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Q-talk 67 - WHEEL CAMBER ALIGNMENT CORRECTION

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Category: Q-Talk Articles
Published: Wednesday, 31 December 1997 06:11
Written by Tom Moore
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When I started taxiing my Q-200 it became obvious that this plane was going to be a handful. As I taxied down the runway and picked up speed, control of the plane would get very touchy. I kept pushing up my speeds until I felt that I was close to flying, but I always felt I was close to losing the plane. I was very lucky to be doing my taxi work on an old bomber base that had nice wide runways. Most of the problems came after I accelerated up to my target speed and pulled the power off. I then had to compensate for the change of forces on the plane. I could feel the tailwheel skidding ineffectively, unable to overcome the plane trying to change directions. This is when things felt the worst. I always had to keep my hand on the dual brake levers to stop the plane if it decided to change directions on its own.

After about two hours of taxi time I added 100 pounds of ballast. I placed 25 pounds in the baggage area and 75 pounds in the right seat. I was hoping that this would help calm things down, but with this configuration the handling seemed to get worse. I didn't understand this until I read David Gall's report. I continued to push the taxi speeds up and one day things got real wild. I had just pulled the power back from a high-speed run and I was dancing on the pedals trying to keep things straight. I could feel the tailwheel skidding when the plane veered off about 44 degrees to the right. The tailwheel had no effect on correcting the turn and I could see the edge of the runway and the grass in front of me. I pulled hard on the left brake handle and the plane made a sudden turn to the left about 90 degrees. The plane started to skid down the runway sideways and I wondered if it would flip over sideways. I grabbed a little bit of right brake and the plane centered on the runway. Time to breathe.

I did make one change during this time. I felt the tailspring was a little weak and may have been flexing when I was getting on the pedals. So I added some additional wraps of BID to help stiffen things up.

I continued with my taxi testing and things stayed about the same. I didn't have another major excursion to the side of the runway, but I could always feel the tailwheel skidding behind me. While this was going on, I always kept my hand on the brakes after I pulled the power back.

Well, my confidence built back up and I was thinking I could fly this thing. I started looking for a calm day and on the first day of June, I made my first flight.

The landings during my first ten hours kept things pretty exciting. I still felt the tailwheel skidding behind me and I always had my hand on the dual brake levers to give them a tug if I thought the plane was getting ready to head off into the boondocks. Most of the time it only took a small nudge, but somewhere around ten hours the plane decided to take off on its own after I was back on the ground and I ended up skidding sideways down the runway again after I corrected with the brakes. Well I knew I couldn't ever leave this 150-foot wide runway if I didn't make some kind of change. And even then, my heart wasn't going to take too many more of these rides.

I talked this over with several of the guys flying their planes and got several tips on how to fix the problem.

* Raising the main wheels in the pants to lower the canard and reduce ground angle of attack

* Raise tail to reduce ground angle of attack

* Increase reflexor travel to cause a higher down force onto the tail wheel

* Cut the main wing out and decrease the angle

* Move the C.G. farther back to help weight the tail down

David Gall's article showed up in the mail and it couldn't have come at a better time. I read it over several times and felt that what he was saying made sense, and that maybe it could help me. I checked my axles and they were indeed pointing towards the ground with the plane empty and with only a few pounds of fuel.

The procedure that I used to change the wheel camber is very simple. The first thing I did was to determine how much weight I needed to add to the plane to get to my gross weight.

I next took the wheels off and set the wheel pants down on flat furniture dollies. The dollies will allow the canard to flex and the wheel pants to splay out as it does normally when you're taxiing. This also allows you to make the adjustments to the axles all at once without having to unload and reload the weight. You could probably get by with only one dolly and adjusting one wheel pant and then moving the dolly over to the other side. The only thing you need to remember is to keep your wheel pants at an equal height so you get the correct axle alignment.



With the wheels off and the wheel pants on the dollies I weighed the plane to my gross weight. I sure am glad that they started making 60 pound bags of cement.

I made my adjustments to the outside axle hole. I used a Dremel tool with a 5/8-inch drum sander attachment. A graph chart with one-inch squares was placed on the opposite wheel pant. This helps gauge how much the axle alignment is changing as you modify the axle holes. I would sight down the axle and then make an adjustment to the axle hole until the axle sighted correctly. I made my axles sight on each other which gave me zero degrees camber at gross. I also kept about a half a degree (two inches forward) of toe out.


Once I had both axle holes adjusted I cut out pieces of 1/4 inch plywood in a shape to fill in the void above the axle. With the plywood in place I greased the axles and then filled in the remaining voids with the flox.

The next step is to reposition your brake calipers to match up with the new wheel alignment. If you adjust the outside axle hole this shouldn't be too hard of a job.

So how much did changing the wheel camber help me? Let me put it like this. Before I made the change I had to touch my brakes to help steer at least once during every landing I made. After the wheel camber change I haven't touched the brakes once, NOT ONCE (well, maybe to help stop). I think that was a big change.

Tom Moore, Frisco, TX


You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #67 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.

Q-talk 105 - Weight & Balance

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Category: Q-Talk Articles
Published: Sunday, 06 March 2011 19:00
Written by Dave Richardson
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Last issue we talked about using a scale to calculate the center of gravity, or center of weight, of your Q. This issue we will show some examples of calculating the specific stations for the items that are not in the empty weight of your plane. These items include the pilot and passenger, header tank fuel, main tank fuel, engine oil and baggage compartment locations. These positions can be loaded with variable amounts of weight and changes in that weight during flight can affect your center of weight. I am sure there are a number of Q's flying out there that simply used the numbers calculated the Q manuals. After all, they built their plane per the plans, right? Minor variations in where the stations are located can have a big impact upon the final center of weight calculations for your plane. Take the time and do the math so you do not have to find out during your first flight how different your plane is when loaded. The math is simple and can be done on any calculator capable of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Back Calculating Stations

A station is nothing more than a point on an imaginary line that runs from the tip of the spinner to the tip of the tail. We covered in the last issue of Q-Talk that the lower forward surface of the firewall on all Q's is considered to be 14", to give a common reference point. In calculating your empty weight, you determine the front to back distance to the main wheels and the tail or nose wheels relative to the firewall to drive your center of weight calculations. By back calculating, I mean that if you add some weight to the plane at a certain position, like the baggage compartment, then re-level the plane and re-weigh the plane, the scale readings will change in relation to that new weight. The sum of the changes on each of the scales will equal the total weight of the item you added to the plane. The change in weight on each of the scales under each of the wheels tells the stoiy of where the center of weight for that item is located. While that may sound complex, it really isn't and you still use the same type of calculations you used before when you calculated your empty weight.

Follow this process. 1) Read the scales while the plane is level 2) Place the new weight in the plane 3) Level the plane again 4) Read the new weights from the scales 5) Subtract the new scale readings from the prior reading for the same wheel and do the math. For example, if you weigh the level plane, place two 20-pound bags of kitty litter in the baggage area, level the plane and reread the scales, you might get results similar to these:

A station of 86.5 inches sounds reasonable for the baggage area since the split line bulkhead on the Q2 is at 95 inches and the center of the baggage area is forward of that bulkhead.

You can use this exact process for the other items you need to weigh and back calculate stations. One curious thing I noticed when I calculated my pilot/passenger stations was that the station ended up being forward of my hips. I had been told that the center of weight for a person is approximately 2 inches above and 2 inches behind their navel. It stumped me for a while why the pilot station would be forward of my navel until I realized we were not just looking at the center of weight of the pilot, but the weight of the pilot in the plane relative to the center of weight of the plane. If your feet hung directly below you in the plane, ala Fred Flintstone, your center of weight would be closer to the 2" x 2" navel location mentioned above. Since your legs actually go forward of the plane's center of weight, the weight of your shoes, feet, calves, knees and part of your thighs offset a portion of your upper body weight and shift your relative center of weight forward in the plane.

Do not worry if your new weight actually goes negative. For example, if you had 25.5, 25.5 and -11.0 for your weights, then you would follow the sign and the math would look like: 25.5 + 25.5 +(-11.0) = 40.0 That will generally happen when calculating the pilot/passenger or baggage stations on a Tri-Q because those are so far aft of the plane's center of weight. You could also have that happen when calculating the header tank on a tail dragger because it is forward of the center of weight of the plane.

Calculating the center of weight for the main fuel tank and header tank actually gives you an opportunity to also determine their maximum quantity as well as calibrating their fuel level gauges. The process is the same as before. Add the weight, level the plane, read the scales, subtract the weight from the prior weight and do your calculations. On my Tri-Q2,1 worked with my header tank first. I added precisely measured fuel in one-gallon increments to the main tank and transferred the fuel to the header tank. When the fuel transfer pump could not pull any more fuel from the main tank to the header, I switched off the pump and placed a mark on a piece of tape next to the header tank site gauge for each gallon. I added the last gallon in Vi then 'A gallon increments until I could start to see the fuel returning back down the overflow tube, then I stopped. This meant that the header was full and the main tank only contained unusable fuel. I knew how much fuel the header held and what affect each gallon had on my sight gauge. I leveled and re-weighed the plane again for the header tank station calculations. With the header tank full, this was a great time to measure my fuel flow rate to be sure I met or exceeded the 150% expected full throttle requirement. I measured mine at both level and 14-degree inclination, simulating a steep climb, for full header, 75%, 50% and 25%. To do this, I disconnected the fuel line at the carburetor and timed how long it took to draw off two-cups. Then I used the formula of 450 /(seconds to fill two cup container) to get my gallons per hour. See Q-Talk issue 91 for an explanation of the formula.

With the stations calculated for the empty weight of the plane and the stations for the variable weight items, you are ready to fill out the weight and balance sheet required by the FAA during your inspection. The first thing you need to know about this form is that this is a standardized approach to representing weights and may not represent how you will be loading your plane. You will show your math for your empty weight calculations, as well as extreme forward and aft loading conditions. For the purpose of the standards, you will use 170 lbs. for the pilot and passenger weights. The minimum and maximum amounts of fuel and oil are based upon the horsepower rating of your engine.

The empty weight calculation should be fairly easy to complete because it is based upon the numbers collected earlier. Be sure to subtract the weight of the oil to show your true empty weight.

Next you need to complete the extreme forward and rearward loading section of the form. For calculating the forward extremes, you want to "load up" as much as you can forward of the center of gravity and unload items aft of the C.G.. For the forward extreme loading, I used the pilot of 170 lbs, a full header, Vi gallon of fuel in the main tank and no baggage. For the aft loading, I used both a pilot and passenger at 170 lbs. each, 1/3 full header tank (not a good situation), 10 gallons in the main tank and about 30 lbs. in the baggage compartment. That was close to gross and almost to the aft C.G. location.

You can find examples of these forms in the FAA's Acceptable Methods, Techniques, and Practices guide numbered AC 43.13-1B or contact EAA Aviation Information Services.

Next issue we will go over some fun things you can do with these stations and get into some graphs that make determining your C.G. loading a snap.

Continued in Q-Talk Issue 106


You can order a printed copy of Q-talk #105 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.

 

 

Q-talk 67 - BITS AND PIECES

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Category: Q-Talk Articles
Published: Wednesday, 31 December 1997 06:11
Written by Tom Moore
Hits: 3314

DRIVE, WALK or FLY-IN

A local Quickie fly-in is being put together by Paul Fisher, Terry Crouch and Jon Finley.

Nothing fancy, just a hot dog roast at Paul's hangar for anyone who wanted to show up. Basically just an excuse to meet! (See QBA list for phone numbers.)

Date: 16 May 1998

Place: DVN - Davenport (Iowa) Municipal Airport

Time: Anytime (we'll eat at noon)



Michael Kruse's Q2 - A nice machine with some great special features.


You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #67 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.

Q-talk 143 - Survey Says!

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Category: Q-Talk Articles
Published: Sunday, 31 October 2010 01:00
Written by Dan Yager
Hits: 4881

 

Well the survey results are in, and the answers ranged from insightful and funny to perhaps a little crazy! So, I feel like I got a good cross section of the Quickie Builders at large. tongue

The results are posted in the same location that the original questions were, so you can check them out by visiting the links below. I can’t answer each question or concern individually, but I will givea short summary of each of the surveys below.

Survey 1 - QBA and Q-talk Survey

When I first posted the surveys, I think there was a little confusion about the questions concerning what I should concentrate on going forward. Several people chose "Other" and then wrote in "All of the Above”. Unfortunately my time is limited, so focusing on all of the options listed in the question is simply not possible.

Therefore, I revised the question to make my intent a bit more clear and a consensus eventually developed. It seems that most people want me to focus my efforts on "Supporting Builders" and "Increasing the Number of Flying Quickies." I have several ideas to achieve these goals, and I plan to begin implementing them (and incorporating your feedback) over the coming weeks and months. I'm going to start off by linking the forums with the Yahoo! Q-list, and then concentrate on getting the article archive completed.

When the new Q-talk "e-mail only" format was brought up, it seemed to
divide the group almost in half. The majority of QBA members like the new format but over 40% don't. The overwhelming majority of complaints about the format involved people's inability to print the articles easily.

I assume that even though many of you responded positively to the new format you would also like to be able to print hard copies of the articles. So from now on I will make all of my articles printable. I do not have print rights for any of the back issues of Q-talk, but there is an online order form so that you can request printed copies and/or PDF's from the former editors.

That leads to the next question, which is whether or not the price of QBA membership should increase. Many of you responded that you would like to maintain the same price that QBA has charged for the last 23 years. However, at the same time, many of you also indicated that you would like additional membership benefits, such as having the newsletters printed out in color and mailed. When I asked whether people would be willing to pay more for these types of services the overwhelming response was no. In fact, one person basically said, "Why should I pay more to get back to ‘even’?"

That leads me to believe that perhaps I haven’t done a thorough enough job of explaining why your current membership is more valuable than it used to be.

Here is just one example: if you check out the back issue order form and select issues 86-138, you'll see that you'd have to pay $189 to have them printed and mailed to you. However, for just $20 per year you have access to all of those same articles in an online text searchable format. That may not be important to someone who has a three ring binder out in the hangar with all of the old Q-talks, but I think it's a huge benefit for all of the new guys that the website is attracting to our beloved planes.

In a nutshell, you are getting more for your membership dollar than you did in years past!

In addition, as we all know, it’s not 1987 anymore! Times have changed, as well as prices for just about everything. The royalties that I pay the previous editors mean that my expenses have gone up, even before I factor in printing, and mailing costs.

However, I do want to respond to your concerns as best as I can given the circumstances. For next year, I will keep the annual membership dues the same. But I reserve the right to increase membership dues based on Member participation. If you contribute, your membership will be extended for free. If you don't contribute, you can expect your membership dues to increase starting in 2012.

I will continue to allow my Q-talk articles to be printable online. In addition, if someone is willing to format my articles for print or PDF, I will allow one person to provide them to members who would like pay an additional fee for that service. The "Print Editor" designated by me, can sell that membership "Add-On" in the online shop, or through the subscription page, whichever they prefer. If you are interested in becoming the "Print Editor" simply send me an e-mail through the "contact me" link in the upper right hand corner of every page.  You will be expected to show me a sample of your work.

Survey 2 - The QBA Website

The next survey dealt with the website itself. An overwhelming majority of you (over 95%) like the new website. Most of you also stated that information on the site was easy to find, which is good to hear!

Your feedback on this survey helped provide me with some direction regarding content that you'd like to see in the future. Based on the survey results, I will begin adding content in the order you've dictated, including more book and magazine articles, "how to" articles, and software applications.

Finally, the majority of you stated that you're not interested in helping to administer the website. I asked this question simply because I want to ensure that QBA lasts for quite some time. I hope that the seven people who said YES will contact me via e-mail so that we can work together to keep the site running smoothly. In the short term, it would be very helpful to have a couple of moderators for the site forums, and also a few people who could approve articles for members. These tasks are quite easy to accomplish, and they would go a long way towards ensuring that the site stays around for many years to come.


Survey 3 - Fly-ins

The “Fly-In Survey” was simply a way to get some information about what you all expect from fly-ins and their organizers. I will do my best to coordinate at least one fly-in next year, and work even harder to incorporate as much of your feedback as possible. Seems like the Central US would be the most sought after place to hold a fly-in, so that’s what we’ll work on for 2011.

Again, the number of requests that are able to be filled will of course depend upon the amount of participation from members. I'll do my part to encourage attendance, if you'll put in your best effort to attend!

Conclusion

Thanks to everyone who took the survey. From the over 1,000 e-mail requests that I sent out, about 50 of you took the time to tell me what you thought. I hope you see positive results from your responses as your feedback is incorporated. I also hope that you'll continue to provide feedback and let me know how I'm doing as Editor.

As the old saying goes, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. So not everyone is going to be happy with all of the changes that are necessary to keep this organization going, and the surveys certainly showed that. However, the surveys also showed that there are many members who recognize the inherent value of the QBA and are willing to do their part to keep the association vibrant and growing well into the future.

As we look towards 2011, I'll have to attempt to please the majority, without getting burned out. Your help and enthusiasm, will go a LONG way in helping us to keep moving forward and encouraging new builders to keep at it!

Thanks again, I look forward to working with you throughout the coming years!

 Changes to the website since the surveys:

  • All of my newsletters are now Printable.
  • There is a video tutorial that shows how to print my Q-talk articles
  • There is a video tutorial that shows how to renew your membership
  • We're Hiring - A "Print Editor" to format, print, and mail Q-talks
  • When you contribute you have a choice of extended membership, or a feature request!

 

Q-talk 67 - CLASSIFIEDS

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Category: Q-Talk Articles
Published: Wednesday, 31 December 1997 06:11
Written by Tom Moore
Hits: 3626

A current member may have one free Ad per month. It may be a maximum of five lines of type and will be edited to fit space available. Items advertised must be for or owned by the member. The Ad contact must be a member name. Ads will be run for TWO issues and then the ad must be resubmitted.


FOR SALE: TRI-Q200, LS-1 canard, speed brake, trailerable, standard instrument panel, zero time O-200, all fairings complete, 80% complete. $11,000 or offer. Jack Moritz (503) 648-6007 - OR


FOR SALE: Q2, 75 hp Revmaster, 200 hrs TT. August annual, Custom Q2 trailer. Many more extras, Fast & Fun. $10,500. Call Robert Theis (419) 435-4481 - OH


FOR SALE: Q2 firewall aft - no engine. Aircraft has flown, but in storage since 1987; airframe logs. Partially disassembled. Removable tail section. LS-1 canard removed. Fwd hinging canopy, reflexor. $3900 OBO. Guy Polacek (904) 322-1718 - FL


FOR SALE: Q2/200 fuselage that has not had anything done to it, it still is in the 4 pieces as molded by QAC, so it can easily be shipped or hauled. If interested, contact me - Bud Starnes at (812) 985-2527 (Southern IN) or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


FOR SALE: TRI-Q200 completely built, swing away mount, some instruments, some surfacing work to do before paint, controls, wheels and brakes in, strobes, prop extension, pictures in Q-TALK. $8500. Call Bill Bertrand (517) 539-3333 evenings - MI


FOR SALE: Precision Propellers three-blade prop with leading-edge protection. 24" blades. Right-hand (I need LEFT-hand prop, hence the sale). Brand-spanking new. Never even mounted. $200. Alan (510) 582-7274 - CA


WANTED: TRI-Q conversion kit. Contact Bruce via email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


FOR SALE: THUNDER QUICKIE - 1835cc VW, 345 TT, electric start, 5" wheels & hydraulic brakes, new paint, $6000 OBO. Must sell. Jon Finley (612) 888-3093 - MN


FOR SALE: Quickie Q2. Flown twice. Crashed once. Entire airframe. Contact Ralph (715) 834-3838 - WI


FOR SALE: Q2, 75 hp Revmaster, 135TT, beautiful paint, leather interior, basic instruments, no radios. $7000. Pat (520) 760-1939, Phoenix, AZ


FOR SALE: Q-2, 0 time Revmaster, on the gear, controls installed, surfaces all built, tail feathers removed for storage. Includes a 16' dually trailer to carry home. $6500 OBO. (512) 855-3801 - TX


FOR SALE: Q-1 20 hp Onan, 180 hrs TT, runs good, $3500. Need to sell, have a Pietenpol that needs finishing. Call Arden Krueger (717) 842-9055 or write H8734 C.T.H. Q, Wausau, WI 54403


FOR SALE: Due to stroke I have to sell my Q2, 95% complete. Revmaster 2100D engine, tricycle landing gear, carbon fiber spars, most instruments, quality workmanship. Best offer Jim (847) 945-8099. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - IL


WANTED: Canard center section for experimentation. BL00 to BL50, one or both sides. Contact Al Kittleson, 76E Hidden Valley Rd., Denton, TX 76208 (940) 321-8798 - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


FOR SALE: Personal factors force parting out of my MKII Dragonfly. Will sell many components like FW forward including great 2180 VW (110 SMOH), avionics, instruments, etc. Contact Nathan Rambo (805) 482-3702. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for details and listing.


FOR SALE: Q2 project firewall aft - no engine. LS-1 canard, wings, rudder and gas tanks built. $3K. Don Manak (414) 862-9803 - WI


WANTED: GSC SYSTEM PROPELLER. In need of a single blade from a three-blade 48-inch GSC Tech III prop. This should be without the leading edge protector. The blade reference number is 610. Don Johnson, UK, Tel. 01203-542456


FOR SALE: Q200 project, two fuselage kits, carbon spars, foam, glass, epoxy, - everything needed for airframe. Dick Sanders (402) 371-4227 FAX or Voice. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 2209 Sunset, Norfolk, NE 68701


FOR SALE: Q-1, 22.5 hp Onan, 128 hrs. 205 landings, cruises at 3200 rpm - 115 mph. Large 12" wheels, fuel consumption 1 gal/hr at cruise setting. Thermister sensor fuel gauge. Interested? Call Ted (315) 896-2004 after 9 p.m. EST - NY


You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #67 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.

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