I bet he has some cool machining toys! His name is Sam from Saber Machining while I said Vance, who is a well-known canardian in TX that makes stuff as well. Cheers!
You can cut your alternator adjustment bracket on the upper end and allow the alternator to get right up against the crankcase. I’ve done that 30 times in the past . At your armpit scoop laminate a vertical fence onto the cowl to keep the inlet flow from dumping into the bottom of the cowl . The inlet flow energy must be laterally contained so it can be directed at the cylinders
When you do your alternator mod I'm guessing you have to determine/buy a shorter belt? Or does the curve of the bracket keep it equidistant with the same size belt? Since this video I've installed the vertical fences based on Mike Melvill's patterns, slightly modified for my engine of course. I'm also assuming he got those from you. I've got them about as high as possible and as close as I can get to the bottom engine components with just enough clearance for engine movement. In fact, I was wondering about the cylinder base fins getting enough air with those vertical fences in place? Thanks Dave!
You're making good progress! Consider mounting your fuel injection flow divider under the engine. Airflow Performance recommends that the flow divider be installed under the engine when updraft cooled. See page 29 of their installation manual. Dave Adams
Thanks Dave! I talked a good bit with Buly and my engine shop owner (a former LEZ driver) when I was having the engine assembled, and both had a lot of time with their respective spiders up top and both claimed no issues over a ton of flying hours. Still, I've already recon'd the low-side engine and have a mounting spot, rough mount specs and approximate tube lengths ID'd. Not gonna lie though, my curiosity wants to know how this high vs low spider mount thing really compares given various examples. I've never seen anything in print before though other than in forums, so thanks for the Airflow Performance reference!
I’m curious at to what the final CG and empty weight will be if you know yet? All that engine and stuff in the back usually leads to aft CG that requires additional nose weight to bring it into the envelope. That, combined with all of the other “goodies” puts the empty weight too close to the max gross weight of 1325 lbs to leave any useful load. An old debate with the Longeze I know but where is yours so far?
My bird will be a bit heavy, estimated around 1050 lbs, but that is my choosing to throw all the "goodies" in at the beginning. A lot of builders start with lighter planes but within 3-5 years add in extra stuff, like a cockpit heater, etc. and the weights typically go higher. The original Long-EZ had an O-235 and a short nose. Most these days have an O-320 sized motor and a longer nose (like mine) with the battery farther forward to offset the engine weight. When you say max gross weight of 1325 lbs. I think you're mistaking the Long-EZ for an LSA. It's not. The max gross weight is higher than that. I haven't gotten into all the particulars on that and W&B just yet as at this point I'm just trying to get the plane built in the lightest way possible. Thanks for watching!
The original LEZ pilots manual shows design gross wt. 1,325lbs. Maximum landing weight is the same. Takeoffs up to 1,420lbs are acceptable off smooth surfaces with 6ply tires at 80psi. Inflight limits become 3.8g at this weight. Cautions that off-airport landings above 1,325 become exponentially less survivable as weight increases. Owners Manual pages 30, 39. For all the "Experimental" in the Long-EX community. The fact nobody has increased the main spar cap and shear-web thickness by several plies, or used S2-Glass as Melvilles used, or increased the strength of landing gear legs either, is beyond me. These are simple mods that require no dimension changes to the aerodynamic surfaces on the aircraft. No change to any dimension anywhere, other than spar depth in foam. Or simply using S2-Glass. Or adding 8-10 unidirectional S2-Glass plies to the gear legs. Any one of these would improve structural safety and bring the stress/strain back into spec for fatigue and allow for the original G-limits at higher gross weights.
I only reduced the height of the lower winglet (vertical stab). Many builders remove the lower winglet altogether and there are a ton of canards out there flying with no lower winglet... a very common mod. The upper winglet is stock size and position. That being said, the rudder is modified with the top and bottom cut level with the ground/wind, versus 90° to the rudder trailing edge (top & bottom rudder lines angled). This too has proven to be stable with a virtually imperceptible affect on flight characteristics in canard aircraft configured so. And yes, the LEZ rudders only deflect outward, and are separate in operation. This allows for deploying both out while on final approach as airbrakes to slow the plane down. Also, the configuration is such in the rudder/brake pedal that you cannot push on the brakes without outward deflection of the rudder: thus, airbrake always before wheel braking to save brake pad wear and minimize brakes getting hot.
You can find used plans on places like Barnstormers or search for TERF plans, which are PDFs of the original plans. If you can't find anything let me know. Good luck!
Nice build. I have been in that guys shop for the prop extension. That guy is living the LIFE.
I bet he has some cool machining toys! His name is Sam from Saber Machining while I said Vance, who is a well-known canardian in TX that makes stuff as well. Cheers!
You can cut your alternator adjustment bracket on the upper end and allow the alternator to get right up against the crankcase. I’ve done that 30 times in the past . At your armpit scoop laminate a vertical fence onto the cowl to keep the inlet flow from dumping into the bottom of the cowl . The inlet flow energy must be laterally contained so it can be directed at the cylinders
When you do your alternator mod I'm guessing you have to determine/buy a shorter belt? Or does the curve of the bracket keep it equidistant with the same size belt?
Since this video I've installed the vertical fences based on Mike Melvill's patterns, slightly modified for my engine of course. I'm also assuming he got those from you. I've got them about as high as possible and as close as I can get to the bottom engine components with just enough clearance for engine movement. In fact, I was wondering about the cylinder base fins getting enough air with those vertical fences in place? Thanks Dave!
You're making good progress! Consider mounting your fuel injection flow divider under the engine. Airflow Performance recommends that the flow divider be installed under the engine when updraft cooled. See page 29 of their installation manual.
Dave Adams
Thanks Dave! I talked a good bit with Buly and my engine shop owner (a former LEZ driver) when I was having the engine assembled, and both had a lot of time with their respective spiders up top and both claimed no issues over a ton of flying hours. Still, I've already recon'd the low-side engine and have a mounting spot, rough mount specs and approximate tube lengths ID'd. Not gonna lie though, my curiosity wants to know how this high vs low spider mount thing really compares given various examples. I've never seen anything in print before though other than in forums, so thanks for the Airflow Performance reference!
good job; moving along nicely!
Thanks!
Super nice project!!!
Thanks!
I see JT inspired rudder cuts. Kewl!
Yessir! ;) I should have given you a shout out for your work too on those rudders... thanks Bro!
I’m curious at to what the final CG and empty weight will be if you know yet? All that engine and stuff in the back usually leads to aft CG that requires additional nose weight to bring it into the envelope. That, combined with all of the other “goodies” puts the empty weight too close to the max gross weight of 1325 lbs to leave any useful load. An old debate with the Longeze I know but where is yours so far?
My bird will be a bit heavy, estimated around 1050 lbs, but that is my choosing to throw all the "goodies" in at the beginning. A lot of builders start with lighter planes but within 3-5 years add in extra stuff, like a cockpit heater, etc. and the weights typically go higher. The original Long-EZ had an O-235 and a short nose. Most these days have an O-320 sized motor and a longer nose (like mine) with the battery farther forward to offset the engine weight. When you say max gross weight of 1325 lbs. I think you're mistaking the Long-EZ for an LSA. It's not. The max gross weight is higher than that. I haven't gotten into all the particulars on that and W&B just yet as at this point I'm just trying to get the plane built in the lightest way possible. Thanks for watching!
The original LEZ pilots manual shows design gross wt. 1,325lbs. Maximum landing weight is the same. Takeoffs up to 1,420lbs are acceptable off smooth surfaces with 6ply tires at 80psi. Inflight limits become 3.8g at this weight. Cautions that off-airport landings above 1,325 become exponentially less survivable as weight increases. Owners Manual pages 30, 39.
For all the "Experimental" in the Long-EX community. The fact nobody has increased the main spar cap and shear-web thickness by several plies, or used S2-Glass as Melvilles used, or increased the strength of landing gear legs either, is beyond me.
These are simple mods that require no dimension changes to the aerodynamic surfaces on the aircraft. No change to any dimension anywhere, other than spar depth in foam. Or simply using S2-Glass. Or adding 8-10 unidirectional S2-Glass plies to the gear legs. Any one of these would improve structural safety and bring the stress/strain back into spec for fatigue and allow for the original G-limits at higher gross weights.
You changed the V/S area for styling purposes? Anything else to make up for directional stab? So, LEZ rudders only deflect in one direction?
I only reduced the height of the lower winglet (vertical stab). Many builders remove the lower winglet altogether and there are a ton of canards out there flying with no lower winglet... a very common mod. The upper winglet is stock size and position.
That being said, the rudder is modified with the top and bottom cut level with the ground/wind, versus 90° to the rudder trailing edge (top & bottom rudder lines angled). This too has proven to be stable with a virtually imperceptible affect on flight characteristics in canard aircraft configured so.
And yes, the LEZ rudders only deflect outward, and are separate in operation. This allows for deploying both out while on final approach as airbrakes to slow the plane down. Also, the configuration is such in the rudder/brake pedal that you cannot push on the brakes without outward deflection of the rudder: thus, airbrake always before wheel braking to save brake pad wear and minimize brakes getting hot.
Hello friend, where can I get the blueprint for the construction of this plane?
You can find used plans on places like Barnstormers or search for TERF plans, which are PDFs of the original plans. If you can't find anything let me know. Good luck!
Super cool
Thanks!
Good Vid!
Thanks!
Thanks video 💝💝💝 I'm in Bangladesh
Thanks!
How many “dialed in”s did you count? I lost track at 9.
Haha! Welcome to my life... the last 2 years of this build could almost exclusively be defined by the term "dialed in." Thanks for watching!
@ haha yeah man! Looks good man. Maybe I’m just jealous I haven’t started my build yet… saving to build a Velocity. Good luck bud.
Thanks. Velocity is a great bird. Make it happen!