Pietenpol-List: Pietenpol wing struts from old lightplane struts.
Posted: Fri May 25, 2001 3:14 pm
Original Posted By: KGardner(at)odu.edu
Hello group,For what it's worth, almost all of the Pietenpols I have seen and flown in these parts (central Alberta, Canada) have wing struts made from salvaged Cub, Aeronca, Taylorcraft, etc. airplanes.These struts were made of mild steel streamline tubing and typically were longer than Pietenpol lift struts. If one was lucky enough to find one with damage close to either end, it was easy to fashion a perfectly good strut for a Piet.I used Aeronca (Champ or Chief) front struts for my front struts and Taylorcraft rear struts for my rear struts. I did not use any of the original strut ends, but fashioned new ones similar to those on the Pietenpol plans.The center section/cabane struts are made from Aeronca(Champ or Chief) rear lift strut material and I incorporated jury struts at approximately the mid point of the lift struts. It was not possible to fit them at exactly the mid point of the lift struts because of the location of the welded-in bushing found on Aeronca struts, but possibly this isn't a bad thing because it just might (I'm guessing here) discourage the development of a harmonic vibration. In any case, the struts and the cross bra-cing cables don't seem to vibrate at any engine speed on my Piet, giving the comforting impression of a good solid setup.In my opinion, jury struts are essential. I have flown Piets with-out them, and strut vibration was apparent. One of these a/c had a one-piece wing and the other had the 3-piece arrange-ment. As Jack Phillips recently stated, the possibility of buck-ling a strut under negative g conditions is real, and jury strutsare definitely recommended (Don't leave the ground withoutthem!). Getting back to the strut material, 4130 sreamlined tubing isfine if you can afford it, but not essential. If mild steel was OK for Cubs, etc., it should be fine for the Pietenpol. The only catchtoday is finding discarded struts from these airplanes; when Ibuilt my Piet, there were quite a few in hangar lofts (sometimesavailable for $0.00). Good luck!Cheers,Graham Hansen Pietenpol CF-AUN________________________________________________________________________________
Hello group,For what it's worth, almost all of the Pietenpols I have seen and flown in these parts (central Alberta, Canada) have wing struts made from salvaged Cub, Aeronca, Taylorcraft, etc. airplanes.These struts were made of mild steel streamline tubing and typically were longer than Pietenpol lift struts. If one was lucky enough to find one with damage close to either end, it was easy to fashion a perfectly good strut for a Piet.I used Aeronca (Champ or Chief) front struts for my front struts and Taylorcraft rear struts for my rear struts. I did not use any of the original strut ends, but fashioned new ones similar to those on the Pietenpol plans.The center section/cabane struts are made from Aeronca(Champ or Chief) rear lift strut material and I incorporated jury struts at approximately the mid point of the lift struts. It was not possible to fit them at exactly the mid point of the lift struts because of the location of the welded-in bushing found on Aeronca struts, but possibly this isn't a bad thing because it just might (I'm guessing here) discourage the development of a harmonic vibration. In any case, the struts and the cross bra-cing cables don't seem to vibrate at any engine speed on my Piet, giving the comforting impression of a good solid setup.In my opinion, jury struts are essential. I have flown Piets with-out them, and strut vibration was apparent. One of these a/c had a one-piece wing and the other had the 3-piece arrange-ment. As Jack Phillips recently stated, the possibility of buck-ling a strut under negative g conditions is real, and jury strutsare definitely recommended (Don't leave the ground withoutthem!). Getting back to the strut material, 4130 sreamlined tubing isfine if you can afford it, but not essential. If mild steel was OK for Cubs, etc., it should be fine for the Pietenpol. The only catchtoday is finding discarded struts from these airplanes; when Ibuilt my Piet, there were quite a few in hangar lofts (sometimesavailable for $0.00). Good luck!Cheers,Graham Hansen Pietenpol CF-AUN________________________________________________________________________________