<014601c1d1f6$e7ecf270$6300a8c0@dumass> <v04220802b8c2177a9747@[195.8.75.236]>
<3C9D47F2.ECF43887@ameritech.net>
I finally got the inserting of the wings worked out. What helped a lot was
replacing the flap pins with ones that are one inch longer and tapered down
to 1/4 inch. Had a machinist friend turn.them. Now the pin slides into the
swivel bearing before the other pins start to engage and if I wiggle the
wing around, the flap pin is not coming out. Also found the spar cups too
tight. The plane seemed about ready to fly.
Now the bad news. Yesterday, I was taxing the plane about 15 MPH; the left
outrigger folded up, the wing started to drop to the ground, there was a
loud bang and the gear collapsed. The Retract lever had ripped out the side
of the guide plate even with the lock in place. The event damaged one and
maybe two prop blades. The retract lever is badly bent and the guide plate
broken. Guess I am lucky it was not worse. It is a grass field and did not
scratch up the plane. I have inspected the gear arms and the over-center
adjustment. I plan to talk with tech support. It appears to me that the
flap arm pushes the retract mechanism enough to bring it over-center and
encourages it to retract. Only the locked retract level holds it back.
Once it gets over-center, the retract lever cannot keep the gear from coming
up when on the ground. Have others had this problem? I hear about people
landing on grass fields and bouncing without ill effect. My bounce was
minor and at a slow speed. I have no idea why the outrigger collapsed. I
think that started the chain of events. There seemed to be a second between
the outrigger collapse and the gear collapse, as observed by others and
myself. The over- center adjustment would seem to be incorrect but it
appears to be a fine delicate adjustment as well. Any comments?
Ken Carpenter
A123
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Fillinger" <fillinger@ameritech.net>
Subject: Re: voltmeter vs ammeter [was: LEDs]
> Rowland Carson wrote --
>
> > I believe that a voltmeter which gives good resolution can be useful
> > on its own, and I'd want one even if I already had an ammeter.
>
> Resolution and accuracy. The needle versions will be approximate,
> even if accurate. Especially on recombinant gas batteries, small
> changes in voltage produces large changes in charging current. Equals
> temperature. The RG battery people specify various voltages in
> 50-100mV.
>
> LCD digital panel meters, some quite small and with decorative bezels,
> are on the surplus market for as little as $10. Just add two
> resistors, maybe a Zener diode, and read, with 1% accuracy, down to 10
> mV. For ammeter use, a few more circuit issues besides the shunt.
>
> > 'Lectric Bob suggests a simple capacity test that you can carry out
> > at intervals if you want to avoid throwing out a battery that still
> > has some good life left.
>
> His is a clever design and is better than nothing if you can't read
> specific gravity. But the current is way less than the 50-100A
> consumer-type testers, and they're about $40. Repair shops use (up
> to) 1,000A cranking capacity testers, as recommended by battery
> mfr's. They have huge carbon-pile resistors, cost about $1,000 for
> the simple models. Long ago when I worked in auto repair, we had a
> modest current tester, but often it would suggest only a battery
> charge was required. One week later a jump start, and a pissed off
> customer.
>
> Regards,
> Fred F.
>
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