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Kent Ashton

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Everything posted by Kent Ashton

  1. Pretty good deal considering the retail price is $3470 + tax. Add another $150 for two coils. You can get them from Nology. Pic in the ad
  2. Prop set up for routing (pic1). Notice anything amiss? Yeah, the blank is not mounted on the cutter side. 😞 I am using a wimpy 1/4" shaft router. It works but I think I will buy a larger 1/2"-shaft router. It is too tedious to rout off all the excess wood with the small router bit. Other than that, the prop-carver works well enough. Mistake #2: as I was routing the stations on one side of a blade, I noticed that the router bit had slipped lower on the shaft and was cutting the stations too deep! Dang! I think it can be salvaged but more checking required. My homemade carver works pretty well but I ran across this Russian chap with a stouter design that could be easily adapted for props. The video will not let me embed it but search for youtube video iOidSuCZG_I or cut&paste "Заменит ЧПУ ? Копировальный станок" I took a few screen shots (pics 2-4)
  3. Many years ago Rutan recommended a black UV primer. Could be that. If so you would not want it on the airplane. Pic 1: Is the canopy cracked? A crack might be repaired though. The fit of the canopy looks good. Pic2: What is that foam(?) between the strake-skin and the centerspar? It looks like maybe Task (molded) strakes were glued to the centerspar with pour foam. Why paint places black like the aft face of the center spar? Pic 3: Some sort of separation of an aileron near the hinge? Aileron workmanship rough. Also, the skin was primed but not filled first. Might give problems later getting a micro/epoxy filler to stick. Also, rolls of fiberglass sitting on the hangar floor are not too reassuring
  4. Today on FB: The nose could be rebuilt pretty easily but there are other pics that look rather unsettling. You would want to have a hard look with someone who knows EZs
  5. for a low tech builder, prop with a straight trailing edge, that is, a trailing edge that would be flush with a table surface, is easier to build than a fully tapered prop. Then Paul Lippse, Gary Herzler, Jack Norris, et al, and my own experience convinced me that thin, tapered tips are very important. That empties my clue bag. I don’t know if thin blades like Performance Propeller builds have an advantage over wider blades but I don’t have the capability to make those stiff multi-laminate blades like PP. yep, watched the Culver vids
  6. Welcome to the age-old confusion over the "major portion" rule and the Repairman's certificate rule. The "major portion' (51%) rule is that the major portion of the aircraft must have been built by amateurs for their education and recreation. Any amateurs, anywhere. With a plans built EZ, it is pretty easy to convince an inspector/DAR the major portion was built by amateurs. Just document your work from now on and you should have no problem. The Repairman's Certificate issue is different. Only one R.C. can be issued for each airplane and you need to show the inspector you know how to repair the aircraft. Usually that is not a high hurdle.
  7. The way I do it is rather low tech but it's still quite a bit of work. I had the vertical mill and the bandsaw already. Made the prop-copier. Made the jigs to precisely drill the prop holes. Made the clamps to glue up the boards. For a fresh design I made two jigs for flat and curved sides that guide the prop-copier along the airfoil stations, then there was a lot of surplus wood removal. It is somewhat easier with a blade to use as a template. I enjoy the exercise but it is probably not worth doing unless you have a favorite prop blade to copy. The prop-copier is pretty low tech but his guy seems to have a good idea for a homemade CAD machine. Man what I could do with one of those! 🙂 https://youtu.be/0G3tEE7HEDA
  8. The Montana EZ reported purchased. https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/21972-sales-ive-seen/?do=findComment&comment=90277
  9. Starting on another prop, a replacement for the last one I did not carve precisely. It is a 2-blade 67 X 80P (26.87 deg chord angle) which seemed to be about the right pitch for 180 hp but the last one was a nightmare to balance due to dumb mistakes so I will use one blade as a template. Wow, the price of maple is outasight--$319 for six 7-foot boards. Weldwood Plastic Resin glue is no longer made so I am using Cascamite, a similar british urea formaldehyde glue. I ordered 1.5 kg but half that seemed to be enough with a bit left over. Instructions say to apply to one board. Check out youtubes for some tips on the glue. [EDIT: I was not happy with this Cascamite glue. Maybe it is how I mixed it or applied it to one side of a board as instructed but at the ends of the prop-blank where I left a hold-down stack that would be cut off later, a couple of the laminates in the stack came away with a small bump. A chap on HBA said there are various formulations of urea-formaldehyde glue and some of them have been modified to make them "greeener". If you want to use it, do some tests yourself to check the strength of the lamination] I have shown my clamping setup in previous posts. https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/33481-kents-propeller-thread/ Here is the rough-cut blank, partially cut out. Next step is to mount it in the prop-carver.
  10. OT but I was just talking to a chap about generals exceeding their brief: (1) When I was flying Tweets, the general in charge of Training Command, George Simler, was a real a-hole. One mistake got you hammered. He was promoted to head of Military Airlift Command and took off in a T-38 with an IP in the back seat (his aide) on a final flight headed for MAC headquarters. Word was that he tried to do an aileron roll right after takeoff, got about halfway through the roll and tried to reverse it or the IP took control but the crash killed them both. The Accident board demurred. (2) From the book "Red Eagles": General Bobby Bonds was the head of A.F. Systems Command and wanted to fly one of the Mig-23s maintained at Area 51 (which he controlled). The Flogger would do Mach 2.35 but it had a throttle interlock that engaged above about 1.8 mach because throttle reduction at that speed would destroy the engine. You could only raise the nose a little and wait for the airplane to slow down. Bonds got an over-the-shoulder cockpit briefing from a pilot, took off and left his T-38 chase behind. It appears he tried to maneuver to slow down but the Flogger was unstable passing through the Mach. He bailed out, shredding his parachute. Lots of good stories in that book about the USAF Migs, including deadsticking a Mig-21 back into Tonapah. I watched a video by a test pilot with 1000 hours in the F-22. He said a Flogger would easily out-run the F-22
  11. Today: Worth $1K if the wing attachments look decent. Might be worth that much even if they don't but some rebuilding would be required. A cracked canopy can be repaired with the proper glue so as to be almost invisible.
  12. Today: Was listed at $45K about a year ago. I guess he has done more to it. Still a lot to go though. pics are from https://www.facebook.com/groups/CozyMkIV
  13. My upper baffles near the head were smaller than I intended but the temps were pretty even with the other cylinders. I am satisfied with the wraps around the lower barrels. But yeah, I think you want to force all the air to go through the fins. I suppose it is a balance between shrouding the cylinders too much and restricting flow-thru, or small baffles that let the air spill out of the top without passing through the top fins.
  14. 90 years old and selling out. What a wimp! 🙂 No pics
  15. Cylinders are re-ringed and installed. I used part of a break-in schedule from engine-man Mahlon_R on the Van's list (1) run at 800 rpm for 3 mins, cool until you can hold your hand on the cylinder 3-5 seconds, (2) run at 1000 rpm for 3 minutes, cool, (3) run at 1200 rpm for 3 mins, cool. Then I just went out and flew for an hour. Surprisingly, the cylinders did not get that hot--about 375F--but it is a nice fall day here. We'll see how they do in another 20-25 hours. Always looking for a better way to do baffles. Pic 1 is what I had before but it is fiddly to make and install. Pics 2 is a new idea, pretty easy to make and install. The outside wraps pull the center wraps tight and the small white piece made from soft aluminum flashing seals the irregularity on the case . Seal remaining cracks with silicone sealant. Below is a drawing (pic 3) and one of the halves shown on a cylinder. (pic 5) I have made these exhaust seals before out of round stove-door fiberglass cord liberally slathered with RTV and formed around scrap exhaust pipe. They last a long time. I cut this one to fit over the installed exhausts and looped .025 safety wire through it to hold it in shape. A few more pics here https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/18661-kents-long-ez-project/?do=findComment&comment=61694
  16. The Mikalor 4 X 19 W1 spring clamps seem to be the perfect fit with the Gates 361970 power steering hose. I thought I would try an auto oil filter. Some folks recommended Napa 1515, I bought a Napa 41515 which is a better filter with anti-drainback valve but it did not work with my B&C oil filter adapter. The Napa filter threads project out further than Champion/Tempest threads and the filter bottoms on the B&C adaptor before the rubber gasket is compressed. If somebody knows a compatible auto filter for the B&C adaptor . . ..
  17. Just talking to a friend about nose strut installation. Get your strut installation perfectly vertical. If the strut has a bit of angle to one side, it will cause the castoring nosewheel to castor over to one side like trying to push a shopping-cart on its side. When I flew F-4s, there was an accident in the New Orleans ANG where an F-4 blew a tire and ran off the runway. The Dash 1 cautioned to use the hydraulic nosegear steering with a blown tire. We had always assumed it was because the drag of the blown tire could pull the airplane to one side. A smart young engineer-pilot on the accident board determined that the drag of a blown tire was minimal but lowering the wing on that side was enough to make the castoring nosewheel turn the airplane off the runway. I could be counteracted if the pilot engaged the hydraulic nosewheel steering but the pilot of the accident airplane had released the nosegear steering a couple of times to lower the hook and drop the drag chute. Each time he released the nosegear steering and the castoring nosewheel made the aircraft jump toward the grass, as proven by tire marks on the runway. These airplanes had been flying 40 years but no one had appreciated the dynamics. !
  18. The Mikalor clamps for the oil return hoses that I ordered from the UK seemed rather expensive (4 clamps for $17) so I thought these Hillman versions might do the job (12 for $10). Sure enough, they are thinner metal. 😞 Order the Mikalors.
  19. Barnstormers: Decent price considering the engine and other stuff included, however only one pic that shows anything and it doesn't show very much. (pic) Here is another seller who can't summon-up the energy to take a few good pics to show what he is selling. Jeesh. What is heat-damaged is left to your imagination.
  20. I suggest to put an antenna (copper foil) on a wooden pole and run a length of coax it to the radio. Comm antennae should be vertical. If it works some feet from the aircraft it will probably work in the winglet. RG-400 is the preferred coax but cheaper stuff will work almost as well.
  21. Saw this idea from Mike Busch for inspecting Lycoming cam and lifters with a borescope through the oil drain hole (pic 1). Seems like that might work. I remembered someone saying to go in through the oil filler hole but that does not seem practical. given where the oil filler enters the case https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/march/pilot/savvy-aviator-powerplant-resurrection
  22. This has likely been discussed before, in fact, I think it came up somewhere a couple weeks ago, but my old brain cannot recall where. Finding old answers is sometimes a challenge. There is THIS site, which has a search feature although not the greatest. Then I would start with a google "verbatim" search. Google verbatim searches for only the exact words you specify. https://www.google.com/webhp?tbs=li:1 Sometimes searching Google Images will lead me to a solution Canard Owners and Builders (COBA) contains all the old Central States Newsletters and a wealth of canard info (membership req'd). There is a search function there. https://canardowners.com/ Marc has the old Canard Pusher newsletters at his site and there is a text-search function there http://www.cozybuilders.org/Canard_Pusher/ If the question might have related to Cozys it might have been discussed in the Cozybuilders Google group. Marc has zipped archives here http://www.cozybuilders.org/mail_list/ but I usually go to the Google group archive for the mail list and search that (Google sign-in required). https://groups.google.com/g/cozy_builders The Canard Aviators mail list is archived here https://canardzone.groups.io/g/canard-aviators This is an old group, still active. It would be a good place to ask your question. You might find an answer in the old EZ.org site. Not updated much though. https://ez.canardaircraft.com/www.ez.org/index.html I hate to point to the great misinformation source but someone on Facebook might have a quick answer. https://www.facebook.com/groups/25741482604/ Seems like about half the answers are by newbies, though. 😞 -------- But to attempt to answer your question, I would look at the plans in the Open-Vari topic here and determine where you could run wires. You might cut a hole down the wing foam with a length of EMT conduit with sawtooth teeth filed into the end. The Long-EZs and Cozys all have the wing holes in the plans. Wingtip wires usually go down the wing, into a hole in the center-spar and out into the cockpit. Add-on antennas have used the same hole and the copper tape is installed in the recess of the winglet. I am sure I've seen articles about this in the Central States newsletters (at COBA). I am sure Marc will come up with a good answer. 3, 2, 1, GO
  23. Getting my cylinders reinstalled turned out to be harder than I remembered. The problem was in reinserting the valve-rocker shaft. Eventually I removed the hydraulic lifters and emptied the oil out of them but I don't recall needing to do that last time. The oil forms an air-tight seal that makes the push rods hard to compress. It is pretty trivial to remove the lifters with a hooked wire and empty them beforehand. I will replace my oil return hoses with Gates 361970 Power Steering hose (2' for $14.71) and Mikalor 4 x 19mm W1 spring clamps (pack of 4, $16) (pic). My 700-hour hoses were hard and the screw clamps ate into them and probably allowed leaks. H/T to hGerhardt at VansAirforce. Maybe you know this but cylinders can be removed with the pistons still installed by carefully working the cylinder out to expose the piston pin which is usually an easy slide-out fit, however if you pull the cylinder 1/8" too far out, the oil ring will pop out of its groove. Also, it is easier to install the piston and rings on the bench and leave the piston-pin hole exposed. It's pretty much a one-man job to reinstall the cylinder after that. For removing valves, say, to ream the valve guide, the Valve Wizard tool worked quite well. https://valvewizard.com/ The disavantage is there are separate styles for the parallel-valve and angle-valve engines. A lever-type tool might work as well. It is a little cheaper and works on both engine versions (I suppose) but I have not tried one https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/compressor.php
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