| day |
notes |
hours |
| 1 |
Remove ply panels for better access. Re-assemble rudder pedals and try fit of bearing blocks on floor panels. Much too tight now, so need to relieve holes a bit. Some work with the TC file achieves a satisfactory clearance. Re-fit floor panels and lower bearing blocks. Position and clamp the 29mm spacers between the CS21s and the engine mount points. Insert the 90mm and 130mm spacers in the footwells and check pedal shafts are parallel to firewall. Drill through each bearing block hole with 4.8mm drill, inserting a AN3-20A bolt in each after drilling to maintain alignment. Remove footwell floor panels. Fit one anchor nut with a 3/8" screw and a couple of washers to stop it entering the stiff part of the nut. Drill out first fixing hole with 3.3mm drill on bench drill, but it gets very hot. Check drill, re-sharpen, add cutting lubricant and try next hole. Still seems to be very hard work. Wonder if it's a poor-quality drill bit. Try another, but it seems no better. I don't remember the anchor nuts being so hard to drill before - maybe I have a very tough batch this time. Make a holder for drilling them from an offcut of 1/4" aluminium plate, drilled and countersunk to allow the 3/8" screws to be used without washers. The mass of aluminium helps to keep the workpiece cool too. Still have to re-sharpen the drill bit every other hole or so, but eventually get through all 8 anchor nuts. Attach them in turn to the ply panels and rivet them on. Degrease the wood where some cutting oil got on it. |
1499.6 |
| 2 |
Dismantle rudder pedals for access while sanding. Mark lines 50mm up from the floor panels in each footwell. Scuff-sand to remove the marked lines, using flap wheel in angle-grinder and Perma-Grit sheet to get into corners. Vacuum out footwells. Mark outlines of ply panels + 50mm all round onto BID, twice for each panel. Modify a roller-ball pen tip to fit into the anchor nuts far enough to put a dot on the BID at each bolt-hole. Place the lower bearing block halves on the BID, aligned with the marked hole centres, and trace round each with felt-tip pen. Cut out the marked rectangles with the Tuff-Kut scissors. Mix 1 stroke epoxy and add several doses of Q-Cell until quite stiff. Spread onto top of foam support and put ply panels in position. Lay prepared BID pieces on top, aligning cutouts with bearing mount locations. Trim out a notch on each piece for the pedal tubes to pass thorough. Place the lower halves of the bearing blocks in position. Re-insert the pedals, trying not to disturb the BID. Position each side on the bearing blocks and add the upper halves of the bearing blocks. Dip each AN3-20A bolt in grease and wipe off surplus before inserting (with great care not to get grease on layup area - should have put a drop of grease into the anchor nuts first instead). Tighten up all bolts. Coat mating faces of pedal shaft inner ends with Duralac and sandwich CS21s in place. Fit bolts and do up firmly to ensure alignment. Clamp 29mm spacers between CS21s and engine mount points. Check that ply panels are still in correct positions and leave to cure. (Going out tonight so don't have time to wet out the BID immediately.) |
1502.9 |
| 6 |
Tidy up the BID in the footwells where it has slid around a bit. Mix 4 strokes epoxy and wet out port footwell. Not quite enough so mix another 2 strokes to finish it, and put the remainder onto the starboard footwell. Apply peel-ply to port footwell, in many small pieces to cover the complex shape and get around the bearing blocks. Mix 5 strokes epoxy and finish wetting out the starboard footwell. Apply peel-ply. Lower the bubble curtain at the south end of the garage and set up the fan heater at half power, thermostat 3.5, on the floor facing the forward end of the fuselage. |
1504.8 |
| 7 |
Phone Europa factory to check stock of CD1-CD5; all in stock so ask that a set is reserved for Neville to collect for me. As my Ampreg 20 stock is getting low, also ask for a pack of Ampreg 21 (cost to be offset against credit for the un-supplied cowl). Phone Neville to let him know he can collect the duct metalwork. I seem to remember some of the rudder pushrod mod parts in a jiffy-bag in my old office. Wondering if they might have been collected with other stuff when the office was cleared for the house re-modelling, search the loft for them, but without success. Unless they have got lost or strayed during the building work on the house, I fear it may be a case of having put them in a really safe place, so safe I can't remember it! However, the degree of upheaval during the re-modelling severely limits the possibilities for such safe places. Will also have to look around garage and trailer again, this time looking for a bag or bags rather than a box. 26C, 30% RH in garage; layup cured so turn off fan heater. |
|
| 8 |
 Drive to Neville's workshop in Yorkshire to collect the engine cowl parts he has made for me. The cowls look great and Neville has made separate inspection hatch pieces ready to cut out & fit. Alas, the Europa factory was not prepared to release the CD1 to CD5 parts to Neville, so drive on to Kirkbymoorside and see Karen at the office. She appreciates that I have paid for the cowl and ducting as part of the firewall-forward kit, but have not taken delivery of those parts as I had been led to expect that Europa were developing a new cowl that would be more attractive and work better for cooling. As the accounting system has all been moved off-site, she does not have access to the necessary records to verify the status of my order, nor the authority to proceed without the documentation. I suggest that she contacts whoever can make that decision and after a couple of phone call she is given the OK to go ahead. As well as the CD1 to CD5 parts, and the Ampreg 21, I take a pack of Redux as I'm likely to need more anyway and that will save expensive "hazardous goods" carriage. Karen also promises to work out what the cowl was worth and arrange a refund for me, less the Ampreg and Redux, of course. Back home, decant the new Redux hardener into a couple of glass containers that have been carefully cleaned with acetone. |
|
| 13 |
While visiting Dorothy's family in California, buy a hydraulic wire crimper from Harbor Freight for doing the 4AWG battery connexions. |
|
| 29 |
Have decided that one sure way to make the pushrod rudder mod parts re-appear is to order a new set! Send e-mail to Graham Singleton asking if he still supplies it. He responds that Europa Aircraft now sell it. |
|
| 30 |
Send e-mail to Karen at Europa Aircraft asking what delivery is like on Mod 77 (the pushrod rudder drive). |
|
| 31 |
Karen replies saying that because of the move from Kirkbymoorside to Wombleton it will be a few days before she can check stock levels and will contact me next week. Get the 4AWG Nyvin wire out of box 7 in the trailer. Strip one end and do a test crimp of a M6 ring terminal with the hydraulic crimper - easy to do and looks very satisfactory. While looking through boxes in trailer, notice that the BID in the FWF kit is still folded in box 20 so move it to the glass cupboard in the garage and roll it onto the top BID roller. I haven't yet got the 4AWG crimp terminals for 10mm studs yet so order some from Farnell. Add a few other sizes to make up the minimum order value. |
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