Landing Gear Construction |
Date: 10 June 2002 - 16 June 2002 | Chapter: 9.0 Landing Gear | !! COMPLETE !! |
Section 9.1 Main Gear
Pre-June, 2002 - Chapter
9.1.1
- "Gear Cut-Outs"
FB
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage.
Pre-June, 2002 - Chapter
9.1.2
- "Locate Gear Position"
FB
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage.
Pre-June, 2002 -
Chapter 9.1.3
- "Fit Gear Saddles"
FB
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage.
Main Gear Leg Support
Pre-June, 2002 -
Chapter 9.1.4
- "Drilling 1/4" Mounting Pilot Holes"
FB
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage.
Pre-June, 2002 -
Chapter 9.1.5 - Cutting Holes for Knurled Bushings"
FB
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage.
Pre-June, 2002 - Chapter
9.1.6
- "Steel Gear Bushing" FB
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage.
31 July, 2002 - Chapter
9.1.7 - "Knurled Bushing Installation in Bulkheads"
Installing the main gear bushings in the fast build fuselage seems easy enough, right. It's all done, just pop the bolt out, mix up some structural adhesive, put the bolts in, and snug it up. It does seem simple, I admit, but apparently as Hamlet said "I know not seems", because once the bolts are out it takes some convincing to get them back in. But back in they go. Next we'll triax over them.
Funny Picture of the Gear Dangling in the Breeze
Here is a shot of the gear pads being installed over the main gear bushings, which have been smoothed out with micro to get a good transition. I got a little out of order here, the spar layups should have come first, but a call to the factory assured me that this way was acceptable.
Main Gear Bolt Layups - Interior
And here is a picture of the firewall main gear layups. All of these layups are 2 layers of 4"x4" TRIAX placed in alternating directions.
Main Gear Bolt Layups - Exterior
Section 9.2 Nose Gear
June 12, 2002 - Chapter
9.1.1 - "Level Fuselage & Mark"
This section was completed prior to delivery as part of our Head Start week. Once the keel lay-ups were cured, we set about permanently affixing the nose gear.
Pre-June, 2002 - Chapter
9.2.2
- "Install Nose Gear Strut"
FB
Much of this section was completed prior to delivery as part of the quick build fuselage. The location of the king pin and shock locations were set, for example, but we did rough out the inside skin where the gear leg pass down through and reinforce it with two layers of bid. Then we located the captivator and drilled and tapped the associated angle brackets.
Nose Gear Captivator Plate
Nose Gear Shock, King Pin, & Captivator Plate
Setting these stinking bushings, however, was like wrestling a greased pig weighing 350 pounds. It seemed easy enough, we'd already picked and drilled the locations of all of the holes, and hey, without the weight of the plane it'll be no problem getting that bolt back in there! Wrong. The bolt comes out - SPROING - the gear leg jumps to the copilot side. Since I had gotten unambiguous instructions to keep the bushings comparably aligned (by depth into the keel) this was an issue that took an evenings convincing to get squared away. You simply must be resourceful building a plane, it's a real 'see the ball, hit the ball' environment once you get structural adhesive setting up on something. These bushings also get glassed over with TRIAX similar to the main gear pads. The exception in our case is we made them a bit oversized to compensate for cutting the keel stiffening layups a bit smaller earlier.
~ End of Chapter ~ End of Section ~