flat sheet cowl?

[Ray36048]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

Explain what you mean about stressing the nose bowl.

[bashibazouk]

Re: flat sheet cowl?



Not sure if you can see where I drew the arrows, but there are cracks in my nosebowl from the flat bottom cowl piece forcing the bend in the nosebowl past where it ought to be. If the bottom cowl was dished as it should be, it would not stress the nosebowl and my repair would not have re-cracked.

Lesson learnt.

Josh

[Bird]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

The bc cowl is closed and I guess I better start driving around and asking who might be willing to do this

[Bird]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

Also 1 other thing, back in the early 80's I worked for Piper Aircraft and got a chance to see how they formed the cowls there.
The sheet was precut then thrown into a freezer (no I don't know why) then placed on a real hard rubber buck then they beat the crap outa them to the right shape, makes me wish that I could have seen more of the process.
I do remember that the alum. had to be super cold, the workers wore thick gloves and some type of chaps as they pretty much sat on them almost like a mechanical bull.

[Hal]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

The bc cowl is closed and I guess I better start driving around and asking who might be willing to do this

Mine is dinged and patched, so I would like to get a new one. Do you need one also? I was hoping that it could be fabricated from a flat sheet but I guess that is not a solution.
Hal

[Robert Lees]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

I'm interested in this thread, to see how things progress.

I had the compound curves of my new lower cowl (and nosebowl) made from scratch by a local car-body builder. They used my old lower cowl as a former to judge the curves. The flattened the louvres & rear lip to make a snug fit. All the wheeling was done freehand, but in two pieces, then welded down the long axis. Everything was made an inch or two wider/longer than necessary so that I could do the final fitting myself:



Here you can see the old cowl (on the left) which was used as the pattern:






Full details on my site here.

[Bird]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

Robert, that site you have is fantastic. I'm gonna have to copy every picture there for reference.
Mike

[bashibazouk]

Re: flat sheet cowl?

I'm interested in this thread, to see how things progress.

I had the compound curves of my new lower cowl (and nosebowl) made from scratch by a local car-body builder.

Oh to live in a place where there are such folk. I guess there's a reason why we here in the Colonies call it an "English Wheel."

Beautiful site and really helpful stuff, Robert. Thanks!

Josh