Kent's Long-EZ project

[Voidhawk9]

I'm no prop expert, but I'd have concerns about what I cannot see. It's going to be spinning at 2700RPM or so, there's lots of forces. If it were my airplane.. do I want to have that lingering concern always in the back of my mind?

I'd always go for skinned prop too, whether that be glass or whatever.

[Kent Ashton]

Here's how I have made fuel sight gauges (not "site" gauges, for goodness sake!).  The bubble is PETG and the backing plate is Lexan [polycarbonate] from a sign shop.  Ask for scraps.   The forms are made from 3/4" plywood and a 3/4" dowel.  Aluminum tape is used to give a smooth bubble.  I used some cloth as shown but it left an imprint. The imprint did not hurt but a felt cloth would likely be better.  Heat your oven on BAKE to 280-320F and heat up the PETG on a clean cookie sheet.  Keep checking a corner to see when it gets flexible.  If you get it too hot it will form bubbles and be unusable.  When flexible, whip it off the cookie sheet with pliers, flop it on the male form, apply the female form and stand on them for 30 secs or so.  Make a float out of the dense urethane used to mount the aileron brackets or some sort of urethane.  

You can buy them from Vance Atkinson of slightly higher quality but what fun is that?  Here is a pic installed in my EZ project.

To mount them, roughen all surfaces.   Mount the white backing plate to the inside fuselage with wet flox.  After cure, drill holes top and bottom into the tank.  The bottom holes are drilled so they are near the bottom of the tank surface and the bottom of the gauge bubble but not so low as to be covered by the wet flox that is used next to hold the bubble.   Use a bit or grease to hold the float in the middle of the bubble and a small bit of grease in the lower hole to prevent flox from blocking it.  Now mount the bubble with wet flox.  It should squeeze out but not cover the lower hole.  If it does, just remove the bubble and do-over.  After cure, tape over the bubble for protection and apply 2 BID around the edges.

[Kent Ashton]

Sad to see that CanardCommunity.com has disappeared from the web (pic).  This follows CanardAviation.com a few years ago.  Both were good resources for researching canard questions.  I guess this one will disappear one day but fear not, faithful fans, "Kent's Long-ez project" is archived at the Wayback Machine for eternity or until the big Russian microwave pulse zeros-out all the bits and bytes   🙂 .   https://web.archive.org/web/20211019173724/https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/18661-kents-long-ez-project/   

 

[jridge]

Yes.  It's too bad someone couldn't archive all that information before it disappeared.

Who runs this forum and pays for it?

 

Jeff

[Voidhawk9]

8 minutes ago, jridge said:

Who runs this forum and pays for it?

Jon Matcho

I'm not sure of the site costs and so on, but there is a store link at the top of the page, it has some resources you can buy, or just fund a coffee in appreciation!

 

[Barry]

9 minutes ago, Voidhawk9 said:

Jon Matcho

I'm not sure of the site costs and so on, but there is a store link at the top of the page, it has some resources you can buy, or just fund a coffee in appreciation!

 

I never even noticed. Just bought 5 cups  Hope it helps.

Thanks for the tip Cameron.

[fshort]

 

Hi Kent:

I was just idlely scrolling thru this thread and saw the Zerk fitting you installed in the MKNG-6. I wondered how to lube that in service...

Did you just drill thru to the space between the races, tap it? It looks like the NLG is retracted, so you lube it w/ the gear down?

Thanks for the tip!

Regards,

James

 

 

 

[Kent Ashton]

1 hour ago, fshort said:

I was just idlely scrolling thru this thread and saw the Zerk fitting you installed in the MKNG-6. I wondered how to lube that in service...

Did you just drill thru to the space between the races, tap it? It looks like the NLG is retracted, so you lube it w/ the gear down?

I drilled and tapped it with the gear off the strut.  I think it was an NPT (tapered) thread.  You can lube it with the gear down.  It does not take much grease.

BTW, I am not using that microswitch setup.  Had a better idea.  🙂

  

Edited Saturday at 07:47 PM by Kent Ashton

[fshort]

 

 

 

Hi Kent:

Good tip!

 

Now, for something completely different:

 I just bought this true ASI from a Piper on eBay:

 

All the varied plumbing types just kills me!

How could this not leak?

[Anthony P]

There is always plenty of atmosphere to replace the leaked air.

I wonder how much pressure drop before the gauge would be required to create one heck of a leak and noticeable gauge error?

[Kent Ashton]

Fshort said "How could this not leak?"

What a mess!  But it reminds me of a tip I saw to use spring-style hose clamps on the rubber oil drain-back tubes on a Lycoming.  The spring-clamps will maintain tension as the tubes heat-cycle.  I am planning to do that next time I do some cylinder work.  Just bought a tool for them:

[mquinn6]

I understand the theory of spring tension heat cycle maintaining - but I have never had much luck with those clamps (must be correctly matched to the OD of the tube - and correct squish (which is different for different thickness of hose)... ).  I know we are talking about near zero pressure...  I have seen hose clamps with built in springs to do this - but I found them to be kinda gimmicky....  check this out 

 

 

 

[Kent Ashton]

3 hours ago, mquinn6 said:

I understand the theory of spring tension heat cycle maintaining - but I have never had much luck with those clamps (must be correctly matched to the OD of the tube - and correct squish (which is different for different thickness of hose)... ).  I know we are talking about near zero pressure...  I have seen hose clamps with built in springs to do this - but I found them to be kinda gimmicky....  check this out

The spring clamps seem to work well on my Subaru.  I was thinking I would go to my local Pull-A-Part and collect some.  McMaster sells them    https://www.mcmaster.com/spring-clamps/constant-tension-spring-band-clamps-for-firm-hose-and-tube/

With the standard hose clamps, it is easy to get them too tight and cut the rubber or too loose and they leak.  Anyway I will give them a try.

-----------------

Tip:  don't throw away old cylinders.  They are good for making cylinder torque plates for when you want to remove a couple cylinders or more to work on them.  Mike Busch talks about being very careful not to change the torque on the cylinder hold-down bolt if you want to avoid shifting the main bearings or cam.  This guy in Seattle has old cylinders for $20 but is is probably too expensive to ship them to N.C.  https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/avo/d/seattle-used-aircraft-cylinders/7514291987.html    However if some local builder wants to pay half the shipping (hint, hint) maybe I will order a couple and cut them up.

[Kent Ashton]

Seen the movie "The High and the MIghty"?  What a great aviation flick, availabe on Youtube.  I get choked up every time John Wayne nurses that DC-4 into San Francisco.

[mquinn6]

I see your point about the spring clamps - however pulling them from the parts yard does not ensure you have the correct size - and you _could_ land up in the same boat of having too big of a clamp (making a loose connection) - or too tight of a clamp (and cutting into and compromising the rubber).  As I said - concept is sound, how to properly size is my concern - different diameters and wall thicknesses of the rubber all play a part in this - will research this a bit more and see what I can find. (first pass https://hpsperformanceproducts.com/blogs/how-to-diy/tech-tip-how-to-measure-a-hose-clamp)

Edited Monday at 11:51 AM by mquinn6