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1. 10:36 PM - Landing gear shimmy (Bill Strahan)
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| Subject: | Landing gear shimmy |
Hey, I've talked about this before, haven't I? I've had 3 big changes I wanted
to make for a long time: 1) Fix fuel distribution issue. 2) Make some short
wingtips. 3) Eliminate the landing gear shimmy.
I installed the flow straightener tube and vanes that Nick sent me about a year
ago. That did an amazing job. Perfect? No. Good enough that I'm not considering
installing fuel injection? Yep. So #1 is adressed.
I still need to make short wingtips, but my passenger yesterday asked "Why does
it shake like that after you land?" GRRRRR.
So I bought an axe handle and started chatting with neighbors here on the airport
about cutting and shaping it. I figured I'd buy a 1.125" ball cutter and put
a radius in it. Kept putting that off because it didn't sound like fun.
Then it hit me: I really just need it stiffer in fore/aft flexing. And whatever
stiffener I make needs to glue to the gear leg so it needs to be a very good
fit. Nothing fits better than fiberglass built in-place!
I decided I would tape off the gear and lay up 3 laminations of 7oz cloth directly
onto the back of the gear leg. I did that tonight, and it's curing. Tomorrow
I'll sand the back of that and use some flock and 5 minute epoxy to attach
a 1/8" thick piece of balsa wood that extends about 1.5" behind the gear. Once
that's cured I'll lay up about 6 layers of cloth on both sides of the balsa,
overlapping onto the section that's on the gear. So the gear shouldn't end
up much stiffer since it only has 1/8" thickness between the 6 layer lamination,
but it should be SUPER stiff across the 1.5" section.
So I should get that done tomorrow, and let it cure overnight. Then I'll pop it
off the gear, trim it, and glue it onto the landing gear leg.
Any thoughts? Nick, any suggestions on the best adhesive to attach to the gear?
Should I remove the paint or glue to the paint?
When I glue it I'll put a couple of zip ties around it to hold it while it cures,
and leave them on just in case it ever comes loose.
Fingers crossed, I can report in a few days that I have eliminated the dang shimmy
once and for all.
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=372188#372188
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