I am on the home stretch with my flat top Max and only have to get struts completed, all else done through paint. A question came to mind concerning the wing attach sequencing now that I have a better idea how the wing install pin insertions happen. Seems to me the first wing won't be bad as you can stand just outside the fuselage on the side with no wing installed yet. The second wing pin installation seems like it is much more challenging, how are most of you doing it? And what tips and tricks have you figured out for the basic wing install when you are alone? I have seen photos on this site of various pvc stands to hold one end of the wing enabling perhaps a single person installation, still seems to me one might need to do some wing wiggling both sideways and/or up and down to get an easy pin insertion. And generally, are you folks getting the axle to strut bolt in first and then going to the pin insertion? If anyone wanted to take the time to completely itemize the sequence or chain of events as they have seen them in their installations, that would be great. My hope all along has been to be able to install and uninstall wings for each use, then plane stored in trailer. in order for this to make any sense, the complete process needs to be maximized for efficiency and ease. Some have indicated here that they do this regularly, with times of twenty minutes or so on each end of the flight time, which is a period I would consider acceptable. Any and all comments are appreciated, thanks. Kim Brown
But you could always buy an ironing board at your local boot-sale (garage sale) .....errr .... maybe not.
To use an ironng board or anything similar you'd still need to get the fusealage longerons level by supporting the tail-wheel at a suitable height - maybe with another ironing board...
I made two wing supports out of 4"x3". Tops padded to support wing. One was lower than the other to allow for dihedral.
You can support the wing on these and offer it up to engage the support tangs, then put in your pins.
Yes, it is very tricky to do it by yourself, with nobody to wiggle the tip while you insert the pins. A couple of tips that might help:
Make a very long taper on the pins, going to quite a narrow point (make sure the actual bearing part of the pin is left at stock diameter). This way you don't have to align the holes too accurately.
If it's not too late, try and make the cutouts in the ply fuse sides an accurate fit, both size & position. This way, the wood itself will help to accurately position the tangs & help align the holes.
Lastly, you might need to make the holes slightly bigger than a precision fit. It will be hard enough to fit the pins in with no wiggle help without having a tight fit in the holes. I'm only talking a few thou here, but it will make it easier.
Good luck with rigging by yourself every time you fly - personally I think you'll soon be looking pretty hard for affordable hangarage!
I put a nut plate on the in side of the wing tip for a 1/4" eye bolt and it makes handling of the wing much easier. The eye bolt comes out for flying and a nylon bolt with a flat head takes it's place.
I put a nut plate on the in side of the wing tip for a 1/4" eye bolt and it makes handling of the wing much easier. The eye bolt comes out for flying and a nylon bolt with a flat head takes it's place.
As much as anything, my build of my Max was to see how closely I could come to a twenty minute assemble and twenty minute disassemble of the finished plane, in my neck of the woods, seacoast area of New Hampshire, property is at a premium which gets reflected in both the scarcity of airports and hangars and the prices therein if you find something. For little guys, this area does not work at all, I had bought my second N-3 Pup and decided to suck it up and pay the fee for the only open hangar in the right geography at about $200 per month which was hard for me, I no sooner got it in there than the airport said they were going to bulldoze the open hangars and make closed hangars at $400, and I either had to take it or leave it, had no choice, sold the Pup, and kept on working on the Max. And I now know that hangarage is not an option here, which pushes me to find a different solution. I had the Max and have been throwing creativity at it at least in my brain ever since. I've got a fairly neat wing carrier for getting the wings "to and from" the trailer, and have been scouring this site and the net for trailer layout ideas. The Max is currently in my basement and I just have to finish the struts and paint them and it will basically be done. Then I need to get the trailer and begin the creation of a compact and light weight configuration, probably using heavy trucker type tarpaulin rather than wood or metal for the final exterior. Once trailer is nearly complete, I will disassemble the Max, pull it out of the basement, put it on the trailer, finish the trailer, park it and then try to find an airport that will let me park a registered trailer on a tie down spot for something under $100 per month. I think it is not practical to try the assemble disassemble idea as well as the trailer it to the airport each time idea. Now looking throughout this entire site for comments on the subject of assembling and disassembling for each flight, there definitely have been a few people saying the twenty minute time frame is doable. I am going to cling to those comments for now and finish the Max and try out my idea. I still am interested in what anyone has to say on things they have found to make the task easier, faster, safer, smoother, I have seen a few stands to use as helpers, anything else anyone can offer is much appreciated as always. In fact there was even one guy who had volunteered a video of the process that he had done, but then I never heard back from him. Thanks. Kim Brown
There was a setup for wing folding for Airbikes. I have a copy of this I think. it could be re-engineered for a minimax, but from what I understood, it tended to be problematic as well, due to the bumps towing could damage the wing structures. might work on an aircraft not towed, but simply stored. Meaning that a more sturdy trailer could be used as a Garage, and then the aircraft stored in that.
There was a setup for wing folding for Airbikes. I have a copy of this I think. it could be re-engineered for a minimax, but from what I understood, it tended to be problematic as well, due to the bumps towing could damage the wing structures. might work on an aircraft not towed, but simply stored. Meaning that a more sturdy trailer could be used as a Garage, and then the aircraft stored in that.
I have always been intrigued with such an option; but have never pursued it sufficiently to determine feasibility. Have the trailer. (currently has Eros stored in it). Is the Airbike wing folding design available in public domain anywhere?
Why focus on proving how great you are, when you could focus on becoming better?...
How close are you to Sanford Seacoast Regional? You might think about finding a soaring operation. Joining a club can be reasonable and they probably have space for glider trailers and people experienced in putting planes together. Plus you'd get to fly gliders. My club has cfi's, cfig's and a&p's that maintain the gilders and tow planes. Lot's of expertise to draw from and people willing to help shove planes around and put wings on/off.
Sympathise with your money situation. In the UK, hangarage is similarly expensive but a bit less so for our kind of kit.
I've already mentioned ironing-boards which have certainly helped me do maintenence such as replacing tyres.
The builder of my MiniMax made a kind of remote controlled ironing-board which I never used. It had a switch-box on a cable which operated an electrical raising/lowering system of its upper surface, and an eye-loop which allowed a simple pole with a hook to move the whole contraption to jiggle the wing inboard or outboard of the aircraft, while rigging the wing single-handed.
It was clever but simple contraption. It used a home-made linear motor and an edge-pivoted top surface.
For years I tried to sell it (in the UK) but no-one showed any interest. I 'no longer have it'. I never needed it.
I'm surprised that in the USA this hangerage-cost problem exists. Loads of space. Having said that, the one time a work colleauge introduced me to a fella who had an ultralight or two surprised me as to how much he was paying for hangarage space on a farm strip in Nebraska
You could Skype me for a discussion as to how that tool was built.
Hi Thanks for all the comments 1. Idea of folding wing ala the air bike design--I looked long and hard at this, the issue I ran into as did others, is that the wing goes back far enough when folded that you have to do something about the diagonal braces in the tail. I think that is why one of the popular folding wing a/c also folds the horizontal part of the tail upwards to make room for the folding operation, I decided against it for that reason, the wing folding mechanism probably would be doable, just did not want to add the tail considerations into the mix 2. tool to move/wiggle the wing up and down to facilitate a one man wing install---I intend to do something along the same lines, perhaps more simply though, I am going to make a "t" stand with two different diameter pvcs so I can put a spring between them and with some experimenting, get the wing load on the "t" to be almost neutral and therefore wiggleable from the root end to facilitate get the pin holes lined up properly for pin insertion 3. Sandford airport---not that close, yes everything is relative, forty-five minutes or so, and when I last checked there was no hangar availability, and they too were pricey 4. local clubs idea--I was one of the most recent presidents of the local club but it, like many such clubs, died a death of attrition due to lack of interest, that club is now defunct, forty-five minutes to the next nearest club, and I do visit it once in a while 5. another idea I have incorporated into my build to the end of facilitating the wing installation and speeding it up hopefully, pertains to the pin insertion holes. Instead of one hole on each side front and rear, I've done two, that way I can insert a drift pin into one and use it to finalize the pin to hole alignment and then I insert the pin into the other pin hole, the little I have experimented with it seems to indicate it is a good "facilitator" 6. one other item I incorporated into this build is a lift handle just ahead of the horizontal stabilizer, merely an aluminum rod through the fuselage, and it works quite well in moving the plane around which will come in handy eventually. Thanks again for all thoughts and more ideas are always welcome. Kim Brown New Hampshire
Quick question, what is the possibility of being able to persuade a local farmer to let you fly from one of his fields and keep your trailered plane in one of his barns? Surely that would be a better option? In the UK most microlights (ultralights) are flown from farmer's fields not airports, so we're used to grass strips and mostly between 200 and 300 yds long, often with bushes or even trees at one or both ends. Makes for interesting approaches!!
When I have my wings apart to do the fabric, I plan on embedding a few threaded couplers to allow me to bolt a wing attaching ... jig, frame, thing.. so I can mount something quickly to the side rails of the cockpit, with long tubes sticking out, then put the wings, with their own frames attached, onto those tubes, and slide them into place, all by myself. Similar to what aeronut did! My goal is to be able to exit the trailer and be in the plane with engine running in less then 30, ideally less then 20.
to bob.hood The local farmer with the barn did exist from the eighties until 2010 or so and then, after totally rebuilding his Taylorcraft, he crashed coming into his field and while he was unhurt, his family sort of put their feet down on the whole idea of flying from the family property. Other than that one example, none exist in a reasonable distance. Other areas are more blessed in this way, upstate New York for example, has a lot of them, I've been over there to buy an N-3 Pup and saw lots of "backyard fields" so to speak.
On a different note, I am now installing the struts on my Max and stumbled on a situation I have to figure a way around. On the rear wing strut attach, the holes in the two aluminum bars that make up the rear connection are supposed to be 1" below the lower surface of the wing, unlike the front strut connect point hole which is 3/4" below the fabric. I did not notice the rear was more than the front and they are both 3/4". This is unfortunately enough to cause interference between the wing lower surface and the bolt heads that connect the aluminum block connector piece to the rear strut straps. Once assembled there is no interference, the interference occurs when you try to fold the strut mechanism up against the lower surface of the wing to stow or store the wing in a trailer or whatever, in other words it makes the idea of pulling the wings after each fly impossible as the struts can't fold up. I just discovered this so I have not devoted much brain time to it, I think the solution must be in redoing the aluminum block connectors somehow in order to gain additional clearance. It may be that the blocks need to be longer, or that they need to be mounted a bit lower by lowering the hole in the block that lines up with the hole in the two bar wing strut attach. Hmmmmm, solving problems can be fun, but frustrating, if anyone has had a similar occurrence, and figured a way to fold up the wings without bolt head to wing interference, I would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks again for all comments Kim Brown in New Hampshire
Regarding the bolt clearance problem I mentioned in the last post, I just came up from the basement having done all the final touches to the struts on that side of the Max and got a clearer picture of the problem, I think I can just file a rounded edge on one of the subject bolt's sides and file a very small amount off the top and the interference issue will be resolved. I also think they manufacture bolts with less height on the head, which would also solve the problem. If only all the issues we bump into were so easy. Thanks. Kim Brown
Kim, I never leave my struts attached to the wing. I think you are over thinking every possible problem? It's just two more bolts on each side, and then you don't run the risk of the struts flopping around. I know lots of folks leave their struts attached to the wing, but others of us just remove them for transport, and storage.
actually from what I remember of the folding wing thing, is that the wings fold and then there is a T bracket that goes into a slot in the top of the fuselage and holds the wings together which moves them above the tail struts. It worked for the Airbike, and I'm thinking it would work for a Hi-Max, not so sure on the Minimax, as the wings may be too low in the front and the angle may become extreme.
To Greg Doe Yes I did make the presumption that the only removal method possible would leave the strut mechanism attached to the wing. I fell into this as I had seen pictures on this site of persons doing their wing disassembly and storing in a trailer. One individual who chose to leave the strut mechanism on the wing, used a simple piece of rope attached to the strut to carry the wing to the trailer once pulled from the plane. Having seen it, and in that it only entailed removal of one of the three key bolts being discussed here, it seemed logical to do it that way. Yes, there is the issue of the strut mechanism then being free to flop around until secured in some fashion. So now you are suggesting that complete removal of the front and rear members of the strut system is an option to consider. While on the subject, yet another person might suggest leaving the struts attached at the axle and placed in a vertical position beside the fuselage with some means of securing it there. Many ways to skin a cat I guess. At this point I think all methods need consideration but I also believe that as a bolt, or bolts, is removed over and over there will be some deterioration of the hole it goes in. A case could be made that it would be best for this long term "wearing" to be left to fewer bolts. All good stuff. Kim Brown
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