« Posts tagged autopilot

Zero Sum

December 27, 2013 / posted in Finishing / No Comments

6 hours.

I spent a whole lot of yesterday doing various things, which is the surest way to feel like I got nothing done.   I had two goals: Fix the idle stumble and run down that AP engage joystick wire issue.

The first part was almost easy.   I set the mag timing to 25 degrees per the engine data plate.  I’m getting to be an old hand at setting mag timing.  I got them both firing in sync, then made the idle richer by a couple of flats of the adjustment linkage, per the AFP manual.  Sure enough, that cured the off-idle stumble and my CHT’s and EGTs dropped noticeably.  But there was still a rough idle, so more adjustment needed to happen.

The manual says that adjusting the idle is done with the engine running.  The problem with that is twofold: One, working near a spinning prop scares the crap out of me.  I haven’t had the training to do so safely.  Two, because of the orientation of the throttle body, the idle linkage is on top, between the throttle body and the engine case, and the only way to get at it is by reaching past hot exhaust pipes.  Even if I did have the stones to crawl under there with the prop spinning, I can just see burning my forearm on the #1 pipe and yanking it back into the arc of the prop.  No thanks.  I did my idle adjustments with the engine off.

With Mike as the casual observer, it appeared that my idle was too rich, because there was a bit of smoke coming from the pipes when I was idling and the idle was definitely a bit rough.   This is caused by multiple symptoms, but a too-rich mixture is the first and most obvious culprit.

The manual also says that the best way to adjust the idle is to leave one of the jam nuts “just snug” and turn the block one flat at a time.   Well, yours truly interpreted “just snug” as “don’t touch” and after a couple of turns of the block, the left-hand rod end bearing snapped off at the jam nut.

BrokenBearing

So now I have to find/buy a LH thread #3 rod end bearing and I can get back to business.

As for the other stuff, I did chase down the AP engage wire.   Turns out I have to figure out a way to do some kind of voltage differential and use the MGL script editor in order to remote-control the EFIS to engage the autopilot.   A simple “Hey, I’m Grounded” won’t work.   This will take a minute to work out the logic, but I’ll email Matt at MGL and see what he says.

Also, Owen and Ron got the racing scales, so I can do weight and balance.    This gets done first thing today, because I need to return the scales ASAP.   It’s   I’m just hoping the W/B comes in as expected.

I also fiddled about with the wheel pants, but that’s not high on the priority list right now.

More odds and ends

April 7, 2013 / posted in Electrical, Firewall Forward, Panel, Wings / No Comments

4 hours.

A few things here and there. I installed the MAP tubing and put a couple of heat shields on the pipes to protect the throttle and mixture cables. I also installed the canopy seal, which is going to need some assistance from some RTV or proseal. I do think firewall forward is just about done, though. The cabin heat SCAT tube rubs on the engine mount a little, but some UHMW tape should fix that. The two things I did that were of major importance were the autopilot test and getting that ridiculous piece of lead off the flange of the left elevator counterweight rib.

A while back, I’d balanced out my elevators, or so I thought. You’re supposed to put the elevator tips on, then drill holes in the lead weight until the elevator balances. Well, guess what? You’re not supposed to have the elevators connected when you do this. I discovered this, freaked out, then riveted a flat piece of lead (cut from an extra counterweight) to the outboard rib.

When I put that away, thinking I was just about the smartest cat in the whole barn, I started imagining the kind of beating a control surface takes in flight. So what happens to a little piece of lead riveted to this structure with a couple of Cherry countersunk blind rivets? The piece of lead comes off and somehow jams the elevator in the dive position and I go screaming downward like a holed Stuka, straight into a busload of orphans on the 405. This has bothered me for months, but I could never find a good opportunity to fix it until Saturday. I drilled out the rivets and put the lead back in a drawer. I also read about a neat trick you can do when balancing your elevators: Pour some lead shot into the tip through the tooling hole in the rib until th elevator balances out, then stick it in place with epoxy resin. Even if it’s not perfect, bias it a little heavy, because paint will change the balance.

I also mounted the MGL GPS antenna on the top side of the glare shield. It works; I get an intermittent GPS position while still inside the guest house.

Oh and one other thing: I dragged the wing cradle over to the shop and tested out the bank servo of the autopilot. Since I actually followed a wiring plan and wired the fuselage-side and the wing side according to it, I was able to test out both servos simultaneously. I do need to make a new ground connection though. The ground from the servo bracket sucks and I was only able to get a good ground by cleco-clamping the ground terminal to a wing rib.

Wiring and wing conduit

January 30, 2011 / posted in Electrical, Fuselage, Wings / No Comments

4 hours.

I took a drive down to Earl’s on Hawthorne at the 405 freeway to pick up the fittings I need to plumb the purge line. I wanted to save the 11 bucks for shipping, which is ricockulous considering it’s all of 15 miles away from my house. I’m glad I went. The place is an absolute gold mine of high performance vehicle plumbing. They have everything, including the weird stuff, and best of all, they can custom-make hoses while you wait. Still a pricey run. The stainless steel bulkhead elbow for the firewall was not cheap by any stretch. After I got back, I pulled the wings out of the garage to finish up all the old business, which was fabbing conduit support angles, installing Adel clamps, fitting and plugging in the pitot tube, and wiring the autopilot roll servo. I also spent a good amount of time rubbing off old masking tape glue with MEK. Don’t leave masking tape on anything for too long, especially in a hot, dry place The tape turns brittle and the glue turns solid. On the right wing I got wise and heated up the old tape with a heat gun which let me get most of it off in one piece. The rest came off like the stickers Van’s still puts on every part, which never peel off cleanly. This process took a while and by then I was completely beat. I only got 4 hours of sleep last night for some reason, so I was a zombie all day. I figured I’d nap for an hour and go back too it, but I started reading the last chapter of William Gibson’s “Zero History” and I was asleep before the end of the first page. I woke up two hours later, still exhausted, but I went back out there and wired up the autopilot pitch servo.

Both autopilots got wired using the D-Sub method: Use barrel-crimp d-sub pins and sockets on the wires, then individually shrink-wrap them, then put a big shrink tube around all of them. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, the Molex connectors didn’t have a decent locking mechanism. I’m sure it’s fine, but I didn’t like it. Second, I somehow lost a couple of the pins. Embarrassing, but whatever, this should work fine.

I didn’t get around to plumbing my purge line, and common wisdom seems to be to wait until the engine is hung for this. But the longer I wait, the more stuff is going to be in my way when I do a triple-bypass on the fuel system, so I want to get the tubing roughed in as much as possible.