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Making some parts
I made the aileron bellcranks and some rear fuselage parts at the same time.
I know I should be talking about centerwing, but... for the rudder attachments, I found it easier to bend first and then cut the piece to proper
size (just a hint). |
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A modular control yoke
I am really not sure that I will like the Y yoke. When I sit in my
friend's CH601 and I move the control yoke, I feel that my legs are always in
the way. I may decide to replace that with a straight yoke (single, not
dual control), but I want to try it before. |
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How is it made?
The idea is to enable replacement of the yoke without having to disconnect the
cables. To achieve that, I had two bushing machined for tight fit
in the 1-1/8 tube. One of them is welded at the base of the Y yoke.
I keep the other one for the time at which I will build the straight yoke. |
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My 5$ grips
I bought foam grips from Reid Tools and some char leg end caps from local
hardware store. The PTT button comes from a local surplus electronic
store. To me, it is as nice as a commercial grip.
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Front torque tube bearing
I installed a piece of UHM-PWE against the front torque tube bearing.
This piece is larger than required so I can drill holes to run cables and
tubes through it. |
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Assembling rudder pedals
I borrowed the design from one of my friends (Angelo Ferraro) who had his
pedals made by Claude Guilbault (yes, the one who makes my wheels). The
4130 tubes are all cut to size and installed on a plywood. |
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Both pedals fabricated
and ready to be welded. Notice that on the pilot side, the pedals are
higher (the vertical tube is 7" in lenght), I had to play a bit
with the lateral positioning because of constraints in location of the pedal
bearings. The aluminum pedals have been found in a local aircraft
junkyard. Here is another picture:
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To cut the 4130 steel sheets
I used my Dremel with cutting disks... it proved to be quite expensive
as I used many discs for the several parts I had to cut. On the picture,
I was making the rudder attachment gussets (seen with the pedals above). |
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Ahh.... the parts are welded
Here are the pedals, torque tube and yoke. |
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More stuff welded
These are the pushrods for the nose wheel, nose wheel gear leg and engine
mount attachments. Notice that originally, the bolts on my nose wheel
gear leg were too short to accommodate the rod end bushings. My welder
was able to remove the bolts and install longer ones... I was impressed! |
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...and then primed
I sandblasted the parts and primed them with a PPG epoxy primer.
Sanblasting is really not a fun job... I did it outside and the safety glasses
were not sufficient. Therefore, I used a scuba diving mask. A full
head cover would have been much better.
For priming, I purchased a small touchup paint gun. While good enough
at altitude, I cannot say I have great talent as a painter yet...
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Ah ah... my little gadget!
This is a Navaid Devices S-2 Crank. Yes, I'm installing a single axis
autopilot. I made a support out of 0.040" aluminum. There is a
channel riveted to two stiffeners that are about 16" long. The S-2
is coupled with a push-rod to a hole up one inch from the normal hole at the
end of the torque tube. |
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A more detailed shot
This shows the construction of the support. One one end of the
stiffeners (towards the center of the centerwing), I added a stiffener in the
axis of the aircraft which overlaps the part 6V12-6. The other end of
the stiffeners just come close to the first rib. Rivet pitch on the
channel is 25mm. I pitched about 30mm on the "main"
stiffeners.
I realize that I may have to dimple some rivet holes when I'll install the
bottom longerons under the fuselage. |
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Modified channel 6V13-4
The plans calls for an installation at an angle, but I was not able to figure
out a feasible angle to clear the torque tube and to let a proper opening for
cables to be routed.
I saw this way of doing on Jeff Small's project and I thought it was quite
clever. This installation allows for a bend between 2 and 7 degrees for
the left rudder cable. I tested after joining the rear fuselage and it
appears that my theoretical calculations worked! |
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A bit stronger than a bent strip
The plan calls for a one-inch wide 0.025" bent strip to link the torque
tube bearing assembly with the channel (on top). With that, the bearing
assembly can move quite a bit with any movement of a control... I did not like
that and my mentor advised me to make something stronger.
I made a triangular fitting bent on the three sides. This is made out
of 0.040" material and now, nothing will move that bearing assembly from
there! |
