Message-ID: <36B858DF.676B@mpx.com.au>
Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 06:11:12 -0800
From: Julie Byrnes <byrnes@mpx.com.au>
Reply-To: byrnes@mpx.com.au
Organization: Massive
To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
Subject: gear doors etc
Mime-Version: 1.0

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1. I have just finished doors for the outback gear. The length of the
inner door is 11 1/2 inches. Ground clearance on the outer door is 6
inches. As you may now be all aware the left wing stub is 5/8" thinner
than the right - too thin for the outback gear to fit. It required
coring out part of the upper skin and covering the area with 3BID,
coring out the gear doors and covering with 2 layers of carbon cloth and
finally heat bending the door to create an almost undetectable
speed-bump. The doors were stiffened with strips of half round foam
covered with 2 layers of carbon fibre cloth. The strips on the inner
door were in the shape of an angular inverted "U" and the outer doors
had a "K" with the long stroke to the front. Bending the doors would
have been easier if I realised before I put on the stiffeners that it
had to be done!

2. Why not just glider gap-sealing tape for the flaps? I doubt that
anyone would see or notice it. The glider fraternity also have gap-seals
which go inside rudder-housings etc if that is of interest.

3. Finishing with a linear sander is fine if you want a good finish. If
you want a perfect finish there is no substitute for sandpaper attached
to long "torture boards" - gets the reflections razor sharpe.

4. Things change during construction. I recently put the 3bid on the
front of the stub-wing spar. This small thickness was sufficient to
change the conture, flap fitting etc and necessitated re-profiling.

5. A mention of the rod which holds the front u/c overcentre link in the
centre wheel housing. This rod can be a tight fit in the overcentre
assembly and may then rotate in the phenolic blocks. the latter will
wear and the whole assembly becomes sloppy. I have now fixed the rod so
it cannot rotate and have put a grease nipple on the overcentre bearing.

6. I lost the reference to Oshkosh accommodation. I would be grateful if
someone could pass this on.

Cheers

David Byrnes