Require Faster assembly of blades.

[asra]

I have a set of 23.5 ft, 8 inch Jack Alan blades which require some time to assemble, Track and aline.Has, or does anyone now of a faster way to set these blades up ?Please dont suggest never taking them off, as I have a purpose made box for them and they must be fully dissassembled for transportation.Regards Sam. [8D]

[NiqueNaque]

Sam,Wal Flaks sold me his blades and he improvised a great way to do it.First, set your blades up so they fly really nicely, ie, well balanced, tracking properly, no shake, etc, etc. Go for a fly and make sure they are just as perfect as they can be.Then take them off the machine by removing the teeter bolt only, the whole hub bar and rotor blades should be as assembled, untouched and the bolts in tight, fresh off the just flown machine. Put them on a set of trestles and support them appropriately.With a 2mm drill bit or smaller if you wish, very carefully drill a hole through the blade root mounting block (this means only one in each blade root mounting block, not one in each corner) parallel to the blade root bolts, there are 4 root mounting bolts to each rotor blade. This hole *must* be placed in a redundant part of the root mounting block, on my blades this is in the top outside corner of the leading edge of each mounting block, about 5mm in from each edge. Do this *very carefully* and do not wiggle the drill while you do it, the hole must be straight and true and parallel to the root mounting bolt axis.Then when you dismantle the blades, clean out the swarf carefully and de burr the holes at the entry and exit points to remove any fatigue generators.When you next go for a fly, match the blade with the appropriate hub bar root, lightly bolt them together - just finger tight, then using your fingers only - not the drill - put the *shank* of the 2mm drill bit in the alignment hole so they line up and then tension the bolts up for flight, remove the drill bit and align the other blade by the same technique, if you can't extract the drill bit the blades have moved, loosen off, realign and retension. Job's done in a flash. Then put the assembled rotor system on the machine and do a check on getting them up to speed for correct tracking, no stick shake, etc, do a low level hop or two, land the machine and check the bolts and alignment again for safety.If you are going to do this do not fail to ring me on 0418811953 first so I can check that you understand what it all means, I'll post a pic once I get my hub bar off Jack - he's making me a bigger one.Hope this helps.Nick.

[birdy]

Easy, fly AK's, they only have 3 bolts, and assemble sopton everytime.Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.You can always get the answer you want, if you ask enough experts.

[asra]

Birdy, if I had the extra mulla I would, but these blades fly realy well and I like Nicks suggestion.I will do as you explained Nick, and drill the redundant part of the blade root mounting block. Sounds realy easy, given the hole is drilled cleanly and accurately.May even use a smaller hole size for better accuracy of alignment.I like this, as the tracking can be quickly checked during pre-flight.Look forwards to seeing your photo's Nick !!!Thanks Regards Sam. []

[birdy]

cnra'nt ya rdae em wrt'ni zow??Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.You can always get the answer you want, if you ask enough experts.

[asra]

BirdyAs Pauline would say "Please Explain"

[NiqueNaque]

Sam,The intellectual property in this rests with Wal Flaks, not me. Thank him.Cheers,Nick.

[birdy]

If I nu ow to, or cood be bothered to use an automatic checker, I probably wood.Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.You can always get the answer you want, if you ask enough experts.

[asra]

Nick Were is that photo you were going to post ????????Sam. []

[NiqueNaque]

Sam,Thanks for the reminder, I'm in a spin with too many things to do, anything not to do with work seems to get delegated to the wayside, even the rebuild of my machine to date. I'd also had some problems with my camera eating batteries, any time I went to take a photo it would die while focusing on the object, but with a 3v power reg and battery I beat the pr1ck of a thing, so here for your enjoyment are the shots:This frame shows the blade root drilling location:Image Insert: 54.12

[asra]

Thanks Nick !!!!To easy, as soon as the weather down here gets better I'll set it up again, fly my machine, and then consider the hole size and position. Regards Sam.

[asra]

I've seen something like that before on a Oliver tractor that pulled a 13 foot harro.... was a sight to see that tractor hunker down and groan ! the tonnage it had to be exerting musta' been a bunch ! it popped a 3/8" steel chain so easy it was like a string trying to get a truck un stuck once !..... You sure that ain't fer a tractor ? Bob....." Momm'a alwayse told me , Son the impossable is only a little bit Harder... and ya know I do believe She was RIGHT ! "

[NiqueNaque]

Crikey Bob,Can't you speak Australian for a change?I assume a 13' Harrow is a plough of some description, like with a large number of tynes that dig in and create a multiplicity of furrows close together?Yes, it could suit a tractor .. gyro, and yes, they are bloody strong, I've seen three of them suffer some horrendous ground strikes and not come undone, as I had noted in a prior post a rotor system may store 8 MegaJoules of energy, big energy to disapate in a short space of time. Jack's rotors are very strong.Ah, on second thoughts... don't worry about speaking Australian, bad memories of Meryl Streep taking off Lindy Chamberlain.Cheers,Nick

[asra]

[asra]

quote:Originally posted by Chuck Beaty(5) Does a ship plow or plough through the water?I think it would depend on whether the ship was made in England or in the States![]Flying the right side up in Canada