« Posts tagged fuselage

[Untitled]

November 29, 2010 / posted in Fuselage / No Comments

4 hours.

Got the emp fairing done, or at least as done as it needs to be, for now. It needs paint, and maybe another round of micro, but it looks OK as far as I can tell. I had to install the elevators to figure out the control horn cutout, but smart-monkey was in charge instead of impulsive dumb-monkey and I got them perfect on the first try. I got the fairing countersunk, then got the platenuts installed on the VS and HS. Oh, and packing tape sucks. The packing tape I had on the aluminum to protect it from epoxy sticking there did its usual trick and ripped apart when I tried to take it off. A little bit of cajoling with the heat gun and making sure to stop and pull it all off evenly helped. Then I took the tail pieces off, but of course, I forgot to do the lower emp fairings, which I currently can’t find. Next time.

More odds and ends.

October 26, 2010 / posted in Empennage, Fuselage / 1 Comment

2 hours.

I’m waiting for parts from the Mothership, so it’s all about what I can find to do while I’m waiting. Mostly I sat out there puzzling out wiring runs. The floor panels are in already, so I might have a nice game of Go Fish to look forward to when it comes to running wires for 2 GPS antennae (yes, 2, in case I get hold of a GNS 430W), trim servo, strobe unit power, tail light, then strobe wires forward for the wingtip strobes. What I did actually get done was finally rivet the reinforcing angle that the tank brackets attach to just forward of the main spar. I can’t believe I forgot to do that during wing mating, but I think I probably had other things on my mind at that point. So that’s done, and there are little blobs of torque seal on the accompanying thru-bolts to tell me I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Oh.. remember this thing? F-697?


It’s the canopy jettison bracket. I put it on the subpanel because I was just following the directions. Then I realized I’m not going to install the canopy jettison system (weight, complexity, etc). Now I realize that thing might get in the way if I have to chop holes in the subpanel for some deep avionics, like a GNS 430W or some other surprisingly large piece of gear I think I need. So I took it out. You can never have too much practice drilling out rivets.

After that, I fiddled around with the fiberglass rudder tip, and worked on the mounting system for the tail position/strobe. This is genius. At some point, I bought a length of 1/4″ aluminum dowel from the hardware store. What I did was cut 2 half-inch lengths of it, which I’ll drill and tap to 4-40, the same thread as the tail light mounting screws. I’ll put some dimples in the sides of them, then sink them into blobs of flox in the rudder bottom. At that point, they’ll be permanently affixed and I’ll still be able to unscrew them to change bulbs. OH, thumbs down on the build quality of the rudder botttom. The two halves of the rudder bottom don’t exactly line up along the seam, so I’m going to have to clean it up with micro and sandpaper. If I was exceptionally skilled with sheet metal, I’d make my own out of aluminum, but I’m not, so I’ll deal.

Finally, I messed around with the tailwheel springs. I’m going to need to order new chain. I should have looked at the plans. I remember them going together completely differently, and it took me some time to figure out that getting the chain directly on to the spring is no big deal. But the puzzle fooled this monkey, and I missed ‘Castle’ for nothing.

I’m going to pester Tim again this week and see what the deal is with my cylinders.

Let Them Eat Static.

September 14, 2010 / posted in Firewall Forward, Fuselage / No Comments

1 hour.

Finished installing the static line. Much easier to crawl down the Jeffries tube with the flap motor bracket removed. I also made some .063 spacers for engine mount. Supposedly they weld it all up in a jig at the factory, and drill the QB fuselages with the same jig, but maybe the welding process stretches the metal a bit. Anyhoo, I had to make two aluminum washers to go behind the lower middle attach points, which, fortunately, are about .063″ off the firewall when the 4 outside bolts go on. They’re probably not exactly .063″, but they will be when everything is tightened down. I have a good feeling about it. I also got out the fiberglass cap that goes on the bottom of the rudder to see how it might accommodate the Whelen A500 position light/strobe assembly, and the answer is: not that well. There will be a need for fiberglass work here, I think. I’ll have to somehow build up enough material to drill and tap threads, or I’ll have to figure out a way to get a backing plate in there. Neither option looks like fun, but there’s gotta be some light back there or we ain’t legal. I know I promised photos, but I forgot to bring my phone. I’ll catch up with that later.

Back to the fun stuff

September 13, 2010 / posted in Firewall Forward, Fuselage / No Comments

4 hours.

Saturday and Sunday were somewhat unproductive, given the gloom-induced malaise and subsequent need to eat (organic) cheese puffs and watch TV, but I installed the VA-168 sensor manifold, the cabin heat box, and most of the static line. The sensor manifold and the cabin heat box will have to come off and get fire-sealed before I can call them done, but I need to find an acceptible fireproof sealer for the various firewall penetrations first. If everything works out right, I won’t have too much going through the firewall. Right now, I can think of some: For holes in the firewall, I’ve got 3 control cables, the brake line fittings, the fuel line fitting, cabin heat, the RDAC (engine sensor pod) cable, main bus power, brake cylinder fitting, and the various bolts holding things on. Fewer pass-throughs sits well with my universal hate for goop of any kind. But the idea is to keep windblown flames from burning avgas, smoke, and carbon monoxide out of the cabin. Dead pilots make bad landings. The 2″ hole for the cabin heat box was less traumatic than I thought it would be. I used a 2″ hole saw on a cordless drill at the lowest speed and plenty of Boelube. The trick with stainless is to go slowly and keep it as cool as you can. If it heats up, it hardens, and it will kill whatever tool you use on it. But care is needed: stainless steel makes an extremely sharp edge when cut, and it’ll go after you with near-sentient aggression. File down the edges, or pay for it later in blood.

The static line is still unfinished. I fabbed a bracket for the T-fitting that joins the two lines from the static ports on either side of the fuse, and I drilled a hole in the angle where the canopy latch bar attaches so I can run the tubing up under the left side longeron on its way to the EFIS. I got the cable clamps installed along the bulkhead, but I haven’t yet installed the bracket for the T-fitting or cut the tubing to length. I also wound up removing the flap motor because there’s no good way to winkle my big ass into the tailcone without some pretty decent contortions. I’m not a huge guy, but I’m not as limber as I used to be, and I have a somewhat irrational fear of getting stuck in a position that cuts off my air supply or leaves me unable to extricate myself without assistance. Once I’m prone in the tailcone it’s fine, as long as I remembere to bring all my tools and parts with me. The motivation to plan the job ahead of time is amplified hundredfold by the sheer amount of work it takes to climb into that space. Oh, and also to remember to go to the bathroom before you get started. I’ll post some photos tonight or tomorrow.

More odds and ends.

August 30, 2010 / posted in Fuselage / No Comments

5 hours.

Mostly a cleanup day. And a rearrange day. And a figure-out-what-to-do-next day. So there was cleanup. I rearranged the guest house bedroom and gained back a few more precious square feet. Then I went over the construction manual and checked off things I know I did but didn’t check them off during the actual work, mostly from wing mating. After that, I screwed the panel back on and started tinkering with the throttle quadrant. I didn’t get far with that. I needed to get the canopy out of the attic. It was beginning to drive me nuts that it was sitting up there, with the spiders and the heat. So I brought it down and then I realized I’d never put on the canopy latch handle or the outside canopy lift tabs. Not fun, but necessary. I hate cotter pins. I got the handle and tabs done, then had to take the canopy off and put it up in the rafters of the main shop. It’s pretty empty right now. More parts are on the plane than off it, at least parts that came with the kit. Oh sure, there’s lots of fiberglassing to be done on the empennage tips, wheels, landing gear etc.

But I’m at a crossroads: What next? leave the airframe for a while and do the O- to IO-360 conversion on the engine? Order avionics and start wiring? Or just do it all. Go to town. Work on the wiring while i’m waiting for engine parts and vice versa. But something tells me I’d rather not have nasty stripped-down engine between the plane and the workbench for extended periods of time unless that’s all I’m working on. Engines can be whole projects in and of themselves. But the truth is, if I find enough nastiness in the engine when I pull a cylinder off, it goes bye-bye to be rebuilt by real engine builders in real shops. If not, I replace cylinders as necessary, install the hi-pressure fuel pump, the new sump and tubes, the AFP FI system, and bolt it to the airframe. Fortunately, I’ve got all the parts for that, I think. I need to make a checklist for incidental parts, like hoses and gaskets, other stuff like that, and order it in advance. I also have to be singularly anal about the teardown process and not lose ANY PARTS WHATSOEVER and adhere strictly to the manual. This is no Oldsmobile Rocket V8.

Buellfighting.

August 29, 2010 / posted in Firewall Forward / No Comments

4 hours.

The 4 hours is yesterday, not the week before, in which I finally got to repairing my sanity-saver and nearly sole mode of transportation. A few weeks ago, the Buell snapped a motor mount on the way home from SIGGRAPH, not quite leaving me stranded, but putting the bike in the barn for some time. This is the second time I’ve had mount-related issues with that bike, and the last time I had it repaired, the monkeys at Bartels not only didn’t replace the mount, they used the wrong bolts. The mount was weak from its impact on the frame and hanging by one bolt. The dynamics on that piece of aluminum are pretty brutal, but it might have lasted a little longer if they hadn’t used the short Sportster bolts that only go about 10mm into the head boss. The result of that was mashed threads in the head boss on the left side. The end result is this:

broken mount
The piece on the left is the original mount, with the arm snapped off. The piece on the right is the NHRS billet replacement. Nothing’s going to break that short of a nuclear event.

I hung the Buell by its frame and jacked up the engine so I could drill out the head boss, install a helicoil, then the new motor mount.
Buell lifted

Once that was done and my bike was running, the shop went back into airplane factory mode. Yesterday I cleaned up some odds and ends that have been driving me nuts for a while. I installed the F-824 control horn access panels at the end of the tailcone. There’s two more parts I don’t have to find later.
tail access panels

Then I finally got around to installing the eyball vents and vent tubing. The only thing holding up this process was the need for a spacer between the retaining ring and the vent bracket. I wasn’t able to find a suitable candidate at B&B, so I made them myself from .063. I was then able to cut the hose to go from the vents to the NACA scoops on the sides.
vent, left side
vent, right side
These will probably come out during the beating the cockpit is going to take during wiring and other installs, but they’re good to go for now.

The day started out as the pondering of where to mount the VA-168 fuel/oil/MAP sensor manifold, and I realized I have no idea how large the sensor modules are, or how they would fit with the engine mount installed. So of course I installed the engine mount instead. Did I mention I love my new Makita cordless drill?
engine mount

Those four big rings on the white tube structure are where the actual engine mounts go. They’re big rubber pucks designed to buffer the vibration between the engine and the airframe. The landing gear legs will stick out from the tubes at the botttom corners, you can see the left gear leg tube next to the bolt at the bottom right of frame. Yes, it’s confusing, but when we talk about left and right on an airplane, we use the perspective of sitting in the pilot’s seat.

I’m glad I got the engine hoist. It will come in handy when I have to lift the whole airframe high enough to put the gear legs on. At that point, it’s going to be freaking tall. I”ll need an elevated platform to get in and out while working on things like the panel and wiring.

Wing work wrapped up.

August 16, 2010 / posted in Fuselage, Wings / No Comments

4 hours.

Finished the platenuts in the left wing. Other than a slightly messy install of the trailing edge platenut, the process went OK. However, for the first time, I regret not getting the platenut jig for the 8-series K1000 and K1100’s. I still have to figure out what to do about the wiring that’ll eventually go through the fuselage to the panel, but I there is no longer any interference with the control tubes (yeah, that was a big one, glad I caught it now). The wings are now back in the little garage for storage until they go to the airport.

So what next? The engine is supposed to be next, but I need the space and tech to fix a busted motor mount on my Buell, which is my daily transportation. However, I am dying to find out just how bad my motor is inside. Here’s hoping the guy who stored it for 10 years stored it properly and I don’t have a rusted camshaft.

Wing mating wrapup work

August 15, 2010 / posted in Fuselage, Wings / No Comments

9 hours.

I’d say that only 7 hours was actual, tools-to-metal building. The rest of it was cleaning the shop, looking at plans, arranging parts, and various distractions. I’m also including Wednesday night, when David came over and helped me with the final wings-on/wings-off activities. We drilled the wing root fairings and the bottom skin, then pulled the wings off and moved the plane back into the guest house. Then I slacked off for two days while I took a break and watched bad movies.

Today, I got back on it and tried to get the wings into shape for more cold storage. Because I’m an idiot and didn’t attach the pitot and static fittings, the AN connectors slid up (down?) the tubing of the pitot and AOA into the pitot mast and got stuck there, with no way to wiggle them loose. I had to take the pitot tube off and shove the fittings down to the point where I could grab them and hook them up to the plastic tubing running down the wing. Of course, this demanded that I unclamp the plastic tubing from the Adel clamps attached to the bellcrank bracket to give it some slack. Finally, I got all that back together, ran my wires back down the conduit, and moved on.

I deburred and dimpled the wing root fairings, and deburred/dimpled/countersunk the wing roots. I also drilled all the holes for platenuts. I got all the platenuts done on the right wing, which was slow going on the forward edges because they went family style on the pro-seal. It also didn’t help that I drilled the fairing root holes a little too close to the root rib. I had to grind down some of the platenuts so they’d lay flat on the skin. But it’s all good, they’re all installed. I’ll do the left wing tomorrow, then they go back into the garage to await the trip to the airport. And some wiring. And some other stuff.

More wing rigging

August 10, 2010 / posted in Fuselage / No Comments

As promised, a wider angle. All the bits flap like they’re supposed to.

Forgot about Saturday

August 9, 2010 / posted in Fuselage, Wings / No Comments

8 hours.

Saturday was a pretty huge day in its own right. The night before, I’d cleaned up the workshop and put all the tools away so I could start making a fresh mess. I gloated over my handiwork in drilling the wing spars for a few minutes, then got going on the flap rigging. The flaps are attached at the trailing edge of the wing with a strip of piano hinge. The right side, the inboard edge of the flap rubbed against the fuselage, which didnt allow it to travel its full range of motion. So off it came, and I filed and scotchbrited off enough metal so that it did. However, in that sentence is contained about 4 or 5 iterations of trial, error, and scratching the crap out of the flap with the file until I got smart and put some tape around where I’d be working it. Eventually, it fit fine and was able to swing up and down, and in the ‘up’ position, the skin lay flat on the belly. The left side wasn’t a problem.

After that, it was time to reinstall the flap motor and rig the flaps. This is where the first setback occurred. The flap motor was one of the first things I did on the fuselage, so maybe I screwed it up, but there are many reports of the flap motor channel interfering with the canopy latch bar. Supposedly, they fixed this in the matched-hole kit, but I have a matched-hole kit and I’m telling you now, it ain’t fixed. What I had to do was put a 3/16″ spacer between the bushing block and the F-705 bulkhead to move the canopy latch bar forward enough so that it would clear the flap motor channel. I also had to change the rivets on the upper part of the flap motor channel to flush AN426 rivets. After this, I was able to see daylight between the latch bar and the channel. Of course, this also meant that the pushrod between the latch handle and the bar was now about 1/4″ too long. Put that on the list.

Then came the weird ceremony of drilling the flap pushrod holes. I”ll post pictures of this whole mess when I get the chance.

« Older PostsNewer Posts »