| New note- This mount won't fit
perfectly on the 'Bee as is; it is too narrow. On my machine, I just cut grooves in the
engine rails to allow for the difference. I *think* you could simply make the mount longer
instead, but I haven't looked closely at this idea. Procede at your own risk! Ok, so you want an engine mount for your Bee but you can't seem to find
the mount that Ralph specified on page 83 of the Gyrobee docs. Ralph has the instructions
on how to build one on his site, and I didn't find that out until some time after I had
made these plans, but you could still possibly save yourself a little money if you use my
method of building a mount.
If you want to go that route, the link to the parts list
for Ralph's engine mount is here.
If not, then here's my idea for building a mounting
system which I believe would be operationally identical to the one shown in the
'Bee documentation.
I should say now that I haven't actually built it, nor do
I have any qualifications in the area of aircraft parts building, so it may not work well,
at all, or even be safe. I'd quote Ralph's disclaimer here, but I think you all get the
idea. Use this at your own risk!
Please let me know if you try this idea and how it worked
out. |
|
 | 1/8" 6061-T6 sheet, enough to make 12 pieces at
1.5" wide by 7.75" long. |
| (16) "Rubber Shock Grommet", part number H6150,
found on page #235 of '96-'97 LEAF catalog. |
| (4) AN5-32 bolts. (Drilled) |
| (4) AN4-10A bolts. |
| (56) AN970-5 washers |
| (8) AN960-416 washers |
| (4) AN365-428 elastic nuts |
| (4) AN310-5 castle nuts |
| (4) cotter pins |
| Fabricate the 12 sheet pieces, see the diagram below for
measurements. For the next step, I would clamp them all together one top of another, but
you can do them separately or match-drill from the first if you like. |
| Drill two 1/2" holes, as shown, through all 12
pieces. |
| Drill the 1/4" holes as shown, through 6 of the
pieces only. Again, you might want to match drill the stack of 6. This will complete piece
"A". |
| Now you need to determine the spacing and diameter of your
engine's two sets of right and left bolts. You might want to make a template, and transfer
it over your "B" pieces. Make sure the pattern is centered before you drill. |
| That's about it for the fabrication. The ends of the
pieces are supposed to be radiused as shown, but I don't think it's necessary, other than
avoiding a sharp edge. Of course, finish all holes and edges properly. |
| You've probably figured out that you're going to use 2
stacks of 3 "A" pieces to make 2 single "A" pieces (bolt to engine
rails) and also 2 stacks of 3 for your 2 "B" pieces (Bolt to the engine). Refer
to the diagram on page 83 of the Gyrobee docs for the hardware arrangement. Of course, on
the 'Bee, there's the 2 angle rails and not a tube. |
| For the spacers shown in the 'Bee docs as #40423, you will
use 4 stacks of 12 AN970-5 washers. The remaining washers are placed as shown in the
diagram. |
| It might seem like the bolt going through the spacers and
grommets is too short, but remember that the rubber will compress a lot. |
|
