| day |
notes |
hours |
| 1 |
Fit CS14/CS15/CS13 assembly with plain nuts and check that all movements are correct and free, and that nothing is binding or touching where it shouldn't. |
1264.1 |
| 2 |
Disconnect starboard fuel pipe from valve and tank fitting. Cap elbow on tank fitting to protect it. Slacken Jubilee clip and check that tank fitting can be removed for checking finger-strainer or replacement of rubber hoses when necessary. It's a bit fiddly but should still be possible with fuselage floor in place. Fit rudder cable pulley to see how much it obstructs - will be necessary to remove that pulley to get the tank fitting out, once the cockpit module is bonded in. It may also be necessary to remove the drain elbow, so carefully scrape off as much Redux as possible from the bond between the finger-strainer and the drain pipe. It was a mistake to make a bond there in the first place. Re-assemble tank fitting and re-fit fuel pipes. Before re-fitting rudder cable pulley, fit seat-belt anchor bolt as the pulley blocks insertion of it afterwards. Repeat dismantling, checking clearances, scraping off Redux, etc on port side tank fitting. Check that no further support is needed to keep sight gauge tubing clear of the rudder cable and pulley. |
1265.4 |
| 4 |
After reading ahead in cockpit module bonding instructions, realise I should have masked off the inside faces of the CS14s before spraying them with etch-primer. Dismantle them and use wire cup brush on angle-grinder to remove most of etch-primer coat on inner faces. Finish into the corners with wire brush on Dremel tool. Some areas on outside got wire-brushed by accident. Degrease the bare areas with acetone (finding that acetone is nearly as good as the wire brush for taking off the etch-primer). Re-spray a couple of coats etch-primer on the bare patches. |
1266.3 |
| 5 |
Re-fit CS14/CS15, using Duralac and stiffnuts on CS14 attachment bolts. Remove CS09 attachment bolts and replace using Duralac and stiffnuts. Mark all stiffnuts with inspectors lacquer once tightened up. Mark heads of CS10 pivot bolts and adjacent CS09 & CS10 with inspectors lacquer to allow checking for movement of bolts. |
1267.5 |
| 6 |
Order another 1kg pack of Redux from Europa. Start to tidy up accumulated tools etc in garage to make room for fuselage bottom moulding. |
1268.2 |
| 7 |
Continue tidying-up in garage. |
1268.8 |
| 8 |
Finish clearing up garage floor. With help from Robert next door, pull fuselage moulding (on the dolly made from an old door) out of the trailer. Remove top moulding and put back in trailer. Wheel lower fuselage moulding round to garage and slide in beside cockpit module. Take the low table (made for supporting the cockpit module) out to the trailer. Put all other boxes and parts back in trailer. |
1270.0 |
| 9 |
Take various loose stuff out of fuselage bottom moulding. Turn moulding onto its side for access to bottom. Mark up and cut out the 4" access holes in the 5" moulded recesses, with diamond blade in Minitool jigsaw. Mark up and cut out the cover plates from the D-panel centre piece, using the TC blade in the regular jigsaw (mounted upside-down on the Workmate). Smooth edges to fit recesses. Port recess is slightly bigger than starboard so mark covers accordingly. |
1272.0 |
| 11 |
Put fuselage moulding down flat on dolly again and locate it with the bolts. Mark the access holes onto the door that forms the dolly floor. Lift fuselage moulding clear again and make 4" holes at marked places, using 4" holesaw. Lower fuselage moulding and re-locate it. Find I can lift the cockpit module into the moulding single-handed, although getting it out might be trickier! Notice that the single-skin areas of the moulding where the spars pass through are not well-aligned with the positions of the CS14s in the cockpit module - the hole will go some way into the area with brown foam core. Redux order arrives. |
1272.4 |
| 12 |
Phone Martin Carolan about the cockpit module pre-bond inspection. He says he's happy to come here but obviously if I do it outside we will need dry weather and not too windy. Andy Draper replies to my e-mail query about inspections of foam-cored parts such as control surfaces confirming that they can be done before being hung on the airframe, although obviously a jig is needed for checking that tailplane incidences match. Clamp cockpit module onto fuselage moulding and tip onto side to check positions of fuel drains etc. Both drains are near the forward edge of their respective holes and although some fittings could be tricky, most other stuff is reasonably accessible. Lower onto dolly again after pushing bolts inside - can't readily locate them in the dolly with the cockpit module in place. Find that I can just lift the cockpit module out again single-handed, although considerable care is needed. Insert the location bolts and wheel fuselage bottom out of garage temporarily. Take the cockpit module round to the back, using the sack trolley. Start to empty stuff out of trailer for access to wings. Robert arrives as I am about to slide the fuselage top moulding out and helps with that, and with port wing. Slide the port wing into the support sling to the balance point and remove the tip dolly. Slide spar into the cockpit module - need to lift the cockpit module slightly - and it goes in perfectly. Take off control lock and the ailerons work fine from the stick base. Looks like it shouldn't need much phenolic packing. It's getting quite gusty and without another couple of people it's not safe to try rigging the other wing. So, reluctantly extract the port wing from the cockpit module and out everything away again. Robert helps to put the cockpit module back into the fuselage moulding and wheel it back into the garage. |
1274.7 |
| 13 |
Order fuseholders and earth terminal block from Airworld, and PIDG crimp terminals from RS. Clamp cockpit module to fuselage moulding and tip onto starboard side again. Notice that the bottom is acquiring a few scratches and dents from all the handling. Put port access hole cover in position and mark for drain location. Drill 4mm and check position again. Open out to 8mm and that gives an almost perfect fit. Relieve the hole a bit more with the taper reamer and smooth off with the conical Perma-Grit tool. Mark out for 3 retaining screw holes at 120 degrees, about 5.5mm from the edge, checking that they will not foul the tank or anything else inside. Drill through first position and insert 10-32 screw to maintain location. Drill second hole and again insert a screw. Drill third hole. Repeat whole process for starboard hole cover, except that the drain hole has to be enlarged more because the starboard drain protrudes further. Lower fuselage onto dolly again and remove clamps holding cockpit module. |
1276.0 |
| 14 |
Crimp terminals arrive from RS. Mark outline of cockpit module onto inside of fuselage moulding, along all accessible edges. |
1276.5 |
| 15 |
Fuseholders and earth block arrive from Airworld. Robert helps to lift cockpit module out of fuselage. |
1276.6 |
| 19 |
Order safety wire and wire locking pliers from LAS Aerospace. |
|
| 20 |
Start to mark hidden lines of cockpit module onto inside of fuselage by measuring width of flanges etc and transferring measurements to already-marked outlines. |
1276.9 |
| 21 |
Safety wire and pliers arrive from LAS Aerospace. Order a selection of 9-way D-type connector shells from Maplin in the hope that one may be usable for the wing-leveller servo. |
|
| 22 |
Re-fit wing-leveller servo to mounting bracket using lock-washers under heads of AN3H-3 bolts. Make a practice safety-wire twist on one bolt to get the feel of the new Milbar safety-wiring pliers. Remove the practice twist and safety-wire the bolt-heads in pairs. The pliers are indeed as easy and pleasant to use as Miles McCallum said in his recent Light Aviation article. Order some 10mm x 38mm 32A industrial cartridge fuses from Rapid Electronics, although can't immediately see suitable holders. While looking for something else, find a source of self-contained panel-mounting digital voltmeters and ammeters on eBay. Order a 7-15V voltmeter and a 0-50A ammeter. |
1277.7 |
| 23 |
Continue marking out the cockpit module bonding areas on the bottom of the fuselage moulding, transferring measurements of flanges. |
1277.9 |
| 25 |
Continue marking out the cockpit module bonding areas on the bottom of the fuselage moulding, transferring measurements of flanges. |
1278.1 |
| 26 |
9-way D-type connector shells arrive from Maplin. |
|
| 27 |
32A fuses arrive from Rapid Electronics. |
|
| 28 |
From the remaining piece of the D-panel cutout, cut out a rectangle to cover the starboard inboard thigh locker hole, where the wing-leveller will be installed. Mark out for retaining screw holes and drill 4.8mm. Clamp to seat face and drill through. Put short button-head screws through from inside and fit anchor nuts outside. Drill through rivet holes 2.3mm, locating with a rivet in the first hole while drilling the second. Remove anchor nuts and countersink outer faces of rivet holes. Because of the layers of layup on the back, have to countersink quite deeply on some holes to get the rivets protruding enough at the back to grip the anchor nuts. Attach single-lug (K2000) anchor nuts to rearward holes of fuel drain inspection holes, with lugs forward to keep rivets clear of any possible contact with tank. Drill through 2.3mm. Likewise for K1000 anchor nuts at forward edge of access holes. |
1279.8 |
| 28 |
Dip rivets in Duralac and fit anchor nuts to seat-front access hole and to fuel drain access holes in fuselage bottom. Temporarily mount wing-leveller servo to rib with plain nuts. Compare all available D-type connector shells with space available between front of servo and front of seat. None will fit without modification, but a couple seem more promising than some others. Could be cut down and still leave room for a cable exit and a tie-wrap to hold the halves of the shell together (as the shell securing screws will be in the part that's cut off). |
1281.8 |
| 30 |
Take one of the promising 9-way D-connector shells and assemble onto connector. Plug onto servo and mark lines on shell using ruler across front face of seat. Mark out and drill 2.1mm close to sides inside the marks. Fit 8BA screws through these holes to hold it together after cutting down. Hacksaw off the rear end along the marked lines. Check that it's clear of the seat front face when connected. Start to think about how big a hole in the side of the shell will be needed for 7-off 20AWG wires. |
1282.5 |
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