Recent Posts

21

Briggs and Stratton V-twin / Re: Dealing with Ace Aviation

« Last post by alanAK on May 25, 2026, 10:25:13 AM »

Good to hear that ACE is going to have a outlet in America.  They needed to make some changes and this looks to be a good one.

22

Briggs and Stratton V-twin / Re: Dealing with Ace Aviation

« Last post by rv7charlie on May 23, 2026, 12:43:42 PM »

Thought I'd update this thread a bit. Ace now has a USA distributor; AceRedrives.com. Here is the announcement posted on the Homebuiltairplanes forum. This is the same company that's now marketing a couple of other ultralite designs, and 'word on the web' is that he's a standup guy. I just today ordered a drive for the Briggs V-twin, and within minutes he had emailed me with an *estimated* time to get his 1st shipment in stock. Price was the same as has been shown for the overseas orders, and it's coming with free shipping. 

It will likely be at least a month before I can expect delivery so I can't offer anything more than tentative info right now, but I'll continue to update if/as things progress. 

Charlie
LE XL in progress

23

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings (take two)

« Last post by Brock on May 21, 2026, 05:12:16 PM »

With the nose ribs all cut (except for some I hope to print) there was no longer any reason to delay working on the second wing.  So work I did.  Got it all assembled for trial rib fit and the gussets are all marked up where they need to be cut for things like compression ribs.  Sure is easy the second time around with most of the sub assemblies already finished. 

I better get on the phone and order that Oratex.

24

Briggs and Stratton V-twin / Re: Comparsion of various engines available for the Legal Eagle UL and XL

« Last post by rv7charlie on May 21, 2026, 07:37:45 AM »

Reviving this thread in an attempt to keep relavent info in one place. 
@leshoman, Could you expand a bit on the rather large weight difference (~60 lbs) between the 23HP 'small block' and the 35HP 'big block', if both are equipped with flywheels and starters? Multiple sources are showing the core engine weights as being only about 20 or lbs apart, IIRC. I know the stronger reduction drive will likely be a couple of extra lbs & maybe a few more for the bigger flywheel, but would like some more insight on where the rest of that ~30 lbs is coming from. We've got an XL build in progress and would like to use the larger engine, but don't really want to end up with 4cyl VW-level weight on the nose. ;-) Thanks for any additional info you can share.

25

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

« Last post by pappyadkins on May 21, 2026, 06:38:21 AM »

I agree... wish I had my printer back then... love this idea....

26

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

« Last post by Kamcoman77 on May 20, 2026, 07:25:04 PM »

Nice looking jig!

27

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

« Last post by Brock on May 20, 2026, 07:19:45 PM »

My nose ribs were not as carefully made and none of the holes lined up so I needed to remake them else have a different solution.  Here is what I printed up to hold the ribs for cutting.

The print had another hour to go but I got impatient and pulled it out early.  It was fine this way.

28

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

« Last post by Kamcoman77 on May 18, 2026, 09:54:06 PM »

I made my nose rib notch jig from some scrap plywood. Ran the ribs through my table saw three or four times to get the 5/16" wide by 5/8" deep notch.

29

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings (nose ribs)

« Last post by Brock on May 18, 2026, 08:42:21 PM »

These nose ribs that I have were 1/8" too long.  So I cut them down.  But cutting squarly the ends of a hoop is a bit of a challenge.  3D printing to the rescue.  I made this jig to help guide each rib through the table saw.  Now they are all exactly the same length, and the length that I want.  Next is to draw and print up a jig that will hold them while I cut the stringer notch.

While I'm talk'n about 3D.  I did a  T88 glue test with the LW-PLA test cube.  T88 stuck to that foamy surface better than nails.  I eventually destroyed the cube and it was still stuck.  Too bad PLA can't stand the heat of sitting on the dash of my car (measured 153 degree today).  This is my test standard.  The PETG test sample did just fine but that is not yet made in foaming formula (LW-PETG).  So I have some LW-ASA on order to test out.

30

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

« Last post by Kamcoman77 on May 16, 2026, 02:35:07 PM »

Your printed nose rib looks great, but looks like it could be half as thick on the inside. The bottom piece is probably not even needed considering how stiff the arch portion is. I used aircraft grade 1/4" ply for my end nose ribs and 1/4" "hobby ply" (Midwest brand) for the interior ribs. I used 1" wide extruded foam with a crosspiece for my added ribs. After mockup, I decided that I only needed one foam rib between the ply ribs, except for the outer bay where I used two foam ribs. I used 1" thick foam because I wanted more support for the 0.8mm nose ply. Used T-88 for all joints. The nose section on my 1st wing feels very strong.