| day |
notes |
hours |
| 5 |
Check Shaun Simpkins hinge cutting list (second posting); now that he's realised some hinges come without pins, it agrees with my own conclusions. |
|
| 7 |
Move wing dollies to front of trailer & put wheels on. There seems to be one r-clip missing. Unstick port flap from support jig & unstick that from table. Move flaps & rudder to trailer. Move port tailplane to layup table. Clean up tailplane torque tube & fittings of various sticky deposits. Try TP5 & TP6 in inner half of tailplane & measure distance from inner edge of angled one to outer edge of straight one (TP6), 247.5mm. Straight bush is 38mm wide, so distance between inner edges is 209.5mm. |
115.1 |
| 8 |
Sort out final checklist & rough outline for Gloster Strut presentation. Couple up trailer & take out onto drive. Realise that marker lines on patio would allow easier lining-up for gate, so start thinking about how to do that. Put port tailplane, some hardware, projector, lights, stands, etc in car. Talk goes well, but quite a bit of work in carrying everything in & out. Afterwards leave trailer nose-in on drive, still coupled. |
|
| 9 |
Reverse trailer out & round into Lewis's drive, then draw forward along the road far enough away to line up for reversing into our drive. Leave trailer in mouth of drive, uncoupled, until I can get the line markings down. |
|
| 10 |
Order lane marking tape from Viking (with other stuff). Unfortunately they can't deliver it next day, so will have to wait until Monday. |
|
| 14 |
Mark lines on patio for trailer parking, first with chalk line and then with permanent marker. |
|
| 15 |
Control column boots arrive from Tim Ward. Move starboard tailplane to layup table & check distance between TP5 & TP6 as for port. Only 0.5mm difference (248mm against 247.5mm for port). Both straight bushes are same 38mm wide so stbd distance between is 210mm. Put both sets of tailplane foam back in storage area. Make arbour for holding TP5/6 from strips of wood with wedge, and use angle grinder to put small dents all over outer surfaces. Add P & S identifying letters with small stone on Dremel. Find that the heat generated by the grinding has deformed the inner surface of the bushes, so they are now all dimpled, just enough to prevent going back on the torque tube! The bumps can be felt with a fingertip. Try to lap them, first with foam from torque tube hole, loaded with coarse valve grinding paste (very slow by hand and not strong enough to be power driven) and then with a small flap wheel also with the grinding paste. Takes a long time to make much effect. The bumps actually become more visible with the good finish. One of the worst affected is starting to go on at one end, and the least affected will go on for about half the length of the torque tube - which I now discover actually seems to be very slightly bigger at one end than the other, although that may just be the edges of small scratches. While looking at the torque tube, notice some stuff lying around near the cross-drillings - probably swarf, possibly rusty! Not amenable to shaking out, so will have to use a pull-through to clear it, and think about how best to corrosion protect it. Tube is reported to be 4130, nickel plated - but that must be only on the outside so inner surface needs some other treatment. |
121.2 |
| 16 |
Phone Anna at the factory to check on the price of new TP5/6 parts - they are £22 & £27 each, a total of £98+VAT, so I think I will persevere with fixing mine for a while yet. Consider that as lapping is really a finishing process rather than a metal removal process, I need first to grind the bumps down a bit with a stone in the Dremel before lapping to get things smoother again. That sounds pretty tedious & careful work, but probably not any worse than the lapping-only approach. |
|
| 17 |
Lane marking tape arrives. After photographing the uneven inner surface of the bushes, start to work on TP5 stbd with Dremel and grinding wheel. Keep trying at intervals on torque tube, gradually getting better. Slight rubbed areas show where more grinding needed, but they are only visible in just the right light. Get it to the stage where it will just slide on, and then run the flap-wheel "lap" in it again for another minute or two. The inner surface is not too pretty, but the fit now feels much as it did originally, so I'll stop there on that one. |
123.8 |
| 19 |
Run along patio line marks lightly with angle grinder, so that they will be visible after any other surface preparation. FInd some "green slime remover" in garden shed to clean up flagstones. |
|
| 21 |
Grind inside of TP5 port until it just fits & polish it on the flap wheel loaded with grinding paste. Grind & polish stbd TP6; grind port TP6. Mounted stone used in Dremel worn right down and have to switch to another (slightly less suitable shape) before the end. |
128.7 |
| 22 |
Polish port TP6. Photograph re-finished TP5/TP6. Get out David Corbett's torque-tube support jig. Clean TP4 torque tube & apply masking tape to match sloped end of TP5. To give enough room for layup beyond TP6, arrange masking tape to position TP5 over outer cross-drilling in TP4. Decide that 50mm (instead of 100mm) of layup beyond TP6 will be sufficient, and that between 2 & 3 turns (instead of full 3) of BID will be OK too. Measure up and BID needs to be 300mm long by about 375mm wide if it just covers TP5. Wax TP4. Slide on port TP5. Cut tabloid double-sheet of newspaper to 209.5mm wide and wrap around TP4. Needs more wax to get it to stay until the next layer holds it down. At the outer end, wax is not enough to hold it down & have to use some UHU glue (no spray adhesive handy) which does actually hold even with the paper waxed! Slide on port TP6, re-wax end of TP4 and apply strip of newspaper butting up to TP6 and extending beyond end of TP4. Glue the outer end instead of trying to wax it. Put tiny fillet of wax around edges of TP5 & 6 - very hard to avoid getting small amounts of wax on outer (bonding) surface of bushes. Wrap whole thing in cling film - 2 widths needed to cover. Find a short piece of steel bar and re-face end to give a sharp cutting edge. Roll it around TP5 & TP6 to cut through cling film, and peel off cling film from both bushes. Re-apply a strip of cling film inboard of TP5 as that short bit seems slightly loose, and make sure there is a wax fillet there too. Cut 300mm x375mm BID at 45 degrees from one of the offcuts. Cut peel-ply to suit - half width can be used now & other half on starboard side. Cut piece of polyethylene sheet to wet out on and mark it with dimensions of BID. Clean out hardener delivery pipe on resin pump and clear the pipes with one stroke. Mix 2 strokes and start to wet out, but it doesn't seem to cover as well as I'd expected from my calculations. Mix another 2 strokes and finish wetting, leaving enough resin for a sample. Transfer BID to prepared area on torque tube and wrap round. Wrap peel-ply around it all. It seems pretty wet (not surprising with the extra resin) and several turns of peel-ply get well wetted out. Erect tent and leave to cure about 18:00. |
132.8 |
| 23 |
Take down curing tent. Peel off start of peel-ply, working in from the edges with some difficulty as it's well-soaked with resin right out to the end. Looks good underneath, but not willing to release from TP4 by just pulling. Hold in vice by a couple of roofing bolts through the TP4 holes, and warm up with hot-air gun. Once warmth felt at inboard end of layup, try rotating it and it comes off without much of a struggle. Remove most of paper & cling film on the outboard end - will need to scrape out remainder. As resin at end nearest heat gun seemed to be softening slightly (peel-ply would come off quieter than usual), put it all back together in the curing tent about 18:00 to ensure it re-hardens in the right shape. Turn off heat again about 23:00. |
133.3 |
| 24 |
Mix up green slime remover and spray onto areas of patio slabs where lines should go. Some left over after getting it all thoroughly soaked, so leave that in watering can in case any areas need another dose. |
|
| 25 |
Take down curing tent. Remove TP5/TP6 tube and clean out inside. Scrape out patches of cling film from edges of bushes. Petrol seems to be most effective in removing remainder of wax. Find small patch of epoxy on inside of one bush - obviously it had capillaried in there but wax had prevented it bonding. Breaks off cleanly without much effort, so inside of bush had picked up enough wax as well. Clean TP4 torque tube. Trim outboard end to 50mm proud of TP6. |
134.5 |
| 29 |
Spread remainder of green slime remover around lines on patio. Take aluminium clamps off torque tube support jig and clean up ends to reduce hazard from sharp edges & points, and re-fit with round-head screws. Apply masking tape to TP4 to match tapered end of TP5 starboard. Wax TP4. Slide TP5 into position, apply wax fillets each side with aluminium rod (not much easier than with fingers, but slightly less messy). Re-wax TP4 where TP5 had scraped it off. Trim piece of newspaper to 210mm and wrap round, securing with smear of UHU clear. Slide on TP6. Wrap newspaper offcut around end of TP4 & secure as before. Check TP5-TP6 distance. To avoid wrinkles, try wrapping narrower piece of cling film around with edge butting against TP6 but not successful. Wrap cling film as before, but with more tension so that bush area stretches and bits over newspaper stay tighter and thus smoother than first time. Care need to avoid pulling too hard and disturbing bush positions. Realise that after cutting cling film by rolling steel bar around, but before removing cling film from TP5 & TP6, is the ideal time to do the wax fillets. Unfortunately only spot this after taking film off TP6, but at least it can go in the instructions for the mod. Peel cling film off bushes. Cut piece of BID 300mm x 380mm on bias from offcut. Mark out a piece of polyethylene sheet with 300mm x 380mm rectangle, and position BID on it. Start to mix up epoxy but resin side gurgles and bubbles on 3rd stroke as tank is running low, so throw out that mix and refill both hardener and resin reservoirs. Mix up 4 strokes of resin and wet out BID. This time, squeegee it before laying up and get quite a bit of resin off again. Wrap around torque tube assembly, and apply pel ply. Doesn't seem quite so wet as last time, so no need to pat down peel-ply for full length, which also leaves a bit to get hold of for removal. Erect tent and leave to cure about 15:30. |
137.9 |
| 31 |
Take down curing tent. Try to twist BID tube and it moves without even warming TP4! Stiffens up again, so apply gentle heat from the far end of TP4. Comes off with continued pulling. Paper and cling film come out quite cleanly. Trim ends and rub down with Perma-Grit. Clean inside of tube and outside of TP4 with petrol. Try for fit and it's fine. File sample after breaking it out of mixing cup. Put away support jig.
Spend rest of morning writing it all up
for a Europa Club Mod. |
138.9 |
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