Thorp Air Command - T18.net

You funny , funny man !

RB

Is that spacer adapter size for the 0320 engine? Would I need a different length for a 290?

The length spacer you need, if any, is all dependant upon your installation, accessories, motor mount, etc, etc, etc. There really is no one size fits all in experimental aviation unless you exactly replicate another installation.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

Ah nuts!

Unfortunately that's what I was expecting for an answer. So I have 2 options: tear the plane down, measure and order the spacer (and wait) or I could just order all the spacers and return the ones I don't need.

Ain't home building fun!

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Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

I love tinkering but hate not being able to fly during the downtime.

That's the hardest part for me too! I want to do some things on my plane, but I wont take it out of service. I try and keep my projects to things that wont take my plane off the line.

I have the same problem , there are defered upgrade/modifications that I want to make but I don't want to miss any good flying days. That said, it's starting to be maintenance season in the PNW, i.e. more that a week of bad weather at a time.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

I called them and gave the nice man my installation info (T18 w O-360) he had the combo with the correct spacer on file.
easy peasy

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http://www.dixiefriedfabrication.com/

It was too cold in Seattle area today for my airplane, low 30s, my heater doesn't keep up at these temps, so I did the next best thing and spent the afternoon in the shop.

Here's the back side of an Air Dog DIY adapter on my CNC table, this is the side that mates to the accessory case or the oil cooler adapter on my engine, O290-G, no machined cooler ports on the case.



I learned a few things today, the feeds and speeds calculator results are too fast for my machine and ball nose end mills don't like to plunge into a block of aluminum very well, pink foam no problem.

Now I just need to do the top side and then the real fun begins, installing it on the airplane.

John, I admit that turning the wheels would be very satisfying but I don't have access to that kind of equipement, that said the CNC can do more complex shapes than I can turning the wheels.

Hey Lee FYI, the spell checker thingy on this site is flagging "airplane" and "aluminum", go figure.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

That looks good Bruce! I was at a gun show a couple of months ago and almost bought a little CNC machine that looked like it might be similar to yours. I was going to machine my own AR-15 lower receivers and they had a nice program already written. Then I decided it was crazy, for me... I mean, how many lower receivers does a guy really need? (I know I'll probably get some wise comments about that.)

I need airplane parts... lots of 'em!

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

Spent some time in the shop the last couple of days and milled the top of my oil filter adapter, see previous post for the bottom.



Found one oops, the mount hole in the upper right of the photo is not correct, one dimension is off by 0.1". I also had one place when doing the finish pass with the ball nose mill when it went into a corner there was some chatter probably from too much load on the bit, I will need to slow the feed speed down for the next iteration, this is the education part of experimental aviation. I also found that the piece of plywood that I used for the mounting base to hold the block of aluminum was not of uniform thickness, note the left most mounting hole, it looks like flash around the base, it is 0.003" thick.

The hole on the side is for an 1/8" NPT oil temperature sensor, the top holes will be tap 3/8" NPT for AN fittings for hoses to the remote filter mount.

This is the start of the finishing passes with a 1/4" ball nose cutter, the rough cut was done with a 1/4" flat end mill.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

Bruce;
That looks fine! I've mounted my mostly hand made Air Dog Adapter to the engine and made up the hose ends to/from. I bought a firewall filter mount from Summit racing, but I don't like it.
Today I finished the firewall mounted battery box, and riveted it in place. I'm using a 4.1 lb EarthX ETX680 LiFePO4 battery instead of a 27 pound car battery in a 4 pound box with 3 pounds of battery cable from behind the baggage compartment. I removed the auxiliary power receptical as well. It probably weighs a pound.
On the other end of 'Feisty', I removed the Vacuum pump, regulator, filter, hoses, and Directional Gyro, I'm using a Dynon D-10a EFIS.
I'm taking a break, then continue fitting the battery contactor and maybe work on the wiring some more.
I find it easier to work on the plane with a foot of snow on the runway.
Hope to have it ready for Sedona!

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Scott Emery
EAA Chapter 326
T-18 N18TE

Hey Bruce, what CNC do you have?
Cubes

A home built one. I used https://buildyourcnc.com/blackFoot48v40.aspx as a basis for my design.



I have a cutting area of 62" x 26" with a Z height of 10", why this size you ask, I had an old interior door that I used for the base that is 79" x 30" and that dictated the final size. The Z height was so I could carve a wood prop, probably won't happen now that I have the Whirlwind composite ground adjustable prop on the airplane but you never know.

The electronics were purchased from a company in China they had a sale that was about half of the normal cost.



I built a support table using the EAA standard workbench plans to hold everything.

The control software is LinuxCNC and I use HeeksCAD to draw and create the g-code needed to drive it all.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA