Vortilons

Wing Vortilons

Vortilon construction is detailed in the Roncz Canard plans since they are a mandatory addition to the wings if flying the Roncz Canard.  There was a well-known Cozy accident that resulted from a main wing stall due in large measure to the pilot/builder removing the Vortilons before a test flight.  Clearly these little guys are critical to safety of flight when incorporating a Roncz Canard into the configuration.

Now, as far as classification . . . although these are specified & mandated in the Roncz canard plans (canard = Chapter 10), they clearly go on the main wings (wings = Chapter 19).  So I’m adding them here as noteworthy item, albeit I’ll leave this page “chapter-less.”

18 October 2015 Since I had a little bit of pure epoxy left over from glassing the left canard swoosh tip, I grabbed the BID scrap box and a piece of plastic to make a 4-ply BID sheet, of which I would cut out a Vortilon or two.  I laid the 4 plies of BID into a pre-preg setup and poured all the epoxy into the layup.  After heating up the pre-preg with the heat gun it flowed well enough to wet out all the epoxy.  I then put another plate on top of it and weighed it down with my heavy tool bag (pic below).

Vortilon 4-BID layupWeighing down Vortilon 4-BID layup

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19 October 2015 — Since I had used some leftover epoxy yesterday to make a set of Vortilons, today I wrote it into the work plan to finish the set for both wings.  Here’s the 4-ply BID layup for two more sets of Vortilons.

#2 vortilon layup 6"x 8" 4-ply BID

And here are the initial two that I cut from the glass I laid up yesterday.  These are the largest of the 3 sets of Vortilons.

BL 80.0 Vortilons cut

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Recent Posts

Project Update

Hi Folks,

ALL painted components have been buffed out and ceramic coated and are back in my shop, except the left wing which Guy Williams and I took straight to my hangar from Phil’s shop.

I am now primarily focused on the electrical system install and expect to start the avionics install in earnest in the next week or two.

Somewhat concurrently, I’m working to get the rudder/brake pedals configured and installed, along with the brake lines, master cylinders and reservoirs plumbed. 

Coming up soon will be the balancing, rigging and final installation of all the control surfaces.

…getting exponentially closer to finish every day!

  1. Chapter 22 – Big 3 switches wired Leave a reply
  2. Chapter 22 – Function over form Leave a reply
  3. Chapter 22 – Crawling to finish Leave a reply
  4. Chapter 16/22 – My 3 hour 10 min. job! Leave a reply
  5. Chapter 22 – Woe to the modifier! Leave a reply
  6. Chapter 22 – Panel & USB ports in Leave a reply
  7. Chapter 19/22/25 – Vortilons on… Leave a reply
  8. Chapter 13/16/22 – Conduits moved Leave a reply
  9. Chapter 13/22 – Sidewall glass done Leave a reply