Aeromomentum engines

[n307tw]

I can't weld at all. I paid a fine professional to do it for me but I fabricated everything necessary. I didn't want to mess with the structural component of the tube since I know that is strong enough. We talked about lengthening the fork itself but I wanted the option of putting bigger tires on someday. Hopefully the few pounds added won't negatively impact the plane, it is already a bit heavy. I figure dry weight will probably be 750 but I plan on increasing gross to 1,200 lbs because of the higher HP engine.

[lakespookie]

Looking good, Sucks about the Prop not arriving but at least you have an interim and or final solution. I really like that fork mod i have been wanting to go larger wheels the main gear and posibly a tracy obrian kit or something similar for toe brakes but being a tri gear similar to your setup the front fork was always a limiting factor on potentially making that change. The Install looks great and has given me a few ideas. did you check final geometry with the bigger tire and fork for changes in the rake? as long as the geometry stays the same handling should be pretty similar either way i would def do some low speed and high speed taxi testing to validate the stability of the change.

P.S. When conducting a high speed taxi test plan for it to potentially turn into a flight. I work in aerospace and an accidental first flight has saved our bacon on a handful of occasions although those kind of suprises are never good. But then thats why its Flight Testing and not Flight Demos.

[Bryan Cotton]

P.S. When conducting a high speed taxi test plan for it to potentially turn into a flight.

Even better, don't do high speed taxi testing. I'm also an aerospace person and formerly a flight test person.

[new_flyer]

Following this thread as I'm looking at building a Waiex-B or an Onex in the next couple years and this engine is a very viable option in my mind. thanks for posting and hope to continue to follow your journey.

[DCGULL]

I'm unsure, but I thought the smaller AM13 was lighter and under 200Lbs. with EVERYTHING mounted ?(coolant, radiator, oil cooler, dual fuel pumps, etc..) I think the base option is: 100HP, next stop 117HP & all da money 131HP? Also, I thought the AM13 was the engine running all of those prop. boats in the heat?

Slightly smaller, slightly lighter, more hours at full tilt- more 'in use' in various configurations. Probably closer to fitting the "Universal Cowl" option for the B...If memory serves, it mounts FWF on the Rotax mount available from several sources including Sonex?

I like smaller, lighter and fits without dozens of hours of planning, redesigns & working in fiberglass (really hate working in glass folks!) and 117HP is more than the AeroVee Turbo and may weigh less 'all in'. Quieter, smoother & pretty reliable (single ECU aside- CRM & Risk Management considered) but don't want to run a 64" prop to get there? Any chance to use a different or regeared PSRU instead? We are talking Rotax revs on this motor... Or, will Mark Kettering consider changing the redrive unit helical gear tooth ratio to get the prop in the 3,200 - 3,600 MAX RPM range?
That would allow me to keep CG closer to original design and stay 'normal' in weight & balance calcs going forward... Simple guy- simple thoughts. Anybody else thinking this way?

Dave
Guest with goals
Waiex B taildragger, center stick & aerobatic ailerons with Aeromomentum AM13 slant mount 117HP. MGL avionics, LiFePO4 battery & mebbe even a couple of steam gauges to remain age appropriate!

[new_flyer]

Just checking in to see how builds and completed projects are coming with this engine. I'd love to hear any feedback about these engines. I really like this engine and the capabilities it comes with as a suitable Rotax\Aerovee replacement.

thanks for any feedback and if anyone has one near CT, I'd love to come the a look at it and talk to you about the install and such.

Jeremy

[n307tw]

Just checking in to see how builds and completed projects are coming with this engine. I'd love to hear any feedback about these engines. I really like this engine and the capabilities it comes with as a suitable Rotax\Aerovee replacement.

thanks for any feedback and if anyone has one near CT, I'd love to come the a look at it and talk to you about the install and such.

Jeremy

Hey Jeremy,

After some time off for health and life events I am back at it, building the Sonex. I have the AM15h mounted on the front of my B-Model. Mounted the wings friday and I am currently working on fiberglass modifications to the cowling. The plan is to taxi test by the end of March and hopeful for first flight by the summer. It has been a long road but certainly not due to the Aeromomentum engine at all. I am located on the field at FOK if you take a ride south over the sound.

-Tim

[ddeford]

Just found this thread and enjoyed reading it. I've been following Tim's build in FB pretty closely, but I'm planning to install the AM13 on my Sonex B.

Regarding sensors and EMS displays, I was chatting with Mark K while I was at SnF about engine monitoring options and the Microsquirt data standard. He sent me the documentation on it and between that and other online info, I learned a ton about CAN message data formats (there are several).

That led me to a super cool set of open source projects called MakerPlane (makerplane.org) . At this point I feel very confident that it wouldn't be terribly difficult to use an Arduino (or similar microcontroller) to build a MicroSquirt to CAN-FiX bridge to collect Aeromomentum engine data, convert it, and display it on the MakerPlane EFIS (CAN-FiX being the MakerPlane CAN standard).

Here's a YouTube video I did that demonstrates my simple test implementation:
https://youtu.be/hilpmA7j6Pg

I've continued to play around with it over the last couple of weeks and have had quite a bit of success integrating more and more mock data as well. Obviously, that data will eventually come from either the Aeromomentum MicroSquirt ECU or separately installed sensors. I'm not sure what all sensors are installed on a new AM engine, so it'll be some combination of both.

Anyway, I'm still looking into building an ADAHRS board for flight data, but building my own EMS doesn't appear to be very difficult and it's likely what I'll be doing for my build.

[greenAs532]

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, but would the Aeromomentum engine be capable of inverted operation for aerobatics?

[lakespookie]

Short answer is No,

Alternate Answer is it depends,

You should have no issues with positive G Maneuvers although per the updated Flight test standards you will have to perform it and signoff on it before its permitted.

The Sonex line is not designed for negative G from a fuel system perspective although the airframe is rated for it, you do not have a flop tube in the tank and the vent system will drop fuel in negative G, The Aeromomentum does not have a Scavenge oil pump and is not equipped to flow engine oil from the top of the engine or to prevent oil from escaping,

That being said it is an experimental platform so if you wanted to take the leap those issues could be solved but you would be putting the experimental in experimental. As opposed to utilizing the educational carveout of the experimental Airworthiness cert.

YMMV but at a minimum you would have to convert it to a dry sump platform seal the top, add scavenging to the bottom and top of the motor, deal with the fuel vent system, and provide a method for supplying fuel inverted and oil inverted if you wanted to support negative G maneuvers(Inverted Flight falling under this umbrella).