Canard nose pading

All you EZ/Cozy builders what do you put under the nose to protect
the fuselage when it is down? Extra thick paint?

----------------------------------------------------------
Paul Lee, SQ2000 canard project http://www.abri.com/sq2000

On 8 Jan 2004 14:08:50 -0800, (Paul Lee) wrote:

All you EZ/Cozy builders what do you put under the nose to protect
the fuselage when it is down? Extra thick paint?

I think many install a RNPD (Rickles Nose Padding Device). In the
non-aviation world, it's called a "hockey puck." :-)

Ron Wanttaja

(Paul Lee) wrote:

All you EZ/Cozy builders what do you put under the nose to protect
the fuselage when it is down? Extra thick paint?

The Vari-Eze and Long-EZ plans called for using a thick piece of
rubber from a used truck tire carved into a "puck". The Vari-Eze
plans had you screw the puck to a plywood backing via countersunk
holes drilled into the puck and then bond the assembly to the upper
part of the nose gear strut with flox. The Long-EZ plans had you
carve a flange around the tire puck and bond the puck to the fuselage
with 4 layers of BID. A number of Vari-Eze flyers had their bonded
tire pucks work lose and many Vari-Eze flyers subsequently changed the
bonding method and location to that of the Long-EZ plans. A few folks
used a hockey puck but others deemed a hockey puck too hard for good
"grazing position" traction on smooth hard surfaces. One fellow with
a hockey puck bumper had his Long-EZ scoot away after hand propping in
1987. The runaway EZ collided with a C-152. Bad show all around.
His conclusion, "Hockey pucks are designed to slide and it was not
secured to the fuselage properly". I can't give advice one way or
another about hockey pucks because I've never even handled one (born
and raised in Florida). I used a tire puck and installed as per
Long-EZ plans.

David "by the book" O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 01:30:30 GMT, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

:On 8 Jan 2004 14:08:50 -0800, (Paul Lee) wrote:
:
:All you EZ/Cozy builders what do you put under the nose to protect
:the fuselage when it is down? Extra thick paint?
:
:I think many install a RNPD (Rickles Nose Padding Device). In the
:non-aviation world, it's called a "hockey puck." :-)

There are three things to remember as you build it. You want it to
chock the airplane, so if the nose is down with the engine running it
doesn't scoot across the pavement with you in chase. Then, you want
it low drag. And, if you land nose gear up, you want it to survive
long enough that you don't come to a stop without grinding off half
your nose. There is no clear, universally accepted answer.

Hocky pucks are common. Another is a teardrop piece of truck tire
tread. Put down about 8 plies of glass, tapering, then a piece of
phenolic sheet, then the rubber. Drill a lot of little holes in the
back of the rubber, and work some epoxy into them, then lap glass up
on the sides to capture it.

Other people use chunks of stainless or aluminum or wood. One I know,
who's done a couple of nose landings, is putting a wheel from a roller
blade just under the bumper so when it dies it will grind down to his
"alternate gear system."

wrote:

Other people use chunks of stainless or aluminum or wood. One I know,
who's done a couple of nose landings, is putting a wheel from a roller
blade just under the bumper so when it dies it will grind down to his
"alternate gear system."

Geez, it seems like a gear up warning system would be a better option
for your friend. My pitot-actuated Long-EZ gear-up warning system
saved me considerable embarrassment once. Without a gear-up warning
system, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. I decided
one was mandatory for me after an airline pilot builder/flyer I knew
landed his Long-EZ gear-up.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:43:42 -0500, David O
wrote:

:
wrote:
:
:Other people use chunks of stainless or aluminum or wood. One I know,
:who's done a couple of nose landings, is putting a wheel from a roller
:blade just under the bumper so when it dies it will grind down to his
:"alternate gear system."
:
:Geez, it seems like a gear up warning system would be a better option
:for your friend. My pitot-actuated Long-EZ gear-up warning system
:saved me considerable embarrassment once. Without a gear-up warning
:system, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. I decided
ne was mandatory for me after an airline pilot builder/flyer I knew
:landed his Long-EZ gear-up.

I absolutely agree with you on the warning system. For my bird I had
a pic chip custom programmed and a circuit board cut - the inputs
include airspeed, throttle, all three gear down and locked, canopies
both closed AND locked. I've been trying to figure out a good way to
do a squat switch for a couple of years but haven't found one. With
all three gear retracting, a gear up is both embarrassing and
expensive.

But in this case, my understanding is that both the nose landings were
the result of mechanical failure - a stripped gear, and a broken
NG3/4.

From:
Date: 1/8/2004 8:39 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 01:30:30 GMT, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

:On 8 Jan 2004 14:08:50 -0800, (Paul Lee) wrote:
:
:All you EZ/Cozy builders what do you put under the nose to protect
:the fuselage when it is down? Extra thick paint?
:
:I think many install a RNPD (Rickles Nose Padding Device). In the
:non-aviation world, it's called a "hockey puck." :-)

There are three things to remember as you build it. You want it to
chock the airplane, so if the nose is down with the engine running it
doesn't scoot across the pavement with you in chase. Then, you want
it low drag. And, if you land nose gear up, you want it to survive
long enough that you don't come to a stop without grinding off half
your nose. There is no clear, universally accepted answer.

Hocky pucks are common. Another is a teardrop piece of truck tire
tread. Put down about 8 plies of glass, tapering, then a piece of
phenolic sheet, then the rubber. Drill a lot of little holes in the
back of the rubber, and work some epoxy into them, then lap glass up
on the sides to capture it.

Other people use chunks of stainless or aluminum or wood. One I know,
who's done a couple of nose landings, is putting a wheel from a roller
blade just under the bumper so when it dies it will grind down to his
"alternate gear system."


Gotta love them redundant systems.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired