wandersen
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2007
- Messages
- 519
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Finished the main gear last weekend. Got the tailwheel fitted this afternoon.
Here is a couple of pictures of this milestone.
No matter how hard I tried, the brake backing plates got welded on cocked. The second one I was really careful. Tac welded on straight. However the stitch weld somehow caused the backing plate to move. The brakes don't like a crooked backplate (uneven brake wear), or a non-flat plate (brake binding). The pictures below show how I trued up the backing plate. The 3M purple sandpaper from home depot (120 grit to start) has a tacky back so heating the sanding plate to about 150F will cause it to stick. Pretty slick! I trued the back plates up as best I could by heating and bending as true as possible. Then the sanding brought this up to true. Nice. Very little loss of thickness. BTW, the one picture of the backing plate with the booger at the bottom was an intermediate step. Two more sandings removed this.
The gears are complete, except for the tabs for running the brake lines. These were built to the latest plans and are the long gear. Weight for both legs are 25.2 lbs.
On the tail wheel, I'm using the Aviation Products Inc. (no web site 805-646-6042). I need to figure out the proper angle to bend the round spring. It is strait for now. Anyone have suggestions on the proper angle? I'll likely call API to verify.
Oh - the last picture is my wife pretending to do her first snap roll <grin>. She says she is going to start on her private this spring.
Here is a couple of pictures of this milestone.
No matter how hard I tried, the brake backing plates got welded on cocked. The second one I was really careful. Tac welded on straight. However the stitch weld somehow caused the backing plate to move. The brakes don't like a crooked backplate (uneven brake wear), or a non-flat plate (brake binding). The pictures below show how I trued up the backing plate. The 3M purple sandpaper from home depot (120 grit to start) has a tacky back so heating the sanding plate to about 150F will cause it to stick. Pretty slick! I trued the back plates up as best I could by heating and bending as true as possible. Then the sanding brought this up to true. Nice. Very little loss of thickness. BTW, the one picture of the backing plate with the booger at the bottom was an intermediate step. Two more sandings removed this.
The gears are complete, except for the tabs for running the brake lines. These were built to the latest plans and are the long gear. Weight for both legs are 25.2 lbs.
On the tail wheel, I'm using the Aviation Products Inc. (no web site 805-646-6042). I need to figure out the proper angle to bend the round spring. It is strait for now. Anyone have suggestions on the proper angle? I'll likely call API to verify.
Oh - the last picture is my wife pretending to do her first snap roll <grin>. She says she is going to start on her private this spring.
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