Joe's LEXL E-95

[Poorman2]

Joe, leave your tube long at the bend area and cut it to length after bending. Leonard uses a hole drilled in his table that he sticks the tube in to bend a little at a time. I thought about using t-88 to hold the bushing in place, but I like Steve's suggestion better.

[joecnc2006]

I made a quick and simple Metal break, I had all material on hand in a storage shed so I did not have to buy anything, It is good enough for the Tail Section ribs. I started with the Tail Vertical Stabilizer, got one side gussets and also I added two additional support pieces, one for the bottom and one for the rear to protect from fabric shrinkage and pull. I had to stop on the 3/4" rear piece I need to fab the hinges to slide them into place before placing the rear gussets.

I may try a trick to hold the tubes in the gussets for the support wires, which I use on foam RC planes for repair. I mix a little bit of gorilla glue in a small cup with a couple of drops of water, the use a Popsicle stick to put a little on the area and wait a few minutes, the mixture starts to foam up because of the water added and fills in the areas, It is really light and should hold the tubes in place It is just like foam. and much lighter than JB Weld. I will try this and if it does not work then i will stake the tubes into place.

[Bob S.]

OMG!   You only have 6 places where the tubes need to be J-B Weld-ed... How much weight is that???

[joecnc2006]

OMG!   You only have 6 places where the tubes need to be J-B Weld-ed... How much weight is that???

Well you do have a point there.
btw: I need to come back out to San Geronimo and see you fly weather is getting better just need the winds to settle down. and especially when I get my engine, I may need your help a little.

[dz1sfb]

And also how do you normally hold the tubbing for the support wires in the gusset, you do not have a bolt in it while covering the pieces.

 Leonard originally used JB Weld; ran out of empty weight and glue money, drilled undersized gusset thru hole and center punched the extra gusset material into the bushing bore on each side, cleaned out to 3/16 bolt size with a reamer at assembly time... Kajon Krafty...

This essentially means in sheet metal parlance, that, he (Leonard) extruded the hole into the bushing. Great idea and easy to do.

Ken

[joecnc2006]

I'm curious if anyone see's a problem with making the tail section hinges out of 6061-T6 aluminum. I think they should be strong enough for our purpose, Just curious what everyone thought.

[Bob S.]

How good is your heliarc welding??

[Bob S.]

I built mine from steel, wrapped the aluminum with electrical tape and rivited them on.

[dz1sfb]

I like it! This looks to be more robust than the piano hinge. Although those extruded piano hinges are quite solid. Mounting them to a round tube seems suspect for long term strength.

Rather than welding them in,  using an industrial epoxy along with a rivet should be more than enough to lock them in place and not distort the tubes. I am assuming 3 pieces per hinge location and stainless steel pins?

Ken

[joecnc2006]

I like it! This looks to be more robust than the piano hinge. Although those extruded piano hinges are quite solid. Mounting them to a round tube seems suspect for long term strength.

Rather than welding them in,  using an industrial epoxy along with a rivet should be more than enough to lock them in place and not distort the tubes. I am assuming 3 pieces per hinge location and stainless steel pins?

Ken

It would still only require two per hinge just like the original, they are opposite each other (mirror on each end) so that would prevent from moving side to side, and also use a cotter pin, and add a nylon washer between the hinge pieces to help minimize wear.

[dz1sfb]

Joe,
I've not received my plans yet, so there is some conjecture on my part. What's the required length? Might make a good water jetted part as well with reaming the internal bores and polish off the outside. 

Ken

[joecnc2006]

How good is your heliarc welding??

Not very good, the CNC Machine is much better than me.

[joecnc2006]

Joe,
I've not received my plans yet, so there is some conjecture on my part. What's the required length? Might make a good water jetted part as well with reaming the internal bores and polish off the outside.

Ken

They are 1/2" thick, I was wondering what everyone thought of these, seems like the original 3/4" thin aluminum tube would bend before these give way.

[joecnc2006]

I made two test Hinge pieces, one with 0.06" wall thickness (top in picture) and the other with 0.08".
 I like the 0.08" one better so will use those, they are a nice fit.
13 more to go and one from from chromoly to be welded to the tail post.

[stevejahr]

Nice!

What is the tube thickness these go on?  Bet that the 0.080 is overkill when you compare it with the tube it is going on.  Now I could see a taper with 0.080 near the hinge post and tapering down around the tube.