----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
At 10:12 PM 10/21/01 -0700, you wrote:
>My friend Dave and I were talking the other day about Coup parts. Mainly
the
>fact that at times they are difficult to find used and often the cost of
>replacement from Univair is outrageous.
Excellent Idea, Jimmy.
Dispite nay-sayers, it has been done. The Don Luscombe Foundation has
gotten that bird back in production. They actually looked at the Ercoupe!
IMHO, they did not do the `coupe because of the many extrusions/castings
involved therein. Luscombe's mostly bent up sheet, which they could get
made in Slovakia (or is it the Czech Republic? I can't tell after their
divorse).
Vern had several good picks there. Yes, you have a"Full Machine Shop."
What size is your autoclave? Do you have the sensors to take and record
the temperatures of the parts as they are cooked? I have seen such
things,
and they are Not Small/Take Lots of Electricity/Etc. He also focused on
the
fact that every Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) is different, as
it
every
FAA person one may talk to. And when they argue, you loose!
Like you, I have fulminated against the outrageous prices for Ercoupe
parts.
Again, IMHO, The M in PMA stands for Monopoly. And the government wants
us to think that Bill Gates is bad! In reality, the problem is the
cost/volume
relationship. How costs vary with volume Must Be as well known to
anyone contemplating manufacturing anything as Weight & Balance is to a
person contemplating going flying = insufficient knowledge thereof kills!
Yes,
I took accounting and had to do that stuff.
Basically, the Fixed Costs are such that you have to get a Humongous
amount of money for every piece due to low volume. Of course, Univair, et
al.,
are selling some parts that were made in 1946 and they have just paid
storage the last 55 years...
Now about those wings. I am very familiar with the wing that Vern
mentioned.
It gets its strength from bent sheet, so no extrusions, heat treatment,
and so
on. Why isn't it in production? SOOLF = Stay Out Of Left Field.
Aviation
engineering is a Very Conservative deal. "If it was good enough for Wil
and
Orv, it is good enough for me." Thank Heavens Fred Weick didn't think
that
way! You have probably noted that the `coupe wing is one of the Very Few
that does not use the 'ladder' form of construction. Just contemplating
how
the ribs can be formed from the ordinates of the airfoil is a mathematical
challenge; I did learn how to do it during a drafting course I took. And
a
single spar; not two. A marvel, to be sure.
I do feel that the Ercoupe could be reintroduced - as a completely new
plane. No parts for old. Using modern techniques (lots of composites,
that stir friction weld that I am so interested in). Same shape, same
flying
characteristics, Subaru engine, you get the idea.
Percy (dreaming) in Portland
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