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Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2011 11

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4 Clear accumulated rubbish from house re-modelling etc out of fuselage bottom moulding and surrounding area. Recheck advice, mods and SBs re torque tube etc. Degrease holes in fuselage and TP11 bushes. Mix 25g + 10g Redux. Paint onto inside of fuselage holes and wipe off excess. Paint onto outside of bushes and squeegee off excess with mixing stick. Place TP11/TP12 assemblies into fuselage holes, taking care not to get Redux on bearing surfaces. Insert TP4 torque tube to align bearings. Add a couple of doses of flox to Redux and butter it around insides of bushes to form fillets. Wipe off excess with acetone-soaked tissue. Set fan heater on half power and thermostat 3 with polyethylene sheet tent over the whole area and leave to cure. Lots of Redux/flox left over. 1369.5
11 Remove TP4 torque tube and TP12 drive plates from TP11 bushes. Clean up a few small overspills of Redux from metal by scraping carefully with a scalpel. Mix 10g + 4G Redux and add 1 dose of flox. Butter on around outside of TP11 bushes to form fillets. Re-insert TP12s & TP4, re-erect tent and leave to cure. Preparing for pitch pushrod work, find that EURO02 supplied are bolts not full-thread screws. Leave phone message at factory, Post message on Matronics e-mail list. Mike McClean of Swift replies by e-mail so phone him. He e-mails Karen telling her to send the replacement parts on Monday. 1370.7
14 Phone call from Karen saying she will look into the problem. I say I just want the correct parts sent. She goes to look at their stock and confirms the EURO02 they have are full-thread. I tell her to send me 2 of those screws.
15 2 off correct EURO02 screws received from Karen at Europa.
17 Clear the area at the back of the trailer to allow the ramp to open. Get pitch pushrod out of trailer and leave it in garage. Check location of Loctite 638 and find it is in one of the small storage drawers.
19 Check Service Bulletin 15 for type of Loctite needed. It is 603. Look online for suppliers and find that Amazon offers reasonable prices as well as an equivalent (231) from Truloc. Not sure if the smallest 10ml bottle of Loctite 603 will be enough, so order a 50ml bottle of Truloc 231 at about half the price of the Loctite 603 in that size.
20 Turn off fan heater as Redux on torque tube bushes must be well-cured by now.
25 tick Truloc 231 (Loctite 603 equivalent) delivered. Pull fuselage out of garage far enough to allow assembly of tailplanes. Get tailplanes out of trailer. Assemble torque tube and check for tailplane fit. Both tailplane flanges will need trimming - more towards TE than LE, although will need to check fuselage width (with sternpost?) as the spacer I put in with polyester filler has come unstuck and the fuselage has sprung apart slightly at the aft end. For easy reference on the job to latest correct info, print out issue 3 of manual pages 18-4 & 18-5 and Service Bulletin 15. Remove tailplanes and store in garage. Measure position of holes in TP12s from faces of TP11 bearing bushes. Edges of starboard hole are 27.25mm and 37mm out; edges of port hole are 27.5mm and 37.25mm out. Thus hole centres are 27.25 + (37 - 27.25) / 2 = 32.125mm (starboard) and 27.5 = (37.25 - 27.5) / 2 = 32.375mm (port) out from faces of TP11. Set up TP10 plastic sleeve (marked starboard) in machine vise on milling machine table, with a flat piece of scrap under TP10 to protect vise. Check fit of 3/8" drill bit in TP12 and the shank will not go in easily. So the recommended method of drilling the second hole in TP10 cannot be used as it will enlarge the holes in TP12 & TP4. This is unacceptable as they have been reamed to a tight fit on the TP14 pins. Decide that as the holes in TP12 & TP4 were factory drilled (although enlarged by me as part of Mod 62) they should be on the diameter. So drilling right through the TP10s on the diameter should be OK. Fit the drill chuck to the milling machine and fit 3/8" drill bit. The plunge travel is not enough to get through TP10 in one go so will have to wind the head down for the second hole in the bottom of TP10. Balance a steel rule on TP10 and gently lower the drill point onto it. Adjust table in X-axis to get rule horizontal (and thus TP10 diameter centred on drill bit). Lock X slide. Retract Y slide to get TP10 clear of drill. Plunge drill to pass TP10 and lock head. Run motor very slowly and gently feed in on Y-axis until a cigarette-paper interposed between workpiece and side of drill bit is just snatched away. Set Y scale to zero. Advance Y slide by the required hole offset, plus half the drill diameter:

= 32.125mm + half of 3/8"

= 32.125 + 9.525 / 2

= 36.8875mm

That translates to 18 turns of the Y-feed handle plus 35.5 divisions (of 0.025mm each). Lower drill bit and spot TP10. Retract it and check with steel rule for gross position errors. Looks OK, so take drill through upper side of TP10. Stop motor, wind head down and then plunge through bottom of TP10 until just breaking into scrap spacer. Retract head, remove TP10 from vise and finish hole right through by hand. Check fit of TP14D pin but it will not enter. Neither will the slightly undersize temporary pin. No 9.5mm drill bit in stock, so take a 10mm drill bit right through on the pillar drill and that is a perfect fit on TP14D. Assemble TP12 to TP11 bush and fit TP10 with temporary pin - excellent fit with no detectable side play. Repeat whole exercise for port TP10, this time winding Y-axis in 37.1mm (ie 32.375mm + half of 3/8", or 18 turns + 44 divisions) from reference, and open to 10mm. Fit again good, but this time the holes only line up one way round - port holes must be slightly off the diameter line. Do a check on how fast the Truloc 231 sets using old plumbing fittings - very fast and very strong - so the advice about not trying to apply it before assembly is good. Not sure if I feel quite ready to do the final assembly of the torque tube so move on to the pitch pushrod.

Fit a spare nut to each EURO02 in turn to allow holding in vise for hacksawing to 38mm length. Clean up screw ends on offhand grinder before removing nuts. Degrease CS17A, EURO02 & AN316-5R. Assemble each EURO02 to CS17A with Loctite 243 on threads and tighten. Add locknuts with more 243 and tighten. Now ready to attach 1st CS17A to CS17 but realise that I can't do the second end until the tailplane torque tube is fitted so length of CS17 can be set. Want to make a drilling template for the rivet holes anyway, so leave that for the moment.

Degrease TP12, TP9, TP4. Clean out the inside of TP4 with an acetone-soaked pullthrough. Assemble TP4, TP12, TP10 & TP9 into TP11 bushes in fuselage. Using a copper mallet, drive port TP14C into TP9. MS24665-153 split pin won't enter fully because the welding fillet on TP9 prevents EURO21 washer lying flat. Bend washer slightly at one side which allows split-pin to go fully home. Bend tails of split pin to secure. Repeat for starboard TP14C, bending washer as for port. Align holes in TP4, TP12, TP10 and drive in starboard TP14D. Harder to bend split pin tails neatly as TP12 fouls on outside of fuselage preventing enough rotation for good access. Repeat for port TP14D. Apply small amount of Truloc 231 (Loctite 603 equivalent) to edges of TP9, ensuring it runs all around circumference. After a few moments to let it creep into the joint, wipe off excess liquid. Similarly apply to inboard ends of both TP12.
1376.3
28 Draw up pattern of holes for CS17/CS17A rivets in CADintosh & print out.

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