This weekend saw a bunch of “non-F-15” work done in the shop. I spent Saturday working on the PrintNC project – I bought some “pcnpro” parts that consist of machined aluminum parts for the X & Y roller assemblies. I also previously purchased some replacements for the X & Y roller steel that weren’t cut as square as they needed to be.
In my rush to get the new parts marked & drilled, I got my X & Y axes mixed up and drilled the wrong holes in the X axis roller beam. (That’s a 90mm long bit of 3×2″ steel box beam.), so I had to cut a new one. In order to do that, I had to unbox and set up the new horizontal band saw that I bought. That was originally purchased in order to make parts that I needed for the new canopy hinge support. It took me a while to get the thing dialed in – I’ve never used a metal cutting bandsaw before. It started out making pretty bad cuts – thicker on the bottom than on the top. I sped up the blade and adjusted the force applied so that it cut slower. I got a good enough result after a few iterations that I was able to cut a new bit of steel for the X axis roller beam part. All three parts (2 Y axis roller beams and the 1 X axis roller beam) have been drilled, tapped, and painted. I’m waiting for some new fasteners to show up so I can install them. The “supplied” fasteners are socket head cap screws, and button head screws should really be used to mount them to the HGR carriages. There will be a rant about this when I do the “post mortem” video of the mechanical assembly.
I ordered a 14″ diameter Lazy Susan bearing today in order to build a multi-use platform. The first use will be to support the ACES II Ejection seat while I work on it. I’ve got it up on my main work table so having it on a Lazy Susan will make it easier to work on, and it won’t scratch the shit out of the table when I move it. 🙂
As to the ejection seat, it’s been positively identified as some kind of training device. I got some great feedback from an employee of the company that manufactures them. The number of real components leads the individual to believe that it was originally designed as some kind of procedures trainer for pilots. Investigation of its origins are still ongoing.
I’m going to try to update this site with weekly updates. We’ll see how well that works. 🙂
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Kirk on 11.14.2023
Haven’t dropped in for a while, but really glad to see this still moving forward. Hope the seat is installed by now! 🙂
Anna Breck on 11.21.2023
Hello Gene 🙂
My name is Anna and i am currently working on an application of DeepDriving to autonomous flying. I chose the F15 and had planned on making the algorithm determine flight paths, stay on path, react to attacks, and targeting and dropping payloads. Im wondering if you could give me any information regarding the software/environment you use, or if you could share any simulator data you have. Im looking to get the most accurate data possible to modify the machine learning algorithm to preform missions as accurately as possible. My email is breck061@umn.edu and i would appreciate any advice you could give me.
thank you so much,
Anna
Niels on 02.04.2024
Hey Gene,
found your project when I was searching for references for a simulator project, cool stuff! I had some questions regarding the flight control linkages, but can not seem to find an impressum to send you an email – if you see this, could you drop me a mail? Thanks!
Haley Tanner on 03.25.2024
I have been catching up on this blog and the old blogs all day today! SO COOL. Glad that you’re still working on it. I am the great niece of the pilot who unfortunately was involved in this crash of this jet at the air show . Glad to see it in good hands.