« Archives in November, 2012

Department of the Interior.

November 26, 2012 / posted in Fuselage / No Comments

7 hours.

Yesterday saw some finishing up of little things firewall forward and I got started on the interior. When I say “started,” I mean started messing things up. I drilled the stiffeners to the center section (why I didn’t do this before I have no idea) and began riveting them on. I got through the majority of my LP4-3 rivets when I realized I hadn’t yet deburred the center section holes. Jackass. So I drilled off the rivets and started deburring holes. I did remember to deburr the stiffeners, so there’s that. Today I tacked on the stiffeners and ordered more LP4-3 rivets. After that, I did some cleanup. With the shop and the ship cleaned out, I figured I could work on the other interior parts that I got from Classic Aero.

The only thing I was worried about was the seat hinges, but the instructions were very clear and well written, or would have been if they were all there. The “see separate instructions for rivnut installation” part just didn’t materialize anywhere in any of the boxes, but after a bit of fumbling, I figured it out.

I got the side panels set up, then the left seat measured for center, drilled, and riveted. Easy. I’ll do the other seat tomorrow or Tuesday. We’re about to start demolition on the downstairs remodel, so who knows when I’ll get back into it.

But the interior is actually a pretty sweat-free affair. Big velcro strips hold the panels to the metal, so all I have to do is stick them on when it’s ready to rock.

Control, I’m Here

November 24, 2012 / posted in Firewall Forward / No Comments

7 hours.

Yes, I’m using a Nitzer Ebb track as a title. Yesterday before the grand face-stuffing of Thanksgiving, I fabricated the bracket for the purge valve. I don’t work with steel much, but 14ga hot-rolled sheet steel isn’t too bad. My bandsaw blade would disagree, I think it’s just about shot. I also killed my grinding wheel. Now that I’ve used it on steel, it’s useless for aluminum. But that little exercise has taught me not to fear steelwork. Not too much at any rate.


Here’s the bracket. The cable goes across the engine to work the purge valve arm.

So today was all about measuring for control cables. Van’s has a 60″ push-pull quadrant cable that should work for throttle, mix, and prop governor control, and ACS has a button-lock cable that should do for the fuel purge. I needed a 65″ cable for the purge, but ACS doesn’t sell one less than 6 feet, and I don’t feel like having a custom cable made for that stupid thing. I’ll make a 72″ cable work.

I also went into a mad panic thinking I’d forgotten to write down the wiring map for the AP servos. I looked for the Trio/MGL wiring instructions for about two hours, because I seem to remember writing the servo-to-cable-to-DB9 colors and positions down on it. I couldn’t find it. After looking everywhere, and thinking I was going to have to reverse-engineer the wiring from what I could see in the clear-shrink-wrapped bundle on the pitch servo.


But no. I tacked it to the wall above the workbench and didn’t think to look there.

With cables measured, I measured the lengths for the remaining hoses I need. I need one for oil and three for fuel. I put in a quote request to PHT, hopefully they’ll be able to turn them around fast.

More bits and bobs

November 18, 2012 / posted in Electrical, Firewall Forward, Panel / No Comments

5 hours.

Since we’re now undertaking a remodel of the downstairs (as if it’s not crazy enough around here) the pressure is on to get the plane done and get it out of the guest house. I’ve been finding all the fiddly things to do and doing them, per last week’s list.

The alt air cable adventures continue. The bracket’s done, and now there’s a hole in the firewall. Suck part is that I have the wrong eyeball, I need the .188 and I have the .210, so it doesn’t actually seal much of anything. New one is on order. I reinstalled the flap brace and drilled the horizontal stabilizer to the the fuse. I had to do this because I replaced the HS-710 bracket a while back because it was crap and I never got around to it.

The panel is also labeled! This is quite nice, but I still need to put the N number on it, as well as the placard that says, “I built this plane, so don’t go looking for certification.”

Cooling blast tube for the alternator is installed, but only halfway, it needs to be secured in such a way that it blows on the alternator. Other blast tubes need to be installed for the magnetos, and then I have to get serious about hoses and control cables.