Did everybody get 4 copies of the coupling IGES drawing? If so I am
sorry but it was not me.
That may have been done by Earthlink They are having a bit of
trouble with their email.
Kevin did you get it?
Paul Lamar
Hi Paul, I got the coupling IGES Dave Macandless in Perth
Just one copy Dave? Earthlink sent me four.
Paul Lamar
I have a copy. I need to print this stuff out and take it to Shaun,
the company is called Tangent in Smyrna TN. I will let you know next
week.
Kevin Alderman
Are you in Tennessee know Kevin?
Here are some pictures of the welded steel version.
It needs to be improved.
Paul Lamar
The auto flex plate with the pressed and tack welded ring gear has
been known to fly apart if the assembly starts to resonate, the flex
plate had the torque converter bolted to the periphery of the
flywheel this helped to negate the problem of resonance, the pressed
plate is only 2mm thick, very light but has caused serious damage to
an aircraft here in NZ.
Andrew Campbell
Yes I know about that. That prompted us to design this coupling.
This design does not relay on the flex plate. The flex plate's only
function is to start the engine. With this design the coupling is
bolted directly to the rear counter weight with six 10 mm socket head
screws. Very solid and a direct connection to the e-shaft.
Tracy bolted his to the flex plate and that failed the flex plate in
several airplanes. Here is the result.
Paul Lamar.
Yes that is fine, but it is still possible for the assembly to start
resonating without any stiffening, I am having a one piece flywheel
machined it will be a little heavier but almost no chance of it
flying apart from resonance. Has anyone looked into using an
engineering plastic for the drive gear on the starter, if this was an
option then the whole flywheel could be machined from an aluminium
alloy, 6061 T6 and the teeth hard anodised could be a candidate.
Andrew Campbell.
That is the function of the rubber blocks. That converts the torsional
vibration to heat. All your going to do is add weight. The stock flex plate
will not break as there is zero load on it once the engine starts.
If we can put 650 HP trough it you can put 100 HP through it.
The rotary does not need a flywheel. The 9 pound rotor and 9 pound counter
weight provide that function.
Paul Lamar
Fair comment, I don't suppose we will ever know for sure what caused John's
ring gear to part company from the flex plate.
Andrew Campbell
Make sure those ring gears are welded good :-)
That is the rim on a 8000 RPM gyroscope and it will come off if you are
doing any maneuvers :-)
Paul Lamar
The flex plate I was thinking of using has only 4 fairly small spot welds
holding the ring gear on, I was not at all happy with this, I can imagine
that John's set up could have been the same. The other problem is that the
teeth are chamfered on the wrong sit to accept a starter that is fitted to
an RX3 bell housing. The starter to fit the RB side plates is hard to come
by here. The machined flywheel will far lighter than the standard manual
job, but will be heavier than the flex plate.
Andrew Campbell.
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