Nose Wheel Fairing

[UnPossible]

Hey - does anyone have a great method for making sure that the nose wheel fairing is straight along it's whole length before you drill the mounting holes?

I've thought about suspending a weight in a couple of different places and then measuring to make sure the distance from the string is the same on both sides.

Did anyone use a different method that worked well?

Thanks!

[UnPossible]

To be a bit more specific, I am working on the gear leg fairing... the nose wheel pant is already in place.

[wirejock]

I used a laser aligned to the centerline drawn on the floor and belly. Lined up the centerline of the tire first. Then the pant mounted in the jig. Photo is the side view. The jig has a center line on either end. Simple to match the lines to the line on the floor. Laser was set up pointed forward and the leg fairing aft seam aligned to the laser.
Article will be published in Kitplanes soon.

[UnPossible]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I am working on the nose wheel gear fairing - the nose wheel pant is already installed and flying without any yaw issues.

Thanks!

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by UnPossible

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I am working on the nose wheel gear fairing - the nose wheel pant is already installed and flying without any yaw issues.

Thanks!

That was in my post. Point the laser from tail forward aligned to centerline. Install the leg fairing with the aft seam aligned to the laser.

[BobTurner]

Originally Posted by wirejock

That was in my post. Point the laser from tail forward aligned to centerline. Install the leg fairing with the aft seam aligned to the laser.

Larry, not to correct your post, but I think he doesn't get that your laser can send a beam of light up and down at an angle once it's pointed correctly.

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by BobTurner

Larry, not to correct your post, but I think he doesn't get that your laser can send a beam of light up and down at an angle once it's pointed correctly.

Maybe. Mine shoots a set if crosshairs almost 180 each way as well a a spot stright up. Makes it really easy to align. Veey useful tool.

[Bill Boyd]

I think I see what Jason wants to do. The welded tabs on the nose gear leg don't allow for any alignment adjustment, so I was content to clamp the fairing in place and drill through to the mounting holes you can see through the fiberglass. There is a possibility of locking in a certain trailing edge wave if the part is not straight during the process. I don't recall for certain, but I believe I had the piano hinge sections mounted at the trailing edge by the time I did the drilling to the mounting tabs, which pretty much sets the waviness or lack thereof into place, so be careful to drill and cleo the TE's of the fairing and hinges to a flat bench top as the hinges are mounted.

Another consideration, not cosmetic like this one but aerodynamic, is the actual alignment of the fairing to the slipstream. It would take some creative shimming to adjust this much differently than the factory set of the mounting tabs dictates, but it could be at least attempted. Just like the inboard portions of the main gear legs, the upper nose gear leg is very much in the spiraling slipstream of the prop wash, so whatever the actual angle of slipstream there to the line of flight might be, it is not zero. Lowest drag should be with the fairing aligned somewhat to the right of the airplane's flight vector/longitudinal roll axis. The question is: how much angle to allow for the spiral slipstream effect at level cruise conditions. I would suggest that this is an experimentally derived value, and if we aren't tufting, we really don't know. I imagine every leg fairing installation could stand to be better optimized in this way - but I for one have not bothered to try it.