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30 APRIL 2007, Wings Primered

The wings, ailerons, and rudders are now primed. I need to do a quick wet sand, then one final inspection before painting. Maybe I'll get this done tonight.

29 APRIL 2007, Wings

The bottom of the rudders closed out very nicely. They are now filled sanded and ready for paint.

I moved everything out of the shop to do a quick cleanup. The wings are seen out on the back yard.

The wings are now back in the shop and ready for paint.

28 APRIL 2007, RUDDERS

Close out both rudder bellcrank compartments.

I laid up two layers of BID with peel ply on both sides, and let cure. Using sissors and sandpaper, I then carefully cut the BID sheets to fit into the two cavities on the bottom of each rudder.

A small dab of superglue held the BID covers in place while I laid in 5 layers of BID all across the bottom of the rudders. These were then topped off with micro.

27 APRIL 2007, SAND SAND SAND (again)

Both bellhorns are finished and fit check OK. I double check for burrs then painted them.

The bellhorn cavity is now glassed on the left wing.

The ailerons and rudders are removed from both wings. These are cleaned up and sanded dull. Bearings hinges, and U joints all look like the day they were put in new (2600 hrs and 11 years ago)

I've been sanding all the surfaces for better paint adhesion. I got the top and bottom of the right wing finished. The top of the left wing. I still need to do the bottom of the left wing.

I'm using a 180 grit 3M gold paper for the sanding. The paper is a little expensive, but cuts well and lasts a long time.

26 APRIL 2007, Left wing

DELAMINATIONS

Found several small delaminations on the left wing. These were mainly around the hardpoints for the baggage pod.

These were repaired using standard procedures, a hypodermic needle squirting very wet micro into each delamination.

HIDDEN RUDDER BELLHORNS

Cleaned out the left wing similiar to the right.

Fabricating the bellhorns is fairly EZ. I used the Bridgeport at work to mill a 3/16 slot on one end of the 1/2 x 1/2 square tube. The slot, about 3/4 inches long, has an AN100 thimble mounted in it. I use one thin stainless washer on the bottom side of the thimble. The washer does a couple things, it acts as a hard interface between the thimble and the cut edge of the tube. It also provides a filler to better guide the cable around the thimble.

The Bellhorn requires one bend, and one twist. The bend is about 4 or 5 degrees about half way the length of the tube. The tube also has about a 20 degree twist on the thimble end. The twist allows the thimble end to line up perfectly parallel to the surface where the rudder cable exits into the cavity. The twist makes it so the cable lines up perfectly when it enters the thimble. I used a MAPP gas torch to heat up the tube to a nice cherry red. Then just a little pressure and I had the bend. The twist was done the same way. I heated up where I wanted the twist until it was cherry red. I then put a wrench on the end of the tube and gave it a slight twist.

24 APRIL 2007, SAND...SAND...SAND

Wet sanding right wing top and bottom. Removed aileron and rudder.

5 hour drive to visit my brother (Jim) in PA for the day

23 APRIL 2007, Vacation

I'm on vacation for the next week, so hopefully I'll get somework done on the plane

DELAMINATIONS

I pinged the entire right wing, both top and bottom. These are the only delaminations I found. These were repaired by mixing up a couple small batches of wet slurry, then using a small hypodermic needle to squirt it into the holes. After the cure, I repinged the areas, both delaminations are repaired satisfactorily.

Hidden Bellhorn

This is a test bellhorn made of 1/2 inch x .035 tube. The tube has a slight twist and a slight bend so it lines up correctly with the rudder conduit. The test tube was made to verify fit, and also to verify rudder authority.

From full open to full closed provides about 3 1/2 inches of rudder movement as measured from the tip.

The foam is cleared out and the bottom is cut straight. I placed in two layers of BID into the pocket I cleared. When I'm finished. there will be a 4 layer BID cover over the entire bottom.

To clean up the bottom lines where I cutoff the lower winglet, the forward part of the rudder follows the bottom contour of the wing.

I then measured from the top of the rudder at the trailing edge (the hindged rudder) down by 38 1/8 inches and placed a mark on the trailing edge. I then drew a line from this point to the trailing edge of the wing.

Paint Prep

The rest of the day was spent wet sanding surfaces getting redy for paint.

22 APRIL 2007

The hydraulic service bottle is now mounted. The bottle is in a position that makes it easy to service the landing gear hydraulics. Not seen is a overflow tube that exits out the bottom just to the right of the nose gear. SHould this bottle overflow, the fluid will be dumped out the bottom of the plane.

This is the rear seat air vent duct being floxed in place. This duct relocates the eyeball vent to a more usefull position for the GIB.

Flush Rudders

I cleaned up the bottom where I cut off the lower winglet (photos 1 & 2).

I'm going to use a flush rudder system that was authored by Dale Martin (NiceEZ). This system is allows me to utilize the existing rudder conduit and cable.

Clearing out the foam is a lot easier as I cut off the lower winglets. I'll get more photos as I progress.

15 APRIL 2007 , Intakes

The rear of the intakes are now glassed. The upper and outer sides of the intakes also serve as the "lip" that the upper cowl will mount to. The "lip" now has about 7 layers of glass. These will be cleaned up and attach hardware will be installed.

Rear Seat Air Vent

While doing the intakes, I made a mold for the rear seat air duct. This duct gets mounted on the left side in the rear seat. Currently, the outside air vent is below the passangers left knee. Doesn't do a lot of good except may keep their leg cool. This new duct will be floxed into place to route the air up and forward. The new vent location will be on the backside of the front seat bulkhead, up near the top.

Hydraulic Reservoir

This is the "overflow/reservoir" bottle for the Main gear hydraulic pump. The pump is mounted above the nose tire hump. This location makes it difficult to service the hydraulic fluid. I connect the "vent" of the pump to this bottle. The bottle will be mounted all the way forward in the nose compartment. More on this later.

The Bottle was purchased from Speedway Motors. Part # 91032876-LITE-10. This is a power steering reservoir. It comes with an AN6 fitting on the side and a AN8 fitting on the bottom. I ground both these fittings off and welded the 1/4 inch tubes where I needed them.

8 APRIL 2007 , Dynon Remote Compass

I made up the wiring harness for the Dynon remote compass transmitter. Normally, the outboard area inside the wing strake would be an ideal place to mount it, However, in my case that space is occupied by the landing gear.

SO, after searching for an alternate location I decided to put it on the floor just behind the pilots seat.

I have foot rests in the back seat that will protect it, but I'll also make up a small cover just to make sure it doesn't get banged.

7 APRIL 2007 , Intakes and Electric

Airflow Fuel Injection

I ordered an Airflow Performance fuel injection system for my O-320. I'm told it will take 4-6 weeks for delivery. I've been thinking about doing this for some time, what finally pushed me over the edge was the fact that I won't need carb heat for the FI system. This greatly simplifies my cowl design.

Intakes

I got the intakes epoxied into place on the fuselage. They still need work, but this is a milestone.

Dynon

I updated the firmware on my Dynon EFIS and EMS. The firmware and PC Interface software can be downloaded from the Dynon web site.

Canopy Switch

I've been looking at how I could install a switch to sense the position of the canopy or the lock. I didn't want to install the switch somewhere where it could be damaged by climbing in/out of the plane.

I ran across these neat little sensors in one of my catalogs at work (Automation Direct). Its a "Proximity" sensor, it switches ON when a metal object gets close to it, then switches OFF when the object moves away.

I mounted the "prox" so it would trigger when it sensed the head of the bolt on the canopy lock handle. If the Canopy handle is not positioned in the safety catch, the prox doesn't see it. The Prox will connect to my controller to provide a "Canopy Alarm" and also used by the gear controller as one of the signals that its OK to retract the main gear.

These prox's are available from Automation Direct, part # APS4-12S-E-D are $16 each, it's about 3/8 x 3/8 x 1 inch. The trigger range is about 3/32 of an inch.

1 APRIL 2007 , Engine Compartment

PRESSURE SENSORS

These are the gear pressure sensors located in the back seat. The switches are now clamped down and the wireing from the front cockpit is now fairly well cleaned up.

OIL FILL TUBE

The original Lycoming Oil Fill tube would have cut right through the middle of the cooling intake on the left side. Rather then route the cooling air around the Oil Filler tube. I decided to route the Oil Filler tube around the cooling air.

I cut the filler tube and used a piece of 1 1/4 inch cooling line hose. I still need to add some method of doing a dip stick to check the oil quantity.

PLENIUM MOUNTING

1)These are the parts for the plenium mount.

2) The bottom bar goes under the bottom of the cylinders. This is a 1/2 x 1/2 steel rectangular tube.

3) A 10x32 threaded rod goes through the bottom bar, up between the cylinders, and goes through the inter cylinder air baffle. The intercylinder baffle is held in position by the threaded rod.

4) The threaded rod continues up and is used to secure the Fiberglass plenium in place. Note the reinforcement angle across the top of the plenium.

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