Went up to the airport and brought down the keel spar and left leading-edge spar. The more I research the opinions of others who work with aluminum the more I’ve convinced myself that they are compromised and really should be replaced, not just straightened. I took the keel to Victoria Repair thinking that the main spar was made up of two pieces with an oversleeve splicing them together. The old guy at the shop tried to extricate the forward piece only to figure out that the spar was one whole piece. He cut the spar at my request just ahead of the oversleeve and looking down the length, determined that it is in fact one solid piece. The oversleeve is 18” long and wasn’t bent, so should be able to reuse it.
At the same time, I picked up the box that had the front wheel bracket and the two wheels with the hubs removed. Looks like they turned out well. I need to research the loads these wheels can tolerate to see if they’ll work on the Jetwing.
According to the Demon wing manual, there is an inner sleeve inside the keel spar someplace. I didn’t see any evidence of that for the spar I have. I don’t know if there was none, or most likely it’s a partial sleeve that is buried in the aft section that I couldn’t see. I will measure the length to get the exact measurement and then have Victoria Repair cut up the spar to see if we can find the inner sleeve and determine its dimension. I don’t think it would be a good idea to guess on the configuration of the keel and position the inner sleeve without knowing the exact specifications since it could affect the weight and balance of the wing. I also sent an e-mail to Larry Miller asking him if he knew anything about that. I also found a couple of places in MPLS that might inventory the larger tubing I need for the replacement of the spars. Anxious to see when they come back with.
No comments:
Post a Comment