---------------------------------------------------------- Pietenpol-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Sun 08/24/08: 7 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 04:32 AM - Re: extruded vs. rolled hinges (Gene & Tammy) 2. 06:36 AM - Side by each Piet (Michael Silvius) 3. 06:46 AM - Bowman field flyin (Michael Silvius) 4. 02:22 PM - front start corvair, cracks (shad bell) 5. 02:55 PM - Re: front start corvair, cracks (Ryan Mueller) 6. 06:04 PM - Re: Side by each Piet (Robert Gow) 7. 06:16 PM - Re: Returned Mail: Re: Side by each Piet (Robert Gow) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 04:32:11 AM PST US From: "Gene & Tammy" Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: extruded vs. rolled hinges Oscar! Your way to old to be having that much fun! (If my kids had come home with as big a smile as I have after flying N502R, I'd have spanked them because I would have known they had been up to something they shouldn't have). Gene N502R ----- Original Message ----- From: "Oscar Zuniga" Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2008 7:30 PM Subject: Pietenpol-List: extruded vs. rolled hinges > > > Well, I rolled 41CC out of the hangar this afternoon, dreading what I > would find when I checked to see what type of piano hinges Corky used on > the ailerons. The light of day revealed rolled hinges and my heart sank > (sunk?). I was so disappointed, so fearful that the airplane is unsafe, > that I fired up the engine and went out to fly! > > Folks, the airplane flies just fine with rolled hinges. There are a > couple of feet of hinge on each side, and if you get flutter going so > badly that the hinges open up enough to cut the aileron loose, you've got > more to worry about than losing an aileron. > > I was so dismayed, in fact, that I flew out to Castroville to top off with > fuel and then set out to the west, to Hondo. On the way, I attacked and > took out the old steel railroad bridge that crosses the creek. Just to > make sure that the supply trains didn't make it past the bridge somehow, I > went ahead and strafed the long train that was making the loop on the > tracks that go around Dunlay on Hwy. 90, and the one behind it coming out > of Hondo. They must have sent word that I was coming in to Hondo because > when I landed, there was not a single solitary soul to be found, nobody > came out to even watch me land, so I never even shut down... I taxied back > out and made an intersection takeoff and they all stayed hidden till I > left. I'll tell you, the sight of 41CC and the roar of the 65 send them > scattering for cover. I'll have to scout that bridge again soon to make > sure they don't rebuild it, and if they do... look out! > > Peace reigns over the San Geronimo landscape, and Steve Dortch's > newly-painted red Suburban got a little wash job a while later as a squall > line passed over our little runway. The airplane with the rolled hinges > was safely in the hangar. > > Don't worry about the hinges. Go fly! > > Oscar Zuniga > Air Camper NX41CC > San Antonio, TX > mailto: taildrags@hotmail.com > website at http://www.flysquirrel.net > > > -- > Checked by AVG. > 5:54 AM > > ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 06:36:41 AM PST US From: "Michael Silvius" Subject: Pietenpol-List: Side by each Piet Yesterday we went to the 22nd anual Bowman Field flyin In Livermore Falls Maine. A swell day was had by all. Mike Soucy's "side by each" Piet we have mentioned before on the list was there so here are some photos. Mike reports that the plane was built by an "retired navy aviator" in Florida and all the empenage controls are 1/2 inch push-pull rods. Note the access door on the aft fuse to service the mechanism. Cockpit is about 42 inches wide and has tons of leg room. It is powere by a 65 Continental. And has a very narrow flight envelope. Michael ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 06:46:20 AM PST US From: "Michael Silvius" Subject: Pietenpol-List: Bowman field flyin Also found this guy in the hangar. Reportedly owned by a parteneship of 3 and they are looking to part with the project. Wings are reported to be complete. The wheels looked to be about 24 inch diameter rims. Did not have a means to check the fuselage lenght but it appears to be a long fuse given the leg room. And there was a 2.5 liter Subaru block on the ground next to it. Michael ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 02:22:18 PM PST US From: shad bell Subject: Pietenpol-List: front start corvair, cracks Hello guys, anyone on here ever have the flywheel on a front mounted starte r corvair crack?- I was taking the cowling off the piet yesterday to do a n oil change and a line on the ring gear caught my eye.- Low and behold i t was a crack.- And I found 2 more cracks, one of them broke one of the " webbs" in half, cracked out completley.- Glad I found it, it was only a m atter of 5-10 hrs from self destructing.- We have ordered a replacement f lywheel from Wynne, but wodering what to do th prevent this from repeating itself.- So just as precaution anyone with a Wynne style front mount star ter flywheel look closely for cracks.- Look at the webbing that makes the cross- at the center, and look behind the crank pully for the alternator belt, that is where the worst crack was on ours.- Just thought I would w arn, and possibly keep some one out of trouble.- Please let me know if an yone finds any cracks, or has in the- past. - Shad=0A=0A=0A ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 02:55:35 PM PST US From: "Ryan Mueller" Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: front start corvair, cracks Hey Shad, It was a pleasure to meet you up at Brodhead this year. Sorry to hear about your cracked ring gear. Thankfully you caught it when you did before it caused any issues. There have been a few cracked ring gears reported in the flying Corvair population. This issue came up on the Corvaircraft list back in June. There was the usual drama slinging back and forth between various parties, but eventually William Wynne made a post regarding the issue. In the interest of brevity, here is the portion of that post that deals with the ring gears (the rest dealt with unrelated issues or the ongoing drama): ------------------------------------------------ On the subject of ring gears; We have used the FRA-235 gear for 6 or 7 years. I have made hundreds of these, and they are chosen because they are light. Like the ignition system, they are on a lot of planes and racking up a lot of hours. We have had at least 6 out of the fleet crack across a web. These have four webs, and it will still run and start the motor with two adjacent webs cracked. It is an easy check on preflight. About 3 years ago we started polishing the stamped edges of the webs to reduce the stress risers. I have not had a polished one crack. Every one who had one crack got a free polished replacement from us. This information applies to Black hub systems with a puck to hold the ring gear. Although we don't have nearly as many Gold hubs flying, none of them have shown any issue, and it supports the gear with more contact area. 18 months ago I tacked several welds on Bill Clapp's ring gear to his front alternator pulley. This stopped the issue on his aircraft. At the time his aircraft built time faster than any other one with a front starter, so we tested ideas on his aircraft, while keeping track of reports from the field. This was tried concurrently with other aircraft using polished webs. What makes it crack? One sky dog is right, and his thought on lowering stress risers is what we are doing. Here is another factor: bad starter alignment where the setting is poor enough that you can see it work the ring gear. This was a factor on at least two of the planes. Second is cracked cranks. Two of the cracked ring gears showed up on engines which were later found to have broken cranks. Jeff Garret, AKA AeroliteLLC who is claiming to offer the solution in the form of a solid ring gear is had one of our ring gears crack on the engine he built for Ben Bradners 601. This is the plane which was flown and detonated until the crank was broken at Ocala airport last year. Yes, his ring gear was cracked, but he also broke the crank, the case, a cylinder assembly etc. Not really a fair test. ------------------------------------------------ That's what I have been able to find on the ring gear situation. If you verify that your starter alignment is satisfactory, and your replacement ring gear is polished along the webs, then hopefully you won't have any more problems. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out. Have a good night, Ryan On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 4:21 PM, shad bell wrote: > Hello guys, anyone on here ever have the flywheel on a front mounted > starter corvair crack? I was taking the cowling off the piet yesterday to > do an oil change and a line on the ring gear caught my eye. Low and behold > it was a crack. And I found 2 more cracks, one of them broke one of the > "webbs" in half, cracked out completley. Glad I found it, it was only a > matter of 5-10 hrs from self destructing. We have ordered a replacement > flywheel from Wynne, but wodering what to do th prevent this from repeating > itself. So just as precaution anyone with a Wynne style front mount starter > flywheel look closely for cracks. Look at the webbing that makes the cross > at the center, and look behind the crank pully for the alternator belt, that > is where the worst crack was on ours. Just thought I would warn, and > possibly keep some one out of trouble. Please let me know if anyone finds > any cracks, or has in the past. > > Shad > ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 06:04:43 PM PST US From: "Robert Gow" Subject: RE: Pietenpol-List: Side by each Piet Great pictures of a very interesting Piet -----Original Message----- From: owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-pietenpol-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of Michael Silvius Sent: August 24, 2008 10:35 AM Subject: Pietenpol-List: Side by each Piet Yesterday we went to the 22nd anual Bowman Field flyin In Livermore Falls Maine. A swell day was had by all. Mike Soucy's "side by each" Piet we have mentioned before on the list was there so here are some photos. Mike reports that the plane was built by an "retired navy aviator" in Florida and all the empenage controls are 1/2 inch push-pull rods. Note the access door on the aft fuse to service the mechanism. Cockpit is about 42 inches wide and has tons of leg room. It is powere by a 65 Continental. And has a very narrow flight envelope. Michael ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 06:16:10 PM PST US From: "Robert Gow" Subject: Pietenpol-List: RE: Returned Mail: RE: Side by each Piet Somehow when I tried to re-register (because I could not remember my log-on) I wound up having posts rejected. How do I recover the user name and password? Bob -----Original Message----- From: pietenpol-list@matronics.com [mailto:pietenpol-list@matronics.com] Sent: August 24, 2008 9:05 PM Subject: Returned Mail: RE: Side by each Piet The following message from "Robert Gow" was not authorized for entry in the Matronics Email Lists forum. Posts are only allowed from users with permission to post in the forum. Visit this URL to register: http://forums.matronics.com//index.php From: "Robert Gow" Subject: RE: Side by each Piet **************************************** Great pictures of a very interesting Piet -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message pietenpol-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Pietenpol-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/pietenpol-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/pietenpol-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.