Sunday, April 3, 2016

Life Happens When You're Building an Airplane

I know, I know, I haven't updated this blog in forever. But I had a few life events that I had to deal with, but now I'm back. New house, new work space, new life with the same dream of building my own airplane. Without further ado...

I saw where one flying CX4 had issues with the design of the attach points for the tail wheel spring at bulkheads F11 & F12, so I decided to reinforce mine now. Here are a few photos of my redesign:


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I think I have beefed up bulkhead F11 to the point that it will not crack as seen in the original design. However, I think the weak link is now the 3/16" angle where the bolt attaches. It will certainly be on my annual inspection list. If I was starting from scratch, I might use a 1/4" angle. The spacer is a large aluminum cable ferrule I found at the hardware store. I had to drill the hole out to accept the AN6 bolt.
 
I used to do some screen printing and had asked my squeegee manufacture for some samples of squeegee material many years ago and I had these samples lying around and they just seemed like a good solution to help cushion the rear portion of the tail spring.  My tech counselor thought so as well. Sorry, but I'm not sure where the rest of you would purchase this material.
 
I have been working on my firewall forward & wiring, so that may be my next post. I'm certainly glad I have this project to create a distraction from life's little challenges!