nlappos

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Everything posted by nlappos



  1. nlappos added a topic in Rotax and other engines   

    Borescope Rotax 582
    Here is the inside of one of my engine cylinders, using a TV borescope: 130  hours since new, 42 with 100LL, the rest with Mogas. Comments??



    • 36 replies
    • 7,776 views


  2. nlappos added a post in a topic Lubing Pivot tube bolts?   

    I don't want my controls to get cancer! My annual is coming up....
     
    Seriously:   http://www.amazon.com/Liqui-Moly-2009-Anti-Friction-Treatment/dp/B003U4O414/ref=pd_sim_328_7?ie=UTF8&dpID=411F0hoPlML&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1BYSF2D4RWWMSTPWJWM8
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  3. nlappos added a post in a topic 582 Muffler Support Brackets   

    I had the welding shop repair the cracked ends, and then build up those end tabs to more than twice their original thickness, so the bending strength is considerably better. Part of my problem is that I seem to be missing a brace. The build book shows an aft diagonal brace that ties the two side brackets together laterally, making them a box and preventing side to side motion, and I don't have that one.
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  4. nlappos added a post in a topic 582 Muffler Support Brackets   

    Had the old brackets repaired at a local welding shop (my welds look like the display window at a fudge shop).
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
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  5. nlappos added a post in a topic Avid went Down in Florida   

     We're really glad you made it, KD. Rest and relax, you earned it. Please don't make any long term decisions about flying right now. You obviously loved flying, and might again soon, when the immediate reaction (intelligent reaction) of fear has settled down. But in any case, enjoy the taste of life now, made sweeter by the close brush you had.
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  6. nlappos added a post in a topic Avid Flyer Venturi Installation   

    I built a simple rig to test it out my car window, Here is the data. The venturi is a big one, looks like the 4" one at Aircraft Spruce, the horn itself is 10.75" long. At 75 mph it draws a healthy 4.3 to 4.4" hg, At 70mph, 3.3 to 3.5, at 80, 4.8 to 5.4"(note my car speedometer calibrates 2 mph slower than indicated at 75 mph). Those who say it had significant drag are quite right, I had to really push on that stick, estimated at 15 lbs of drag force, probably a 4% increase in drag/reduction in range.
     
     


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  7. nlappos added a post in a topic Avid Flyer Venturi Installation   

    Thanks guys. I bought a used one on ebay (I should name my airplane The Ebay Evader). I will rig it on a board out my car window and calibrate its draw vs speed to see if it is worth it. 
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  8. nlappos added a topic in Technical tasks   

    Avid Flyer Venturi Installation
    I am thinking of putting a Directional Gyro in my Avid MK IV, and wonder if someone has ever installed a venturi on their Avid. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
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  9. nlappos added a post in a topic Spars - Drawn seamless vs. Extruded   

    I did some research on the difference, and there is a significant difference. Drawn tubing is extruded tubing that is pulled a second time through the dies, so it is cold-worked which raises its strength and dimensional accuracy. I would stick to drawn ASTM tubing as called out.
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  10. nlappos added a post in a topic Angle of Attack Indicators   

    Here is an alternative, widely discussed in the "other" forum. It can be home made for just a few bucks, it seems.
    http://sonexfoundation.com/Lift_Reserve_Indicator.html
    or bought:
    http://www.liftreserve.com/
    a 3D printer file of the probe:
    http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1198830/#files
     
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  11. nlappos added a post in a topic Replace leaking wing tank. Adding tank to wing with no tank. Need help.   

    Just for argument's sake, I believe the fabric does not contribute to the structural strength of the aircraft, at least from an analytical point of view. The practical point is that stretched fabric has some shear strength, but I bet the structure meets all criterion with just the spars and ribs, and it uses the fabric as the way to assure good air passage for aerodynamic effect.
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  12. nlappos added a post in a topic Transponder antenna location?   

    Mine is a cheap ($22) dipole from Ebay, mounted on the belly between the pedals, a little toward the right side, and the coax drops right down from the panel above. That belly area under the cockpit is aluminum, so there is a fine groundplane. I put the altitude encoder on top of the unit. The unit is an Edo Aire RT-777 I bought on Ebay for about $100. Works like a charm, it tests strongly at least 40 miles from the radar site.

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  13. nlappos added a post in a topic 582 Muffler Support Brackets   

    Great idea, 1avidflyer. I can rig up something like that, I am sure. Thanks!
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  14. nlappos added a topic in For Sale and wanted, you got it, I want it   

    582 Muffler Support Brackets
    I have an Avid MK IV with a 582 and need the two steel muffler support brackets that hang the muffler below the engine. anyone have them, shown below? thanks, Nick

    • 7 replies
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  15. nlappos added a post in a topic Avid Mark 4 Project for sale   

    cliff,
    I have an Avid MK IV and need the two steel muffler support brackets that hang the muffler below the engine. Do you have them, shown below? thanks, Nick

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  16. nlappos added a post in a topic WALMART ALARMED!   

    Another example of panic behavior, like the movie "1941" but not a comedy. Probably for resale on some corner shop. I have seen signs limiting Walmart sales quantities because their pricing is almost at wholesale levels.
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  17. nlappos added a post in a topic Beginner Take Offs and Landings   

    As an experienced FW instructor, but with only about 75 hours on taildraggers, all on my Avid MK IV, I am reluctant to weigh in here, but when has that ever stopped me?
    General comments: 1) You want to work on the glide to assure that you spot the first third of the landing area from a long way up. Look for the place where the objects are going up the windshield because you are heading to a point below them. It is really easy to do with your excellent video. Freeze the screen a few times on the early approaches and guess where that spot is. Up until 12:45 you were consistently long, about half way down the runway, and that played havoc with the consistency of the landings. But you got that down pretty nicely in the end, a lot by biting the bullet and knowing that the trees had to be close to the gear if the approach was working!
    2) It seemed like your float was due to a bit too much speed in the final. I find that I carry 60 mph in the approach and then 55 over the threshold, and float is just right to let me get a 3 pointer. Are you holding 55 or even 50 over the threshold?
    3) Flaps. I find that 1/2 flaps are a great add, they point me down at the runway, and they let me get the stick all the way back on touchdown, esp if I have 55 or less over the threshold. Also, as I touchdown, I drop the flap lever and the aircraft gives up flying fast, and slows down fast when the gear takes all the weight.
    4) You are self-teaching very well. No bad habits, consistent improvement, and safe as can be.
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  18. nlappos added a post in a topic Windshield attachment Model C #378   

    Right on EDMO. We use rubber bushings on the helicopter windshields to prevent stress cracks. They assure that the glass floats away from hard metal.
     
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  19. nlappos added a post in a topic Windshield attachment Model C #378   

    Possible tip to prevent future cracks: make the holes bigger than the fasteners, so the fastener "floats" with some edge clearance and the head holds the windshield in place. This prevents a pre-stressed hole from cracking later.
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  20. nlappos added a post in a topic Hacman Kit install   

    Let me try to answer the big picture question - what exactly is all that tubing and the cockpit valve doing? 
    Short answer: providing a mixture leaning system.
    Long answer: Using the venturi pressure as a fine low pressure reference, the Hacman mixes this low pressure into both carb bowls, so the bowl pressures drop a bit, and the difference between the bowl pressure and the venturi becomes less (when you are leaned). , The less the pressure, the less fuel flows up from the bowl, and the leaner the mixture.The venturi is the place where the air pressure is lowest, due to all the air rushing past the hole. That is the screw fitting you put into the side of the forward carb with the single tube.It becomes one of the two pressures that the tubes carry to the cockpit valve. Why only one tube? because there is plenty of venturi suction from either carb, and this tube won't change it, so only one is necessary.
    The other tubes around the carb all connect the carb bowls and the filter volumes together to be sure whatever mixing you do is balanced between the two carb bowls (woe be the guy who leans one and not the other!) When the valve is opened (leaned) in the cockpit, it mixes low pressure venturi air with the bowl pressure, so the bowl air pressure drops. When the carb operates, the pressure in the bowl pushes the fuel up into the lower pressure venturi. Less bowl pressure, less push, and less fuel flow. Less bowl pressure acts the same way as if you had put a smaller orifice into the carb jet line. Less pressure difference between the bowl and the venturi, less fuel flows up, so the mixture is leaner.
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  21. nlappos added a post in a topic landing gear position   

    That's ok, I have one tailwheel Avid, and I am confused most of the time, anyway!
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  22. nlappos added a post in a topic Plug Check   

    I installed the hacman leaning system on my 582, and use it regularly so that my plugs always come out that light brown color you describe. I haven't seen any black gunk on my plugs since I started leaning the engine. I am sure that black stuff is no good for the engine.
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  23. nlappos added a post in a topic Screaming HIGH EGT's 582   

    Let me offer a couple of comments on this really interesting thread:
    1avidflyer the muffler is an important part of the way a Rotax two-stroke works. The muffler is tuned like a French horn and creates a wave that supports the exhaust pattern, so a badly tuned muffler can result in significant EGT problems. You are exactly right to recommend looking at the muffler if you're chasing EGT problems. In fact all of us two-stroke drivers should know that messing with the muffler could be a great way to ruin your engine.
    As a general comment on EGT and clean spark plugs, I put the hacman leaning system on my 582 (with Joey's help) and can really control the EGT and mixture of my engine. I think the thing cost about 200 bucks, at took about an hour and a half to install. It is really worth it. In-flight above 2000 feet I often lean, and by 5000 feet it's a real necessity to get good power. Taking off from some of the Western airports during my cross country, Eileen for takeoff and got good power. It took me 40 hours to come across the country and I pull the plugs at the end and were clean and brown, with no black gunk at all.
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  24. nlappos added a post in a topic landing gear position   

    EDMO, Chris has a taildragger, he asked, " Does anyone have actual experience moving landing gear and seeing the effects on a tailwheel plane?"
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  25. nlappos added a post in a topic landing gear position   

    The bigger concern could be the yaw stability on the ground. What is your normal CG station, relative to the gear position, in inches? For my Avid Flyer MK IV the gear is -1.6" and the CG is typically +13 to +15 inches, so the CG is about 15 to 16 inches aft of the gear. Moving the gear 1" closer to the CG is a 6 to 7% improvement in yaw stability (1/15 or 1/16), and as EDMO said, an insignificant change in longitudinal ground stability. If the Magnum numbers are about the same, Have at it, I say.
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