Strengthened landing gear (sheet aluminium)

[charliebrown]

Having cracked the original plastic strut covers on their first landing, I have now finally got around to upgrading them to sheet aluminium.

There are a couple of very similar mods that inspired me:

Strengthening The Main Landing Gear: supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=whls&action=display&thread=2664
Coke-can strut reinforcement: supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=whls&action=display&thread=2501

In my case I butchered an aluminium can. I don't know how thick the material is but I'd call it "paper thin". It's very pliable.



I cut and bent the material to look like the originals:







The leading edge used to be the top of the can and already folded. I folded the trailing edge too to avoid cuts in the future. I have also left some play at the bottom of the covers to let the original gear move around a little (approximately 5mm).

I haven't tested the new strut covers yet but they look sturdy enough. Update to come as soon as I get it in the air.

The white electrical tape that's visible on the battery tray door is a left-over from snow-proofing the Cub. It serves no purpose now.

[Dillzio]

Very nice work! Stronger than the coke can, but not as heavy as the 1.5mm aluminium sheeting. Do they rub on the wheels when they're bent back (like in a landing)? It looks to me like they're longer than they need to be, you can easily shorten them a bit for clearance if you need to.

I have to get around to making some more aluminium landing gear myself for the plane I'm building now, I lost my last one :-( I've still got that same sheet of aluminium I made my last ones from somewhere.

At first I used small cable ties to hold the landing gear to the struts, but they kept breaking. I then moved on to medium cable ties and haven't had a problem since.

[skom80]

hows the landing on it?..is it prone to tearing at the battery box...after awhile my stock take aot of hits like that...??

[charliebrown]

I think they will bend before ripping out the battery box. It's not that stiff.
They don't rub the wheels, but they're close. They match my trimmed originals in that respect.

[charliebrown]

Well I finally got around to try these. And they bend ... Easy to bend back, but hardly good enough to keep them on. I'll try something sturdier next.

[charliebrown]

First set of pictures of the new and improved landing gear. This time I used 1 mm thick aluminium, which worked great! Cut with a hacksaw after an outline from my original plastic set. Less than an hour's work.








The engine cowl has taken quite a beating, but nothing that a roll of electrical tape can't fix.




Nice day for a flight.

[NorCalAirman]

I know it's not much, but how much weight do they add?

[charliebrown]

I don't have the equipment to weigh them but I would guess about 10 grams.

[akbushpilot]

that sure looks good, but does the main wire still bend after a not-so-nice landing?

[charliebrown]

A really hard one, sure, but that's because the alu covers bend the battery box. They don't flex a bit. For a better solution I would make the alu in one piece, connecting the left and right sides. But that requires figuring out another way of getting the battery in there.

[akbushpilot]

You could leave it one piece while going around the battery box.

[akbushpilot]

where did you get the aluminum, i might be able to rig one up.

[akbushpilot]

like so

Attachments:

[charliebrown]

You're absolutely right.

The aluminium was from a scrap piece I found in my parents' garage, but I'm sure any decent hardware store will have it. There's nothing special about it.

[akbushpilot]

k thanks