Postponement

I am sure that you, my faithful readers, have noted a slowing in progress.  It is not due to a lack of interest or dedication.  I still love getting out to the shop and fabricating parts.

But family obligations have increased in recent months and have seriously impinged on the time and, to some extent, the money I have to devote to this project.

I am at a decision point.  The next steps involve purchasing some expensive materials and parts, and engaging in intense construction activities. I do not have the time available to devote the time necessary for the next steps. So those expensive parts and materials would have to lay around for an indefinite period of time.

Taking all of that together, I have had to make the painful decision to put this project on indefinite hold. I will be carefully storing the parts I have fabricated so far in hopes that the project can be restarted sometime in the future.

I will also not delete this blog in hopes that its contents can be useful to other builders and that perhaps, one day, the project can be revived.

Thanks for reading.

Then There Were Two

The rear aileron pulley brackets are finished.

Well, almost.  I need to decide what color I am going to paint internal wing fittings.  Probably white.  And the hardware store bolts need to be replaced with aviation hardware.  The hardware is still on back order.

The next fittings will be the wing attach brackets.

In case you didn't pick up on it, I have switched back from the Cuby to the Wag-a-Bond.  Why?  Very simply, my shop is not long enough to fabricate the Cuby fuselage.

I have also decided to build the engine from Corvair components.  The Corvair based aero engines have proved to be capable and reliable and well suited to the Wag-a-Bond.  Check out:

http://www.flycorvair.com

Some very good stuff.

Two Forward, One Back

Here is a photo of the parts, at this point, for the second upper aileron pulley:

You may be wondering why it appears that there are two top strap blanks, one longer than the other.

The answer is that I did not have my head fully in the game.  The shorter one was cut out first.  It will end up in the trash.  The top strap is supposed to measure 2.70" between the hole (not yet drilled) centers.  Not paying full attention, I fabricated the first attempt 2.70" long overall.

The holes will be drilled in the longer, and correct length, top strap after bending. It is advisable to drill holes after bending to be sure the holes end up in the correct location.  Bending can introduce errors in the hole locations if the holes are drilled before bending.

Not only is this sound advice to be found on the EAA website, I can personally attest to its wisdom. How do I learn these things?

One other interesting point on these parts. It took me two months to fabricate the first top aileron pulley bracket.  If I hadn't made the measurement mistake, the second one would have taken a little over an hour. As it stands, the assembly is between 1/2 and 3/4's of an hour from completion.

More Pulleys

So I started fabricating the top/rear aileron pulley brackets.  At first my attempts were centered around the pulley choice from the previous post.  It didn't work very well.

Then I remembered a comment by internet contact, Mike Finney (who just happened to take Reserve Grand Champion, Plans Built at Oshkosh last year), about roller bearing pulleys.

I went shopping again and found the roller bearing pulleys.  Here is one alongside the aluminum pulley with the bushing.

As you can see, the roller bearing pulley is a phenolic pulley, but with a sealed roller bearing.  This is a very nice pulley and really makes sense as the center component of the aileron pulley assembly.

Here are the component parts of the pulley assembly.

The hardware-store nut and bolt will be replaced with proper AN hardware when my back-ordered shipment arrives.  The bracket and the top strap are fabricated from .050" 4130 steel.

And here is the completed (well, almost) assembly.

The basic concept and design comes from another internet contact, Marty Feehan.  He was kind enough to send me photos and drawings. You can see how this assembly mounts in the previous post "A Brief Hiatus".

The bracket and top strap need final cleanup, priming and painting.  I have one more of these to build.

Pulleys

Which pulley would you use?

The pulley on the right is manufactured exactly according to Piper specifications and is certified for use on Piper aircraft from the J-3 Cub to the PA-22-135 Tri-Pacer.  Is is manufactured from phenolic and the grip (the unthreaded part of the bolt) on the bolt that secures the pulley in the bracket serves as the shaft on which the pulley is mounted.

The pulley on the left is an after-market product (Javron, Inc.).  It is CNC machined to the correct dimensions from aircraft grade aluminum, anodized, and fitted with a bushing as the main bearing surface. It is also certified for use in Piper airplanes from the J-3 Cub to the Tri-Pacer. 

Yeah. Me too.  There are plenty of Piper aircraft flying around today that are fitted with the phenolic pulley, but the aluminum pulley, with the bushing, gives me a much higher level of confidence.

These pulleys are aft aileron pulleys.  More details as I get the brackets fabricated.

Aileron Hinges

The Aileron hinges are finished!  What with learning new skills, relearning old skills and acquiring some new tools, this project has taken since October.

If you are in a hurry to fly, scratch building an airplane is not the way to do it.  I love the process, and I am having a lot of fun, but I have a flying airplane up in the hangar. 

This photo came out a little dark, but that's OK.  It just documents the existence of six aileron hinges waiting for their coat of yellow paint.

A Short Hiatus

There has been a bit of a gap in the work because I got side-tracked by the idea of trading my Cessna 150 for a Piper Pacer project.

After responding to one offer in detail, I decided not only to reject that offer, but to reject the idea.  The big problem is that I would be without a flying airplane for an indefinite amount of time.  That is simply unacceptable.

One piece of very good news is that during the time I was exploring the Pacer possibility, one of the folks on the Wag Builders forum showed me a much better aileron pulley arrangement.  Instead of a small bracket welded to the aileron hinge, he has devised a pulley bracket that shares the top hinge bolt on the front side of the rear spare with aileron hinge.

This is much easier to fabricate and aligns the cable with the actuating horn much better.  These photo are from my friend's shop.  I will fabricate these brackets (I need two) after I complete the last of the aileron hinges.