Newbie / Bee #2

[gyroparts]

Or maybee NewBee...ok that is stretching the humor a little. Just a couple of photos of this weekends construction. I spent a couple hours sometime after midnight on saturday trying some pedal ideas. I was out of about everything I needed, so I improvised a bit. The pedal brace is 1 1/4 inch angle, with about 1/4 inch cut off to accomodate the pedal bolts. I did not have enough 2x2 square to do the pedal pivot mounts, so I bent up a couple of pieces of 1 inch flat. Cut a few lightning holes and...well, although they are ok, I am not satisfied with them. The aluminum web was some 7000 series aluminum I had. It is too brittle to bend in a 90 degree angel, hence the pedals do not have the top bent at the nice angle. They are just set in place...I may do something different later today. The keel and tail boom have 45 degree cuts. Notice that like on the previous aircraft, I forgot to lengthen the tail boom by about an inch to accomodate my cuts. Therefore, I had to clip the seat braces a little. Just one of those things that happen when you don't take your time. I install plugs in the ends to keep stuff out. I use the 1/4 inch tail boom bolt hole for the gear mount. The bottom two holes in the keel cluster plate will have a small spacer behind them that rests up against the "U" bracket of the gear. This keeps it from twisting. Everything is just kind of pieced together for now. I have been cutting the 2 inch and angle aluminum off with a chop saw. I use a 80 tooth carbide tip blade and it works great. You can cut up to about a 45 degree angle with it. All other angles were cut with a regular bandsaw. Behind is my drill press with a mount I built for handling the long pieces. The pink foam behind that will eventually be a tail core covered by Rutan E-glass and epoxy resin. I added to my original post and included a picture of the partially completed Bee #1. I am thinking about using Vortech RotorHawk blades on this one. They run about $1000 and are available in a very short time. I really liked the quality of the SportCopter blades, but they are over $2100 with shipping, and it looks like about 11 to 14 weeks to get them. I waited 8 weeks two years ago. My flying season will be over her in ND 14 weeks from now :) I read some of your posts, some of you are sure doing nice work. I can't say any of my aircraft have ever been show quality. They did fly though! (Well, except for the previous Gyrobee). The original bee was painted with Krylon. I spent very little time preparing the aluminum...just a few strokes with a pad, and some acetone. Although it never fell off, it did scratch very easy. Not sure what to do this time.

[Brian Jackson]

Nice, Jerry. First thing I noticed was how you tied the geometry of the seat braces with the tailboom angle, then I read why. Like the painter-guy Bob Ross said, "we don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents" :D . Looks nice man.

Regarding finishes, powder coating is quite a popular method... durable, professional, and a plethora of color choices. Many of the kit manufacturers employ this method. Anodizing is also gaining popularity... limited color choices, but inexpensive, great corrosion resistance, and adds no weight to the airframe.

One concern I'm looking into regarding powder coating is the actual thickness of the finish, and how that might affect the vertical hole spacing of the cluster plates (2 powder thicknesses between the keel and tailboom, plus 2 thicknesses between the mast and keel, plus 2 more between the tailboom and fairlead block). So theoretically the cluster plate distance from the mast holes to the fairlead block holes will increase by 6X the powder thickness. This could be a problem if the bolt hole clearances have no play.

In my Bee build, I'm currently using "temporary" cluster plates from scrap 1/8" aluminum. If they still install/fit well after painting or powder coating the square tubes then I can use them as templates to make the actual SS plates. If they're too tight or some holes are out of concentricity due to powder thicknesses between the tubes, then I can simply transfer-punch through the finished tubes to make new ones. Either way I haven't wasted any stainless steel and the final plates will surely fit well.

Hope I'm not rambling here... these are just things I think about to avoid any problems later on.

Anxious to see/read more progress posts on your new Bee! She's looking great :)

Cheers,
Brian Jackson

[gyroparts]

Hi Brian, love the CAD drawings you are doing. Also, great workmanship on your bee. I was thinking about powder coating too. Did not cross my mind that the coating would be thick enough to cause a problem. I love the "T" tail look in one of your drawings. I would like to do that, but I am at a loss how to adequately brace the tail. Let me know if you have any ideas.

[Brian Jackson]

Hi Brian, love the CAD drawings you are doing. Also, great workmanship on your bee. I was thinking about powder coating too. Did not cross my mind that the coating would be thick enough to cause a problem. I love the "T" tail look in one of your drawings. I would like to do that, but I am at a loss how to adequately brace the tail. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Thanks, Jerry. I can't imagine life being any better than when we're building gyros... except flying them :D The QB tail is really just an experiment, but it's designed with an internal structure that bolts from under the tailboom. Its HS airfoil thickens at the roots and blends at the widest point of the vertical fin, so it's a cantilever design requiring no diagonal bracing... at least in theory. Guess we'll find out. :eek:

Regarding the powder coat thickness... it may not be a problem at all, depending on your hole clearances. I'm calling a powder company today to get some real-world numbers. Will post the data later. Nonetheless, make sure to instruct the coaters to use rubber plugs on all the holes. Otherwise you'll get coating on the inside bores (holes will shrink), and you'll have a really bad day. Polyester powder is a bitch to grind off.

Anyway, keep us all posted on your progress.

Cheers,
Brian Jackson