Bill,
The mods to the front rotisserie will definitely help with the
rotational balance as you build. Because of our construction sequence, we only
rolled the fuselage once or twice with the top bonded in place, so for us this
addition would probably not have been worth the trouble. Having said that, the
only really serious accident we had during 5+ years of construction was when my
partner was working on his main gear door fitting and gear retraction (just
wait; you are going to really enjoy this part of construction!). We had used
the rotisserie so much by then that the fuselage would easily roll with one
hand to any position and stay there, so we’d become careless about
clamping it securely. With the fuselage upside down, Jim extended one gear leg
with the other retracted, then turned around to reach for a tool. The fuselage
rotated rapidly in the direction of the extended gear just as he was turning back,
and the top side (sharp) edge of the fuselage caught him right on top of his
head… The fuselage was unharmed, but he was truly scalped. We used a mop
to clean up more blood than I thought he had in him! So some care with clamping
and safety in general is in order…
Bob
From: Lancair Mailing
List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Bill Wade
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 3:10 AM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] Re: Component Storage
My thanks to all who responded- I'm glad I asked. Looks like I'd better
get busy.
Bob
Pastusek's rotisserie is a beautiful piece of work. I'm thinking
I might weld a flat plate to the front fuselage attachment, bolted to
a second disc and roller. I think that would allow repositioning to compensate
for CG change and permit clamping fore and aft for extra security and to
eliminate or induce torque as needed. Has anyone tried that?
As a backup at delivery time I may get a few beanbag chairs or trash bags of
"peanuts" to cushion anything that needs to be set down
quickly. -Bill Wade