opinion isn't important, but .... oh nevermind.

you don,t need to angle the hinges they stay open. this is my set up and it always works. wider is better as some times the wheel is not perfectly straight but it always makes it in the well. the bent spring material keeps the doors straight and the straight spring keeps the doors open no matter what the air flow. when the gear strut contacts the straight spring it bends and pulls the doors closed.

[Waiter]

Here's a couple photos of mine. I did a retrofit. Not quite as eloquent as Lynn's, but functional.

 

Look at 30 JAN and scroll all the way down and look at 1 JAN

 

http://www.iflyez.com/LongEZ_Retrofit_JAN_05.shtml

 

Look at the finished product, 13 and 20 MARCH

 

http://www.iflyez.com/LongEZ_Retrofit_MAR_05.shtml

 

Waiter

[Neverquit]

Waiter, you mention "music wire". Is this piano wire? How about a piece of flat steel like the kind for binding pallets?

[Waiter]

I thought of using that (steel strapping), it would work, you need to secure it to the doors with some way to hinge as the doors move open/close. You could mount small hinges on the ends of the strap.

 

The reason I used the wire, it will fit in a hinge directly.

 

The purpose of the wire is to push the doors open, and keep them from opening to far.

 

Waiter

[Edge 513]

I just want to make the point here that Lynns has been in OPERATION for YEARS and they WORK...Not to take away from others installations...but just pointing out a proven direction to take. Thanks Lynn for posting your pics here. Lynn was nice enough a while back, to let me follow his lead, and here is a pic of mine operating. And a pic closed.

[Wayne Hicks]

I stole my nose gear concept from Dewey Davis' Cozy III. He stole his from Ken Miller. I'm not sure who Ken stole his from.

 

I like the wider opening for the following reasons. I have the spring only. I do not have a music wire hoop inside the wheel well (like James Redmon). Because of how the hinges on my door are installed, the doors have play in them and they tend to want to flop side to side. (The music wire hoop stops side to side flopping, BTW.) When they flop, they flop in unison. One door flops well away from the centerline. However, the other flops to near vertical and could potentially hang up on the nose gear when the nose gear is retracting.

 

Having the front of the doors wider than the aft helps prevent flopping. No, I haven't flown yet, but I have tested it with a powerful leaf blower.

 

Now, I have since installed a longer, stronger door spring that has in itself solved the flopping issue. Tthe longer spring now pushes the doors WIDE open. The doors -- when open -- now butt up to the fuselage, stopping the flop.

 

Bottom line? --> Having the front opening wider doesn't hurt anything. It doesn't make nose gear doors any harder to install. And it does aid in keeping the doors open if you don't want to mess with a music wire retaining hoop. I'm still glad I did it.

[Wayne Hicks]

I stole my nose gear concept from Dewey Davis' Cozy III. He stole his from Ken Miller. I'm not sure who Ken stole his from.

 

I like the wider opening for the following reasons. I have the spring only. I do not have a music wire hoop inside the wheel well (like James Redmon). Because of how the hinges on my door are installed, the doors have play in them and they tend to want to flop side to side. (The music wire hoop stops side to side flopping, BTW.) When they flop, they flop in unison. One door flops well away from the centerline. However, the other flops to near vertical and could potentially hang up on the nose gear when the nose gear is retracting.

 

Having the front of the doors wider than the aft helps prevent flopping. No, I haven't flown yet, but I have tested it with a powerful leaf blower.

 

Now, I have since installed a longer, stronger door spring that has in itself solved the flopping issue. Tthe longer spring now pushes the doors WIDE open. The doors -- when open -- now butt up to the fuselage, stopping the flop.

 

Bottom line? --> Having the front opening wider doesn't hurt anything. It doesn't make nose gear doors any harder to install. And it does aid in keeping the doors open if you don't want to mess with a music wire retaining hoop. I'm still glad I did it.

[Lynn Erickson]

Waiter, you mention "music wire". Is this piano wire? How about a piece of flat steel like the kind for binding pallets?

it is the wire that comes in the hinge. it is plated steel music wire. spruce sells it by it self. the hinge wire should be changed to ss anyway as the other wears the plating off and then rusts. the rust grinds away at the aluminum hinge.

[Edge 513]

It is my understanding. Possibly a Cozy/LongEze urban legend, that the wire [rod I would call it since it is way to thick to be considered a wire to me] was put into the equation, because in a crosswind the doors blew sideways dispite the wider front throat and hung some fliers gear up in the cycle.

With the vertical ''wire'' the floppage side to side is not possible. I went with that. Lynns just looked bombproof.

[Wayne Hicks]

Crosswinds could affect a one-piece door. But in my opinion it would take one incredible cross wind to affect two-piece doors.

 

In the beginning, before the advent of electric nose lifts, it was common for the gear door to be one piece, hinged on one side. One would raise the nose maually, then deploy the gear manually. Or, hang on to the nose, and manually raise the gear before parking the nose onto Mother Earth.

 

Problem is, a one-piece gear door is too wide to leave deployed when the nose is kissing Mother Earth. (It hits the ground before the nose does.) So when electric gear became available, people transitioned to using two piece doors.

 

In my leaf blower tests, I could not get the airflow to close my two-piece doors. I have a big leave blower.