---------------------------------------------------------- Lightning-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Mon 09/10/12: 7 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 10:51 AM - Re: Lightnings at Mt Vernon (rick@trickair.com) 2. 02:55 PM - Re: Lightnings at Mt Vernon (Nick Otterback) 3. 05:22 PM - Re: Re: Lightning Newsletter Booklets (N1BZRich@AOL.COM) 4. 07:58 PM - Only in a Lightning...#2 (Bill Strahan) 5. 08:06 PM - Shimmy update (Bill Strahan) 6. 08:19 PM - Night flying (Bill Strahan) 7. 08:46 PM - Re: Shimmy update (Bernard Melendez, Jr.) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 10:51:12 AM PST US Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Lightnings at Mt Vernon From: rick@trickair.com Hi How was your show? We are driving back from the Sea Plane convention in Greenville Maine. It seems like it was a good show for the skis Rick Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry smartphone -----Original Message----- From: Nick Otterback Sender: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 02:55:26 PM PST US From: "Nick Otterback" Subject: RE: Lightning-List: Lightnings at Mt Vernon The Show was ok on Thursday. Weather threatened on Friday and showed up late in the afternoon so the crowd was down a bit that day. Saturday was very good. Demo flights were flown multiple times each day despite slightly lower numbers for the week days. Nick -----Original Message----- From: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of rick@trickair.com Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 12:50 PM Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Lightnings at Mt Vernon Hi How was your show? We are driving back from the Sea Plane convention in Greenville Maine. It seems like it was a good show for the skis Rick Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerryR smartphone -----Original Message----- From: Nick Otterback Sender: owner-lightning-list-server@matronics.com Mt Vernon ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 05:22:11 PM PST US From: N1BZRich@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Re: Lightning Newsletter Booklets Hi Paul, Although I'm not sure I totally understand all the intricate details of your suggestion, it sure sounds like a super idea. Certainly your point about quick access is what will be most important to the customer. But is this (ISYS) something the individual would need to have or is it something that Arion would have on their web site? Sorry, but I have not heard of ISYS before, but it sure sounds promising. Blue Skies, Buz In a message dated 9/9/2012 6:58:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, stay@caithness.com.au writes: --> Lightning-List message posted by: "Caithness Manor" [Idea] It seems such a lot of work to go printing, or even manually indexing newsletters when the nub of the issue is ready access to a topic, no matter where it exists. I understand people wanting hard copy in their workshop, or to take somewhere to discuss with someone else - paper will always be the best human interface, and I prefer paper too, but....... It seems to me that customers want quick access to all entries about a problem they have with their build project so they can avoid mistakes made by others. I don't know about costs for Arion, but there are brilliant text indexing and retrieval systems available like ISYS (or Google for that matter) which would allow customers to query Arion's entire server network regardless of where the document sits and its format. So the build manual and all newsletters and the website itself (just depends on what Arion allows) can be interrogated for example on topics like "brakes, with or without a reference to Matco". The customer sees a list of all entries like a web-based Google answer, can open in read-only and print if required, and in sub-second response times. If made available to customers only, the cost could be spread across that community minimising Arion's licence fees (I've no idea of likely costs) and it could probably be less than the per person printing costs Buz is being quoted. Alternately Arion could do it as a value-add service for everyone, and reap the benefits of ensuring they have perfect version controls over their manuals by never over-looking a technical reference to any topic during upgrades or cross referencing. ISYS was an Aussie software product I came across in 1989 at KPMG and it has this year been sold to Lexmark. It's used by US Homeland Security, the Las Vegas Police and many other sites worldwide, so has the credentials. It will index Autocad as well as hundreds of file formats. http://www.isys-search.com/products/document-filters As others here have said, only negative is web downtime when it occurs, but ease and elegance of access knowing you've found every reference is surely the point, 24x7 globally. Lots of trees saved too! Oh, and no I don't have shares in it. Someone with better knowhow might be able to source a better product/price point. Always enjoy reading the forum, but rarely post anything, so sorry for this rather long one. Cheers everyone, Paul Smith, Angaston, Sth Aussie. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=382772#382772 ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 07:58:39 PM PST US Subject: Lightning-List: Only in a Lightning...#2 From: "Bill Strahan" At dinner with my gorgeous wife about 7:30 pm Sunday night, Mitch (my son) calls and says "I have a massive favor to ask." Uh oh... Well, it turns out his girlfriend had taken a bus from college to visit him for the weekend, and they missed getting her to the return bus by 4 minutes. "Dad, can you fly her back?" Heh. OSU is in Stillwater, OK, and I live at F69 in Texas. About 180 nm. No problem. Home from dinner at 8:30, grabbed necessary items and topped off the tanks. Taxiing out at 9:00, I ask Kelsey if she's ever flown in a small plane. Nope. Next question: You don't get motion sickness, do you? The answer was comforting: "No, not at all. I love roller coasters!" I briefed my passenger, took off, and headed North under the DFW class Bravo. It was a beautiful, crystal clear night so I did a quick 360 so Kelsey could see downtown Dallas. She enjoyed that, so any concerns about motion sickness were gone for me. I handed her the audio cable and told her she was the DJ for the flight. Her face lit up and she said "Are you serious?" :) We enjoyed just over an hour of music and chit-chat before I set down in Stillwater and headed back. I flew at 3000' on the way out and managed a net +2 tailwind. 9500' on the way back netted about +10. I rolled 7RW into the hanger just a little after midnight, closed the doors, and turned out the lights. 17 gallons of fuel, a quick flight, and I reaffirm for Mitch that I'm the coolest dad ever. On the way back, I stumbled across what I believe will be the coolest mod to my plane EVER! If you're a bit broad across the shoulders like I am, stay tuned. Now as to that damn shimmy...next post. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=382839#382839 ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 08:06:34 PM PST US Subject: Lightning-List: Shimmy update From: "Bill Strahan" Okay, perhaps I'm doing things in a weird order, but I'm still playing with shimmy stuff. The stiffeners I made from fiberglass didn't help. I'll remove them soon. I switched to the 6-ply tires, no dice. I was running the 6-ply tires at just below the max pressure rating of 50PSI. I read about people getting better results with low pressure, so I dropped it to 26. Holy cow! That made it a TON worse! Weird. So tonight I hopped out to the hanger and did a quick measurement with a laser level. Held it on the brake disks and measured six feet in front and behind the axle, marked it, and calculated toe...came out to 1/2 degree toe-out. I've read so much about this, but so much is conflicting. So now my question is has anyone solved their shimmy by going from toe-out to toe-in? It sure seems toe-in would work much better, but then I've read people claiming the exact opposite. Assuming I decide to go with toe-in, what's the best way to reset? Drill a new hole and put in a new bolt, or drill the existing hole to the next size bolt? Oh, last thing. I didn't verify that each wheel has 1/2 degree toe out. I just measured the difference between laser lines front and back, and it works out to a total of 1 degree. For all I know, one is set differently from the other, but I'll verify that and adjust accordingly if I reset to toe-in. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=382840#382840 ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 08:19:38 PM PST US Subject: Lightning-List: Night flying From: "Bill Strahan" A flurry of late night posts, I know. But as long as I've remembered my password. :) I do a lot of night flying. The first few times in the Lightning were a little weird. 7RW wasn't very pleasant to fly at night, but it's gotten a lot better. Here's a list of changes I made, some of which you may find useful: 1) I didn't build 7RW with an overall cockpit light of any kind. Sometimes I used my phone, or flashlight. Finally I had a little burst of inspiration looking at a little work light stuck to the side of my toolbox. Here's a link: http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Battery-Operated-Hanging-Light-with-27-LED-Lights/6491727/product.html?cid 2290&kid-53000357392&track=pspla&kw={keyword}&adtype=pla I grabbed a 1" fender washer, stuck velcro to one side, and stuck the washer to the top of the cockpit over the baggage area. The light sticks to the washer, the whole thing comes out easily if I need a flashlight, and it's all removable. Nice, easy fix, and it works perfectly for a cockpit light. 2) The trim and intercom LEDs at night feel like miniature green potlights! I took some thin foam tape, that's sticky on one side, and cut two pieces to fit over the LEDs. Can still see them fine during the day, but not blinding at night. 3) The EFIS reflects off the canopy. I rigged up a quick glare shield over it that I had been using on my iFly, but I will probably build something more permanent. I'll probably take some VERY soft flexible plastic (remember you're hitting that panel in a crash) and make an eyebrow over it that will block all reflection. 4) The landing light reflects off the landing light cutout which is painted white like the wing, and it's pretty bright. I rigged up a reflective shield that fits inside the plexiglass cutout cover that reflects it all downwards. I get a little more light for taxiing, and I'm not as distracted by the light itself when it's really dark outside. And with those changes, 7RW is a pleasure to fly at night. Well, I suppose there's one last little thing, but it may be unique to my plane. With the brightness on the GRT sport EFIS set to 1, when I throttle to idle on landing the EFIS screen brightness jumps around a bit, like it's responding to voltage fluctuations. No big deal, it's a short phase of the flight. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=382841#382841 ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 08:46:05 PM PST US From: "Bernard Melendez, Jr." Subject: Re: Lightning-List: Shimmy update Bill, Standard practice is for toe IN, not toe out. I put 1 1/2 degrees toe in on my plane, but I've yet to test it as I'm not flying yet. The build manual says 1 degree toe in, but I added another 1/2 degree, I hope it helps. Leaf spring gears have less problems with shimmy. I believe that the problem wi th round landing gears is that they are more likely to twist with side load s and once that starts, oh well.... I propose that to help the gear resist twisting motion, shaped wood blocks be well bonded to the front and rear of the gear and shaped to an airfoil s hape, followed by several plies of fiberglass or carbon fiber. Milling the roundness to match the tapered gear is the trick. That's the hard part. If my landing gear exhibits shimmy, that's what I plan to do. The main obje ctive would be to stiffen the gear to prevent twisting loads. All this is j ust speculation on my part, but I can't think of a better way to do it. Bernardo Okay, perhaps I'm doing things in a weird order, but I'm still playing with shimmy stuff.- The stiffeners I made from fiberglass didn't help.- I'l l remove them soon.- I switched to the 6-ply tires, no dice. I was running the 6-ply tires at just below the max pressure rating of 50PS I.- I read about people getting better results with low pressure, so I dr opped it to 26.- Holy cow!- That made it a TON worse!- Weird. So tonight I hopped out to the hanger and did a quick measurement with a la ser level.- Held it on the brake disks and measured six feet in front and behind the axle, marked it, and calculated toe...came out to 1/2 degree to e-out. I've read so much about this, but so much is conflicting.- So now my ques tion is has anyone solved their shimmy by going from toe-out to toe-in?- It sure seems toe-in would work much better, but then I've read people clai ming the exact opposite. Assuming I decide to go with toe-in, what's the best way to reset?- Drill a new hole and put in a new bolt, or drill the existing hole to the next s ize bolt? Oh, last thing.- I didn't verify that each wheel has 1/2 degree toe out. - I just measured the difference between laser lines front and back, and it works out to a total of 1 degree.- For all I know, one is set differen tly from the other, but I'll verify that and adjust accordingly if I reset to toe-in. 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