Tell us what you did today on your Bearhawk Project

It's amazing what you can do if you order ALL the options AviPro has to offer... LOL But seriously, that is super-cool!
 
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Mounted a new steering arm on the rudder for the T3 Suspension. We've nicknamed this one the "bat wing". The bearhawk factory guys nicknamed the OEM arm the "mustache" I'm told by Mark. This is a simple modification that requires bending the mustache horizontal, then cutting off the end of the arms where they hit the spring mounting plate, then bolting on the bat wing. Tomorrow, I'll hook up the new steering system for the suspension. Not that it is needed, in fact, I find it easier to handle on the ground without steering, at least in calm winds. In a heavier taildragger like the 4-place Bearhawk, most of the steering is by differential braking anyway.
 

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Got to do some wood work tonight. Brent had me use some templates he made up for the airfoil wood ribs for the tail. I was transferring them and then cutting them out on a bandsaw. I think this is the only wood that will actually go into the plane.
 
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Installed seat pans in the front seat. Although my wife liked the Husky, she wasn't fond of acces to the rear seat. Actually, no one is fond of that access. My initial selling pitch, for the Patrol, was that I could make a folding front seat back, to give much better entry/egress. Pictures attached.

Bill
 

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Yesterday, I mounted the firewall to the fuselage using nutplates and machine screws, after fitting to the engine mount holes. I did it that way in case I ever need to remove it for any reason. Also riveted the "station B" former for the tunnel into place.
 
I like what you did there. Are those screws or rivets that hold the aluminum pan in place? (I think it's screws, but it's hard to tell in the photo.)
 
Drilled more spar capstrips last night. They are now all drilled a couple sizes under. Next, attach all to the spars and finish drill, then debur. And drill all the spacers.
 
I attached the pans with MSP-42 rivets. I can't imagine why I'd ever need to remove the pans, so screws weren't necessary. Besides, the stainless rivets hold really well!
The reflection of the aluminum panels makes it hard to photograph progress. I've discarded a bunch of pictures because I can't understand what they are, even after taking them...
 
Well, after trying to figure out how the heck that tunnel piece was going to fit between the firewall and the station B former, the light-bulb went on, and I realized I had installed the former backwards, with the flange facing forward instead of aft. Doh! I must have read those instructions a dozen times, and still misunderstood.
So I watched a video on EAA website on how to remove SS pulled rivets, and it was only about a 20-minute job to drill out the rivets, reverse the former, and re-rivet. Now the tunnel piece fits (tightly) in there and it all makes sense.
 
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Laying out and drilling spar web
 

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Im almost ashamed too say this, but I took off the plastic wrap off a finished quick-build wing an riveted the the reinforcement to the fuel tank opening.
Please, no wus related remarks!!!
 
Wus? You've gotta be kidding! Before you fly, you're going to complete a LOT of tasks.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have ultimate respect for anyone who produces a flying aircraft, from a set of plans! But, building 51% of a plane is a big deal. And you're gonna love every minute of it!
 
Hey, don't apologize; taking that plastic off can be really difficult!!!


(sorry, I just could not resist! I'm jealous that I don't have QB wings)
 
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I built rudder cables last weekend. And Monday replaced the front cables with strips made from 14ga 304 stainless. My Interstate has a similar set up and I thought it seemed a bit cleaner? Plus eliminated 2 bolts and nuts per side.
After the rudder strips/cables I started gluing the Deco Dot material down on the flooring. The front 3 pcs are installed, temporarily, the other is glued up and on the bench with plywood and weight holding it down.
I hope to soon have the fuselage on the rotisserie and start on the tunnel, boot cowl and skylight roof modification, etc., etc.
 

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I finally got to start drilling the spar web with the cap strips and spacers



Patrick H
 

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Sometimes you just to have to make order out of chaos. Shop cleaning was the order of the day. Before/After:

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Hey Jon,
Thanks for the pics. I'm a few steps behind you. I was curious re your firewall. Did you use shaped aluminum angle (5052?) for the flange on the firewall??

thanks too much
 
Got my "beater boards" laid out and cut out this morning, for the most part. Still need to radius the bending edge and a couple more tweaks. But the hard part is done.

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I use angle purchased from the aviation section at Home Depot. It is 6063 and worked good. Trouble is it needs to be bent past 90* which may prove difficult.
 
Thanks Jon. Hadn't thought about the bend past 90 deg. Makes sense when you think about the angle from the instrument panel to the nosebowl. That will help when I get there.
 
Got my new 20-ton press assembled and "updated" last night and ran a few ribs through it. Works a ton (well eight of them) better than the smaller 12-ton rig!
 
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I've been working on the engine cowl, for the past couple of weeks. Actually spent three days, bending, trimming, shrinking and generally, wrestling with the lower section. A couple of phone calls located a set of rolls, long enough to handle the 'lids'. Not moving really quickly, but not producing too much scrap aluminum, either. Very uncharacteristic for me!

Bill
 

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What a great compliment! Thank you. It's not hard, Whee. It just takes patience.
Two reasons for the .032";
1). On my plans, a notation on the cowling, states 032
2). A gorgeous Husky A1C sits in my hangar, not more than 20' from my workshop. Anytime I have the slightest question regarding virtually any aspect of my build, I meander over to the Husky and see how they did it. The Husky is a good flying, durable aircraft and I figure I could do worse than to employ their methods. The Husky cowl is .032". And no, it's not my Husky. I sold my A1 a couple of months ago. A VERY good buddy suggested to keep his plane in my (empty) hangar, for a while. I have a bunch of Husky time and I'm insured in his plane and he constantly tells me to fly it... Yeah, I'm a very lucky man!
 
If the plans call for it I suppose it makes sense to go with it. Sounds like you have a really tough life.
 
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Finished up fuel system, AP servos and brake lines, Wings, tail, surfaces and interior are done. Time to get this think up on it's own tires.
 

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I've been chipping away at my first main spar and ran into a bit of setback the past few days. Others have discussed the same elsewhere on the forum. I wasn't happy with the edge clearances on the main spar attach fitting for the Patrol, plus there was a sizable gap between it and the front-top cap strip. I scrapped the old fittings (still good for spacer spares) and made new ones. This was also a good time to trim the cap strips to final length. Lesson learned - extra margin is always good, even if it adds time later in the project I'd rather have the option especially the first go-around. Building has helped me develop an eye to see interface problems in advance, but as this proves I have a ways to go!
 

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Mark, what is the item in between your control stick assembly and the fuel selector in that first picture? Same question for the cylindrical item that appears to be installed in the fuel line just above that? It looks like you've got return lines for your fuel, so does that mean you're running a fuel injected engine? Thanks!
 
Yes, using titan 360 with fuel injection. There is an electric boost pump, check valve in the pump bypass and the red part is a pressure regulator for the boost pump.
 
Finished up my master form yesterday but wasn't happy with the result so scrapped it and starting from scratch today.
 
Was this your routing form? Or the one that you glued your mylar to?

P.S. - A Navy buddy of mine that I haven't seen many many years is from Lafayette.
 
This is the one I glued my mylar to. I guess the question would be how perfect does it need to be. Perhaps I am beating myself up over something that is acceptable?
 
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If you sand up to, or just inside of the line, you'll be fine. Smooth is good so you have gentle curves when you bend. Did you sand at all, or are you just jigsawed at this point?
 
It was during sanding that I decided it wasn't good enough. I got too aggressive with the power sander instead of finishing by hand.

You asked which form it was...would it have made a difference if it was my routing form? I guess there are larger tolerances as the edges will be bent into flanges anyway?
 
Mainly curious since it's easy to remake the routing form. You only have one Mylar. But if you know where the problem lies, it's easy to compensate for it when you create your routing form.
 
Man, that looks nice! Would your Dad like to come to Texas and "play" with my boot cowl?

PS - I think I just realized I need to borrow some more clecos!
 
Good to get back to work after taking some time off for other projects, including preparing and detailing my Rockwell Commander 114 for sale, actually selling the plane (hooray - I think!), working on tornado damage relief projects in our county, a long-scheduled camping vacation trip with my wife, and various other Honey-Do projects... Just in time for the Monsoon rains we're having here in the Dallas area...

I purchased the aluminum angle for the Patrol's back window upper attach fittings. I found that Lowe's Aviation Supply has a decent assortment of 3-ft and 4-ft round, flat, angle, and square aluminum extrusions. Got one side cut to length, fitted and installed, then played around with the window frame while I figured out exactly how to fit it in place to install. Clamped it in place, drilled all the rivet holes, and de-burred everything. Figured out how the front of the window would be held in place (structurally), and trimmed the frame in preparation, but have not formed that "joggle" piece yet. Will wait until the other side is done, so I can do both at the same time. Oh, and THIS time, I'm waiting to rivet everything until ALL the pieces are formed and test-fitted. I've decided I've had enough practice removing pulled rivets. (Don't ask...)

I decided to go with aluminum instead of fabric to cover the seat frames (bad experience in the past with fabric seat supports stretching and sagging over time). So the next step (after the other window frame) will be to create poster-board patterns for them and begin fabrication.
 
Thanks for the great compliment Jim! I'll pass it on to my dad. We need to get some more clecos too.

Chris, We resolved the issue with brute force. We tried every finesse method we could come up with but none worked. We ended up bending the angle with a deadblow hammer while holding a 2lb sledge against the back of the angle to keep from bending the firewall. Worked pretty good.
 
Nice video, and an incredibly talented guy doing the work. But no, I'm not planning anything remotely that complex. Just figured on replacing the fabric on the Patrol seats with a sheet metal piece riveted to the frame. Saw pictures similar to what I have in mind, just can't find them right now. May have been on BCP site instead of here...
 
After work keeping me busy for a few days I finally got my master form completed. Now working on the router forms. I have the day off work today so hopefully will have them all finished.

I guess that also means time to order my 0.025 and 0.032 sheets. Where is everyone buying from? I have tried locally and online and nobody can come even close to the price at aircraft spruce.
 
I have had very good luck (& prices) from TW Metals. It helps that they have a warehouse less than 30 minutes from me in the Chicago 'burbs. They have locations in Houston and Atlanta if you are willing to drive that far. They bring it out on a 4'x12' pallet with a forklift, so a flatbed trailer works best. Or of course they will ship it, but you can probably expect to receive it on the same 4'x12' pallet. I ordered all of my sheets at once, since they discount on quantity.
They prefer to work with businesses, so call yourself something like 'Deftone Partners' and tell them you still need to apply for your tax ID yet; you're just getting started.
 
It's interesting so many people had luck with TWmetals. My quote from them was terrible, roughly 70% higher than spruce and wicks
 
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At last my ribs and spars are formed, also formed flap spars and elerone spars! Than the top and the bottom part of the fuselage farm are welded. We use stainless steel tubes for fuselage, and russian aluminium d16at for the project.
 

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Working on the rest of my router templates, about to get my beater forms done. Got a little frustrated with the nose rib router template, not real happy where the leading edge cutout transitions to the flanged part, considering making it again, but for now moving forward.
 
Looks like they came out great!

Would you (or anyone else) mind posting a pic of your nose rib templates? I am interested to compare mine to some others since I am not entirely satisfied with my own.
 
Good to have you here, Pat.

You're one of the 'Originals'! I remember spending hours day-dreaming, looking carefully at photos of your plane half a decade ago.
 
I did my tailwheel training on a Stinson 108-3 and really liked the horizontal manual trim handle. When I built my RV-8, I put an electric trim in it, and while it does work good, I really missed the manual trim.

I have been deliberating for months on what approach to take for my scratch built 4 place (well, mostly scratch built; I have the excellent assembled spars and rib kit from Mark as well as the tanks 'n such). I didn't particularly care for the vertically aligned trim wheel, and even though I am planning a two axis autopilot, I didn't really want an electric trim. I was also a little uncomfortable with the trim sensitivity with the servoed tabs, even when the trim tabs were halved in size. A few weeks back someone posted a picture of the push/pull non-servoed tab that Pat Fagan had done and decided that was for me.

Below are a few pictures of the system I have come up with. I made a bent tubular trim wheel mount tube which gets the sprocket above the level of the ceiling crossmembers in the cockpit. I just made the handle out of a piece of tube.

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I made a bellcrank assembly down near where the horizontal stab is attached so I can get at the nuts and bolts for maintenance. The empty fairlead tube you see is a remnant from when I was going to do the normal trim tab mechanism. I'll be cutting that off.

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And finally here is the trim tab with the clevis fork. I am going to fabricate a small piece of sheet that will go around where the cable exits the elevator. This will allow the attachment of fabric in a clean manner. The cable itself is held in place with an Adel clamp attached to a nutplate I put in the elevator rib. Hey, I built an RV. I am an EXPERT at installing nutplates... :-)

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Looks great rv8bldr! What push/pull cable did you use? Are you using one trim tab and if so is it the big one?
 
I'm using the A-930 Push/Pull cable, 60", from Aircraft Spruce. I'm going to use a single, small trim tab and see how that goes. I have already made and installed the other trim tab on the right elevator (hinges and all), My plan is to weld that in place (right at the trailing edge) such that, if I ABSOLUTELY have to, I can make two cuts with a cut off wheel and turn it into another functioning trim tab.

All that being said, I'm betting that a single, small trim tab with +- 2" travel will be plenty. I think I read that Jared says his trim tabs move +- 3/4", so I am cautiously optimistic :-)

Cheers
 
Thanks for the info rv8bldr.

The BH I flew had one large tab and I wouldn't want any less trim but I don't recall how much travel it had.
 
whee said:
Thanks for the info rv8bldr.

The BH I flew had one large tab and I wouldn't want any less trim but I don't recall how much travel it had.
Click to expand...


Hmmm, not exactly what I wanted to hear :( Anyone have Pat Fagan's email? I would like to ask him about his trim system as I got the impression he had only used one tab. I don't know if it was the full size tab or the smaller one.

Cheers all
 
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For what it's worth I took a picture of Pat's plane at Copperstate this year. It has two trim tabs.
 

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RV8bldr, you will be very happy that you installed this system. The work looks very much like what I did which has worked very well. I had two large trim tabs on my original build but I cut them down on the rebuild but still have both in use. I don't recall now if the bell crank ends were mounted together on top of the bell crank or one on top and one on the bottom. Were it me I would go ahead and make the other functional now. If you opt to do it later you'll have to uncover the elevator to run the cable. I could stand to reindex my system for more up trim with full flaps when empty but haven't yet bothered. Don't know how it would feel with just one tab. It looks like your bell crank bracket is .032. So is mine, however, my bell crank bracket spanned a wider part of the rear fuselage than yours and knowing eyes felt it might allow some flexion which is a serious no-no in the trim system. I had to add some braces to ensure my bracket wouldn't flex. It looks like yours will be stiff enough, but give it a look with that in mind. Along the same lines I think I would feel better about using a cable that has a positive locking attachment feature instead of one only held in place with an Adele clamp. The cables I used had a groove around the barrel on both ends so it is impossible for the sheath to slide. I'm not an engineer, but I wonder if you should add a gusset to the arm supporting your trim wheel. There is some moment there but I don't know if that is an issue. Also, think about how you can achieve some adjustable drag on the system. I use a bell crank and handle in the front rather than a wheel. That part of the system is unchanged and yet with the new trim setup I needed to tighten up the drag to keep the tab set in flight. Bob never signed off on my system but simply warned be sure there is no flexion in the system. On my original build I had an incident which bent the original style push rod. Bending it back to shape weakened it enough that I experienced trim flutter which is a frightening experience. Anyway, nice work, Pat
 
You can look at the pictures of Pat's system in this thread: http://bearhawkforums.com/forum/bear...rvoed-trim-tab

I think he did a minor revision after those pictures were taken but I don't know what he changed. You can see that he has a cable going to each tab. With 2" of travel you might get away with one small tab but I don't really know. I just wanted to share my experience.

EDIT: I see Pat posted before me. I'm so glad he is here and provided answers to our questions. Thanks Pat!
 
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Today I made new nose rib router templates, much happier with the result this time! I then spent the rest of my time cleaning up all the MDF dust from making the forms!

Tomorrow I will be ordering my 2024 for the ribs, after all my research I still couldn't find anywhere that could beat the price from aircraft spruce.
 
Hey Pat,

Thanks a lot for this reply. Very helpful, although now I have more work to do and more parts to buy :-)

Yes, the current bellcrank is .032 with a bent flange to give it strength. However, I'm going to make a new one out of .100 with a smaller flange. I will put one rod end bearing/cable on top and the other underneath, securing both with the same bolt. This will guarantee the tabs move the same and won't cause a torque load on the bolt at the bellcrank (the bolt should just be in shear).

The cables themselves have the groove you mention, and that is where the Adel clamps are attached. I experimented by trying hard to slide the cables in the clamps but just wound up moving the whole airplane back and forth on it's wheels :-)

As far as drag in the system is concerned, there is actually a fair amount of drag as is, but I will think about some kind if tension adjustment mechanism.

I don't suppose you'll be bringing your Bearhawk to Osh this year?

Thanks again

Mark
 
Thanks a lot, Whee, for your thoughts and help on this. Looks like I have yet another order to put into Aircraft Spruce (which really hurts with the exchange on the Canadian dollar right now :-)

Between your experience and Pat's suggestions, you have probably saved me from a huge ARGH!!!! once I started flying.

Cheers

Mark
 
I'm glad you got it the way you wanted it this time! If I had to do it over, I would have made a master full-sized routing pattern (which I did), and then used it on my router table to match-cut another full-sized form that I'd have cut on the spar lines to make forward, center, and aft rib routing patterns. But instead I made them separate. Would have saved a lot of sanding! But what's done is done, and moving forward!

But I've got a master routing pattern for every rib style that remain untouched, and I used them to build the actual routing forms. If I need to build new routing forms for some reason, they're there and ready to roll.
 
I looked it up and the cables I used are the A-920 from ACS. Other than the slot, which yours has, the A-920 has a flex joint at the beginning of the end terminals. That is the other black thing in the picture. The cable does move up and down somewhat due to the movement of the tab attach point so I'd be sure that movement won't cause a bind with your fixed cable. I looked at the pictures of my system someone posted which reminded me (can't believe I forgot) that the point someone told me needed reinforcing was the bracket where the cables were attached. You can see it in the background behind the bell crank mechanism. That was made out of .032 and could have allowed movement because it spanned the verticals at whatever bay that is. I didn't realize you bell crank was .032 but I think redoing that in .100 would be a good idea. I'm not sure, but that's probably what mine is. As for cables exiting the elevator, if you can get a hold of the Stewart installation videos they have a demonstration on how to make a very nice cover control cable cover which allows for that movement. No plans for OSH though we will be flying to Mark's gathering at his ranch in April. Pat
 
I finally got back to drilling my spars, after a week in scenic Juarez on business. Not much visual progress yet, but getting closer to taking it all back apart for priming.
 
Ow. Been there, done that.

And I learned early on that, even if a piece of steel is black (i.e. not glowing), it can STILL BE HOT !
 
I used the A-930 because it had 1/4-28 ends rather than the smaller 10-32 ends. I will thoroughly check end-to-end movement to make sure I don't get any binds/rubbing/etc.

I do have the Stewart videos on DVD so I will look that up.

Thanks a bunch
 
Been there as well. Leaning across the fuse to weld a cluster and smell something burning from the fire squirting back through the tube at my belly. I've still got the scorch marks on the ceiling in my shop where I pointed the torch while inspecting my welds on the upper fuselage. What fun, Pat
 
Well my building plans for today and tomorrow have been disrupted by a sudden and unexpected work trip to Mississippi, the good news is that my 2024 should have been delivered by the time I get home!
 
I also considered the full size routing template, I was worried that by cutting at the spar lines I could mistakenly end up with a form that was too short once it has been cleaned up and sanded, perhaps it would have been ok?

I have noticed that now that I am over the initial burst of over-excitement at starting a new project I am producing much higher quality pieces. I guess I am now taking more time to think out the form rather than diving in and making dust. Still having fun though!
 
Good news, on both fronts. Give 'em your best, at work and come home, to enjoy the process of building an airplane! Both are rewarding endeavors, but in different ways.

Bill
 
I really liked getting my aluminum from the people that have an advertisement picturing a woman standing in the middle of a roll of aluminum. Can't think of their name off hand, might be Airpa
rts. They will sell you a roll of almost any length you want. You can then slice open one side of the box and just slide out whatever amount you want to use like you would a roll of aluminum foil. Much easier to deal with when making all your wing parts than trying to cut up a 4 X 12 sheet. One advantage to getting from ACS is it will have a protective coating. Pat
 
My first spar is on the table, prepared to be assembled.

Отправлено с моего Lenovo Z2 через Tapatalk
 

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