January 13, 2005 HOME

Weeks ago I had made 2 to the brake peddles.  I should have made all 4 at the same time, but I waited until now to start on the second pair.

The second set went together predictably faster than the first pair because I had the experience with them.  In an hour or so, I had them ready to rivet.

Installing the peddles in the rudder peddle weldments was easy, but I soon discovered an unexpected quirk.  The alignment (front to rear) of the peddles was not consistent when the brake cylinders were aligned with the preferred drill point.  O.K., I shouldn't admit that it took me a long time to work out the reason and you have probably already figured it out.  Because the rudder peddles for left and right hang on separate crossbars (part of the weldment), one is in front of the other.  If they hung straight down, you would have to fly with one foot forward all of the time in cruise.  The solution is to tilt one rudder peddle set forward and the other back until they are aligned.  That means that the brake peddles would be out of alignment.  The mounting brackets for the brake cylinders are spaced accordingly on the weldment to compensate.  All that could have been spelled out in the plans or maybe, it should just be obvious..

 

 

 

   

 

I assembled everything loosely so I could check for alignment.  I then drilled all the holes for the brake cylinders (yes allowing for the proper offsets to keep the peddles aligned) and attached the cylinders.

 

 

 

Finally, with everything clamped down, I rechecked all the alignment and fit points and called it finished.  The next step on brakes is to install this assembly temporarily into the fuselage and drill the center brace.

 

 

 

 

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