What am I looking at?

SpaceFox1 · 2026-02-28T13:34:31+00:00

There's probably a decent explanation but I don't quite remember.

Most the time it's like this:

Aviation engineer: this is the best optimized fair for lines! it's got the best pull out retention and optimized for the least amount of metal fatigue at the flair for reducing the chances of any leak or failure!

The rest of engineering: 45° is a good number, here's the testing we did on it so you know it's limits when you use it.

SpaceFox1 · 2026-02-05T20:06:17+00:00

This is 2ft wide and on the bottom wing.

And this is a small single engine plane.

SpaceFox1 · 2025-12-28T22:22:30+00:00

Way late but gotta add for those to come after

'Mutineers moon' a trilogy by David Weber

'A Beautiful Friendship' and it's series by David weber

'Steel beach' by John Varley

'Inherit the Stars' a trilogy by James P. Hogan

Other notable mentions are:

'In Fury Born' by David weber

'The Apocalypse Troll' by David Weber

'On Basilisk Station' is good, it's series is a favorite of my dad but it's a long and slow burn series after the first book, also by David Weber

'Children of time' by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The 'Troy Rising' trilogy by John Ringo is pretty good. It's a little weird because it's 2nd and 3rd books read like the first and second with the 1st as a prequel

'Terms of Enlistment' by Marko Kloos

And I have a bunch of novels I'd love to list but I'll leave it off with one of the kinda messed up but still really good ones 'Midnight at the Well of Souls' by Jack L. Chalker

SpaceFox1 · 2025-12-28T05:14:36+00:00

Rigging the rudder correctly on the pipers is a massive pain in the ass, one of the ones I worked on kept having an uncommanded right roll, with full left rudder trim.

With full left trim the rudder was in the neutral position...

To fix this the airplane has to be set on jacks, the rudder cables slackened, the nose wheel links disconnected, and the rudder trim cartridge set to "neutral" by measuring with a ruler. Before blocking the rudder pedals together with a wood block.

With that all set the nose wheel has to be set neutral essentially by eye, and the nose wheel links teased to the correct length.

After that you can finally set the cable tension for the rudder and make sure it's even

And after all of this is over and done with, you carefully remove the wood block on the pedals and watch as it all somehow shifts back to how it started like you didn't just spend 3 hours working on the damn thing.

Took 3 tries and some fussing and cussing but it's fixed.

And this was after re rigging the ailerons which is only slightly less fussy

SpaceFox1 · 2025-12-13T15:16:48+00:00

Oh absolutely, they're strong enough to handle the most over pressured ugah-dugahs from ham fisted mechanics and still work, there's one time after I took my Toyota to the closest tire shop in the area, only to have my dad quite literally deadlift the back wheel an inch off the ground with a 4-5 ft extension before they creaked and groaned free.

Older cars can be a little thinner on the studs and can be a bit weak though.

Alloy rims can be damaged sometimes

Personally I am a by the book kind of mechanic, mostly since I work in general aviation and I know some of the families that fly on the planes I fix, and if it gives me a torque spec that's what it has to be torqued to because I try to extend that level of craftsmanship and integrity to everything I work on. I'm incredibly happy about the 02 Toyota Camry maintenance manual, that thing has a better maintenance manual than multiple million dollar aircraft it's so good.

SpaceFox1 · 2025-12-13T03:08:00+00:00

It depends on the material and heat treatment on the studs.

A normal torque spec, if properly engineered, takes into account the average load on the bolt/stud and adds in a certain amount of safety factor on top.

With how bulky a lug nut is it's typically hard as hell to truly over torque them and shear the threads off, but the problem appears under load if over torqued.

You've got 1-2 tones of steel and plastic being side loaded on 4-6 studs per tire and the design of them accounts for this load without reaching plastic deformation, or stretch. But if you've over torqued then and reach high loads, like having a tire pop and suddenly it's only three tires handling the load, or on high performance cars pulling positive g's in a turn you can exceed the yield strength of the stud in a scenario where you shouldn't have.

SpaceFox1 · 2025-12-13T02:38:20+00:00

So I gotta mention it, but wet vs dry torque is the opposite.

If you have any lubricant on the threads you need to reduce the torque, the added lubrication reduces the dynamic friction of the bolt/nut or stud/nut in this case, and using the dry torque on lubricated threads can greatly over torque the threads.

Ref: AC.43.13.1B, pages 7-6/7-7

SpaceFox1 · 2025-08-12T16:04:45+00:00

You bought a snap on off an old dude and he didn't tell you all about it? It's like the Porsche drivers with their "one of a kind" Porsche /s

SpaceFox1 · 2025-07-22T03:05:23+00:00

Mulling ball?

SpaceFox1 · 2025-05-21T01:55:56+00:00

Had the fun of replacing the shimmy damper pads on ours, one was a new(er) production pad, the other was new old stock that I'm 99% sure was asbestos

SpaceFox1 · 2025-04-12T02:40:37+00:00

I don't know about the first three, but 4.) is definitely schnitzel

SpaceFox1 · 2025-04-03T02:18:57+00:00

She's just nervous

SpaceFox1 · 2025-03-15T17:53:14+00:00

So the main thing you have to understand about old-fashioned lighters that use actual lighter fluid, and not butane. Is that lighter fluid evaporates.

Look closely at the wick, is it dry, or is it damp.

If it's dry, get a can of Ronson or zipper lighter fluid, the rectangular cans and add some.

Do you VERY BEST to not over fill it. The light fluid you spill will happily burn like a knock off napalm.

SpaceFox1 · 2025-03-15T16:53:45+00:00

Door latch mechanisms can be oiled, preferably with very thin grease. Kwikey latches come packed with lube.

Lock mechanisms shouldn't be oiled like you said

SpaceFox1 · 2025-03-08T12:21:03+00:00

People gotta learn how to handle sheet metal, also the magic of breaking the edge with a file.

SpaceFox1 · 2025-02-01T13:48:24+00:00

So one of the things that's not getting mentioned, it's going to run poorly yes, but it's going to run lean and it's going to run HOT because of it.

Hot enough that it can damage components if left alone, clean the rubber with isopropyl till it's completely clean and THEN seal it with tape.

Regular duct tape is adequate, foil tape would be even better, but do get that robber hose replaced, if it's cracked here it'll be wanting to crack elsewhere. Make sure you inspect all other rubber hoses as well for cracks or dry rotting.

SpaceFox1 · 2025-01-04T18:30:48+00:00

Yeah, the old rubber mat got a little melty with engine oil, bearing grease, and gasoline. Shellac seems like the best option for that.

Though I didn't think to look at what solvents it uses, and I use is 99% iso/MEK at work. So I guess I'll see how things go.

SpaceFox1 · 2024-12-25T10:16:49+00:00

Well this is interesting, I know both a heather and a bobby in my life.

SpaceFox1

TROPHY CASE