I took two oildrums home today. A larger and a smaller one. These will
make my original 'Oklahoma Smoker Barbecue Grill'. Haven't used a welding
torch for about 20 years or so. Probably I'll rent one of these MIG units.
These are easier to use....And Still Waiting (Nov 22th, 2006)
Also the second order of rivets has not arrived yet. Fortunately Sonex now insured the parcel. Hope it arrives tomorrow to save my weekend. If all fails then this is my plan B:
I took two oildrums home today. A larger and a smaller one. These will
make my original 'Oklahoma Smoker Barbecue Grill'. Haven't used a welding
torch for about 20 years or so. Probably I'll rent one of these MIG units.
These are easier to use.
With some luck the grill is ready around year's end. So the first test will become a grillin' in the snow ;-))). The size is sufficient for a small pig or a piece of beef shoulder.
Have researched the web for receipes, but I'm still unsure what the best
part of beef is for this undertaking. Should be a large piece for sure.
I'm giong to roast/smoke this piece for at least 10 hours @120 °C. This
is what I heared is the best preparation
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Closed the Wing End (Nov 18th, 2006)
I'm no more waiting for the bag of rivets. Called back at Sonex last week (FOUR weeks after they had send the goods), got a tracking # from US Postal. According to the US Postal tracking info an 'delivery attempt' had been made on Oct. 24th, 7:20 am (which is quite strange because there is no post delivery that early, maybe this is US local time). Anyway nothing was delivered on the 24th or any other date. Issuing an investigation order is not possible because German mail says the order has to be issued at the sender's side and the sender (Sonex) says the order has to be issued on the receiver's side - typical catch-22 situation. Have ordered another bag now, will see what happens this time...
Just have fastened the wing endrib using 50 stainless countersunk srews.
The cabling for the wingtip strobes is finished. I used the cheap connectors
which you will find on the low voltage side of every personal computer powersupply.
The pins of this connectors are quite far apart, so this connectors are
good for hogh voltage (Xenon lamps are around 300 to 400 Volts) . Another
nice spect with this connectors is that they provide four connections. I
used three of them (300V+, 300V-, Ignition). One pin lovation in the middle
I left blank. Here I wound a tiewrap around to secure the connection. This
is maybe the cheapest method for a vibration-proof flying connection.
A close look on the wing end. The hex screws are M2.5 stainless. They
carry the nutplate below. The overlap of forward and aft skin is very tight,
I got this quite nicely. The end of the forward sin in filed a bit to prevent
a steep step on this airflow-critical section (this is probably the transition
from laminar to turbulent airflow on this wing. Also the row of protruding
blind rivets may act like some turbulators.
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Casting a Gasket - Next Try (Nov 12th, 2006)
Still waiting for the bag of rivets from Sonex, so have to spend the time for small things...
I already made several tries to cast water-tight gaskets for the strobe
lenses. On my first tries I used construction silicone. I tried to cast
a plate of about 6mm thickness. And then after the silicone has cured cut
the gaskets to shape. This never worked because the layer of 6mm of silicone
never dried completely.
This is another approach. I use an outer and an inner mold in order not
to spend too much of the expensive silicone stuff.
Furthermore now I used a high-temperature gasket sealing (Loctite) this
time. The advantage of this stuff ist that is does not bind to the mould.
Will see how this comes out...
P.S. The Focus ST is broken in now - it's s a sick little beast :-))
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Homemade Lift Indicator Probe (Nov 5th, 2006)
There are plans for an homemade lift indicator circulation in the www. However I did not like this rectangular piece of aluminum sticking out in the slipstream. So I highly modified the lift indicator probe.
My final lift indicator probe, rear section is streamlined. The front
section resembles the principle from the original plans, however I made
the probe half as narrow as the original plans - No Idea if this will affect
the measuring principle - I think it may not.
The upper two holes (4mm diameter) will acept the tubes, the front two
holes (3mm diameter) face into the airstream. Holes are connected inside
of the probe body (drilling this 90 degrees joint was not trivial)
The probe connected to the streamlined post. I allowed for some adjustment
of the probe, about +- 5 degress. The neutral position is such that zero
pressure will be attained when the angle of atack is 15 degrees, which should
be about the angle where the stall occurs.
As you see, the probe is clamped with a cleco to the post. I'm still
looking for a good idea how to secure the probe without using an ugly hexbolt
and self-locking nut.
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...and NOW something totally different (Nov 4th, 2006)
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