Ed, the OD on the rear planet ring gear is exactly 5 inches
so cleaning up your tube should work.
However the bearing is 130 MM or 5.118 OD so we will need to
sleeve the ring gear with .118 thick sleeve. The tubing will need
to be bored to 5.118 ID dimension about 5 inches deep.
The set screws going through the sleeve into shallow recesses in
the ring gear. This is for the rear planet set and 3.12:1.
For the 2.85:1 front planet version the sleeve would be somewhat
thicker.

The shafts in the front planet will need to be EDM'ed out to .375.

I have a 2.85:1 front planet carrier in stock. Do you want me to put
that in the EDM shop? It will cost around $150,


Paul Lamar



Guys, is the plan here to make an adapter that will use the stock bell
housing with the tube adapter?
I have my old engine/ mount/ nose gear on my plane at this point because
I wanted to use the retractable gear, and its already mounted to the
engine mount.

I am watching in earnest about the PCM and PSRU, as these are my biggest
worries. My Continental has 2 bad cylinders, and to replace these will
cost as much as a new 20B. So at this point my plan is to assemble an
engine and PSRU for this plane and switch them out.

So, are we planning to use this design to permit use of the stock
bell housing on the rotary?

Kevin Alderman

This is an experimental design. It has not run yet let alone flown.
Ed and I are building two. Yes this version does use the stock auto
tranny bell housing but it is just as easy to build one for the
motor plate. Minor changes. It is just matter of where you weld on
the flange.
The guts from the planet carrier back is the same as Tracy's unit
but the prop shaft is of different design using recently available
thin section ceramic bearings. No convential SAE prop flange is
used. It uses
a new, more or less, standard design that Sensenich and others are
now using that has ground adjustable pitch.

What kind of airplane is that Kevin?

Paul Lamar




Its a wheeler express. Very similar to a Lancair ES.

It will look similar to this one when finished. Notice the cruciform
tail. Many builders change to the standard conventional placement for
the horizontal stab, but in keeping with my personality of being waaay
different, I am going to leave it.

Modifications to date include: Retractable gear. Yep, have taken the
gear off of my old Viking and will incorporate them into the wings of
the new plane. Anyone here familiar with the viking will know that the
wheels fold forward on the viking- kind of unique for small planes. Old
bombers folded the wheels forward into the engine cowling, but the wings
are too thin on small planes. As a result when flying the wheels stuck
out about 5 inches below the wings when retracted. I am turning the
wheels 90 deg so that they will fold up toward the fuselage like others.

Its a challenge, but it will be worth it in the end I think.

Kevin Alderman