May, 2005 fuselage work

May 1 - Move the fuselage back some in the garage, to allow room for the engine and for mounting it.  Put the front of the fuselage up on a higher sawhorse, so I can get the main gear legs to slide in.  Reamed the bolt holes carefully, until the AN5 bolt was a good "hammer in" fit.  Installed & torqued the main gear bolts.  Started putting the wheels, tires, and brakes together.  I had to search for quite awhile to find the U810s, but I finally did find them.  The plans are VERY POOR in depicting how the U801, U408s, Cleveland flange, and U403 all go together.  DWG C2, Sect A-A and the manual, page 10-1, are very sketchy on this.  I put it together by trial and error, about a dozen times, until I had it figured out how they need to go together.  Finally got the LT one assembled.   Disassembled the wheels and prepared to install the tubes and tires.  If you've had your Finish Kit awhile, as I have, be sure you clean out the inside of the tires thoroughly before putting the tubes in.  My tires had dead moths, leaves, and all sorts of crud in them.   Clean them out well before assembling, to prevent having something in there that will chafe on your tube.  Made my 6 U408s by drilling out 3/8" x 0.083" tubing, as I couldn't find any of the thinner wall tubing (0.058"?) that the plans called for.  6.25 hr

  Here is the RT gear leg installed.  As you can see from the sawhorses and the lumber and styrofoam stacked on the higher sawhorse, I had to raise the fuselage quite a bit to get enough clearance to slide the legs in.  The legs were a very nice, smooth, snug slip fit.  I carefully reamed the bolt hole out a bit at a time, until I had a good "light press fit", then hammered the bolt home and torqued it.

  As I mentioned above, the plans had a very poor depiction how how these parts go together; both how they are oriented and how they go relative to each other.  Using the sketchy info available in the plans, and by lots of trial and error, I figured it out.  THIS is how they go together.  This is the LT, viewed from the LT fwd outboard, looking aft and inboard.

  This is the opposite view of the same LT side parts assembled, looking forward and outboard from aft and inboard of the LT axle.  The nuts shown are just temporary installation nuts.  It took about a dozen tries to get these parts lined up right.  Unless there is a better drawing somewhere that I did not find, the DWG C2, sect A-A is very incomplete in showing how these go together.

  Here are the wheels and brakes, as they come out of the box.

  Here are the wheels apart, ready to assemble.  Take the valve stem core out of the tube before assembling, and blow it up and let it deflate to a natural state before trying to put it in the tire.

May 2 - Assemble wheels & tires.   Update web page  1.0 hr + 2.5 hr doc

  One of a flock of turkeys crossing the road by my house.

The big brass nut & silver washer on the tube get screwed down to the tube, and will sit inside the hole in the center of the wheels.  Lube the grommet that the valve stem will pass through on the outer wheel half, and shove the outer wheel half down onto the valve stem.   Be very careful to not pinch the tube, and make sure the wheels mate fully and evenly.   Use plenty of baby powder on the tube.  The tire sidewalls, and especially the bead, are VERY stiff, but the tube WILL go in there, after some work.  I also put a film of dish detergent on the bead, to help it slide out and seat when the tube is inflated.  Oh, and take the valve stem core OUT before putting the tube in, and leave it out for the first 3 or so times you fill up the tube with air.   Filling the tube, then letting the air run out, is important for flexing the tube and helping it get into a good relaxed position before you put in the valve stem core and do the final inflation.

  Here are the completely assembled wheels, tubes, and tires, ready to go on the axles.  The white is baby powder residue, used in installing the tube.

May 5 - Disassemble front wheel, clean tape residue from wheel, polish small rust spot on bearing race and oil it.  The front wheel comes with the bearings taped to the outside of the wheel.  You should get the tape off ASAP, and be sure to clean off the tape residue,  You don't want the tube sticking or chafing on anything.   Also, you should oil the bearings and races as soon as you get your finish kit, to prevent rust from forming on them before you assemble and mount the wheel.   0.25 hr

May 10 - I've been kinda lax on working on the plane lately.  I cycle through spells of high interest in shooting, and I've been going through one of those cycles lately.   Plus I didn't shoot all winter because the snow was too deep to walk out to the target area.  So, I've been shooting 6PPC, .50 cal, and others with my Dad lately.

  This is a new Bluegrass Armory Viper .50 BMG bolt action single shot rifle I just got.  I'm working on the deck here, lapping in the scope rings, before mounting the Nightforce scope & firing it.

May 11 - Assemble front wheel, tube, & tire, with Karla's help.  The front wheel was harder to squeeze together and install the bolts than the main wheels were.   Also, the front tube is much thinner and more flexible, so it's much easier to get it caught between the 2 wheel halves.  You have to be very careful that the tube is not caught between the wheels halves when putting the 3 bolts in.  I squeezed the halves together, and Karla put the nuts on loosely.  I loosened the nuts so they were only holding by a couple threads, then reached in and used my finger to push the tube out of the space between the 2 halves.  Then, I slowly put some air into the tube, to let the tube pull itself out of the joint between the wheel halves.  Make sure you can hear and feel good metal-to-metal contact as the wheel halves come together; otherwise you may have a part of the tube stuck in between the halves.   Make sure you resolve any tube interference problems before tightening the wheel bolt nuts, or you'll hose the tube.  Torqued the 3 nuts holding the wheel together, then it was time to head off to NHIS for a 4 day racing weekend.  0.5 hr

May 12 - update web site from NHIS  0.5 hr doc

May 22 - assemble RT U810, U408s, Cleveland flange, U403.  Prep & prime RT U810.  1.0 hr

May 25 - assemble RT brake/wheel assy - adjust length & squareness of U408s.  Decided the U408s I'd made (by drilling out heavier wall tubing) sucked.  The ends were not square, even though I'd cut them carefully on the bandsaw, and the holes I'd drilled in them were not centered, because I'd done it with a hand drill.  Redid the U408s properly by chucking up some tubing in the lathe, then cutting each end perfectly square, plus drilling them out to 1/4" with the lathe.  Reassembled RT brake & wheel assembly.  Checked for proper clearance to U810.  4.5 hr

  remaking the U408 spacers on the lathe.  This makes a big difference in making good square ends and precise lengths.

  Turkey feeding in the front yard.

May 26 - Worked on RT axle nut and cotter pin holes in axle.  Making a heavy punch mark really screws up the aluminum nut threads when you try to back the nut off to drill the holes.  FIRST LESSON LEARNED:  when you make the punch mark called for in the manual (for the axle nut), make it the lightest one you can still see after you remove the nut for axle cotter pin hole drilling.  The deeper your punch mark is, the more you'll disturb the steel threads and the more that'll screw up the aluminum nut threads when you try to remove the nut.  Cleaned up axle threads with thread file after drilling the cotter pin holes, and reassembled wheel & brake assy.  SECOND LESSON LEARNED:  Don't tighten the axle nut too much.  Even as tight as you can do it with your hand is too tight.  Tighten it with your hand until it just meets resistance.  You can also wiggle the top of the wheel in & out as you tighten the nut, and stop as soon as the wheel play stops.  Either way gets you too the same spot.  My first attempt was a hair too tight, and the wheel didn't spin quite as freely as it did when backed off a bit as described.  So, I went through the whole punch/remove nut/drill/clean threads routine again, using 2 different nut holes.  THIRD LESSON LEARNED:  You may note that the manual has you putting the tires on AFTER you get the wheel/brake assy all set and the wheel axle nuts drilled.  This is because the tire bulges out a bit from the wheel, and makes it even harder to drill your cotter pin holes perpendicular to the axle, if (as I did) you need to run a cleanup bit through nut & axle so the cotter pin will go all the way through OK.   Safety-wired the brake calipers and prepped and primed the LT U810.  3.0 hr + 1.0 hr doc

May 27 - assemble LT brake/wheel parts   1.5 hr

HANGAR - I've also begun work on building my own hangar.   I looked into it back in January at Claremont, NH (CNH).  At that time, the airport manager thought funding would be approved for the city to build at least 6 T-hangars, so I didn't bother proceeding with the expense and administrative headaches of trying to build my own.  I just found out that the city's lowest bid on the project was over $100K over budget, so that plan is off at least until next year.  So, I've been very busy with dozens of phone calls, getting all the processes going to build my own.  At least CNH has a better attitude toward pilots & building hangars than many of the local airports.  I don't think any new hangars have been built in NH for about 30 years.   I've been on a waiting list at CNH for 3 years for one of their rusty old hangars.  About the only way to get into a hangar in NH is for someone to die, crash their plane, or lose their medical.  I will be spending lots of weekday time working on all the planning for this hangar.  One benefit is that someone else just built the first one at CNH, so I can follow in his footsteps.   He went through a lot of hassles to get it done, but it should be easier for me following right behind him.  I am committed to doing it, and I hope to have it done by the end of the year.

  This is Dick Love's hangar, just being completed now.  Mine will go right beside it (behind it in this pic), and be the same color.  Depending on what I get back for estimates, it may be the same building, from the same supplier (Morton), or from a local garage builder.  Dick's is 48' wide and 45' deep, with a 41' door.  Mine probably won't be quite as deep, and maybe not quite as wide.  It's actually a wood building, with wood posts and rafter trusses, even though it looks like a metal building.  See HANGAR page for details.

May 30 - mark & drill LT axle nut, install LT brake caliper, start layout for nose gear leg.  The LT axle nut process went much smoother than the RT side had.  Karla helped slide out the front sawhorse, and THE RV STANDS ON ITS OWN LEGS!    Still *&^%$ raining - it's been raining for over a week.  3.75 hr

  The RV stands on its own two main gear legs!  Next, I have to get those places on the firewall riveted, so I can proceed with hanging the engine.

May 31 - Remove F771 front top fuselage skin, remove and cut F745R rib.  Update web site  1.0 hr doc

  cut off the ends of the F745 ribs, so I can reposition the aft part of them (that the instrument panel fastens to).  I will rivet an angle bracket onto the piece I cut off, and move it laterally to clear my avionics.

SEE MY JUNE ENGINE PAGE for info & pics on drilling, reaming, and installing the nose gear leg.

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