Two piece wire landing gears

I have a question about the 2 piece wire landing gears supplied with Brodak and SIG profile kits.I can't seem to be able to get them tight. On my most recent attempt I drilled a 3/8 hole and installed a hardwood dowl rod insert to fit the top of the gear into. I placed the nylon brackets where indicated and the gear still wiggles back and forth. Should I be putting epoxy around the gear where it plugs into the fuselage?

Greg,

When you mounted the landing gear on the airplane, did you push the two ends into a "joiner" that you installed in the dowl? The 'landing gear joiner' is a piece of brass or copper that has an inside diameter of 1/8" and is just about 1/2" long.

Look around in the parts bag and you'll see what I mean. That is the little item that keeps the gear tight. I personally make my own out of copper, as it is stronger.

Good luck and that should help.

I never have any trouble with the two piece wire gear on any of my Brodak kits, I throw it in a box of spare wire & use bolt on aluminum gear from Sig or Windy.
Nils

>I have a question about the
>2 piece wire landing gears
>supplied with Brodak and SIG
>profile kits.I can't seem to
>be able to get them
>tight. On my most recent
>attempt I drilled a 3/8
>hole and installed a hardwood
>dowl rod insert to fit
>the top of the gear
>into. I placed the nylon
>brackets where indicated and the
>gear still wiggles back and
>forth. Should I be putting
>epoxy around the gear where
>it plugs into the fuselage?

Using a brass tube helps, but only a little. I recommend instead of using one hole, with the gear meeting in the middle, make 2 holes side-by-side, and make the gear go all the way through to the other side.

A still better solution is to buy some aluminum gear.

Sounds like the gear that comes with a Twister.. I carry the bottom motor mount all the way back to the wing and put the joiner in a press fit hole drilled in the motor mount. Never had one come loose, wobble or break and it gives added stringth to the nose.

One little trick is to relieve the bottom of the joiner so the wire will lay flush up against the plywood. a hammer works also

I gotta go with Nils on this one! The aluminum legs keep the wheels pointed the right direction, and that lets them ROLL, as they should. This prevents rapid slowing and nosing over. Steve

Greg --

I just fought this problem last weekend. Yeah, you gotta use that little piece of brass or copper tubing as a starting point. I used brass because I had a long enough piece I could eyeball it to make sure my hole was square with the wing and fuselage (I don't have a drill press).

Not knowing exactly what I was doing, I made this up as I went along. I would say it is much like learning to play the violin in public!

Once I got a hole that aligned well on all three axis, I cut the tube a couple of thousandths short of the fuselage width and epoxied it in.

Step two was the gear itself. The two legs that meet in the fuselage are too long. Grind them down so they just kiss in the middle of the tube.

Step three is turn on the Discovery channel, get out a file, and make the inside corners of the gear itself (where the gear enters the tube) SQUARE. As you file and watch animals slaughtered, you start to file like a madman and the process becomes easier. It is not as laborious as it sounds.

Once the pieces just kiss and the inside corners of the gear are square, the gear will hug the fuselage top to bottom. Then the brackets hold it in place with nary a wobble!

Well, it might be easier to just "woller out" the tubing instead of filing the gear, but seems to me like that area of support is a little light as is. I decided to file the gear. Don't know that is right, it is just what I did.

Instead of the brass gear joiner tube, I use a 3/16x.026 stainless steel tube from K&S Engineering (stock# 7113). The inside diameter of 1/8" gives a snug fit for standard 1/8" wire gear. So far I have not had any problems with the tube bending or wallowing out in hard landings.

M. --

Stainless Steel sounds like a winner! Didn't know we could buy it. Great tip!