LongEZ - N961EZ on the tarmac in Alamogordo, New Mexico
.
LongEZ Builder Web Site

      I FLY EZ

 
  HOME

  RETROFIT
RETROFIT REPORT
MONTHLY REPORTS
INFINITY GEAR

  DOWNLOADS
AIRPLANE CURSORs
FLIGHT RECORDER
GPS Set Time
PLACARD & MANUALs

  COMPUTER FIXES
MOUSE GOES CRAZY
DOWNLOAD PROBLEM

  ARTICLES
CANOPY STAY
CRACKED FLANGE
LONGEZ TRIPS
MANOMETER
NO WINGLETS
OIL HEAT
OPERATING COST
SHARE-A-HANGAR

  UPGRADES

ELECTRICAL
FUEL SYSTEM
GEAR CONTROLLER
INSTRUMENT PANEL

  HOW TOs
BRAKE BLEEDING
CAN I FLY EZ
CANARD REMOVAL
ENGINE REMOVAL
WEIGHT & BALANCE
WING REMOVAL
WHEEL PANTS

  CONSTRUCTION
CANARD
CANOPY
CENTERSPAR
ENGINE
FUSELAGE
MISCELLANEOUS
NOSE
ROLL TRIM
STRAKES
WINGS

  VIDEOS
DROP TEST (37min)
FIRST RETRACT
HIGH G TURN
LONGEZ LANDING
LONGEZ TAKEOFF

  CONTACT
waiter@iflyez.com

    Send a donation to Waiter via PayPal

      

          
          Graphic TFRs
            (FAA Link)



Find more about Weather in Toledo, OH
Click for weather forecast


 
Local Radar
(Click for larger image)


Subscribe to
canard-aviators
Powered by groups.yahoo.com


 

 

 

 

 



        I just moved the web site to a new server.  

           If you have any problems with pages or downloads,

              let me know,         Fly safe, Waiter





NEXT


30 APRIL 2007, Wings Primered

LongEZ Intakes     LongEZ Intakes     LongEZ Intakes    

The wings, ailerons, and rudders are now primed. I need to do a quick wet sand, then one final inspection before painting. Maybe I'll get this done tonight.

29 APRIL 2007, Wings

LongEZ Intakes     LongEZ Intakes     LongEZ Intakes     LongEZ Intakes

The bottom of the rudders closed out very nicely. They are now filled sanded and ready for paint.

I moved everything out of the shop to do a quick cleanup. The wings are seen out on the back yard.

The wings are now back in the shop and ready for paint.

28 APRIL 2007, RUDDERS

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes

Close out both rudder bellcrank compartments.

I laid up two layers of BID with peel ply on both sides, and let cure. Using sissors and sandpaper, I then carefully cut the BID sheets to fit into the two cavities on the bottom of each rudder.

A small dab of superglue held the BID covers in place while I laid in 5 layers of BID all across the bottom of the rudders. These were then topped off with micro.

27 APRIL 2007, SAND SAND SAND (again)

Both bellhorns are finished and fit check OK. I double check for burrs then painted them.

The bellhorn cavity is now glassed on the left wing.

The ailerons and rudders are removed from both wings. These are cleaned up and sanded dull. Bearings hinges, and U joints all look like the day they were put in new (2600 hrs and 11 years ago)

I've been sanding all the surfaces for better paint adhesion. I got the top and bottom of the right wing finished. The top of the left wing. I still need to do the bottom of the left wing.

I'm using a 180 grit 3M gold paper for the sanding. The paper is a little expensive, but cuts well and lasts a long time.

26 APRIL 2007, Left wing

DELAMINATIONS

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes

Found several small delaminations on the left wing. These were mainly around the hardpoints for the baggage pod.

These were repaired using standard procedures, a hypodermic needle squirting very wet micro into each delamination.



HIDDEN RUDDER BELLHORNS

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes

Cleaned out the left wing similiar to the right.

Fabricating the bellhorns is fairly EZ. I used the Bridgeport at work to mill a 3/16 slot on one end of the 1/2 x 1/2 square tube. The slot, about 3/4 inches long, has an AN100 thimble mounted in it. I use one thin stainless washer on the bottom side of the thimble. The washer does a couple things, it acts as a hard interface between the thimble and the cut edge of the tube. It also provides a filler to better guide the cable around the thimble.

The Bellhorn requires one bend, and one twist. The bend is about 4 or 5 degrees about half way the length of the tube. The tube also has about a 20 degree twist on the thimble end. The twist allows the thimble end to line up perfectly parallel to the surface where the rudder cable exits into the cavity. The twist makes it so the cable lines up perfectly when it enters the thimble. I used a MAPP gas torch to heat up the tube to a nice cherry red. Then just a little pressure and I had the bend. The twist was done the same way. I heated up where I wanted the twist until it was cherry red. I then put a wrench on the end of the tube and gave it a slight twist.

24 APRIL 2007, SAND...SAND...SAND

Wet sanding right wing top and bottom. Removed aileron and rudder.

5 hour drive to visit my brother (Jim) in PA for the day

23 APRIL 2007, Vacation

I'm on vacation for the next week, so hopefully I'll get somework done on the plane

DELAMINATIONS

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes

I pinged the entire right wing, both top and bottom. These are the only delaminations I found. These were repaired by mixing up a couple small batches of wet slurry, then using a small hypodermic needle to squirt it into the holes. After the cure, I repinged the areas, both delaminations are repaired satisfactorily.

Hidden Bellhorn

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes

This is a test bellhorn made of 1/2 inch x .035 tube. The tube has a slight twist and a slight bend so it lines up correctly with the rudder conduit. The test tube was made to verify fit, and also to verify rudder authority.

From full open to full closed provides about 3 1/2 inches of rudder movement as measured from the tip.

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes The foam is cleared out and the bottom is cut straight. I placed in two layers of BID into the pocket I cleared. When I'm finished. there will be a 4 layer BID cover over the entire bottom.

To clean up the bottom lines where I cutoff the lower winglet, the forward part of the rudder follows the bottom contour of the wing.

LongEZ Intakes I then measured from the top of the rudder at the trailing edge (the hindged rudder) down by 38 1/8 inches and placed a mark on the trailing edge. I then drew a line from this point to the trailing edge of the wing.



Paint Prep

The rest of the day was spent wet sanding surfaces getting redy for paint.

22 APRIL 2007

LongEZ Intakes

The hydraulic service bottle is now mounted. The bottle is in a position that makes it easy to service the landing gear hydraulics. Not seen is a overflow tube that exits out the bottom just to the right of the nose gear. SHould this bottle overflow, the fluid will be dumped out the bottom of the plane.


LongEZ Intakes

This is the rear seat air vent duct being floxed in place. This duct relocates the eyeball vent to a more usefull position for the GIB.




Flush Rudders

LongEZ Flush Rudders     LongEZ Flush Rudders     LongEZ Flush Rudders    

I cleaned up the bottom where I cut off the lower winglet (photos 1 & 2).

I'm going to use a flush rudder system that was authored by Dale Martin (NiceEZ). This system is allows me to utilize the existing rudder conduit and cable.

Clearing out the foam is a lot easier as I cut off the lower winglets. I'll get more photos as I progress.

15 APRIL 2007 , Intakes

LongEZ Intakes LongEZ Intakes

The rear of the intakes are now glassed. The upper and outer sides of the intakes also serve as the "lip" that the upper cowl will mount to. The "lip" now has about 7 layers of glass. These will be cleaned up and attach hardware will be installed.

Rear Seat Air Vent

LongEZ Intakes

While doing the intakes, I made a mold for the rear seat air duct. This duct gets mounted on the left side in the rear seat. Currently, the outside air vent is below the passangers left knee. Doesn't do a lot of good except may keep their leg cool. This new duct will be floxed into place to route the air up and forward. The new vent location will be on the backside of the front seat bulkhead, up near the top.

Hydraulic Reservoir

LongEZ Intakes

This is the "overflow/reservoir" bottle for the Main gear hydraulic pump. The pump is mounted above the nose tire hump. This location makes it difficult to service the hydraulic fluid. I connect the "vent" of the pump to this bottle. The bottle will be mounted all the way forward in the nose compartment. More on this later.

The Bottle was purchased from Speedway Motors. Part # 91032876-LITE-10. This is a power steering reservoir. It comes with an AN6 fitting on the side and a AN8 fitting on the bottom. I ground both these fittings off and welded the 1/4 inch tubes where I needed them.

8 APRIL 2007 , Dynon Remote Compass

I made up the wiring harness for the Dynon remote compass transmitter. Normally, the outboard area inside the wing strake would be an ideal place to mount it, However, in my case that space is occupied by the landing gear.

SO, after searching for an alternate location I decided to put it on the floor just behind the pilots seat.

I have foot rests in the back seat that will protect it, but I'll also make up a small cover just to make sure it doesn't get banged.

7 APRIL 2007 , Intakes and Electric

Airflow Fuel Injection

I ordered an Airflow Performance fuel injection system for my O-320. I'm told it will take 4-6 weeks for delivery. I've been thinking about doing this for some time, what finally pushed me over the edge was the fact that I won't need carb heat for the FI system. This greatly simplifies my cowl design.

Intakes

LongEZ Intakes

I got the intakes epoxied into place on the fuselage. They still need work, but this is a milestone.





Dynon

I updated the firmware on my Dynon EFIS and EMS. The firmware and PC Interface software can be downloaded from the Dynon web site.

Canopy Switch

I've been looking at how I could install a switch to sense the position of the canopy or the lock. I didn't want to install the switch somewhere where it could be damaged by climbing in/out of the plane.

I ran across these neat little sensors in one of my catalogs at work (Automation Direct). Its a "Proximity" sensor, it switches ON when a metal object gets close to it, then switches OFF when the object moves away.

LongEZ Canopy Switch I mounted the "prox" so it would trigger when it sensed the head of the bolt on the canopy lock handle. If the Canopy handle is not positioned in the safety catch, the prox doesn't see it. The Prox will connect to my controller to provide a "Canopy Alarm" and also used by the gear controller as one of the signals that its OK to retract the main gear.

These prox's are available from Automation Direct, part # APS4-12S-E-D are $16 each, it's about 3/8 x 3/8 x 1 inch. The trigger range is about 3/32 of an inch.

1 APRIL 2007 , Engine Compartment

PRESSURE SENSORS

LongEZ engine compartment 1

These are the gear pressure sensors located in the back seat. The switches are now clamped down and the wireing from the front cockpit is now fairly well cleaned up.



OIL FILL TUBE

LongEZ engine compartment 2 LongEZ engine compartment 3

The original Lycoming Oil Fill tube would have cut right through the middle of the cooling intake on the left side. Rather then route the cooling air around the Oil Filler tube. I decided to route the Oil Filler tube around the cooling air.

I cut the filler tube and used a piece of 1 1/4 inch cooling line hose. I still need to add some method of doing a dip stick to check the oil quantity.

PLENIUM MOUNTING

LongEZ engine compartment 4     LongEZ engine compartment 5     LongEZ engine compartment 6     LongEZ engine compartment 7

1)These are the parts for the plenium mount.

2) The bottom bar goes under the bottom of the cylinders. This is a 1/2 x 1/2 steel rectangular tube.

3) A 10x32 threaded rod goes through the bottom bar, up between the cylinders, and goes through the inter cylinder air baffle. The intercylinder baffle is held in position by the threaded rod.

4) The threaded rod continues up and is used to secure the Fiberglass plenium in place. Note the reinforcement angle across the top of the plenium.


PREVIOUS




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Waiters GPS Set Time program.
Waiters Flight Data Recorder.
Flight Data Recorder.
Recording aircraft flight data.
Aircraft Voice recorder.
Garmin GPS.
Garmin GPS Serial data Format.
Recording EFIS data.
Capture Serial data.
Convert Raw Data Files.
Free GPS Software.
Reading GPS data.
Reading Garmin GPS data.
Aircraft EFIS Flight Instruments.
Electronic Flight Instruments.
Aircraft Engine Monitor System.
Garmin G format.
Infinity landing gear LongEZ Plans Built Airplane.
Oil Heat system for Homebuilt airplane.
LongEZ Canard and main Wing.
Dynon instrument panel.
Custom Mouse cursors.
Garmin Serial Data Format.
Easy, Free Computer Time setting by GPS Receiver.
Custom mouse pointers.
Custom airplane mouse pointers.
LongEZ Nose gear doors.
Long-EZ main landing gear doors.
LongEZ grasscutter landing gear door.
Custom LongEZ mouse pointers.
Lycoming engine in LongEZ.
MT Propellor with 6 inch propellor extension.
EZNose Lift retractable nose gear for Long-EZ.
Rutan LongEZ is a plans built aircraft.
High speed homebuilt airplane.
Retractable landing gear for LongEZ.
Custom Airbus mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Velocity mouse cursor pointer.
NMEA 0183 Serial data Format.
Custom Cozy mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Aerocanard airplane mouse cursor pointer.
Custom E-Racer mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Canard airplane mouse cursor pointer.
Custom LongEZ mouse cursor pointer.
Set your Computer clock with this free GPS software.
Custom F15 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom A10 Warthog mouse cursor pointer.
LongEZ Hydraulic pump.
Retractable landing gear for a Long-EZ.
Custom F16 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom F14 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Boeing 747 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Boeing 767 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Boeing 777 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom Boeing 737 mouse cursor pointer.
GPS Time Sync.
Custom Boeing 727 mouse cursor pointer.
Landing gear door rigging.
Custom Boeing 757 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom MD80 mouse cursor pointer.
Custom DC9 mouse cursor pointer.
Setting your computer to a GPS Time.
Custom RV mouse cursor pointer.
Downdraft cooling for LongEZ.
Speed brake installation.
Waiters Flight Data Recorder.
LongEZ Baggage pods installation instructions.
Waiters Custom Airplane mouse cursors.
Free GPS Time Sync Program.
LongEZ Intercom installation.
Major airframe overhaul of plans built EZ.
Weight and balance for a LongEZ.
Weight and Balance spreadsheet download for a Long-EZ.
LongEZ fuel system design.
How To remove the wings from a LongEZ.
How To remove the canard from a LongEZ.
Waiters GPS Time sync program runs on PC.
How To remove the engine from a LongEZ.
Long-EZ Downdraft cooling for a Lycoming O-320.
Long-EZ Wing Removal and installation instructions.
Waiters Retractable Landing Gear Controller.
Landing Light installation in LongEZ.
Install free EFIS software on your PC.
How to Put several longezs in one hangar.
How to install an Infinity Aerospace Retractable landing gear in a Long-EZ.
How to install DownDraft cooling on a Long-EZ.
GPS Time.
Setting you computer clock to GPS time.
How to set your Computer clock to GPS Time.
Using your GPS Receiver to set your computers clock.
Low cost GPS receiver used to syncronize Computer clock to GPS time.
Neat Canopy stay system for an EZ.
Cabin Heat using engine oil as source.
Waiters GPS Time, Syncronize your PCs internal clock with the GPS satellite.
Remote display of EFIS on a PC.
Cabin Oil Heater for a LongEZ.
LongEZ Landing Gear Door.
Rigging a LongEZ Landing Gear door.
Icom Radio in LongEZ.
How to Build a Manometer.
LongEZ Electrical system upgrades.
Grand Rapids EMS.
Custom Windows cursors.
Custom Windows mouse pointers.
LongEZ Cowling for downdraft cooling.
Record holding LongEZ flights.
Using a PLC for a retractable Landing Gear Controller in a LongEZ.
Syncronize your PCs clock to a GPS receiver.
Airspeed vs pressure lookup tables.
How to build a homebuilt airplane.
Video of LongEZ taking off.
Grasscutter landing gear door.
EZ Nose Lift installation.
Landing Gear status indicator.
Shareware software can set your PC clock vie a GPS receiver.
Landing Gear controller computer for LongEZ.
Landing gear doors.
Dynon EMS10 installed in instrument panel of a LongEZ.
Dynon EFIS D10A installed in instrument panel of a LongEZ.
Flight Data Recorder Software.
PlansBuilt LongEZ.
Video of High G turn in a Long EZ.
Strong Pitch Trim system installed in a LongEZ.
Strong Pitch Trim mounted on Left Side of Long-EZ.
Free software sets your PC clock with a GPS receiver.
Video of LongEZ Taking off.
Video of LongEZ Landing.
Video of LongEZ performing a high G turn.
Video of Infinity Landing gear being retracted into a LongEZ.
LongEZ Color White.
Painting your LongEZ.
White LongEZ.
Camoflage LongEZ.
Infinity Landing Gear for LongEZ.
Strong Pitch system.