 |
Gear box assemblies
The construction of the gear box assemblies is better described under my center
wing page. |
 |
My UHMPE (or something like that) slides
I used a technique I have seen on Jeffery Moser's web site. While I
installed the slides doublers flush with the aluminum (and sanded the aluminum a bit after), those plastic slides protruded when they were
compressed during the riveting (with a hammer and a dolly). I then used
a router to make them like I wanted them again. Some touchup with a Dremel have been required when installing the top L angles. |
 |
Positioned the lower bearing supports
As seen, I pre-drilled everything to #20 because I did not have the required AN3 bolts. |
 |
Langing gear parts epoxy primed
I primed the parts with PPG epoxy primer using a touchup paint gun. All
parts were sand blasted prior to priming (look at my controls
page for more details). |
 |
Bending the wheel forks
I looked at several places to have my wheel forks professionally made... but
it seemed to be too complex. The ones who had hydraulic presses strong
enough were not able to do it because the second leg of the fork needs to go
through the press... OK.. if it is too complex for the pros, I'll try it by
myself! :-) In reality, I found one place that could have done it, but I
was not able to get a clear estimate of how much time and cost would be
involved. |
 |
The second leg
The second leg is allowed through the body of the press, thanks to a special
hole I made in it. See a picture of my hydraulic press below:
 |
 |
My first wheel fork!
I was very happy when this one was made... some sort of accomplishment for
me! |
 |
Well, it started with smaller pieces
The one inch pieces seen on the pictures are my test pieces. When I got
one perfect (the third one), I started the production run. |
 |
As in all experiment... record the data!
On the computer printout is the theoretical measurement, taking in
consideration material thickness and bend radius. I took the formulas in
"Aircraft Sheet Metal", published by Jeppesen. The hand
written page shows actual test data. I took actual measurements and
identified corrections for the next test or production run. |
 |
Getting the doubler on the main fork
The doublers were made the same way as the main forks. The
difficulty is to come up with exactly the required width and with the right
radius. I ended up using all of my 20-foot flat bar to make the three
wheel forks. Here is a picture of another of my gear forks:
 |
 |
If they would all be like this!
But they were not... if it was to be done again, I would try to find
5/16" stock or use the widely available 3/8" flat bar. A bit
more expensive, but a lot less work and easier to get nice result. |
