low-drag exhaust pipe support blade

[scsmith]

Taking a que from Brian Decker (BJDECKER), I decided to try to clean up the exhaust pipe support braces while I am working on the cowl exit.

As Brian suggested, I made a blade with elastomeric grommets.

I couldn't find Viton grommets, so I made some. I took a piece of Viton tubing, 3/16" ID, 5/16" OD, and slipped it inside another piece of Viton tubing, 5/16" ID, 9/16" OD. I cut them off 5/16" long and put them on a mandrel to turn a 1/8 wide by 1/16" deep groove.



These were put into a 1" x 1/8" blade in 7/16" holes, and I filed/sanded an airfoil shape onto the blade



This will get installed in between the pipes in place of the short lengths of stainless tubing joined with a length of rubber hose and hose clamps.

I still have to add an angle bracket to hang my sniffle-valve drain tube.

 

[scsmith]

installed

Here are before and after pictures.

The original bracket is standard Vetterman. The extra small pipe is the sniffle-valve drain.

The new bracket is hopefully aligned close enough to the exit flow that it will be at a low angle of attack. If it is stalled, it is probably worse than the original.