Recent Posts

51

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.

52

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....

53

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

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

Nice looking jig!

54

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.

55

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.

56

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.

57

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.

58

Brock's bits - LEXLV3 / Re: Wings

« Last post by Brock on May 16, 2026, 02:13:55 PM »

Been moving a bit slow these past few weeks, brain space has been full-up with other things.
Finally decided to get something done and, for now, it's the nose ribs.  I have some basic 1/8" (flimsy) and 1/4" (stout) plywood nose ribs but my reading suggests I need at least one, possibly two, foam ribs in between.  Wanting to play with foaming filament in my 3D printer I decided to see what I can come up with for those intermediate nose ribs.

I imported a picture of of the nose rib (taken from the Ironside drawings) into Shapr3d, traced it, sized it, extruded it, and printed it.  I'm quite happy with the initial results.  Not knowing what to expect I made it 1/2" thick.  It is so stiff I think I'll try 3/8" next go around.  The filament is LW-PLA which poses some problems.  I know PLA on the dash of a hot car does not fair well so I might have to try LW-ASA.  But then my wings will be off white and I doubt that inside the wing nose gets very hot anyway.  The second consideration is glue-ablility.  PLA is hard to glue to but this LW-PLA has a more foam texture so I'm doing a glue test with T88 just to see.  I doubt it will be structural but there are other options to consider.  What have folks been glueing the blue construction foam with?

BTW: this was printed with 3 layer walls and 10% infil.  There is plenty of room to make it lighter.

59

Builders logs / Re: Pappy's LEXL Build in Texas

« Last post by pappyadkins on May 08, 2026, 07:54:28 AM »

Happy Friday... Today, let's look at a trailer for our Eagle...

60

XL / Re: Fuel sample drain

« Last post by Kamcoman77 on May 02, 2026, 06:31:31 PM »

Pistachios always good!