June 23, 2014:   |
| This is a $25 Video Rocker from Walmart On-line. Weighs 8 pounds. Unfortunately, the seat doesn't fit my fuselage/seat tube frame, so I salvaged the upholstery to make my own padded seat back and seat and threw the wooden framework away. |
 Next, I remade the seat tubes, this time extending them past the axle 5" more than before, so that a new bottom seat cushion, using the savaged upholstery, would place my tush smack over the axle. The seat on the previous plane had me sitting 4" in front of the axle.  Details of the new seat tube attachment. I added a 1-1/8" OD x 0.058" wall outer reinforcement sleeve. Also notice the same added to the axle. This was because the U-bolts have a 1 1/8" ID and this little sleeve fills the gap for a much tighter "grip." |
 To hold the bottom of the upright seat back, I added this left-over piece of 1" angle to the tank tubes. Some have said they tried patching a tank this way, but could never get the patch to be leak free. However, this patch doesn't leak! Not even under a few pounds of pressure, nor after 5 years of operation. |
 Here's the seat back made from 2" of bedding foam over a 1/2" thick piece of OSB. I used the inside "webbing" of the Video Rocker as the covering. Short wood screws hold the bottom to the 1" angle and two Adel clamps (rubber sheathed pipe clamps) hold the top to the tank tubes.  The seat is made from 5" of high-density, 45 pound ILD (indentational load deflection) furniture foam on top of a 3/4" x 12" pine board that's 16" wide. ILD measures how much weight compresses the foam by 25%. 45 ILD means it's a very firm foam, so that I won't "bottom out" on the seat board. Four Adel clamps mount the seat to the seat tubes. |
June 15, 2014: This item is called a swing arm lift peg. It is bolted to the frame of a motorcycle near the rear axle so that a hand operated "swing arm" lift has a place for it's two arms to push up and lift the motorcycle for service. It is a PERFECT replacement for the worn out OEM nylon pulleys that guide the rudder cables coming down from the control stick's T-bar and going back to the rudder. What you see above is the end of the spool with a tapered recess for the supplied allen head mounting bolt. Because it was tapered, the recess needed to be drilled out a smidge with a 5/8" drill bit, so that the 5/8" x 1/4" bore bearing next to it could be seated in place of the bolt.  This is the peg turned on its side to show the hour-glass shaped that's perfect as a cable guide pulley. So, where do you get these and how much? Right here for $20 a pair: dennis kirk.com |
 This is the other end of the peg. It was flat, until I drilled a 5/8" dia. recess to hold the other bearing.  The finished swing arm lift peg repurposed to be a rudder cable guide pulley with its 1/4" bolt mounting "axle." |
New rudder cable guide pulley/spool mounted to its main axle mounted bracket next to the control stick and ready to spin... and oh how it spins so freely!
The 5/8" recesses must be PERFECTLY centered for the bolt to pass straight through both bearings, without forcing them to "tilt" in their recess holes. If the bolt is forced through, forcing the bearings to ever so slightly misalign, then they will prevent the pulley from turning freely. So, if you do the machining drilling above, proceed S L O W L Y as you drill, checking and rechecking every few thousandths of progress to make sure the bit is centered. |
June 27, 2014: FYI: More details of the control stick can be seen on the 'Main Axle' page. |
July 5, 2014:  New control stick bell crank laid out on a 4" x 7" x 3/16" steel plate (thanks, Cliff Martin, for the free scraps), drilled, and ready for lots and LOTS of back and forth with my trusty hacksaw! The previous one (above) made from 1/8" aluminum was too weak and thin. This one will NOT bend... EVER!  And the cutting begins. |
 Rough cut after about an hour of hacksawing.  After filing the edges and deburring holes. Just needs a coat of paint to prevent rust. |
 Close up details of the control stick travel limiters. For full up (back), I added an AN4 bolt to the stick's base bracket. For full down (forward), I added a "bumper" made of two hard plastic single-saddle spacers. |
July 13, 2014:
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| A Big THANKS to friend Robert Gillisse, who gave me an unused 4-point racing harness from a two-pack he ordered to outfit his Kolb Firestar. Installation took 20 mins. or so and was super easy. The only modification needed was to remove one of the two metal adjusters on each shoulder harness strap (cutting a slot in the strap slot, bending each tab, and slipping the strap off the adjuster). This left behind a short strap, with the buckle piece, and the shoulder strap, with a free loop at its end. Then, all I had to do was remove the buckles from their short straps and put them on the end loops of the shoulder straps. How? By cutting a slot in the middle of the long edge of the buckle's strap slot to create two equal "tangs," bending the two tangs a bit so the strap could be slipped off the buckle, slipping the shoulder strap loop onto the buckle, and bending the two tangs back flat. For the lap straps, I changed the direction of the adjuster strap in the metal adjuster, so that the free end, with a loop, became the anchor end and the anchor end, with a mounting plate, became the free end. I cut off the anchor plate and some excess length of strap and sealed the cut fibers of nylon with a propane torch, melting the thousands of fibers together. As you can see above, I placed the new anchor end loop around the bottom of the tank and seat back support tube. | |
| July 23, 2014: |
 Took the very dusty instrument panel off the shelf and gave it a thorough cleaning. It's made from a 1/4" plastic kitchen cutting board and a standard, 1/4 Size (10" x 6"), stainless steel steam pan.  I mounted the Key West regulator to the back of the steam pan, where the metal acts as a heat sink. I added two 2,000 uF capacitors (gray battery-like things on top of the reg.) to further smooth out any residual AC ripple on the DC output used to power the strobes, wing tip nav lights, and two power jacks for radio and GPS. |
 Pilot's view of the mounted instrument panel. A hose clamp around the nose strut grips a small tab of metal bolted to the top rear center of the enclosure, while the cross-tube is bolted to the back. Rubberized pipe clamps (Adel clamps) secure the cross tube to the front fuselage braces, because thru holes would weaken the fuselage tubes.  Close up showing new labels. I printed them on a full-sheet of adhesive paper (Avery brand from office supply stores), then "laminated" the narrow printed area with a strip of packing tape, then cut each label out with an X-acto knife, and applied as shown. Font is Arial Rounded bold at 14 pts. White on a black background.. |
| That was then, this is now... April 22, 2020: |
 I bought a fuel gauge to add to my cluster, thus requiring a new instrument panel redesign, which I made in Adobe Illustrator. This is the new, cram-it-all-in layout. I redesigned my panel a year before, because I needed a bit more room to rearrange gauges around, so I got the next larger standard sized steam pan (1/3 Size, or 12" x 9"). The next size up is 1/2, but it's 3 inches too tall, so I'm using the same 1/3 pan to cram all these gauges into.  After two "failed" material tests (a copper-clad printed circuit board that was too thin, and a 1/8" thick sheet of HDPE that was too soft and flexible), I found 3/16" thick phenolic grade XX board to be the perfect material. It's hard, light, extremely stiff, easy to cut, and has a glass-smooth finish on both sides. Phenolic is pressure laminated, epoxy impregnated layers of paper, cloth, or fiberglass. Grade XX is paper and thus the most economical. I applied two layers of masking tape to the board to prevent my jig saw from marring the glossy finish. After tracing the paper template cutouts with a pen, I drilled mounting screw and saw blade "access" holes. |
 I tweaked a standard metal cutting blade by grinding about 1/8" off the back edge to make it thinner for easier cutting of the 2-1/8" holes. High speed on the motor and slow progress around the inside of the lines to get nearly perfect cutouts.  All holes were smoothed and adjusted for fit with a Dremel sanding cylinder (less than 1/32" in a few places had to be removed). |
 Tape removed, surface cleaned and degreased, and two coats of Krylon Fusion Gloss Black applied. Dust specks made for easily seen bumps, but who cares. I should have slightly sanded the gloss finish of the board before spraying to give the paint some bite. Even though it's made to adhere to plastic, I could see signs that it didn't bond to the epoxy resin.  Gauges, switches, 12v and 5v USB power, and +/- terminal strip installed. Oh, and some ferrite chokes and 0.01 uF capacitors on the 12v lines to the radio jack (left) and USB (center) to remove RFI. Dual socket USB panel mount unit is from AC Spruce and touted as RF noise-free. I can verify that it is so. It was my previous USB panel-mount unit, NOT the tablet, that was generating all the radio interference. It was so bad that it broke through my radio's level 7 (of 9) squelch. I haven't flown with the new panel yet, but with 12v DC applied to power it (engine not running), I could get the squelch down to 2! |
 The new panel finished and labeled, ready for installation. The thermometer is the smallest and simplest I could find at Walmart 10 or so years ago. It's held on by two small squares of "peg and peg" tape. That is, the material is like velcro in a way, but instead of two kinds of tape, one with hooks and the other fuzzy loops, this tape is made of hundreds of stiff, pin-head-like "pegs" in a tight grid array that interlock when pressed together.  Ta DA! GPS map provided by a Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 10.2" running Backcountry Navigator app, which records tracks, allows custom overlays (I made local class C sectional plots), waypoints, and has several free maps, such as this USGS topographic. My 19 year-old Icom A4 radio is still going strong. I "hacked" the AA battery pack by adding a pigtail hard wired to the +/-contacts. I also added a Flightcom IISX intercom, in order to record air-to-air coms on a really old Samsung MP3 player/recorder, when my flying buddies get back in the air with me. |
 Fuel sender mounted to the upper angled side of my Phantom tank. I drew a 2-5/8" dia. circle on the tank, then used a soldering gun, with a spade tip, to melt-cut the hole (pulsed the gun for 1 - 2 seconds every 2 seconds to prevent burning the polypropylene plastic). 
The sender requires three wires to connect it to the fuel gauge... +12v, Gnd, and Signal (0 - 5v full scale). I used a shielded 4-conductor cable (two conductors not used).
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 This is a 10-06661 Swift fuel sender 18" bendable FMW from AC Spruce for $83. The tiny white jumper wire below the three red LEDs has been cut to put the unit into 5 set-levels mode... empty, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full, which were manually set by pouring 1 gal into the empty tank and setting that as empty, then adding 1.5 gal for each of the next 4 level sets until full calibration of the old shaped tank.  An inside view of the tank from the fill neck so you can see the bent sender tube and supplied 3" dia. mounting plate. I cut about 5" off the end of the 18" sender tube and bent it about 80 deg, so that the end of the tube is about 1" above the floor of the tank. The 1/8" thick metal mounting ring has a notch on one side to allow it to be inserted through the 2-5/8" dia. hole in the tank. It holds the sender to the tank via five bolts that compress the sender and ring against the tank. A rubber gasket on the outside supposedly seals the sender, but the mounting method does not seal the bolts, because only 1/4" of the outer edge of the sender body and gasket is compressed against the tank, leaving the bolt holes through the sender body exposed to sloshing fuel. |
September 5, 2014 New 1/16" Lexan windshield pop riveted to a 3/8" OD stiffening tube. The tube is flattened in the center and ends in order to provide enough margin for 1/4" holes. UPDATE 2019: Bad idea! Center flattened area of tube flexed a few too many times during removal and reinstallation to access instrument panel, causing the tube to break in half. Replaced in 2020 with a 5/8" tube, no flattening.  Close up of 5/8" diameter rubber grommets for vibration isolation at six locations: two on the nose strut, one on each lower corner, and one somewhat mid-way up each side. |
 | Windshield installed. Adel clamps and short 1/4" bolts are used on the center braces at the lower corners and mid-way up the sides. |
NOSE WHEEL
May 29, 2014:
This is literally an exploded view of my custom designed nose fork/wheel assembly. The welded steel fork itself survived my 30-foot nose-dive stall crash without bending! The nylon Azusalite rim and one of the shock struts didn't fair as well. The lip of the rim, even though nylon, was permanently "bent," so I had to buy a new one. The shock strut broke at the weld joint between the tube and axle flange. And the 6061 axle bent as well. You're probably asking why I'm using a standard 1-1/8" bicycle headset bearing assembly. Well, the solid cast aluminum OEM nose fork uses a single AN4 retainer bolt that passes thru a 1/4" slot in its steer tube. The width of the slot provided a +/- 35 degree rotation of the nose wheel fork mounted within the nose wheel strut. This bolt also took the entire weight placed on the nose wheel (40 - 60 pounds static), transfering it to the top portion of the bolt holes in the thin walls of the nose strut tube and the fork's steer tube. In other words, this bolt and the steer tube slot acted as a thrust bearing for 100% of the load. This, to me, was unacceptable, so I figured that if a bicycle's lower headset thrust bearing could handle the forces and shock loads that mountain bikes experience, then it would be perfect as a thrust bearing for this plane's nose wheel fork, too. I searched the internet for a headset bearing that had a robust design, that was relatively inexpensive, and found "The Pig" by FSA. It has an extra large bearing cup, race, and caged bearings at a $20 price point. Since all 1-1/8" headsets have a 34 mm bearing cup mounting OD, the 33.9 mm ID of a 1-1/2" OD x 0.083" wall 6061 T6 tube would be a PERFECT press fit! No shims. The OD of the fork's steer tube is 1-1/8" or 28.57 mm, the same as a bicycle's steer tube. This means there's a 2.665 mm gap surrounding the steer tube inside the nose strut tube. Two oilite bronze bushings fill this gap. I did have to slightly file the inside diameter of the bushings until they slid easily over the steer tube. The tricky part was making the spacer, with the correct width, that goes between the fork's top plate and the bearing race. This spacer has to position the retainer bolt so that the bolt has zero contact with the slot in the steer tube. You want all the down force on the nose strut to rest fully on the headset bearings, not on the shank of the retainer bolt. The bolt's only purpose is to keep the fork from falling out and act as the +/- 35 degree steering limit stop.  |
The assembled nose wheel and spring shock fork (minus the foot steering cross bar).
Shock deflection is about 1" under a 170 pound load. |
July 8, 2014: Bought this little 3 gallon trash can from Walmart for a whopping $5, because the top's spherical swing-gate looked like a perfect candidate for re-purposing as a nose wheel fender. 
I cut the curvy sides of the butterfly-shaped swing-gate off to get straight edges at a width of 3-3/4". Then I heated up the piece with a heat gun on low and pressed down in order to "flatten" it out a bit (that is, increase the curvature radius a few inches). Then I bent a 1" x 1/8" aluminum bar 8" long to match the curvature and bent 2" of one end upward 80 degrees or so. I used a solder gun with a spade tip to melt a slot in the plastic fender for the L-bracket to extend up from the bottom. Two 1/8" rivets hold the fender to this support bar/L-bracket and two AN3-6 bolts hold the assembly to the nose wheel fork. PERFECT! |
Great build... THANKS for sharing this experience with the world.. I love the Wal-Mart trash can/fender trick...
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