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Building Tips and technical articles. => Building techniques => Topic started by: john e. holliday on June 19, 2020, 12:33:05 PM
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Could not find my stash of copper wire and after remembering a free flight article I tried Kevlar thread on another plane. This is the tail skid for the Lively Lady. It has worked great on several other planes in which I would normally use copper wire. Works great using a sewing needle. D>K
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Uh, I'm confused. How well does it take solder?
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Don't need solder. It does take CA very well. My scissors won't cut it, so I use my side cutters for small wire.. D>K
By the way I don't recommend Kevlar for doing lines. mw~
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By the way I don't recommend Kevlar for doing lines. mw~
But wouldn't that be.........bulletproof controls? LL~
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I would think the kevlar might be superior to copper due to the fast it can conform better and take glue better. Glue just wraps around the wire, but can actually bond with the kevlar fibers like a true composite. I think I have some of this stuff, and this is a good use for those old Perfect/Sullivan kevlar flying lines that are perfectly useless as flying lines!!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
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Very cool Doc. I did the landing gear like this in the Boxcar chief, but I can't find pics right now
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I think Kevlar and CA on lines would be the same as Solder. There would be a stress point at end of the wrap. I guess shrink tubing over the wrap and extended out on the line might solve that problem. D>K
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I strongly recommend to use in most applications 24 hours epoxy & heatgun, instead of cyan. Stronger, more durable, less rigid
and far more shock resistant...
Bonus: transparent, if you want to check it.
https://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=29045.0;attach=153618;image
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If you don't have a spool of copper wire, how do you wrap your leadouts? Control lines?
Maybe you don't do that.
I have a 1/4 lb spool of # 27 tinned copper wire. Lasts a very long time.
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Lauri,
Me and my colleagues use quite another system for control line endings, for many decades, let say 40 years.
It is a piece of 1 mm dia simple piano wire, looks as you drive into a 5 mm dia. roundabout, go two complete circles and come back on the original way. (Sorry, no photo here). The control line is simply turned back and bondaged & glued in 50 mm length. The "legs" of the ending are 25 and 35 mm long, and lay on each other. This arrangement is stronger than a single line, even in unglued state, I measured many times in the laboratory, when I tested different brands of lines.
And I see under the clear glue, how healthy it is. (I am superstitious, instinctively against to hide such junctions)
Istvan
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If you don't have a spool of copper wire, how do you wrap your leadouts? Control lines?
Maybe you don't do that.
I have a 1/4 lb spool of # 27 tinned copper wire. Lasts a very long time.
I swag the ends of the cable, lines a nd lead outs. Should be a pic some where in this forum. D>K
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The "AMA Wrap" isn't just some mickey-mouse concoction tossed out there for you to try-- hit or miss.
It's easy and completely foolproof. That's why I use it.
Why try to re-invent the wheel?
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I do mine differently. But Kevlar seems to work well.
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Heres How You Do It .
(https://thevintageaviator.co.nz/sites/default/files/images/cable-splicing/cable_splicing-loop_splicing.jpg)
S?P S?P LL~ LL~ Were shown comparable simpler method . totally unnessesary , & can still slip . More your std bind & retun & knot .
Solerind Stainless is no sweat with Phosporic acid ' flux ' . Tho the irdotsve changed the Duzall . >:( So currently use phosphoric ' rust converter ' acid .
Takes say 3 coatings / cleanings de gungeings - for a satisfactory conclusion. Bound with copper electical wire , strands removed therefrom .
Had some good old steel core too , till it went . About 4 thou. at a guess .
How do line ends go on tail skids ?
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If somebodys building something really big , these ones hold Tons . Even have special ' splicing grease . '
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI9BHYGDiB8
TALKING OF TAILSKIDS ! taken on occasion to fit a ' shoe ' ,
(https://kevstigermoth.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/image3.jpg?w=224&h=300)
Though ive used 16 G wire ( 1/16 ) with two 3/8 loops about 2 inches seperated , finished . 400 degree loop .
Then folded aft ea side held at the center 3/8 , with the loops adjacent ( a left hand and right hand ) and ends out can be cut after biding. soldering to shid. this time anyway .
You can see the ply the loops are in , up into the rudder . here .
:P
Thats bound in to sternpost or ply plate .
AFTER a piece of 1/8 or whatever is bound & soldered . That conection hopefully enclosed . ( you live & learn :-X)
1/8 wires bent back for foot . Leg Filed Flat ( for less drag & weight ) or Airfoiled . So it looks cool & matches . . .
A piece of 16 guage plate , say 1/4 wide . Soldered ( generously - 80 watt iron ) onto the ' foot ' leg . :-\
Thrown in the vice ( if still possable ) . and filed to a ' teardrop ' in plan . Fr. edge a continuation of the leg , so we dont hook to much hay .
Solder dressed with the file , so its all aerodynamic , streamlined , and a wonder to behold . ;D LL~
Weighs stuff all , can use less shock to aft fuse. as an excuse . If you like making things .
(https://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40682.0;attach=244487;image)
Thats a earlier one. built into the appendage , sadwiched in ply . Replacement in the rebuild is forward on a ply plate in the floor . loops close under weight . Joints inside .
But you can see the little shoe . Could even replace it if you wore it off on tarmac . :(
Folkerts has it adheared to the spruce fin. fuse vertical spruce tailpost , Which can be rebated to fit around the loops . Figure two loops' keep it straighter easier . :P
reused that ' tailcone . hollowed . Now bogged . Mustve been the cold & paint fumes . n~ I think id better do a nice new clean light one , rather than junk .
Piece of ply on centerline , vertical . And standing it on its tail might not be terminal to the extremety .
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Instead of using a sewing needle to pass the line through the holes, try this: stretch the end of the line so it is straight then run some thin CA on the last 1 or 2 inches. It will make the end very stiff and you won’t have to raid Mama’s sewing box. Works great for sewn hinges.
Norm
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The most fun tailskid I have used was a piece of flat spring from a wind-up alarm clock. With soft rubber main wheels, the plane had a neat way of landing (on concrete, of course).
The 1947 Yates "Madman" kit plans showed the flat spring, but I don't think it was part of the kit.
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Why try to re-invent the wheel?
To avoid being sued by Henry Ford.
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Why try to re-invent the wheel?
Maybe they didnt get it right, first try . ;D
One of these , outta carbon fibre . Wheels Chassis & panels . ELECTRIC ,( as long as the put some brakes on it , to much traffic about, these days . )
would be a better city car than most of the rubbish made today . And you could have BLACK as std. any other colours EXTRA.
we'd better pattent that idea ! Move Over , Tesla . S?P
(https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/volo/2/17610/416249/1920x1440/1923-ford-model-t-dr-s-coupe)
Can you ' recycle ' carbon fibre ?
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I had Gee Bee Z'z in the past and the "scale type" tail skid always took a beating.
On this model I elected to solder light tin inside the wire skid. Painted it will resemble wood, but it will hold up over many flights. ;D
Don't get excited, I may sell this model long before it flies. There's someone already interested. Catch is, I have to finish the model, but, at the moment, I have absolutely no interest in finishing the model. Here's the only photo I have of the tail skid.
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If somebodys building something really big , these ones hold Tons . Even have special ' splicing grease . '
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI9BHYGDiB8
TALKING OF TAILSKIDS ! taken on occasion to fit a ' shoe ' ,
(https://kevstigermoth.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/image3.jpg?w=224&h=300)
Though ive used 16 G wire ( 1/16 ) with two 3/8 loops about 2 inches seperated , finished . 400 degree loop .
Then folded aft ea side held at the center 3/8 , with the loops adjacent ( a left hand and right hand ) and ends out can be cut after biding. soldering to shid. this time anyway .
You can see the ply the loops are in , up into the rudder . here .
:P
Thats bound in to sternpost or ply plate .
AFTER a piece of 1/8 or whatever is bound & soldered . That conection hopefully enclosed . ( you live & learn :-X)
1/8 wires bent back for foot . Leg Filed Flat ( for less drag & weight ) or Airfoiled . So it looks cool & matches . . .
A piece of 16 guage plate , say 1/4 wide . Soldered ( generously - 80 watt iron ) onto the ' foot ' leg . :-\
Thrown in the vice ( if still possable ) . and filed to a ' teardrop ' in plan . Fr. edge a continuation of the leg , so we dont hook to much hay .
Solder dressed with the file , so its all aerodynamic , streamlined , and a wonder to behold . ;D LL~
Weighs stuff all , can use less shock to aft fuse. as an excuse . If you like making things .
(https://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=40682.0;attach=244487;image)
Thats a earlier one. built into the appendage , sadwiched in ply . Replacement in the rebuild is forward on a ply plate in the floor . loops close under weight . Joints inside .
But you can see the little shoe . Could even replace it if you wore it off on tarmac . :(
Folkerts has it adheared to the spruce fin. fuse vertical spruce tailpost , Which can be rebated to fit around the loops . Figure two loops' keep it straighter easier . :P
reused that ' tailcone . hollowed . Now bogged . Mustve been the cold & paint fumes . n~ I think id better do a nice new clean light one , rather than junk .
Piece of ply on centerline , vertical . And standing it on its tail might not be terminal to the extremety .
I don't know................that looks like it'd take a lot of tip weight to counter act it. LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~
Jerry