Boeing Nose Wheel Tiller

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Something I decided to get around to doing is building a nose wheel tiller for my 727.

I used 7/8" aluminum tubing, 1" steel core flexible electrical conduit, a steel 2-1/2" cap, and a plastic cap from a car wash bottle for the center.

I used two pieces of the 7/8" tubing for the wheel struts and collapsed them in a vise so they were the same thickness as the sidewall of the steel center hub.

The struts are fitted into cut opening in the conduit and the center cap is simply JB Welded to the struts.

The conduit ends are 1" vacuume bypass caps with the rounded end cut off and JB Welded to the ends of the conduit.

I still have some sanding and filling and sanding to do to smooth the joints between the struts, wheel, and hub, but it's coming along.

I'm ordering a shaft collar and a Delrin bushing to go through the sidewall from McMaster-Carr in the morning. Electrical will be a 100mm slide pot hooked to the Bodnar card programmed using FSUIPC.

I'll post a few more after priming. It ain't Boeing but it'll cost less than $20 to build.

[when acting as a wave]

Ingenious!

[Sean]

Ingenious!

Indeed. Excellent job.

[XOrionFE]

Very cool Michael!

[Trevor Hale]

Fantastic!  Mike, this just goes to show each of us that with a little thought, anything is possible.

Great work.

[jackpilot]

Hey Michael, I am pretty sure that (same for me) when you browse in any hardware store , or any store really, your mind is in constant alert about the conversion/use/adaptation potential of anything you see into a sim part!


Good job.

[Boeing Skunk Works]

I used to be terrible in hardware stores. I was always being asked if I needed help finding something.

I'd tell them I didn't know what I was looking for but I'd know when I found it.

Thanks guys.

[Maurice]

Very ingenious solution and very well done. Bravo!

Maurice

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Finished with the major sanding and filling tonight and then shot three coats of primer. I'll wet sand with 600 and then fill imperfections, sand and primer, and sand again up to 800 before painting with acrylic lacquer.

[XOrionFE]

 

Outrageous!  That is incredible looking.   

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Thanks! I hope to have a few coats of paint on it by tonight.

Does anyone know the orientation of this wheel when it's in the neutral position? Photos are hard to find showing this. Most just shoot the instrument panel and forget about the rest of the cockpit.

[Trevor Hale]

Hey Mike..  Depending on the shape of your sidewall.. I have seen it in many aircraft the same way Rene, has his.

 

I believe this to be correct. When you are sitting there, it should be a natural feel to grab at the neutral position.

Trev

[Trevor Hale]

I personally found the Horizontal positioned tillers more comfortable to operate then the vertical ones..  But that is just my opinion.

Trev

[Boeing Skunk Works]

I saw that right after I posted my message.

My sidewall has the dished recessed area for the wheel.

Rene's looks correct to me as I do recall seeing it inthis position in more that one 737.

[andarlite]

Here's a photo of it in a 727:



Regards,
Henry

Thanks! I hope to have a few coats of paint on it by tonight.

Does anyone know the orientation of this wheel when it's in the neutral position? Photos are hard to find showing this. Most just shoot the instrument panel and forget about the rest of the cockpit.

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Thanks Henry, that's perfect. And the pointer is on the inside of the spokes instead of outside in the 727. 

[philb737]

Wow!   Excellent job Mike.

[brissydave]

Thank god...the art of home build is not dead.

Awesome Micheal

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Thanks Dave. I shot three coats of paint last night after a first sand, touch up with body glaze, and re-prime & sand.

I'm going to shoot clear coat this morning and again this afternoon and then wet sand with 1000, 1500, & 2000 and then start polishing.

[Trevor Hale]

This is where I can see someone with body shop skills would come in handy.  I wouldn't know how to get a shiny paint job if my life depended on it.  Great stuff Mike.

Trev

[Boeing Skunk Works]

It's not so much the body shop skills, though that can definitely help. It's more of having an eye and a feel of the object to know when it's ready for paint. The smoother the surface the less work you'll have to do. In some cases all the paint and clear coat in the world won't help a bad prep job.

I've never shot any paint that will lay perfectly, absolutely level unless yo shoot it heavy enough that it takes days to dry. And that's bad, because the top surface flashes and cures off faster than the underlying coating and can cause problems bad enough to have to strip it and start again because the underlying layers are still gassing out.

These photos show three coats of black acrylic lacquer and six coats of clear coat on the tiller. I'll shoot three more coats tomorrow morning and start wet sanding and then polishing Tuesday morning.

When it's finished it will look like it's been dipped as Boeing specifies.

You can see the roughness of the paint in the photos. You can see a good reflection in the clear coat, but it's not smooth like a mirror. That's where the multiple coats of clear and the wet sanding come in. You have to shoot enough clear coat so that when you start wet sanding you don't sand through to the finish.

By the time you're ready for polish you may have sanded through four or more coats of the clear. You will still have plenty of clear before you get to the color coat if you shoot enough clear.

You wet sand the finish to level the surface of the clear coat. This is where a lot of your gloss comes in, just by leveling the surface so the light is not scattered by imperfections in the clear coat.

Once the wet sanding is finished, polishing starts with a scratch remover, then a good polish which is finer than the scratch remover. This really brings up the gloss, and you top it off with a good coat of protective paste wax.

[Trevor Hale]

OMG.. Thanks so much Mike for the tutorial.  Man, I can;t wait to try this formula on my next paint job.  By the way.. your tiller looks amazing.

Trev

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Thanks Trevor, it was a lot cheaper than anything out there in builder's land even though the grip isn't quite spec. I'll be adding the pointer after the finish work is done.

If you have any painting questions just drop me a PM. I'd be glad to help you out and anyone else that is having fits over a good paint finish.

I post a thread on building a tiller and now they're coming out of the woodwork. 

[Trevor Hale]

LOL. I am sure it was much cheaper then a purchased solution, but even if it isn't 100% spec, it is frigging amazing. 

Thanks, I may take you up on that PM offer depending on what I end up painting next.

Best regards,

Trev

[jackpilot]

Question, as I will get a tiller from Nick shortly.

What is behind it? Could we have a tutorial here.

Hooking a pot and interfacing is no brainer, but I mean, the mechanical side of it, in order to get the proper feeling.