Tail spring mounting

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Tail spring mounting

Postby Bryan Cotton » Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:37 pm

I have started to look ahead to the gear mounting. Boy do I wish that I drilled the tail spring and bracket together before I assembled and riveted in the tailpost!

Any hints?
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby ScottM-Sonex1629 » Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:47 pm

Bryan,

I looked at this when I did my tail skid. It very similar to the main gear legs. I drilled a pilot hole through the steel tube mount that is now inside your rear fuselage. Insert the titanium tail spring. Begin to transfer the mounting hole into the tail spring. For TI drilling the best drill bits I could find were the cobalt ones.

Once the mark was made on the TI rod I completed the drilling of this using the drill press. Slow, lots of cutting fluid. Once the hole was thru the TI, then I chased the bit thru to the other side of the rod and finished drilling the hole through the steel tube mount bracket. Continue this process up through the 1/4" final hole size.
Scott Meyer
Sonex 1629 - Sold...9/2019
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby Rynoth » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:35 am

Bryan Cotton wrote:I have started to look ahead to the gear mounting. Boy do I wish that I drilled the tail spring and bracket together before I assembled and riveted in the tailpost!

Any hints?


If you've been following the plans without question, you already have the 1/4" hole in the bracket, so the challenge becomes drilling a matching hole in the titanium tail spring. What Scott suggested is probably the best method... insert the tail spring, mark the hole locations, and do your best to drill/ream out a hole that matches.

Then the trick becomes drilling the tailwheel pivot fitting (if you have the older style welded components) in a manner that is as close to perpendicular as possible (so that the tailwheel itself is vertical)... I messed that part up by a good 10-15 degrees and am waiting for a replacement pivot fitting to try it again.
Ryan Roth
N197RR - Waiex #197 (Turbo Aerovee Taildragger)
Knoxville, TN (Hangar at KRKW)
My project blog: http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/waiex/
Time-lapse video of my build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8QTd2HoyAM
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby Bryan Cotton » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:08 am

If you've been following the plans without question


Whoops!
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
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Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby Rynoth » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:36 am

Bryan Cotton wrote:
If you've been following the plans without question


Whoops!


Yea, several times I've been like... "wow this would have been a lot easier if I didn't do that already per the plans..." Not that the plans make anything impossible, it's just not necessarily the easiest/best way sometimes.
Ryan Roth
N197RR - Waiex #197 (Turbo Aerovee Taildragger)
Knoxville, TN (Hangar at KRKW)
My project blog: http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/waiex/
Time-lapse video of my build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8QTd2HoyAM
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby fastj22 » Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:11 am

I'm sure your second Sonex will go together in a snap. Just ask Jeff Schultz.

John Gillis
SEL Private, Comm Glider, Tow pilot (Pawnee Driver)
Waiex N116YX, Jabiru 3300, Tail dragger,
First flight, 3/16/2013. 403 hours and climbing.
Home: CO15. KOSH x 5
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby kevinh » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:06 pm

Hi ya'll,

I'm approaching this point soon and hope to learn for your experiences. Do you still think match drilling the titanium rod to the tail wheel mount before attaching the mount to the tailpost makes sense? It seems to me that it does...
Taildragger Waiex in progress, tail done, wings done, about to mate wings to fuse,
then cowl, canopy, paint (photos): flush rivets, turbo aerovee, acro ailerons
(I built my RV7A and happily flew it for about 500 hrs)
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby Bryan Cotton » Tue Apr 26, 2016 7:37 pm

I do. Darick believed me and was happy after. Not to worry- if you take the easy way here you will find other challenges to make up for it.
Bryan Cotton
Poplar Grove, IL C77
Waiex 191 N191YX
Taildragger, Aerovee, acro ailerons
dual sticks with sport trainer controls
Prebuilt spars and machined angle kit
Year 2 flying and approaching 200 hours December 23
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Bryan Cotton
 
Posts: 4954
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:54 pm
Location: C77

Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby Darick » Tue Apr 26, 2016 10:44 pm

Bryan Cotton wrote:I do. Darick believed me and was happy after. Not to worry- if you take the easy way here you will find other challenges to make up for it.


You have a unique and most humorous way with words. We should collect these words of wisdom you have spread throughout the forum and call it "YOU'LL COTTON TO THESE WORDS OF WISDOM". Of course you have to know the colloquial meaning of "cotton" to understand the title.
Darick Gundy
Sonex #1646
N417DG
Taildragger, Aerovee, center stick, Prince P-Tip Prop
MGL E1, F2, V6 radio, Sandia Xponder, Reserve lift indicator (AOA), iFly 520
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Re: Tail spring mounting

Postby kevinh » Tue Apr 26, 2016 10:46 pm

Darick wrote:
Bryan Cotton wrote:I do. Darick believed me and was happy after. Not to worry- if you take the easy way here you will find other challenges to make up for it.


You have a unique and most humorous way with words. We should collect these words of wisdom you have spread throughout the forum and call it "YOU'LL COTTON TO THESE WORDS OF WISDOM". Of course you have to know the colloquial meaning of "cotton" to understand the title.


heh!
Taildragger Waiex in progress, tail done, wings done, about to mate wings to fuse,
then cowl, canopy, paint (photos): flush rivets, turbo aerovee, acro ailerons
(I built my RV7A and happily flew it for about 500 hrs)
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