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argoldman

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Everything posted by argoldman

  1. argoldman

    Cozy Jet

    That's gregg Richter (of blue Mountain fame)'s plane
  2. argoldman

    redundancy

    True, with respect to redundancy, you only need one more of an indispensable item (or system) than the number you had before they all failed.
  3. Phil, I may be talking totally out of my landing gear here, since it has been a couple of years since I mounted Jack's gear, but I think that using the original holes, for the manual gear, you locate the additional holes using the aluminum bracket that holds the motor assembly. Using this technique, you can locate the holes and do your hardpoints before assembling the box structure. Just make sure that when you do assemble the box that you first bolt, with spacers from one side to the other so that the holes on each side of the box are in proper relation to each other. I used this same technique, once I drilled my landing gear bulkheads using the wood 90 degree guides, before glassing them in. I made aluminum rods, tapped at each end, the exact length as I wanted the spacing to be, and glassing into the fuselage was a simple matter of taking both bulkheads (connected by these rods), leveling and squaring the whole mechanism and then bonding it in place See attached pictures (If I can get them to work). Makes life and alignment easy.
  4. If you can do #4 from the front seat, you are a better man than I:cool:
  5. Perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way (which is not unusual for today). It seems, in the pictures that your heat exchanger is mounted to the seat front from which it draws air from the cabin, under one thigh or another. The seat top, itself, with the bulkheads and the fuselage bottom acts as a plenum. Your axial fan creates a negative pressure in the plenum, drawing air through the heater core and a positive pressure in the duct to heat the rest of the plane through the plans type plumbing. Here's my quandary. If the axial fan draws air through the core, there will be a negative pressure in the plenum with respect to the outside air, because of the resistance of the air going through the heater core. Opening your chromated plate will only allow outside non-heated air to be pulled into the plenum and be distributed. It will not dump heated air overboard unless the shape of your bottom creates some sort of venturi effect which creates more negative pressure than does the axial fan. That being said, Your workmanship puts me to shame. It looks beautiful. In the future, would you please send pictures that are slightly out of focus to make me feel better.
  6. Interesting question. If I were to use the click-bonds, I would put them on the inside of the firewall, through the firewall. One would hope that the adhesive that you use would counteract the torque of tightening the bolts. Perhaps if you modify the shape of the flange and flox/glass over them. I chose to use stainless steel thingies, from the ACE or True Value aircraft store that are designed to go through wood and provide a metal threaded recepticle. They have a flange with a female thread (kind of like a "T") and the flange has 3 tines which are driven into the firewall (from the inside). These have no locking ability so that I will have to use Locktite (and safety wire). One of the reasons that I chose to do this (mounted from the inside) is that your SS firewall material (or what ever metal you decide to use) will be primarily held to the firewall, sandwiching the Fiberfax, by the through the firewall bolts of the engine mount, the pulleys, and all of the other things that you bolt onto the firewall.
  7. Phil, I may be talking out of my innertube here, but I seem to remember that there were two types of nosewheels available. One from Ken brock, that I think was in more than two parts (I have never seen one) and the Gerdies wheel that was available from ACS. Why don't you send a picture to us so that we can identify it. The bolts on a wheel are somewhat important as you will be blowing about 70# of pressure into that little bladder. I think that in the railroad business they use much less pressure than that to lift railroad cars back onto the track. You don't want a failure here as it will probably happen on landing. The bolts are probably AN3 or 4s but make sure. If it is the Gerdies, the Cozy Girlllllllllllls have a lot of experience as they take the sow's ear that was provided by the Gerdies factory and with a little machining, create a silk purse.
  8. Congratulations Chris. Now you have a co-pilot. Wait for the time when your child comes to you and asks, "Dad, I have a date tonight, mind if I take the velo???":eek:
  9. It boils down to time spent sanding . Shaping and sanding with 40G is very rapid and takes relatively little effort. After the 40 is done, a coat of aeropoxy light, using the high points of the prior sanding merely the areas on each side of the "scratch left by the 40 grit, just filling in the scratches requires very little post application sanding with 8o then finer. Don't know how much added weight that adds, --probably none-- since if you build up, sand down then sand finer and finer, you end up with the same surface, It's just a matter of building it from the inside rather than sanding it away from the outside. For what it's worth, this technique served me well on my dragonfly and the wings of my cozy (still waiting for the final coat and sanding). "you say either and I say Ether":cool:
  10. Agreed, I've been doing 40 grit and then a top and/or fill layer of Aeropoxy light, down to finer. What high build epoxy primer are you recommending???
  11. Steve is a great guy and sells great products and ideas, but remember that he is a VW seller and may have a prejudice against competitors. This is not specific to Steve but is rampant in the aircraft (and many other) business. There is probably a Corvair website where the information is more reliable (or possibly slanted the other way.) I know that there are a few dragonflies that are switching from the VW to Corvair. Perhaps listening in on the D-fly list would give you more info.
  12. REDUNDANCY!!!!!!REDUNDANCY!!!!!!REDUNDANCY!!!!!!REDUNDANCY!!!!!! with no single point failure spot. Even if you don't plan to do much IFR, if a failure happens there, it is 100% and your survival might depend on either redundant instruments or your ability to use partial information to ascertain that the oily side is down. If you don't do much instrument work, the probability of this is slim. This, of course does not imply that you need 2 of everything.
  13. Contact William Wynne, the Corvair/aviation expert. (although not specifically for EZs
  14. Great, and Wecome Getting the spousal permission is a great step forward, keeping it will require a little work. If you have access to a bird, or ever find yourself in the Chicago area, I am building an Aerocanard in Kenosha Wi (just over the IL/Wis Border, at the airport. I would love to show you, or any others my project. Good luck with your venture-- uh-- Cozy
  15. As said before, the aircraft bolt is not a grade 8. Specific stats can be found in the ASS catalog or just google An-?? The metal in these bolts is tested and certified to specific strength numbers. Grade 8 is a somewhat brittle metal and may vary bolt to bolt. The aircraft bolt will stretch before it separates, not so with the more brittle grade 8. Additionally, the threads are rolled, not cut which adds more strength to the bolt. The length of the thread and grip is also specified. The quality, size and metallurgy is constant and they are Cad plated.
  16. There is room for all canardaholics, be they strictly imbibers or imbibers and distillers. Yes, you are right, your legs are somewhat stretched out. What you don't understand is that in the EZs, the whole seating configuration is different. It is not standard seating with legs stretched. That would be torture. In the EZs, your back is actually reclining about 45 degrees, your hips are slightly bent and your legs are somewhat stretched out. Sounds horrible!!!! However, it is a VERY comfortable position, almost like sitting in an recliner chair. a couple of minutes is all it takes to accomodate to it. In addition to being very comfortable, since you are somewhat reclining, the physiological effects of G-forces are felt much less. You don't notice this at first, but as you do "zoom ups" and steep turns, you have the feeling that something is missing--- that is a reduction in the increased G awareness. With the EZ seating, and high Gs, instead of your stomach descending to your feet, it stays around your family jewels. An additional factor in the seating is that in vertical impacts, the force is distributed through your ribs to the seat back, rather than vertically to your spine, decreasing the possibility of making you shorter. After crashing my dragonfly (similar seating) and surviving spinally, despite prior existing rods in my spine, I chose to build the Aerocanard because of this seating arrangement. I recline to comment further:bad:
  17. Clean???? Been there, done that I'm still pulling the resultant airborne fiber and epoxy dust out of my personal glass. (I even used a vacuum system directly over the router) a better way is to layup as you would for routing, however use a sharpie to mark actual size and shape or cut out template and glue on cured glass and cut out with metal cutting band saw. The band will last for quite a while, however after the first cut, the blade will be unable to cut metal well.
  18. Just get out your FEIN with a sanding head (40 grit), knock off the extra epoxy in a heartbeat. and the resulting surface will be great for further bonding. What you don't have a Fein???????-- Shame on you!!!!!
  19. H4, Looks like a great project. Welcome to the backward flyers. Looking at the way that you have your nosewheel retracted (part way), unless you have an electric nose retraction system, I would advise against putting any weight in the cockpit. The crank type retraction mechanism puts a huge load, in the incomplete retraction or extension mode, on the teeth of a rather weakish gear. This gear is subject to stripping with load. When the nose gear is retracted, the gear has little load on it (in fact negative), when it is extended, there is an over-center mechanism which again takes the load off of that wimpy gear. DISCLAIMER::::::::: I am not a veri-EZ bulder/flyer (Aerocanard with electric nose builder) however I am somewhat familiar with the mechanism that the veri and the long use.-- Perhaps I am being overcautious, but reading all of the requests for new gears, or information on how to rotate the existing stripped gear, I felt that I had to write this.
  20. I too am interested in the data. Having had a total of 9 aircraft (including the one that I am building) one fixed pitch prop and 7 constant speed ones, and having flown most other light singles and twins, of both persuasions, I am partial to the constant speed variety. If we remove the twins from consideration since they need the C/S for feathering reasons, in store bought craft I have had, and my dragonfly (airmaster C/S with warp blades) the C/S-CP props give a better climb and shorter t/o distance. There is probably a slight cost in high cruise. Imagine starting your car off from a start in second or third gear. I hope to be proven wrong so I don't have to consider the choice for my aerocanard. There is another advantage to a C/S (constant speed) prop or C/P (cockpit controllable pitch) and that is on landing, when you go to full fine on the approach, the prop acts as a speed brake and makes landing a lot easier. Kinda like an additional belly board (on the ground it doesn't make any difference). There must be a reason why all high performance store bought aircraft come from the factory with expensive, higher maintainence, C/S props with similar downsides to the governors which control them. For low performance aircraft such as 150/2s or 170/2s or smaller pipers and the like, Fixed props are used for simplicity and cost. This is not to say that C/S- C/P props are necessary on our craft. If you always fly out of long enough runways and are satisfied with the rate of climb that can be gotten with a f/P prop, that's great. In store bought Planes that have f/P as standard, there are usually two varieties that are certified. One is the cruise prop, with a certain pitch, the other is a climb prop with a finer pitch. The climb prop being a finer pitch will climb better at the expense of top end. The cruise prop has a better top end, at the expense of climb performance. A C/S -C/P prop allows you to have both of these, cockpit selectable. (I won't go into the mechanism and difference between C/S and C/P here suffice it to say they have similar effects). There are some props which claim to be "Semi constant speed" These props, I believe are designed to actually flex and change their pitch slightly automatically. I have no idea if they actually are better-- anybody out there have one or two?? Disclaimer::::::::: I don't know if the above holds true for pushers, however I think that it does. One more thing, for those considering Turbo or other chargers. A C/S C/P is required to achieve maximum use of your setup. As the aircraft ascends, the air, as we all know gets thinner. The charger makes the engine think that it is lower than it is and it is able to produce more power at the thin air altitudes. Not so the prop. Fewer molecules of air are being quesenarted by the prop than at a lower level, and unless you increase the pitch of the prop, it will over-speed as you fly in the rarefied air with more power. To stop your Lyconental parts from flying hither and yon because of this over-speed, you have two choices: 1) reduce throttle setting (in which case you waste the advantage of the turbo) or 2) increase the pitch of the prop-- which you can't do with a F/P Why don't F/P props typically over-speed with Normally aspirated engines at altitude????? The engine is producing less power and because of this the decreased density of the air isn't usually a factor.
  21. After what seems like miles and miles of knife trimming at just the right time, waking up at 3:00 in the AM so that I can get the trim exactly at the right time, the Fein tool was a godsend (or whatever "send" prefix you prefer to use). When caught at the right time, knife trimming is, as Garrisson Keillor says, "Tasty and Expeditious", however getting it at the right time can be difficult as it depends on the thickness of the layup many times. Although heating and trimming works, it is a great deal more work than simple knife trimming. I have no idea of what the reheat, cutting (and pulling the fibers) has on the final layup--probably none. Best to get the sleep and use your Fein. One blade, possibly 2 will last for the entire build and make your life so much easier. Easier and in a time frame that fits your schedule is more bettttter.
  22. NM has one of these things in every X-mas catalog. The question is do they sell any at all or is it just a gimmick to get people looking. One year it was a his-n-her set of mini submarines. Of course there are those to whom a mere 1/4 mil is insignificant and a gift like this is a novelty (not exactly your x-box). The question that I have is does this gift come in a NM gift box?
  23. If you get some sink cutouts (formica type)from kitchen counters (ie from Hme depot-- very cheap), lay it on top of your structure, you can use whatever type of weights that you want to, including buckets of water. I have found these mini-countertops to be of invaluable help in many of the construction tasks. If you contaminate them with epoxy and don't want to clean them up, discard them.
  24. Check with others, but I think that I used denatured alcohol. (it's been a while). While you are at it, replace the reservoirs with new ones. So much easier to do when empty and non-sticky. If you call yourself the canardologist, can I be the proptologist??
  25. Who turneda offa thea bubble machine? (for those old enough to remember LW) Congratulations. The skill you learned will keep you in good stead throughout.
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