• If You Are Having Trouble Logging In with Your Old Username and Password, Please use this Forgot Your Password link to get re-established.
  • Hey! Be sure to login or register!

Lowrider LSA

All I did was rip some pine lumber into 5/8" square strips and build a temporary framework in the door opening. I used a couple of cabinet hinges at the top clamped in place and some more lumber to simulate the strut and wing spars so I could check the swing and see if it would clear the strut and I determined it would. I was going with it but then decided to use the stock set up instead. The material I used for the doors and windows is what is called out on the plans.
 
Cub junkie said:
All I did was rip some pine lumber into 5/8" square strips and build a temporary framework in the door opening. I used a couple of cabinet hinges at the top clamped in place and some more lumber to simulate the strut and wing spars so I could check the swing and see if it would clear the strut and I determined it would. I was going with it but then decided to use the stock set up instead. The material I used for the doors and windows is what is called out on the plans.
Click to expand...

Thanks Junkie!!

I've been dealing with defective modem and a lack of speedy service froM Hughes Net. All fixed now.

I have finished all the tubing on the fuselage except the tail wheel and I'm starting on rudder pedals and controls along with the tabs to mount the floor. Plans call for .032 al for areas where where you step and .020 for other areas. Seems pretty light and creaky but the book says it will hold up OK. May add some .063 under the pilot and pax foot area.
 
brown bear said:
"May add some .063 under the pilot and pax foot area"
I read as ,may add some weight:lol:
Click to expand...

Point made...but...that was a compromise instead of .080. I suppose I'll try the light stuff and see if that will keep my feet out of the prop wash.
 
If you want to build as lite as "Bob" you got to think like Bob. If you are thinking about adding something to your plane thats not in the plans, Then hold it up in the air head high and drop it. If it hits the hangar floor its to heavy. ":lol: Doug
 
Lowrider said:
Point made...but...that was a compromise instead of .080. I suppose I'll try the light stuff and see if that will keep my feet out of the prop wash.
Click to expand...

With the layout of fuselage tubes in a PA18, .050" aluminum on the floor is very adequate.
 
spinner2 said:
With the layout of fuselage tubes in a PA18, .050" aluminum on the floor is very adequate.
Click to expand...
I used .040 on the cockpit floor of my 12, with some .040 channel stiffeners riveted onto the bottom side in the spots that would bear weight. Works fine.
 
brown bear said:
If you want to build as lite as "Bob" you got to think like Bob. If you are thinking about adding something to your plane thats not in the plans, Then hold it up in the air head high and drop it. If it hits the hangar floor its to heavy. ":lol: Doug
Click to expand...

Good logic Doug!!

I'm going to go with Geezer's idea of the extra stiffeners made from .064 on the .032 and see how that works out. I'm still a little "iffy" on the .020, besides I have some .025 on hand so I think that will have to do. I going to tell my wife she must sit on the floor to make up for the extra weight and she only gets one seat belt too....we'll see how that works.
 
....the plate they will install in your skull after she belts you will take up the extra weight of her seat. Careful!!

Glad to see you moving along Lowrider!!
 
So...you guys know my wife...more likely is she'd knee cap me with a pellet gun just enough to hurt but no real damage done.

Built the front seat and seat rails this morning and I'll probably get the seat frame and rails welded after nap.

I think I'm going conventional with the tail wheel. The spring/shock/A frame/yoke idea still seems good but after adding up the parts the weight killed it....thinking light Doug!!
 
I didn't want to kill your creativity by suggesting to stay with a conventional tailwheel for the parts-count and weight savings alone.

I like the idea of a "real" dampened tailwheel suspension, so I was waiting to see if you'd do it.
 
Lowrider said:
I think I'm going conventional with the tail wheel. The spring/shock/A frame/yoke idea still seems good but after adding up the parts the weight killed it....thinking light Doug!!
Click to expand...

If you are still thinking about the 0-320, that little bit of extra weight at the tail wheel will help with the CG. Proper CG location deserves as much attention as the weight.
 
DSC_0006.jpg

I'm following you guy's advise and have provided my wife with a seat and you may note that the cushion can be used as a flotation device in the unlikely event of a water landing.

Sky,

I'm actively looking for a deal on a 1x run out 0-320 so it is still in the mix. I'm mindful of the CG issues and hope to have a better feel for the nose weight issue once I get the gear, tail and wings in place and can better establish approximate CG.

Dave,

I'm still in favor of the dampened tail wheel but it adds weight, complexity and fits into my usual tendency to overbuild things which further compounds the weight issue. #3 son who is here visiting for Spring break came up with the idea that once I figure out how to build the LSA, I should build another for him and his brothers to fly so we might try it on that one...'cept he hasn't figured out how they are going to pay for it yet as an under employed college student, an unemployed butcher and a federal cop.
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0006.jpg
    DSC_0006.jpg
    747.1 KB · Views: 224
Lowrider, I have .032 2024 in all the floor area on my Bearhawk. It holds up fine. If I'm hauling something in the baggage area that may dent it, I just throw in a piece of 1/4'' plywood. No use hauling around extra weight when you don't need it. Keep it light.

Dave
 
I have been useing a titanium tail spring for some years .Its great and the fatigue life is said to be many many times spring steel.
Doug
 
Dave,

I'm pretty well settled on .032 and .025 on the baggage area. I think I will put some stiffeners in some areas of the .032 just in case. Easier to do it now than later.

CK6,

Bob wheel is on the short list with the TI spring....still looking at some other options.

I finished the front seat for the most part yesterday and started on the rudder pedals. For some reason yet unknown I made them canted in so my boot would lay flat on the pedal and the process turned into a series of compound angles which made the whole process more complicated than necessary. Guess I will stick with the method with the left pedal but it sure was time consuming...that'll teach me to do custom things.
 
Finished up the left rudder pedal and am waiting for the brake cylinders to arrive so I can finish them.

I had the drawings for the rudder and horz stab blown up to life size and that should make it a lot easier to construct them on the table. Still waiting for the ribs from Avipro but I may lay out the rough shape and not weld anything until I get the ribs.

ANyone use Grove brakes or wheels? They cost a fair amount less than Cleveland.
 
Dave,

Did you use the 1 1/2" weld on axle with the Grove brakes and wheels?Any problems installing the brakes?
 
Dave,

I'm sorry, I didn't word the question properly. The Grove axle is a bolt-on axle (ACS part # 06-00919) rather than the weld-on axle suggested in the plans and it looks like the Grove bolt-on appears to be machined differantly in the pictures on the ACS site where as the weld-on axle is just a 1 1/2"x 16 TPI hollow tube that welds into the main gear.

Don't mean to complicate this but I just don't want to order the wrong axle to go with the Grove brakes/wheels.

Thanks!
 
Rear seat is completed this morning and I built it with pockets for the seat to sit in so I can pull 4 clevis pins and the seat pulls right out of the plane. Seat belt brackets are attached to the longerons and not the seat and it will have shoulder straps that attach to the overhead for a 4 point set up like the front seat on a retractor.

I'm putting brakes only on the front pedals. Any thoughts on brake lines? My thought is steel and stainless shielded hose inside and out to the gear and steel to the calipers down the the gear leg.
 
Lowrider said:
I'm putting brakes only on the front pedals. Any thoughts on brake lines? My thought is steel and stainless shielded hose inside and out to the gear and steel to the calipers down the the gear leg.
Click to expand...
I used a high pressure poly-type tube that came with my kit. Nice and light and easy to position. Do you have the masters in the front? I used stainless steel braided hose from the fuselage to the wheel. This line did not come with the kit. Bulkhead fittings where the lines penetrate the fuselage. I also have no brake pedals or rudder pedals in the back. No stick or throttle either.
 
18 years now.. on Parker Parflex NR-4-035 and it has never let me down whether it be wheel gear or amphibs. 425psi working - 1700 psi min burst. If you're real worried go up to the -050 @ 625psi working / 2500 min bust.
 
irishfield said:
18 years now.. on Parker Parflex NR-4-035 and it has never let me down whether it be wheel gear or amphibs. 425psi working - 1700 psi min burst. If you're real worried go up to the -050 @ 625psi working / 2500 min bust.
Click to expand...

I'm a long time user of Parker hoses for a variety of differant applications as well. I've only tried their tubing on dirt bike brakes but that sure makes sense. Never had any problems with them and it is bound to be less expensive than shielded hose. At first I was a little concerned using their light weight aluminum fittings but they held up fine...even after a few crashes. That may be what Spinner is using too without knowing it.

I'm glad you mentioned that Irish!! I had forgoten about them but will look into it for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Cardiff Kook
Benefits of buying a LSA over a non-LSA?
Replies
21
Views
4K
Utah-Jay
Utah-Jay
CubCrafters
LSA 'Maximum Empty Weight' clarification
2 3 4
Replies
117
Views
60K
jnorris
jnorris
supercub
LSA Weight increase?
Replies
8
Views
4K
hotrod180
hotrod180
G
PA-18-95 as and LSA
2
Replies
34
Views
12K
kevin
K
mvivion
LSA Article in Air & Space
2
Replies
32
Views
8K
mvivion
mvivion
Back
Top