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Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2010 01

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5 Drill 4mm through mounting holes of aluminium gyro sub-panel into instrument module F14. Mark outlines of all holes with fine felt-tip pen. Temporarily fit bobbin vibration isolators to see how the sub-panel looks. 1308.5
6 Re-draw gyro "6-pack" in CADintosh to the spacing for Mod 63 aluminium panel (86mm centres rather than the 85m centres I originally proposed). Print out on a piece of overhead transparency film and trim to outside edges of instruments. Lay onto face of instrument module F14 and align with hole markings. Tape down and then trace outline with fine felt-tip pen.
7 Order some clear heatshrink sleeving in various sizes from Rapid Electronics, and a couple of DIN-rail fuseholders for the 10mm x 38mm fuses. Take instrument module out (through the snow) to the garage. Drill starting holes and cut out the gyro instrument area using a TC grit-edged blade in the ordinary jigsaw (the Minitool one can't cope with the thickness of plywood). Jigsaw soleplate stops it getting right into the top LH corner so finish that with hacksaw blade. Smooth off edges and tidy corners with Perma-Grit files. 1308.9
8 Decide there's no point in having the hole in the instrument module F14 closely following the shape of the instruments - it would be easier to remove most of the area, leaving just the fixings around the edges, same as intended for the radio panel. Run around where possible with the TC-grit jigsaw. Drill holes along rest of perimeter and join them up where easy to do so with hacksaw blade in pad handle. Continue along top curved edge with Abrafile in junior hacksaw frame. Finally where that won't reach use both Perma-Grit needle file and hacksaw blade to join up remaining holes. Smooth all around with various shapes of Perma-Grit files to remove remains of drilled holes and clean up rough edges. 1310.0
9 Wing-root connectors for strobes arrive from Airworld, also "Dis-car-nect" battery isolator from Richbrook. Check drawing of switch panel and print it out with dimensions. Relieve the edge of the main gyro panel area slightly at the left-hand side to clear the corner of the ignition switch. Mark up switch panel area of instrument module F14 for 3 off MGL instruments and 2 off heavy-duty toggle switches. Do a test cut on one of the offcuts from the gyro area to check how the 57mm grit-edged holesaw behaves - gives a clean hole without wander but some rough edges of glass left on back side. Drill the 3 holes 57mm and smooth edges to allow instruments to fit easily from the back. Also fettle the rear surface a bit to remove some lumpy bits from the layup. Drill the switch holes 11mm then enlarge in small steps to 15/32" which just admits the switches. Position one MGL instrument on the front of each position in turn and and mark through the mounting holes with the extended lead of a Chinagraph propelling pencil. Lay a rule along the line of holes to check they are all aligned and spot the centres with a scriber point. Drill them through 1.7mm and check alignment with the instrument again with a light behind. Drill out in small steps to 3.2mm. Trial fit one instrument and it looks good. 1311.8
11 Heatshrink sleeving and fuseholders arrive from Rapid Electronics. Just to see what it looks like, and to check that everything goes in without fouling, fit 3 MGL instruments and the 2 heavy-duty toggle switches to the switch panel. Fit 6 off 3.125" instruments, ignition switch, tacho, vacuum gauge & hourmeter to the aluminium sub-panel. Fit the bobbin mounts to the instrument module F14 with plain nuts and fit the aluminium panel with 8mm M4 button screws. The edge of the big hole could be taken back slightly in a couple of places to give better clearance for the big instruments, but otherwise it all looks OK.
12 Photograph the panel test assembly. Bring the gascolator in from the garage to help visualise how the plumbing between that and the fuel pump can be arranged. Send e-mail queries to SkyDrive about engine control splitter and oil pressure switch.
13 Fuel pressure gauge & sensor arrive from Airworld.
14 Skydrive phones in response to my e-mails; confirms that oil pressure switch can conveniently go in place of the M10x1 blanking plug for the hydraulic governor takeoff; and although slightly vague about it, seems to agree that the splitter could be used as I hope to allow a vernier throttle to be fitted. After some research on types of oil pressure switch available, post query on Matronics e-mail list for sources. Among other responses, Ivor Phillips suggests using vacuum switch instead.
15 Reply to Ivor asking if he has a source for a vacuum switch.
16 Ivor replies giving a pointer to a Honeywell XV600 from Valve Systems <www.valvesystems.co.uk>.
29 Take fuel pump, gascolator & flow sensor to garage and check size of the space under the baggage bay where they are to be fitted. Seems to be a cube of approximately 220mm side. Move items around to see how they might best fit in, without difficult pipe bends, and reasonably long straight length feeding in to flow sensor. With the gascolator positioned to put the drain valve just accessible through the bottom skin, the flow sensor could be mounted with its inlet port in the same horizontal plane as the gascolator connexion. There might just be room for the pump above that too, provided I could fit a 45-degree elbow on the pump outlet to keep the pipe clear of the baggage bay bottom. Would only be OK if the correct alignment could be got while keeping the torque within the permitted 10-15 ft-lb range. Note that the gascolator has flared connexions ready for pipework, but the flow sensor is 1/4" NPT female and the pump is 1/8" NPT female. Will need to list all extra fittings needed and order them. Note also that the RS differential pressure sensor for use with the MGL fuel quantity gauge has ports about 5mm OD, which are too small for the TU23RM polyurethane tubing used in the sight gauge. It's described as 6.5mm x 10mm which must be ID & OD. Maybe an adaptor could be made to bridge the difference. Whatever the arrangement, it would have to be pretty foolproof as it will be full of fuel. The ambient port of the sensor needs to go to the top of the filler tube, same as the sight gauge, so need to think about whether to use a smaller-diameter tube for that or adapt it to the TU23RM size too. Also need to decide if it should have a dedicated fitting or if it would be OK to use a TEE-piece adjacent to the one fitting planned so far.
30 Work a bit more at the database of parts and manual pages and start to see how the new manual section(s) can be incorporated.

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