| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
The following was posted to the KIS mailing list by Robert Reed, posted here by permission If you will check my web site http://robertr237.virtualave.net/ in the section on construction photos you will find a section showing Dave Tate's construction progress. One of the photos shows the box and installation of the combination halogen driving / fog lights from PILOT. The model number is PL-1068BC. These should be excellent choices for both taxi and landing operations with the capability to use both during landing operations and the fog only for taxi operations. They really look good too. We are really lucky to be doing this now since the available choices for these compact high output lights are limitless. They come in all shapes and sizes with the one common element being the use of 55 watt halogen bulbs that give tremendous candle power. There are a number of specialty auto suppliers which offer a full selection with PILOT and PIAA being two of the most widely used brands. (PIAA seems to produce the most varied selection but are a bit expensive.) As to your question on the Driving vs Fog Light selection, The driving or spots would be a much better choice for the "Landing" lights while the fog lights would be better for taxi operations. The combination will give great coverage during landing then cut the driving lights while you taxi. Bob Reed, KIS Cruiser #4044 in progress....I GOT WINGS NOW! Well, I got wing parts anyway. http://robertr237.virtualave.net/ | ||
| Larry Hoppe |
A similar type lighting technique is explained at http://www.teleport.com/~peweston/AppendixOne.htm | ||
| Tom Hutchison |
I have seen Pat Weston's lights first hand when I was deciding between the Lancair ES and the Express. They look great. I am waiting for a report of operating temperatures and real world light output before I decide to follow his lead. Pat has a ways to go before flying. He promised to test the temperatures the lights produce soon. If I hear anything I'll post it. Tom | ||
| Tom Hutchison |
The following two messages were posted on the KIS builder's list. They describe a material called "calibrated wax" and a technique for building flanges for leading edge landing lights Posted by permission of John Petrie Bob...calibrated wax can be purchased from McMaster Carr Compay www.mcmaster.com. About 24 bucks a sheet of 1/8 to make lens flange for a perfect fit with the outer skin. The sheet is about 14 x 24..(sorry it is out in the garage). I think you can order online or give them a ring at the 1800 listed on their web page. The wax is used to make a flange for the leading edge lenses. The wax comes in small sheets and is coated with adhesive on the one side - the sheets also come in different thicknesses. The thickness sheet we are interested in here is the 1/8" sheet. The advantage of using this material in order to create a flange that has an exactly consistent depth is that you can laminate directly onto it and not worry about the BID sticking to it, the wax is pliable, so you can bend it to almost any shape required, yet still maintaining a constant thickness and of course, it is sticky on one side, so you can attach it to almost anything without worrying about it coming off. I recommend using this stuff in two main areas on the plane - Firstly, in the making of flanges - especially the leading edge flanges - because these are the only flanges you HAVE to laminate from the OUTSIDE. All the other flanges, like those for the inspection covers can be done from the inside of the wing skin. The second great usage for the wax is to create an exact and consistent gap around the door openings for your door seals to occupy. Once you know the thickness of your door seals, you can get the corresponding thickness wax, stick it to either the fuselage door flange or the door itself, then smear lots of flox/micro mix to the opposite mating surface (whichever one you didn't apply the wax to) and close the doors - using the latches and hinges as they will be used in the final installation. Once the flox/micro has cured, you then open the doors (probably with some not-so-gentle-persuasion) and you now have an EXACT and CONSISTENT door seal gap. Obviously, all the excess squeeze out material can be cleaned away and the wax removed and trashed. When doing the leading edge lenses, you first need to bond in two ribs between the leading edge and the front spar - the distance between them and their position in the leading edge are pretty much up to you. There is something I need to warn you about here - if these ribs are installed (and that in itself isn't totally necessary), then you will no longer have access down the leading edge of the wing from the wing tip for the aileron push rod, i.e the aileron push rod would have to be installed prior to mounting the wing. For those of you bonding on the wing tips, the wing tip lenses are designed to still give you this access for the pushrod, so don't worry about that. The reason for the leading edge ribs/bulkheads are purely cosmetic. Whether or not you install them, the making of the leading edge flanges is exactly the same: 1. Cut out the amount of leading edge area that you feel gives you enough area for your landing lights to shine through - how far this cutout extends rearwards along the top and the bottom skins is a purely personal choice. I have seen aircraft where the skin is cleared back equally on both the top and the bottom skins, and then there are others that virtually don't remove any of the top skin (I should imagine that this is to prevent the glare of lights affecting the pilots night vision). Anyhow, whatever you choose to do, the skin shouldn't be cleared further back than the leading edge spar. 2. Now that the cutout has been determined, it is time to make the flange - I recommend that you use thin aluminum plate, or anything else that can be bent to take the shape of the leading edge without buckling. Make up 4 plates per wing - one for the rear of the cutout in the top skin, one for the bottom skin, one for the left of the cutout and one for the right. These plates can be about 2" wide and once made are then cleckoed around the perimeter of the landing light cutout in the leading edge allowing for about a 1" overlap into the cutout area and 1" remaining on the wing skin. (I have a photo of this if anyone is interested - I don't think the list would appreciate it if I sent it with this letter) 3. You have now extended the OUTER profile of the leading edge into the cutout area - this new profile former is now the base to which you will apply the wax - on the INSIDE of the aluminum formers. You are now accessing the leading edge cutout from the outside - between the aluminum plates. Apply the wax, allowing it to butt up against the outside edges of the cutout area and cover the entire exposed inside area of the aluminum formers. 4. Now, once the areas of the wing itself to which the flanges will be bonded have been sanded and degreased, you can layup the flanges - 3 ply is plenty, especially considering the strength is in the shape of this flange anyway - you want about an inch of BID to overlap onto the wing skin and about an inch onto the wax. 5. Once all is cured, remove the aluminum formers, peel off the wax and trim the flanges - they only need to be about 1/2" wide - just enough to accommodate the nutplates. You now have a flange which replicates the shape of the leading edge exactly, but is also exactly 1/8" below the outside skin surface, i.e the thickness of the landing light lens. I hope this is all clear.........if not, I will try to explain some more. Of course, there are other materials to use instead of the wax - but it really is the neatest, quickest and most professional material to use. John | ||
| CHARLEY SCOTT |
Thanks John, That sounds like a great idea. Had not heard of the calibrated wax sheets, thanks for sharing your proceedures. Charley | ||
| Roy Howard Davis New member Username: Royhdavis Post Number: 1 Registered: 01-2003 |
J. C. Whitney advertises H3 bulbs in 100 Watt and 130 Watt ratings as well as the normal 55 Watt that is supplied with driving/fog lights. Does anyone have any experience with the higher Wattage bulbs? Too hot to handle? http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=179905&BQ=jcw2 | ||
| Tom R. Hutchison New member Username: Tomhutch Post Number: 110 Registered: 01-2003 |
First let me express my congratulations on your purchase of an Express and joining the Express builder community. Good question you have. I too have been wondering if I could upgrade my JC Whitney Halogen landing lights with the 100 watt H3 bulbs. Gary Markwardt said his halogen landing lights are pretty marginal. I don't know if 100 watt bulbs would produce too much heat. I may buy a couple to experiment since I have my lights ready to install. I have also been looking at the HID (High Intensity Discharge) conversion bulbs for the H3 halogen bulbs. Still pretty expensive at about $400/pair. See: http://www.xtremewhite.com/ORD-Light~bulbs-1-HID~Conversion~Kit-No-6698-1-1-1-1. cfm Tom | ||
| Jim Butler Unregistered guest |
Lopresti Speed Merchants sells a high intensity light that they call the "Boom Beam". It is supposed to have more light output, but create less heat than the usual light. It has a little power supply that would have to mount in the wing tip. It is a little pricey, but if it would give me more light than what I have now, I would consider it. I am not sure it would fit. David Lopresti told me I could return it for a full refund if it turns out that it doesn't fit. Jim Butler | ||
| Allyn Roe Unregistered guest |
We are looking into the HIDs through XeVision (pronounced Zvision), although they are still spendy they are about half the price as Loprestis. They have given us a unit to demo on the Turbine and I will have the results on the Express Website. They do have a unit that may go into the leading edge where the current landing lights are on older kits. However, they will not fit in the new kits because of the Push-Pull tube placement in the leading edge. For the RG we are looking at mounting it on the nose gear strut and we will play with something on the FTs in the near future. Here is the website. http://www.aerovisions.com/HID/ Allyn Roe G.M. EAC |