Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 1

Back on the last day of January I took some time to shape depressions on the exterior sides of the NG-30 plates. I had already cut the high density foam and glassed 4 plies of bid glass on the inner sides.

These NG-30 plates make up the sides of a box that will contain the worm drive retract mechinism and the NG-6 bearing block.



Here you can see the 15 plies of BID fiberglass hardpionts where the worm drive mechenism and the NG-6 bearing will be mounted.


Finally 4 plies bid cover the entire ouside sides of the NG-30 plates. This photo is actually taken after I added one additional ply. The plans called for each of the hard points to be weighted down during cure and the results were not very pleasing to me. I did some repair work that damaged the top layer of glass and so I added one additional layer to the affected areas. I was about ready to completely trash the two NG-30s, however I feel the final result is acceptable.


Today and yesterday I spent some time fabricating some parts. Yesterday was spent cutting bending and welding the NG-64 crank. I am not very practiced at welding, and the equipment I used was far from ideal. However the weld is strong and with a little craftmanship I ended up with a good result.

Also pictured are the two NG-8 disks that I fabricated today. The discs were quite easy to make. I simply used a 2" hole saw fitted into my drill press. Then drilled out the 3/16" holes and counter sunk them. Then treated with alodine. The 1/4" hole saw pilot hole was also drilled out to the final 5/16" size.


Here the NG-8 disks are mounted into the forward portion of the NG-30 plates.



Here is the whole assembly trial fitted. In this photo the mechanism is in the retracted possition. The spring loaded linkage will be attached to the nose gear strut. The 5/16" bolt will secure the bearing attached to the top of the strut.


Here is the mechanism in the grear down possition.


From the pilots view...