Date: Fri, 21 Jun 96 10:28:00 PDT From: Brian DeFord Subject: COZY: Chap 17 - Front Seat Console Diminsion Error This week I started installation of the throttle quadrant/center console from chapter 17. The console fits on top of the heat duct that runs between the seats. When I began to look at the drawing of the heat duct/console detail I realized that Nat has made the heat duct 2-1/2 inches wide in chapter 17 but he has us build it 2 inches wide in chapter 6. Well, needless to say, I either read the plans wrong in chapter 6 or these don't match up. The console really needs to be about 2-1/2 wide to accept the throttle quadrant as shown in the plans. Also, for those installing the manual speed brake handle mechanism, it needs to be this dimension. My "remedy" was to taper the console so that it is 2-1/2 inches at the throttle quadrant and 2 inches at the seat back. This still means that I have some of the console hanging out over the side of the heat duct toward the front, so I had to make some foam taper pieces to make for a smooth transition. I got lucky because I am putting in a Lanza speed brake kit and don't need the brake handle. Otherwise I'm not sure if you can taper as I did. I'm sure there are other ways around this as well. I hope this was my error since I haven't seen any other mention of it in the newsletters or from other builders. I know many of us are already past chapter 6 and this can be a problem. Just an FYI - I sat in the plane after everything had cured and it sure seams like a snug fit up front. I've got everything in place - the seat bottoms, center console, side armrests. My posterior isn't TOO wide - 18 inches - but for those with wide loads it's going to be a very tight squeeze! Regards, Brian DeFord, Cozy MK-IV N309B Brian_deford@ccm.ch.intel.com Completed chapters 4-8, 10-12, 15-16 (602) 899-8643 Partially completed chapters 17 and 24 From: "Krasa, Paul" Subject: RE: COZY: Landing gear and trim parts Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 09:20:42 -0400 Roy Grossinger said >I would love if someone who has a flying Cozy send me a >note of whether they would or would not install the nose lift mod or >the >electric trim mod. After a friend of mine installed elec. pitch trim on his Long EZ, it worked so well that I and a friend, who flys Cozy 2122T, retrofitted our aircraft with the elec. trim on both the pitch and roll. My fiend loves the elec. trim, but questions the need for the elec. pitch trim. He says its nice but he doesn't use it on every flight, and I doubt he will use it much after he installs the autopilot which has built-in pitch trim. Paul Krasa Long EZ 214LP !---*---! From: "Dewey Davis" Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 16:54:42 -0400 Subject: Re: COZY: Landing gear and trim parts On Sep 24, 12:38, Steve Campbell wrote: > Subject: RE: COZY: Landing gear and trim parts > On Tue, 24 Sep 1996 11:30:53 -0600 (MDT), > grossinr@rastro.Colorado.EDU wrote... > > I have read through the E-Mail concerning the electric landing gear and > >electric trim. I would love if someone who has a flying Cozy send me a > >note of whether they would or would not install the nose lift mod or the > >electric trim mod. I'm a ways away from installing but would need some > >amo when I talk to my intended significant other. > >ROY > > > >========================================================================== > = > >== > >Roy H. Grossinger- ME grossinr@rastro.colorado.edu > >Cozy Mk IV #503; Chapter 7 ROY_GROSSINGER@Radon-hq.ccmail.compuserve.com > > CU's Go - 4; Hull Layup "A man's destiny is his character" > > > I will be working on these systems this winter and would love to see this > as well. Perhaps you could post it to the group. > Steve > Re Electric Trim..... The plans system certainly works okay but electric trim is better. I think this is probably a good idea for pitch. I hardly ever touch the roll trim, but I adjust pitch trim for takeoff, cruise, and again for landing. These airplanes tend to take a bit longer to trim out in cruise, perhaps because they are slicker than the average spam can. I often can't get the altitude to settle out for hands-off autopilot cruise until I've tweaked the pitch trim for the first 15 minutes or so of cruise flight. Slight adjustments are required to hold a desired cruise altitude, as the airplane picks up slightly more speed. I have also found that any slight cg change, like shifting your feet a little further forward or aft, will require trim adjustment. If you have a passenger that likes to shift around, you'll be retrimming often unless you have a two-axis autopilot. All this only applies if you are doing long cross-country, hands off. You'd never notice the subtle trim changes in a typical day just boring holes in the sky flying the airplane yourself. Roll trim is nearly a set-and-forget operation so electric trim there is a little overkill, in my opinion. I hardly ever touch the roll trim. Just last weekend I began the installation of an electric pitch trim system in my airplane. I should have it ready to fly this weekend. But I have another motive here. I am designing an altitude-hold system. The NAVAID single axis autopilot works great for tracking course. The autopilot automatically compensates for any roll trim changes so you don't see those changes under autopilot anyway. But altitude-hold would be nice for those minor pitch trim adjustments that are needed to compensate for changes in speed, fuel burn, etc. I think I have an approach that should work great, but it needs to drive an electric pitch trim actuator. It should be much, much cheaper than the $1000 option that NAVAID was selling a couple of years ago for altitude hold. But I'll need another few months to finish and flight test it. I'll write more on that when I get it working. Bottom line on electric trim. I think most flyers like it better. Ken Miller has tested a fiberglass leaf spring that attaches to the elevator torque tube to replace the screen door springs that are called out in the plans. He is using a linear actuator, similar to that used in the Velocity (now thats an airplane that NEEDS electric trim in my opinion). The Velocity (and Ken Miller's adaptation for the EZ) all use a 24 VDC actuator in their 12 Volt systems, to slow down the actuator. Otherwise a tiny blip of the trim button causes too much change, and it becomes too difficult to make those fine trim changes needed in cruise. I talked to Robin Dubois who installed the system in his COZY and he likes it a lot. Re Electric noselift......I used to think this was truly extravagant, completely unnecessary, useless added weight. I started building when I was a young lad of 31. Now I'm 43. I have noticed that my airplane is a little heavier to lift these days. I'm beginning to appreciate the advantages of the electric noselift and if I keep flying for as long as some of the oldtimers, I may eventually decide to put it in. I noticed that Vance Atkinson came to that conclusion. So did Jim Evans. Nat puffer seems to handle his Mark IV though, so it certainly is possible to manhandle these machines even after you get to be on old fart. Purely personal preference here. I did some test flights in a COZY for a friend that had one installed. I did enjoy the convenience of the electric noselift. However, on one particularly cold day, I had to land gear up in it, due to a failure in a microswitch and no manual backup system available. I posted that story a while back and it may be in the list archives. Certainly install a manual backup if you go with the electric noselift. Dewey Davis