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Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2003 03

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1 Find wire offcuts for hanging things to be sprayed. 495.7
3 Cut wires to length and fit counterweight to spray backdrop. 495.9
4 Bend support wires and push into backdrop at suitable spacings. 496.1
5 Deburr W11, W12, W13 parts. Find wood angle for marking out W16. 496.8
6 Mark out W16 arcs. 496.9
7 Bandsaw W16 arcs to approximate shape. 497.0
8 File arc on W16P down to line. Draw-file all edges and deburr. 497.6
10 File arc on W16S down to line. 497.7
11 Drawfile all edges of W16S and deburr. 497.9
12 Mark out another full-width 50mm BID strip. 498.1
13 Cut, degrease, rub down and zinc-chromate primer spray TU1 aileron pushrods. 2nd can of primer almost empty. Clean up insides of W17s with ScotchBrite and degrease. 499.4
14 Order more Zinc Chromate primer aerosol and other bits including some "CAA-Approved" wire from Light Aero. Re-check inventory shortages previously found and make list for April visit to factory. Mark out 1st aileron pushrod for rivet holes. Set up in vee-blocks on drill table. W17 quite a loose fit so wrap a couple of turns of paper around it to keep it more tightly positioned in tube. Drill 3.2mm right through then open up to 3.3mm with cordless drill, using rivets temporarily inserted to keep in place. Leave rivets in both holes and drill 2nd pair in similar fashion. Mark end of W17 and tube to ensure correct postioning. On second end, W17 manages to drift in slightly during drilling - finger pressure just not enough to keep it in place longitudinally. Shoot some zinc chromate primer down inside the tube before riveting the ends on, and coat W17 and inside of tube end with Duralac before assembly. Enough squeezes out to coat rivets before insertion and pulling. Clean off most of it, ensuring some left in heads of rivets. 500.9
15 Make locating bush for W17 from a piece of 25mm aluminium bar. Face off ends, drill through 1/4" and countersink one end of hole for taper at root of W17 thread. Fit with spare nut and washer left from locating aileron drive bolt, and it locates W17 perfectly in line with the end of the tube, needing only one-way pressure to keep it all aligned. 501.6
16 Send e-mail to Europa factory asking if I can pick up some parts on 11th April.
17 Mark out rivet hole positions on 2nd aileron pushrod. 501.8
18 Place order through CSM Abrasives website for some ScotchBrite-type wheels medium, fine & ultrafine. Light Aero order arrives. Drill 2nd aileron pushrod and W17s - much easier with the locating bush. 502.1
19 Rivet both ends of 2nd aileron pushrod as for the first. Fire up compressor to blow out swarf and use air riveter, which is much easier than the hand pliers. However, the jaws don't seem to be correctly adjusted and it isn't ejecting the mandrels properly. 503.0
20 Mr Funnel from Light Aero & non-woven finishing abrasive wheels from CSM Abrasives arrive. They are marked 100, 180 & 280 grit. Still no reply to e-mail to factory so phone them. Ray not available so leave message. Sarah says they stop at lunchtime on Fridays so I'll have to get there in the morning. Try out the finishing wheels on scrap pieces cut from W16. Clean up aluminium aileron control parts W11 - W16 with 280 grit wheel and leave in acetone bath to degrease. 503.7
21 Call Europa factory again and speak to Ray. He says it's OK to call on Fri am 11th April, and to send him the list of requirements by e-mail, including the apparent shortages in the Excel file. Prepare 2 appropriate e-mails. Take W11 - W16 parts out of acetone bath, drain on wire hangers and spray with zinc chromate primer. Surprisingly, there is nearly enough left in the old can to do the first side of everything. First can of new batch seems slightly more yellow than the greenish shade the older one was. 504.5
22 Cut 2 full-length strips of 50mm wide BID. 504.7
24 Cut 3 strips of polyethylene 3m x 150mm. 504.8
25 Re-pack sprayed W11, W12, W13, W14, W15, W16 parts in labelled bags. 505.0
26 Collect rivet squeezer from Harry Hopkins. Get out appropriate manual pages and set up W13, W16 and BC4W10 ready for riveting. Clear sprayed holes with 1/8" drill bit. Adjust Harry's rivet squeezer to approximately correct distance between anvils. 505.3
27 Clear W13 & W16 holes with 1/8" reamer as some rivets still seem tight. Coat mating faces of BC4W10, and rivet shanks, with Duralac, and rivet bearings to both. Swap anvils on squeezer after first few as edge of squeezer head is scraping on outside of BC4W10 housings. Really heavy going to clench the rivets with this size of squeezer; some don't close quite square; can see why factory is switching to hollow pulled rivets instead. Clean up Duralac overspill with white spirit which works well and doesn't disturb zinc chromate primer. 507.1
28 Remove polyethylene sheet on wing LE as it is coated with zinc chromate that is starting to flake off. Put W13 & W16 back in their storage bags. Replace loose manual pages in binder. 507.3
29 Cut 3 new pieces of polyethylene sheet about 1.3m x 1m for masking off wing LE. 507.4
31 Tape new plastic masking sheets to wing and to each other. 507.5

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