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Ron's Web Site
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Date: 8-5-2009
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Number of Hours: 8.20
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Strut 1
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After leveling the fuselage horizontally and setting the dihedral, I measured the strut length to be within 15 thousandths of the length described in the Avipro manual, which is 74-1/4 inches. I cut the struts on a chop saw, and flattenend the struts so they closely fit the 1.5 inch high fittings. The first strut I flattened in the vise, developed a problem, however. In addition to the usual creaking, there was a pop, and what initially appeared to be a surface crack developed about 2 cm from the edge of the material, extending about 8 cm. It definitely didn't go clear through the material, and I filed out the visible crack and polished it. Next, I tried clamping the fittings to the tube as outlined in the manual, but that is an inherently unstable proposition, so now I have a couple patches that need to be made in the fabric on the left gear leg, when the strut twisted out of the clamp. I finally hit upon placing the tube over the fittings, centering the tube, then drawing a line on the lower fitting, then clamping the fitting to the outside of the tube, and drilling one side only and bolting same. Now that the tube was bolted to the inner fitting, it was much more stable, and I rechecked level and dihedral, and used a transfer punch to determine where the upper fitting was to go. I drilled the upper side only, placed the fittings in the tube, clamped the ends, and drilled through the fittings to the other side, and installed the wing struts provisionally. Unfortunately, after installing the struts, the previously mentioned crack reappeared, so I ordered another strut tube and set of fittings, and I'll replace the cracked tube by match drilling it after I remove the wings for further plumbing and other finishing.
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Flattening the strut.
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Drilling through.
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Struts installed.
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