Helicycle-- Hoverings & Happenings

Chris- My door is bolted in, it can't come off! They even have latch pins that will hold the door on even if the hinges came off. The R22 has cheezy hinge pins that some even fly without the safety rings on them. My doors are fine! Stan
 
Stan,
I'm not worried about the doors coming off. I saw the way you built it. I'm worried about objects leaving the cockpit. Your hat, a chart, a pencil, your camera. Any of these striking your tail rotor with any significant forward airspeed are going to be a big problem. Anyway, just food for thought. Put the left door on and leave the right door off.
Fly Safe and enjoy your beautiful bird.
Chris
 
Chris- Not trying to argue here, but I keep a sterile cockpit. No maps, no pens, I don't wear a hat, my camera is on a lanyard around my neck. Flying with a full door stops all turbulence in te cabin. It will be fine, but thanks for your concern! Stan
 
Gabor- I will always love the R22. I learned to fly a helicopter in one. Ha. Stan
 
Heres a very short hand held video flying over the hi-hoe that is digging on one of dads farms. Dad is standing on the ground..just across the ditch from the hi-hoe. He will be 90 next Febuary....he is still running the show directing the hoe what to do! Again....once the real fun started in the helicopter...I had to drop the camera on around my neck...and get done there and hover and land. I landed in the grass waterway. I think I may have cost dad some big bucks as the hi-hoe operator got out of his cab and was talking to us. His engine was still running and dad pays him over $2 a minute. Yikes....I better not do this anymore! ha

YouTube - September28 019

Stan
 
Fuel flow rate

Fuel flow rate

There was talk in another thread about microbial action plugging fuel filters. I am supposed to check my fuel flow every ten hours, and I just checked it again. I unhooked my hose up high so the pump had to work to get it to engine height...and it is pumping right at 30 gph with myi boost pump. That is through a 25 micron fuel filter that my original pump test did not have. It was right at 30 gallons per hour initially without a filter. So, this will be a test I will do every ten hours...until I burn JetA which has Prist added to it automatically. Scott educated me on Prist...then I did some further research and this is exactly the additive JetA has for anti-icing and antimicrobial action.

I just want to error on the side of caution while I am burning kerosene. My fuel supplier has a clean operation.


Heres some pictures. I filled my 5 gallon can exactly at ten minutes.......30 gallons an hour. If I see it go down any significent amount...I will just change out the $6 fuel filter.


Stan
 

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I don't know the size of your storage tank but is there some reason you can't add the proper amount of Prist just before this tank is refilled with kerosene....and save money over the JetA?
 
Ed- I just did some research on adding Prist. It has to be be sprayed into the fuel as its filling. They say you cant slosh it in a fuel can...to add it to the fuel. It is heavier than the fuel and will just sit at the bottom of the tank in a thicker concentration and can even coagulate. I even read this thick concentration can even cause microbial action. Go figure? I understand that it attaches itself to any water nearby...this while being injected in the fuel stream. So, I am not set up to properly introduce Prist into my kerosene. I am just going to monitor my fuel flow rate...and switch to JetA next year. Jet A has Prist automatically injected as it flows out. I figure I have way more fuel flow than needed and if I monitor it closely....I should be able to catch my filter starting to plug some.


Stan
 
Stan mentioned grain carts.

This was next to the hiway today. Every farmer taking his grain to town drove past it. The kids that overloaded it fixed it fairly quickly.

Brother-in-law asked if I wanted to pickup 30 bushel of corn for deer stands.
 

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Stan,

I'ts my view that with the amount of flying you do and at the fuelburnrate of around 13GPH you will not have to worry about bugs growing in your fuel.
You park the ship for a few months in warm climate with a 3/4 full tank so oxygen can get to it- you have a different story. Looks like you don't read fuelflow on an instrument.
This might be a worthwhile addition for a variety of reasons.
avk
 
avk- Just curious, I know a fuel flow meter reads out what the engine is burning exactly.....no doubt that at all. But does it read out the potential fuel flow to the engine like my fuel flow rate check yesterday? My pump will deliver 30 gph now....and I would like to know when its down to say 25 gph....and definately when its below 20 gph....because that is definately showing the fuel filter is getting used up. I dont see how a fuel flow meter could monitor what the pump is actually delivering through the filter....unless its one of those fuel flow meters that show used fuel and return fuel to the tanks both together. I just want to know when my fuel filters are starting to get plugged a little. This manual test takes just a minute to get started...then 10 minutes of pumping into a 5 gallon can and I know if I am good to go. Maybe the right fuel flow meter can do this....I dont know.

I personally will trust only my little sight gauge that I have inside my cabin with the floating red cylinder inside it. I can read from completely full to down to one gallon, and can guarantee it would fly at one gallon...even though I wont ever let it get that low. But just saying had I flown my fuel down to 3 gallons.....I know and can watch the fuel go down to one gallon knowing it wont flame out.

I know those $500 fuel flow meters are the cats meow....but I would never have confidence using one to fly down to a guaranteed one gallon like I can now. However.....using them to tune the engine for better economy, etc.....sure....it would be nice to have one. My budget had to draw a line somewhere!


Hows your turbine install going?


Stan
 
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pressure and resistance to flow

pressure and resistance to flow

Hello Stan,

I dont know how your fuel system is laid out but if it recirculates fuel, could you use a pressure gauge to determine resistance through the fuel filter. Pressure goes up means the filter is passing less fuel.

Jason
 
Stan,
With a fuel flow meter and a 3 way valve you get a reading in seconds if this is what you want. (third branch of the valve goes back to the tank)
I personally do not think bacteria growth can be an issue if the ship gets flown reasonably and you filter the fuel coming from the fuelstorage farm. If you are still worried switch to a larger filter unit on the ship.
I'm using an EIS system from Rapids Technology which I had from the Hirth days. It now reads fuel flow, Engine and tranny oil temps, Voltage,engine RPM,engine running time and will read EGT once I hang up another probe. It has adjustable limits for high and low on each parameter and will trigger an alarm .It also has a download feature to a laptop which I never used.
I felt then I needed the EIS since there were just to many gages to watch. After I had it installed life became much easier. Large idiot light blinks and you check the instrument to see which parameter exceeds pre- set limits. For me it was mostly coolant temp during extended hovering on hot days since the cooling system was marginal for that. As it turns out the one I should have watched (injection oil pump flow) was not in my list since it was this little bugger which stopped and the engine seized while in hover despite carbon pistons.
It was a gradual seize however - rapid loss of power without any of the other parameters flagging something is wrong.
As for my turbine installation I was ready to go and call the Feds for a re-inspection when during a system check-out ground run I had problems with the MRT. This seems to be an isolated issue with RTV restricting oil to the rear pinion roller bearing.
Hardware is with Blake - will get a new one when I'm back from Colo where I spend summers in 3 weeks.
avk
 
Avk- Thanks for your explanation. I can see how having all those readouts in one nice instrument would be a nice management tool. I will be a frequent flier in my Helicycle, probably flying mine more in the winter than others do in the summer. I love to fly and averaged 150 up to 175 hours per year my last 3 years flying my gyros. I will for now just monitor my fuel flow rate every 10 hours since its so easy to do. I can't say how much I enjoy flying this thing. Stan
 
Hi Stan, you should see if you can round up one of the original filter housing's off the T62-27 /38 as they have a real nice element filter and if the filter becomes blocked then the filter will pull in against a spring allowing fuel through , unfiltered yet fuel for a engine to keep going.
kingo
 

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Stan

I have a waterman racing fuel pump and filter system and it works great

Ken-
 
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