Once turning it off, there are definitely directions in which it will flex when I push hard on it. To take that out I've started adding some bracing.
The first weak point is for and aft support for the fan housing. The top of the fan has a lot of leverage over the small footprint of the housing mount and relies on the plywood to take the load via torsion. To that end I've braced the top of the fan mount forward.
The second weakest direction I identified is lateral movement of the rear of the engine mount. It is currently relying on the plywood bracing at the front of the mount, which is quite rigid, but with 12 inches of leverage the shaking motor can make quite a difference. I secured it with a small diagonal brace, but there's definitely flex in the system. So I'm adding two diagonals which will brace down to the corners of the fan mount, giving direct lateral support just below the engine.
Lastly, the forward thrust of the engine is only taken by the angle brackets making the box for the engine mount. That's going to be the primary loading direction when the engine is running. So I will also run braces forward to transfer the load into the deck via the rear edge of the cockpit.
Here's a timelapse of me securing the fan housing forward and starting to work on the lateral supports. The battery ran out much sooner than I expected.
I used some stainless hinges to secure the top of the fan. I don't need the flexion, but the variable angle bracing is convenient.
The bottom of the braces are through bolts.
The lateral braces, one seen below, pinned but not secured will be through bolted at both ends. I needed to pick up a few longer bolts to properly secure the braces.
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| Status at the end of the day. |
Still todo is also to brace the engine mount forward as well.
