ORIGINAL: vmsguy
Hello all,
I was at the airfield Saturday, my plane landed safely, and as it rolled out the nose gear broke.
The nose gear on my bird is your typical bent wire:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD844&P=7
I cut the top to length, and put a 90 degree bend at the bottom where I wanted the wheel.
The break happened right at the bend. I suspected metal fatigue.
I stopped at the LHS yesterday and bought two more. (All they had on hand.)
My idea was to re-cut/bend the new ones so I had a replacement and a spare.
On one of them, the wire broke right at the bend, as I was bending it.
Again, I believe there's trick to bending this material correctly.
I want to apply heat, but I am afraid I'll ruin the metal's temper.
Thoughts?
Lyndon
Lyndon....on that type of thick 5/32" metal you need to heat the wire, so what I described in
my first post won't keep happening. That metal doesn't have the high quality of some of the
other wires.
Flyboy Dave:
"I heat the thick wires because they break sometimes, and even when they don't break
the bent area can crystalize and break later. I don't quench them, rather just let them cool".
If you heat the wire red hot with a propane torch, or a regular welding torch, you will
get a perfect 90 degree bend....and it will not break later....honest.
FBD.
