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After
looking at a number of similar bracket designs I marked out the bracket
pieces with permanent marker being careful to allow the sheet to be cut
with a guillotine. The bracket height leaves enough room at
the
top and bottom for the 3/8" thick foam/carbon fiber leading edge to
make solid contact with the main spar. |
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All
the holes are drilled prior to welding using plenty of RP7 as lubricant
and coolant to protect the drill bit and make boring easier.
This
4130N is pretty hard stuff. |
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The
brackets are jigged up and the magnets hold the plates at right angles
to the base. |
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I
have done a TIG welding introductory course and was happy with my
results. However, for every good weld I can make, I do two
not so
good ones. My welding skill is not consistent enough which is
why
I had Simon do them. The picture speaks for itself. |
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I
painted the brackets in a gloss white enamel and had to clamp this in
place just to help me imagine what the KR will look like with landing
gear. |
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The
left bracket is epoxied and bolted with AN4-27 bolts through the top
and bottom spar caps. Temporary legs are attached to the
brackets
and the fuselage is then set level. The right hand bracket is
positioned the same distance along the main spar as the left and then
the electronic level is used to angle the the leg identically. |
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It
is a little hard to see in this photo but I have rounded off the bottom
edge of the gear bracket to avoid the possibility of creating a stress
point when the gear legs flex on landing.....especially the hard ones. |
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Here
is one of the Diehl gear legs I will be using. A big "thanks"
to
Riley Collins for these. Riley has already done all the work
on
them including 2 layers of BID as per the Diehl instructions and
fiberglassing a nylon tube for the brake line down the forward edge,
behind a rounded fairing. The aft edge has also been
streamlined. |
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I
had to re-drill holes in the brackets to line up with the ones already
in the gear leg. The leg is floxed in position and tightened
up
using AN4 bolts. These nuts will be replaced with
elastic
stop nuts before the leading edge is added. |
