EZ AHAB

I'm planning on being there but I'm still waiting for my leave to be approved. Hopefully I'll be able to make all the canard specific events. Steve

Someone is lending my their Berkut plans. When I get them I'll compare them to the LEZ and see what differences there are.

Well, after more hours in the back of a C-17 than I care to count, I'm finally home. I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks spending time with the family but then I'll be back in production. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishes. Steve

Please don't buy this if you want to send it to me for CNC cutting. By the time you pay for the extra shipping to get it to me, it won't save any money. Jon and I figured this out the hard way. It is also way more work for me to cut it this way and for you to join all the extra blocks together. For these reasons I will no longer accept any more off-sized foam from customers. Also note that all the prices on my website already include the foam.

I was talking about the airfoil and chord size in that previous post. Thanks Marc for clarifying. I would not have wanted to mislead someone. I have only cut one canard so far and it was for a Cozy. I have never quite finished the LEZ version. If I were home I would be able to clear this up quickly and easily as I have original plans for both aircraft. Unfortunately, I won't get to look at my plans for comparison for another 3 months:irked:. I do know the airfoil shape is the same and I was pretty sure the spar trough was the same depth as well but I didn't comment specifically on that in my original post or later when the discussion was directed at the spar cap thickness because I wasn't sure and couldn't check.

New Address for my website: www.eurekacnc.com

Here is a link to my website where I have a little animation showing how the canard goes together for the Cozy. I plan on making one like this for the LEZ too but haven't gotten around to it yet. Except for the relative span of the parts it is the same. The mid section just uses the inboard template on both ends. http://pages.suddenlink.net/eurekacnc/ Click on "Products" and then click on the canard.

Same airfoil, just different spans and an extra piece in the center of the Cozy canard.

Well, I can't cut foam over here but that doesn't stop me from working on my laptop:D. I've finally got a website up and running. Here is the temporary address: http://pages.suddenlink.net/eurekacnc/ Note the price list isn't quite complete and it will probably change slightly but this should be pretty close. Please contact me via this forum as opposed to the email address given on the site as I won't be checking that address very often. The email address given on the site will likely change once I get a domain name.

In Nov sometime.

It varies depending on the task but generally about 4.5mm/s on the root (bigger) side.

I'm back online now. It seems I can't get far from a computer no matter where I go.

Spitzy, So, I'm curious, does Featherlite hand cut their cores? I suppose if you had hand cut as many as they have you would be pretty good at it. I was having trouble finding a dedicated partner to cut my wings as well so I took the road less travelled. I just taught my computer to do it all:D That is, of course, a bit easier said than done but it works now:banana: I've tried a number of different types of wire and tensioning systems. I've found that the .032" ss called for in the plans is very strong. You can tighten the heck out of it. I don't think I ever broke it. Still, it doesn't matter how tight the wire is, if you have the wire too cool and/or go too fast, the wire will lag. The only way to prevent this is to either have a wire under infinite tension or to precisely control both the speed and heat. Even then it can be challenging to get just the right speed/heat combination when when you have a large difference in wire speeds between the root and tip such as on the winglets. It can certainly be done adequately since there are so many of these airplanes flying but it takes some practice. Unfortunately, with the price of foam and shipping lately, practice is expensive, but it is even more expensive not to get enough of it. BTW, the bow I use is very similar to the one pictured above but made of different materials. It works great! I haven't broken a wire due to overtension in a long time and it is fully automatic. It doesn't make much sense to have an automatic wing cutting machine if you still have to mess with wire tension and heat settings:)

Hey guys and/or gals, I'm on my way out of the country. I may or may not have access to the forum while I'm away. I'll try to log on once I get to my destination. I should have access to email. At any rate, I should be back some time in Nov. I'll be taking some leave and spending some time with my family but hopefully I'll be back to cutting foam by Christmas. God Bless you all, EZ Ahab

I have a buyer for the LEZ wings now. I'm going to ship Jon's wings out today.

Sorry I haven't posted any updates in awhile; I've been really really busy lately getting ready to leave as well as cutting lots of foam. I have delivered 1 canard, 1 set of winglets, and 1 set of wings with winglets. I have another set of wings with winglets as well as a single wing with winglet sitting in my garage ready to be shipped out. I am putting the finishing touches on 1 last set of Long-EZ wings and winglets as I prepare to leave for the next six months. I need to get all this foam out of here so my wife can park in the garage while I'm gone. I'm not sure if I'll have the time or the foam to do the bottom winglets or not. I don't yet have a buyer for this set. I will sell it for $1100 plus shipping (probably $200-$300 depending on where you live). Since this is so time sensitive, I don't have time to poll everyone on my "interested" list and wait for replies. Anyone that is interested should send me a private message. I'll give preference to those on the "list" for the next 24 hours. After that, I'll take the first to commit to the purchase. I'd prefer to sell this set to someone who really needs wings now and can't wait 6+ months for me to get home. It would be nice to have some true builder feedback before I start cutting again. If there aren't any LEZ builders ready for wings then that's ok too. This is more of a first come, first served deal.

Eureka! I've finally done it:cool: I completed the wings today. Now I've cut every part required to be hotwired. This is the culmination of 2 years of extensive work and I've finally completed my first set of real parts. I was going to set everything up outside and take some photos but it was too windy today. This photo was taken before I cut the aileron extension that protrudes out into the wing tip but I've completed that now as well. Now for the bad news:( I just found out that I'm going to have to deploy for awhile. I have a couple of months left and then I'll be gone for about 6 months. I plan on completing any orders I have where people have given me either money or foam but I doubt I will be able to fill any more. On a good note, this will give a few people a chance to thoroughly evaluate my products and give feedback from a builder's perspective. I should still be in contact via this forum and email. If anyone really wants to try out these cores and intends to build wings within the next six months, shoot me a private message and if I have time I'll cut some for you. I would really like to get rid of my foam stockpile before leaving. I should have enough foam for 1 set of wings that isn't reserved. The limiting factor will be time.

Photos as promised. The one looking towards the outside of the garage (winglet in foreground) does a good job of showing how smooth these things are. The light is at such an extreme angle. From the photos it kindof looks like they don't fit together that well but it's only because I don't have any jigs to hold everything in proper alignment. I've now cut most of the right wing as well. I just have the tip section left to do and I'll have a complete set of wings.

I cut both a left and right root section core last night. I plan on cutting the remainder of the right wing tonight and tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how much quicker this goes now that I've got the cut files done. Photos to follow later.

Ummm, that's because those parts aren't hotwired. You sand them to shape by hand per the plans. I'm not sure it would be possible to hotwire them anyway due to the compound curves involved. I might give it a try nonetheless. It would be nice to be able to ensure symmetry between the two tips.

Yes, a product of low light and large apertures. It's hard to get the whole thing in the photo without sacrificing something. Here's one that is a bit bigger and better. Maybe I'll try to take some outside when I have some time when it's not windy or raining. One of these days I'm going to find the time to build a website and post photos and movies of the machine doing it's thing. Actually, the plans call for it to be cut with a hotwire too. It involves more template making and setup time though. I can cut it all with the computer though. I forgot to mention that I also cut not only the spar troughs but I separated the leading edges. I even radiused the corners where the shear web goes. Normally you would do this with sandpaper but I just cut them this way to begin with. I hope to provide a product that is ready for glass. I don't think the builder will have any need for a hotwire at all.

Hmmm, it works fine for me. I'll email you some photos if you want.

Progress Update: The wings are growing! I just cut the largest single piece required, the mid section wing core. They turned out just fine. I even cut the electrical conduits and aileron cutouts. All I have left to do now are the wing root sections and I'll have cut files built for everything. Oh yeah, I still have to do the LEZ Roncz canard. There are some slight differences between it and the CZY canard. That project has been on the back burner while I've been working on the wings.

I started cutting wing parts today. I cut the tip section and a winglet. Yes, that's the right winglet sitting next to the left wingtip. I just wanted to see them sitting next to each other.

The winglets are finally done! The bottom ones were a challange to figure out how to cut with the machine, believe it or not. I've got it down now though. I also spent something like 12+ hours working on CAD stuff for the wings today. I hope to start on those this week if I have the time.