Aileron Cable pulley

I had great intention of working all day in the shop today, but remember when I said the entire family got the flu but me? That statement isn't true anymore. I went out to the shop (with my helper below) but by noon, I left the tools were they were and headed for bed. Man, this is no fun.



"You maded another one, dad." Brighton was right. I made the second upper pulley assembly as described in the previous blog.

As for the lower piece - forget the drawing. Even the corrections I made. I learned this after my third try. The best thing to do is bend the 1 in. wide inner piece to fit the upper piece. Remember to add a washer above the pulley when you clamp everything together. It acts like a spacer otherwise the assembly gets tight and you can't move the pulley when you're done.



Remember, this has a 14 degree bend, so the front end of the ear is flush and the other stays inside. So, heat the ear....

...and bend it over with a hammer.

Voila! You can see the different angles in this photo.

Of course, the assembly needs to be filed smooth, bead blasted, etc. That comes later.

John Gaertner is solving the tricky issue of boaring the center hole for the rudder bar. He's almost there. The "leg" of the casting makes the lathe wobble, even at only 300 RPM.

The third wing is finished and work is commencing on wing #4.

All right. I'm beat. Back to bed.

Brian

Forward aileron cable pulley assembly

Sorry for the delay again. The wife and three of the four kids were sick all week so it wasn't much fun around here lately. But after I made a bunch of chicken soup and an emptied out the medicine cabinet, they became functional and that gave me a spare hour ot two for some shop time today.

I wanted to make the forward aileron cable pulley assembly.

There was a drawing for this part, so I made poster board patterns to their specifications. But, the patterns didn't work! Let me explain. The aileron cable bellcrank is a fan shaped casting underneath the rear seat. The cables have to run forward before turning and exiting the fuselage. In order to reach the upper wing, they have to "climb" at a 14 degree angle.

This two piece pulley assembly is supposed to do that.

The drawing was correct for the upper piece. It had the perfect 14 degree angle. But the lower piece did not have that. So, I scrapped the lower drawing and made my own.



The upper pattern was copied to the .100 sheet steel and cut out with the bandsaw.



Smoothed with a grinder and file.



And bent over a 1/16 in. radius bending block.



To bend the "ears" I had to get creative with the blocks!



Here's how it goes. Notice the 14 degree angle of the pulley.



That's all I had time for today. More tomorow now that the family is healthy again.

Brian

Control Sticks and Wing Hardware

A box arrived in the mail the other day with two Jenny control sticks made by John Morack in Fairbanks, Alaska. As with all of John's work, the sticks are beautiful.



I was so excited, I tried sticking them into the control stick casting. They fit perfectly.



Also, fellow Jenny restorer Phil Mintari from Texas sent me some strut plates that were leftover from his restoration, a hoop socket and some eye bolts.



Got a busy month with work and some vacation time, so this post may get sporatic for a few weeks. Hang in there! I'll post more as soon as I can.

Enjoy

Brian

Old Pictures and New Computer

Jenny restorer Chet Peek of Norman OK. sent me these neat pictures of Hisso Jennies and I liked them so much that I had to share them on the blog. Look at the rows of fuselages in the factory! I'm jealous.



Here's another great shot showing the Hisso engine installation and the larger radiator.



I may have lost some e-mails lately. My computer got the latest and greatest virus which tried to steal my banking information and the only way to remove it was to wipe out my hard drive. Since my trusty old computer was...well...old, I decided to get a new one. But, I think several of you tried to e-mail me and if I didn't respond, I apologize. Now you know the reason why.

Oh, by the way - my anti-virus software didn't catch it. I guess the thieves are getting smarter.

Enjoy the vintage pictures

Brian

Tail Skid

Worked on the tail skid today. First step was to bore a 9/16 in hole in the ash skid to accept the brass bushing.



Here's the bushing. I was able to order a 9/16 OD bushing with a 7/16 ID from MSC. The excess was cut off with a bandsaw.



Then, the brass was put on the skid and the hole drilled for the bolt.



Finally, I get to use a new casting! Here is where the tail skid bungee casting goes.



The tail skid has a rubber bumper, so a 1 in. strip was cut from some 1/4 in. rubber material.




And mounted on the skid.




Also, the top and bottom steel washers were drilled and installed. Here's a picture of the top one.





In case you're wondering - here's how everything fits together !







This was a trial fit. Now the metal pieces need to be painted black and the skid needs a final coat of varnish.







The shoe needs to be fitted, but that's for the next shop day.



Sorry for the little hiatus from the Jenny project, but I went to the Bucker fly-in at Live Oak FL. Had a great time. Flew lots of aerobatics, ate too much food and told too many stories. Mine was one of fourteen Buckers that flew to the event. It was a fine weekend.

Got a busy month coming up. Enjoy

Brian

Tail Skid and Tail Shoe

Months ago, I bent the tail skid into shape. I spent a lot of time working this piece but I never seemed to get it to fit "just right". I got pretty frustrated so I decided to leave it alone and build something else on the airplane.

But, now it was time to finish the tailk skid. I was not looking forward to frustrating myself again, but that did not happen. Within five minutes of heating and tweaking, I had the tail skid perfectly alligned! Ha! I guess I just needed some time away from it.



The tail skid utilizes a steel washer at each pivot point, so I cut that out of some .100 steel. They will be drilled later.



Then, I took some 3/16 in steel and cut a long strip. This will be the tail skid shoe.



It's pretty thick stuff, so heat needes to be applied. I used a 1 1/2 in tube as a bending bar.

You have to move the steel around the tube, but eventually it will make the nice tight curve.

Here is how the curve fits on the tail skid.

As you can see, the shoe makes a tight curve at the end and a gentle, sweeping curve further up the skid. To make the upper curve, clamp the steel around the tube the same way, but heat a large area and hammer on the top of the steel. This spreads out the bend and gives you a nice, slow curve.

More later

Brian

Fuel Tank

Today, the outside of the tank was cleaned with the Marine Clean solution. With a scotch brite pad and some elbow grease (lots of that) the dirt, gease and grime came right off the tank.

The rust was a different story. I was able to remove a lot of it with the scotch brite, but the POR 15 was designed for rusty surfaces and I was not worried about leaving some of it there.

After the tank dried, I applied the Metal Prep solution.

Then, the POR 15 was applied with a brush.

Here's the original tank drying in the shop.

You know, I debated long and hard about using the original tank. It was pretty beat up and far from perfect. There were a few dents, digs and surface rust areas. Nothing was bad enough from keeping it from being airworthy, it just looked...well...old. But hey...it's 91 years old. What did I expect?

The POR 15 did a good job giving it a shiny finish, but you can see the old rust areas (pitting) which would never go away unless I used body filler and I didn't want to do that. So, do you make a nice, perfect, NEW tank or use the old one?

If that old tank could talk, what would it say? Stories about young cadets learning to fly at Kelly Field, Texas in 1918? Giving passenger rides out of a hayfield in Kansas? Perhaps a crash or two along the way?

Nah, I'll take the original tank. Just for old times sake.

Enjoy

Brian

Fuel Tank Sloshing and Raw Castings

Interestingly, and much to the relief of north west Atlanta, the rain stopped today. I was also surprised to see the inside of the original fuel tank dry after the little fan circulated air all night.

So, it was time to pour in the fuel tank sealant.

After the selant is in the tank, rotate the tank until the entire inside has been covered. Don't forget about the internal baffles, too. They need to get covered.




Then, you drain the remaining selant back into the tank, but do not put the lid back on or try to save it. The stuff expands as it dries and you'd blow the lid right off. I was also amazed how much selant came out of the tank - nearly 3/4 of the can - at a slow rate..



Then, the little fan was put back to work circulating the air. Plus, with the tank sitting outside in the hot sun, the sealant dried rather quickly. After several hours, I took a peek inside. The entire fuel tank was coated beautifully.





More good news today - the raw castings arrived ! Here you can see the front stick pedestal, front and rear rudder bar pedestals and throttle quadrants. More castings are coming, but this was the first batch completed.

The castings were made by Mr. Ben Douglas at Dove Works Foundry in Anniston, Alabama. I was pleased with their work and I would highly recommend them.





The parts are raw castings, which means they are rough and grainy. They will be sent to John Gaertner for finish machining.





I couldn't resist seeing them in place....even if they are not ready to be installed yet.

Enjoy

Brian

Tank Prep and Gear Leg wrapping

Since it was raining (and has been for the last two weeks) I decided now was the time to clean out the old fuel tank. The first step was to pour Marine Clean into the tank with an equal amount of hot water.

Then, slosh it around to coat the entire inside. After that, set the tank in a different position every two hours to ensure that each part of the tank becomes immersed in the solution.

Drain and rinse thoroughly with hot water. Man, you should have seen the dirt that came out!

The next step is Metal Ready. This prepares the metal for the sloshing compound. Same as before - pour one can of chemical and an equal part of hot water. This time, rotate the tank every hour. As you probably guessed, this was an all day affair.

Drain the Metal Ready and thoroughly rinse with water. I used a hose this time. It took a lot of water to get the tank clean.

Sloshing compound (the next step to seal the tank) will not adhere to a wet tank, so I have a little fan blowing air into the inside of the tank right now. I'll leave it there for a day or two, but since we're getting bombarded with rain, the humidity is high and the tank might not completely dry for a long time. We'll see.

During that time, I got the wrapping done! Total - 4 longeron wraps and 12 gear leg wraps.

Here's a close up of a wrap in progress.

After the wrap is complete, remember to coat the fibers with Shelac.

Here are the gaps and wrapping widths....in case anyone else wants to restore a Jenny.

Last wrap!

John Gaertner has been steadily working on Wing #3.

The tip bow is in place and awaiting the final shaping

And the mahogony leading edge is in place.

Enjoy

Brian

Gear Leg wraps

Started wrapping the gear legs today - same method as the longerons - wrap with cord and seal with shelac.



I was not able to find any wrapping dimentions in my pile of drawings, so I called Paul Daugherty and he measured his Jenny for me. Here is a diagram so future Jenny builders will not be in the same predicament. The numbers on the left represent the gap between wraps. The numbers on the wraps are the wrap thicknesses. I'll make the same diagram for the rear gear leg when I finish wrapping it soon.



My father was here for a visit this week. He and my wife inspected my work.



Enjoy

Brian