A little progress XL H-58

[Chuck in Indiana]

Since I'm going to put springs on the gear.. my runway isn't particularly smooth..the material list doesn't call for the 5/8" .049 that it needs. Oh, no problem.. I thought. Called AED in Indy (race car 4130 supplier, mostly)and he said, "Sorry, man.. I have .035 and .062, but I'm out of .049."
Rats. Ordered it from ACS and got hosed for shipping again. 
Started making gear parts. Found a piece of .700 dia. aluminum with a quarter inch hole in it, formed and welded the pieces that hold the axles.

Parts is parts..

Used the aluminum piece to keep from knocking a red hot spring stop into my lap when I was welding it. 

[scottiniowa]

^^^^ Actually TIG is a lot easier than Ox/Acetylene if there is a big heat sink like that aluminum block. Fortunately, I have both systems. Trying to operate the foot pedal with my knee or between my legs when crawling around on the floor would be a challenge for me. 

Certainly true on the heat sink statement.  Folks, I used to teach tig welding, and there are just a few simple things that EVERYONE could do and VERY FEW want to do. That being, weld up six coupons of each 4" square and each of a different thickness, weld this to be a square cube.  (metal type doesn't matter much but you will be OH so much happier with cold rolled steel)  Sit that in front of you, and weld edges, corners, holes,  weld up/weld down, weld beads away from you and towards you.

I would tell them when the block is covered with uniform beads, then they were getting close to welding on a airplane, dune buggy or similar.   This was not often accepted, till we turned this into a piggy bank...  WELDs got better, fun came into the project and life was good for all.  Practice folks, and you will learn to enjoy.  This goes easily for gas welding as well.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Hi, Scott.. obviously, I'm not a TIG welder.  I can't make my rebuilt left hand feed filler reliably. I *have* enjoyed the learning experience, though.. and am confident they are structurally sound.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Leonard says to squeeze the ends of the shock struts..
Ok.
Milled my "found" piece of aluminum that I found yesterday,

 put it in the vise and cold formed it..

Looks pretty good, if I do say so.  I'll try not to break my arm patting myself on the back.It came out .618" wide.. a good running fit for 5/8".
Drilled and milled the hole and slot.


the good thing now, is the machine knows where the center of the collet block and the stop is, so it will be a simple matter of drilling the rest of the holes on center.
I *love* making stuff.. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon finishing up the shock struts.

The 5/8" .049 came in, so I can get serious about putting her on the gear.
My little HF lathe did a remarkably good job of turning the 1/8" wall 5/8" axles to fit the M15 bearings. The hours spent modding and setting it up paid dividends today. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

I hate it when dimensions don't add up..I can't make any of the dimensions on the print work out. It says the gear is slanted forward at 12 degrees in two places. It also says the center of the axle should be under the leading edge of the wing.. or 6 inches forward.
On another page, it shows the 3/4" tube to be 24 inches long, and the rear 5/8" tube 36.
None of those dimensions work.
To put the axle c/l on the leading edge of the wing requires the gear to be 19 and change degrees.
I finally decided to make everything 15 degrees, but even at that the 36 inch dimension is way long.

Oh, well.. time to shoot the engineer and commence production. 

3/4" tube finish welded to the axle tube, and the rear bushings welded in.

With any luck at all, I'll have ol Bullet on the gear by the end of the week..

[Chuck in Indiana]

Main gear welded and axles fit up.

A die grinder gets rid of most of the after effects of welding, and a 5/8" reamer cleans it up.

Only takes a couple of minutes..but.. it is an excellent way to break a wrist and/or get slapped upside your head if you aren't careful. A half inch drill is a lot stronger than you are, and a reamer just loves to grab stuff. 
None of the landing gear drawings is working for me, so I ran strings from corner to corner and will build to fit.

"Tweeeeet." Quitting whistle.. I'll let the second shift guys take over. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Those guys on second shift must do nothing except sit around and drink coffee..
Found some time yesterday afternoon and made the V strut.

Finish welded it this morning, and naturally the holes wouldn't line up even though Id tacked the V in 6 places.
Not to worry. If you haven't used these, they are called a bullet.

Seems appropriate. All thread is a few thousandths undersize, and the bullet nose helps alignment. They are also the hot ticket on final assembly. Install the bullet, then drive it through the fittings with the AN hardware and a copper hammer.
Yay.. it's going to work.

I'll be able to sit in it and make airplane noises before long..

[Chuck in Indiana]

Hi tech spring compressor..

Always exciting when a pile of tubing sits on it's wheels for the first time. 

[Kamcoman77]

Nice looking stance and very professional fit & finish. How long is your main gear leg from Station #2 attach to axle?

[Chuck in Indiana]

Nice looking stance and very professional fit & finish. How long is your main gear leg from Station #2 attach to axle?

Thanks, Keith.. from this point to the c/l of the mount is 22 1/8" 22 5/8" duh. This is (of course) a compound angle with a forward sweep of 15 degrees. The V strut is less, about 10 degrees.

After welding warpage, it ended up with some positive camber and a little toe out. I've always said I'd rather be lucky than good..
Edit for brain fart.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Trimmed the tailpost to length and reamed it out this morning. Hmmm, might as well see if the vertical fin fits.  Since I'm at it, I just may as well put the rudder on there and see what it looks like. 

A guy's gotta get a little payback for all that work..
Had my Lovely Assistant help me break the angles and start clecoing the seat in location.

It is still very cranky at this stage, so the straight edge helps keep everything square.
Once I have the clecos in, I'll rivet in location. This will let the seat take it's own shape, rather than trying to force it into some kind of shape.
"Tweeeeet" Lunch whistle..

[Chuck in Indiana]

If someone finds this in a search, this is a rivet cutter. It works pretty much like you think it would. 

The idea is to make the rivet long enough to stick out of the joint 1 1/2 the diameter of the rivet. Then when the shop head is formed, it should be 1 1/2 the diameter of the rivet.
Doesn't look like much work, but it took all afternoon. 

After all, I was bound determined to
(1) see if I could get into it
(2) see if I could get out. 
Of course the stick isn't in it yet, but I think it's going to be doable.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Tailwheel stuff..

[Chuck in Indiana]

Another use for my found bronze bushings..

If it doesn't work, I'll always think it should have.

Roller blade wheel. I thought if they are sticky enough for kids to do all those tricks, it should be sticky enough for a tailwheel on asphalt..