ChrisBolkan

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About ChrisBolkan

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  1. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Hi Scott, indeed it is! Iron designs TW built by Scott Weinberg used on the Bearhawk!
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  2. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Coming along on the Fat Avid trike to TW conversion. Magnum main gear legs are fitted and look like they are meant to be there. Inch and a half axles Cessna wheels, double puck brakes. It's a little heavier than I thought it would be, but not too bad I suppose. It should hold up to moderate abuse. The tail wheel is a 2.8-X4. Not super wide but should roll over stuff pretty well. I have a bigger tire and fork for the tailwheel, but I had shimmy issues with it on my Magnum. The tail wheel spring is the bottom 2 leaves from a Cessna 170. The geometry looks good, but I won't really know until both main wheels are mounted and weight is distributed where it will end up. Here's a couple pics.



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  3. ChrisBolkan added a topic in For Sale and wanted, you got it, I want it   

    Stock Avid landing gear
    Hi!
    I have accumulated some stock Avid landing gear that needs to find homes and get put to use. I have one set of stock taildragger legs with Azusa 6 inch wheels and cable drum brakes. I think the wheels can be set up with hydraulic brakes too, but drums and cables are what is on the wheels. This gear is "new" and has never flown.
    I also have a stock nose fork and set of tricycle gear legs that are "new" and have not been mounted for brakes or axles. This set has nothing else with it (axles tires brakes bushings etc.) and the nose fork has not had the recommended doubler inserted.
    Happy to send pictures. Would be nice to get this stuff out of the hangar.
    Chris
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  4. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Repairing ribs and switching from cable to aluminum trailing edge   

    Clever. That looks PLENTY strong!
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  5. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Wow the springs got here today and it looks like they will work perfectly. I'll post pics when I get it put together. Might be a week or so till I actually get it done.
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  6. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Thanks Jim! 
    What I have done in the past is use carbide concrete bits. They cut through spring steel like butter. You don't get the most precise hole but it sure does work well! I can't remember where I learned that but it is one of the coolest random tips I have ever gotten. Might have been off YouTube.
    Chris
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  7. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    I looked a lot at the Univair site and kept coming back to the Cessna 170 main leaf spring being 1 1/2 wide and looking like it has the best bend geometry for my plane. I found a main leaf used on BAS aircraft salvage for a very reasonable price. They actually had another Cessna spring that matched the main leaf bend but was shorter and 3/16 instead of 1/4 thick like the main leaf. I ended up buying both as they said I could return what I did not use.
    I plan on trying the main leaf only and if it doesn't look like it will hold up, I can stack the two. The Cessna has 4 leaves stacked. I will have to drill the spring(s) to match the Avid bolt pattern on the spring perch, but that won't be a problem. 
    I attached pics from the Univair site of the entire leaf pack and what I bought used from BAS.
     


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  8. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Hey thanks guys!
    I was looking at the homebuilders spring and considering it. A fellow on the International Avid site has a Magnum leaf set he said he would sell me. The Magnum spring set will fit exactly. Hole sizes and everything. But I remember that the same dual spring on my Magnum went flat and had to be re-arched multiple times until it eventually broke. I ended up going to a stinger type spring. Anyway, I am going to try the Magnum spring setup on the Fat Avid which is a much smaller plane. Hopefully it wont sag under the lighter load, assuming everything works out and I actually get it. 
    If I don't end up getting it, or it fails and loses arch, I will try the homebuilder spring.
    I have been talking to Univair. Very nice people, but all that has happened so far is I give them a spring part number and the spring is either wider or narrower than 1 1/2 inches. We've gone back and forth several times, but they have to go measure when they have time and get back to me. That could lead to a solution eventually, but for now I will hopefully try the Magnum spring set followed by the homebuilder spring followed by Univair. At least I have a path(s) forward now. Thanks!
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  9. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Hi! Yes I would like any help I can get. If you can give me an A/C Spruce our Univair number that would be a great start. There is a possibility I can get a Magnum leaf set from a fellow on the Facebook forum. It has the right bolt pattern, but when I had my Magnum I noticed the same characteristics about that spring set as you noticed (that it kept going flat) and eventually replaced it with a straight stinger spring. However, My Fat Avid is not near the GW of the Magnum so it would probably hold up.
    So you are using only one leaf of the set? Your MKIV GW is 1150 right? My fat Avid is 1250. I'd be concerned that one leaf might not hold up, but it sounds like a good way to go if yours is holding up well! 
    Thanks!
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  10. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Just joined the Fat Avid Club   

    Hi guysI completed the fuselage work on my Fat Avid to allow me to convert from Tricycle to TW configuration. The original builder cut out some of the tailwheel configuration rigging to set up electric flaps. That is all fixed and back to original now.I'm doing this conversion on a budget so going with stock bungee configuration for starters. I have a set of stock Magnum gear legs that are much heavier duty and a couple inches taller than the gear legs for the smaller Avids. They fit perfectly on the Fat Avid's wider fuselage so I am excited to try the combination out.I am also starting out with a stock configuration tailwheel spring setup as opposed to a fancy shock absorbing setup. That would be nice, but out of my budget for this conversion. I have a decent pneumatic tailwheel assembly for an inch and a half spring.The Fat Avid tailwheel spring perch is an inch and a half wide and has two 5/16 mounting holes that measure 2 3/16 apart.I am trying to figure out what tail wheel spring to use and where to get oneAny ideas or suggestions?Thanks!Chris
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  11. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Registration on a rebuild   

    I am not an expert on this, but I believe if you are basically tearing it pretty much completely apart, you can (re)build it from "parts". I do not believe you have to demonstrate that you fabricated the parts. A good friend followed this process and in the end he was classified as the builder and a repairman cert was issued to him. 
    I remember we drove up to the local FSDO and my friend laid it all out on the table that he had bought this "junk" unregistered experimental, was going to completely tear it apart and scrounge or buy the missing or bad parts. He went through the whole process. He literally did completely build the plane again and he had no problems within the FAA system. I think open communication is the key. (And keeping a decent photo log that you really did build it back pretty much ground up.) In reality there were some assemblies he did not tear COMPLETELY apart, but what he did was adequate in his case to do what it seems like you are trying to do.
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  12. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic SuberAvid gets re-powered (again)   

    Absolutely gorgeous!
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  13. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Flying again   

    Wow Jim, that IS great news!
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  14. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Flying again   

    Jim, So happy to hear you made it through the gauntlet. Get stronger!
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  15. ChrisBolkan added a post in a topic Wingtips Hoerner style   

    Wow that looks nice.
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