Oaf Story #3: Landing Gear Alignment

[rnbraud]

K, long story short:

 

Working on main landing gear, yada, yada, ... build jig using wall and shelf board, yada, yada, ... build attach tab box, yada, yada, ...

check alignment, right leg a little off, assume top of box not square, yada, yada, ... in a hurry to get something done, go ahead and do

"bottom" attach tab layup, yada, yada, ... let cure, yada, yada, ... misalignment bothering me, check gear in jig

 

Oh Snap!!! If I line up gear legs at the 9.25" alignment line, the aft right attach tab is about 1/4"-3/8:" away from the jig board.

Oh Snap!!! If I line up the attach tab with the jig board, the left gear leg is about 1/2" forward of the 9.25" alignment line.

 

Please refer to my crummy website for pictures: http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/tripleseven/index.html

 

 

So, now what do I do.

 

The lazy in me says go ahead and continue and simply place the left axle 1/2" back from the normal position. Shouldn't be a problem,

right, since we remove all that material back there for the brake caliper anyway. Or even better spit the difference and make the right axle 1/4" forward and the

left axle 1/4" aft.

 

The other side of me says to cut off the 1/2 complete attach tabs, peal back and/or sand off the glass attached to the gear leg, rebuild the jig and re-do the attach tab jig box thingy. In fact I started doing this tonight before writing this e-mail.

 

Soooooooooo, what advice can you fellow oaf's give me on this one?

 

P.S. Upon reflection of this incident I realize now the shelf board on the ground must have shifted away from the wall making the gear

not sit flush with my alignment board. Must be the damn kids. Yeah, it was them, that was the ticket. It could not possibly have been me

and my urge to hurry up and get something done!

[Phil Kriley]

I don't have any advise, but just wanted you to know I share your pain. The wood I used to build my jig box warped - unbeknowst to me. I had built the box and then got pulled away from the project for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, I caught the problem before I started making my tabs when I couldn't get the gear to line up on the table properly. I cut the the box off and re-attached it - still no joy. Then I realized that the wood was warped and bought new wood - the straightest I could find. Built the new box, put it on the table and the legs lined up perfectly w/o using any shims. Then I made my tabs and was good to go.

 

I lost count of how many times I have lifted the gear into the hole to get it as perfect as possible...

 

Then, finally satisfied, I floxed in the MG-4's and the next day found one of them had moved... I had to make a special tool to get it out - what a PITA.

 

But that's now behind me and I'm working on the landing gear cover and the landing brake. I have not bought the brakes for the main gear yet - I didn't want them sitting in my basement for then next 5 years while I finish the construction.

 

Good luck!

[rnbraud]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

I went ahead and left it as is and completed the "top" layup last night.

 

I was really concerned about removing the first "bottom" layup and damaging the strut.

 

Will see how bad it turns out when I put it in the fuse.

 

Thanks again.

 

Later.