| day |
notes |
hours |
| 1 |
Pull trailer forward and take almost everything out of it to make sure I have not overlooked the rudder pushrod mod parts anywhere. Alas, no signs of them. Log all other boxes as I come across them, just to keep things up to date. Bring cowls from garage and rearrange things to make room for them in trailer as everything is packed away again. |
|
| 3 |
Crimp terminals arrive from Farnell. |
|
| 6 |
Move CD1 ... CD5 parts and hatch doors for Neville's cowl from garage to trailer. Check the position and size of the engine mount holes and saw off a piece of 19mm ply to fit across them as the first part of a front-end support. I'll need some M8 x 75mm bolts to secure it. |
|
| 7 |
Remove 29mm spacers. Rudder pedals have seized - it seems some epoxy has crept in where it shouldn't have. A tap on the pedals frees them but they are very stiff to move so will need to investigate that. Use marking blue to transfer positions of engine mounting points onto ply sheet. Drill and fit M8 x 75mm coach bolts, fettling holes slightly for correct line-up. Find par of an old office chair base to use as a lifting handle. Trim bottom corners of ply to clear rudder linkage. Trim ends of seat base to fit within outline of plywood and mount it on the ply with M8 machine screws. Slide the coach bolts into the engine mount points and fit nuts on the aft ends. Now really easy to lift forward end of fuselage. Remove the lifting fixture again for access to rudder system. Dismantle CS21s from pedal shafts and remove bolts from bearing blocks. Top blocks come off easily and shafts tilt out of the way without protest, but bottom blocks need a light tap with a soft mallet to free them from the surrounding layups. Several of the bearing surfaces show films of epoxy that have crept in from the layups. Remove them with the Eclipse bearing scraper - very easy to do, and obvious when I've gone far enough as the scrapings change colour from whitish (epoxy) to brownish (SRBF). With the footwell floors in place, find I can no longer extract the pedals from the footwells. Check all pedal shafts in-situ for epoxy adhering and carefully crack off all found with scalpel, being sure not to scratch the metal. Also find some epoxy flash on faces of bearing blocks and scrape that off too. Clean up CS21s and apply fresh Duralac. Re-assemble pedal shafts and bearing blocks (really need 3 people to do that easily!). With everything tightened up, the friction is much less but still a bit higher than it originally was when I dry-assembled it before doing the glassing. It seems acceptable for a foot-operated control; when the return springs are added I'll see if further easing is needed. Look at fuel system files and start to check what further fittings are needed for fuel flow & pressure sensors, etc. |
1508.3 |
| 10 |
Clear garage entrance and pull fuselage out onto drive. Sort through wood and other stuff piled against west wall to make sure the rudder pushrod drive mod parts are not lurking somewhere there. Nothing found, but manage to tidy things up considerably and identify a pile of stuff to go to the recycling centre. Move tailplanes to the trailer as the measurements of travel are done for the moment. They'll be needed again when the upper bump stop for the mass balance is installed, but that won't be for a while yet. |
|
| 13 |
After further planning work on the fuel system connexions, post message on Matronics e-mail list about position of fuel pressure sensor as a recent Kitplanes article recommends putting the sensors on the firewall, presumably to keep them away from heat & vibration. One reply includes the suggestion to make a manifold for the FWF fuel system, which sounds quite attractive; a later reply points out that Rotax now supply such a manifold with new engines. |
|
| 14 |
Another posting on the Matronics list points to a Rotax mod of April 2008 for the fuel system, which includes info about mounting the manifold on the balance pipe. |
|
| 15 |
Check that my engine does not have the manifold fitted. The Rotax drawings show that the tapping for the fuel pressure sensor is M10, which raises the question of how to connect to that. Might be easiest to machine up a manifold myself with NPT ports. |
|
| 17 |
The Speedflow website shows adaptors for metric threads to both AN & NPT fittings so there should be no problem connecting to the Rotax manifold. One box in the garage, containing the wing leveller documentation and control column boots, was un-numbered so mark it 25 and add that to the parts file. Phone Conair to get a price for the fuel manifold but I don't have a Rotax part number for it. Looking at the illustrated parts list I realise that the manifold is made up of several individual part numbers, and also that it uses dedicated flexible fuel lines to the carburettors (and the pump) entailing the replacement of the banjo fittings at those ends. Take propeller etc out of trailer for access and take the lid off the engine. Take photos of carbs and other areas that should save me having to get at the engine itself when I need to check things in future. |
|
| 18 |
Study further the Rotax illustrated parts list and the flexible fuel line mod documentation. Can identify most of the part numbers except for the line between the pump and the manifold. Notice that the hose to the carbs incorporating a central double-banjo fitting has a different part number in each of those documents! |
|
| 19 |
Phone Conair and get prices for all the items I've been able to identify so far for the fuel manifold assembly, which comes to £578.55! Biggest item at £390.84 is the fuel hose assembly with a double banjo in the middle of it. Looks like I will be making alternative (cheaper) arrangements. Send e-mail to Karen at Europa asking about expected delivery time for the Mod 77 parts. |
|
| 20 |
Karen replies asking if the CS29 is for a foam or NG rudder. I reply saying that I've already installed CS29 and asking for Mod 51 prices too, as that was in box 14 along with the rudder pushrod. |
|
| 21 |
Check the fuel system file for consistency and identify some extra bits that will be needed. Looks as though it would not be necessary to machine up my own manifold if I just use an AN827-4D 4-way cross: in from fuel pump, out to each carb and to the fuel pressure sensor. That sensor could then be mounted back on the firewall with a tee-piece of some sort to attach the restrictor line back to the tank. Wonder if I could fit the restrictor in the tee-piece (as in the Rotax manifold) to save having a short length of the plastic pipe to contain it? The FS02 restrictor is 0.25" dia by 0.375" aluminium bar with a larger hole drilled more than half-way through axially and a small hole through the remainder of the length which allows a #71 drill bit to pass freely and just barely accepts the shank of a #70 drill bit. That makes it about 0.7mm which is odd as the Rotax installation manual calls for an orifice of 0.35mm. Post query on Matronics e-mail list about this discrepancy. Karen replies with Mod 77 & Mod 51 price & delivery info, including discount for the parts I haven't lost! |
|
| 22 |
Replies on Matronics e-mail list are reassuring - apparently the size of the orifice doesn't affect the pressure much, but does affect the fuel return amount. The larger (Europa-supplied) orifice should help to reduce vapour lock problems. Compare the Bill of Materials sent yesterday by Karen for Mod 77 with my own inventory and note a few differences. Before confirming the order, have another look in the garage. Lift the cardboard tray containing the pile of epoxy samples and find there is another tray almost hidden underneath, with a couple of jiffy-bags in it. Oh joy! - they are labelled boxes 13 & 14! Obviously I had moved them from my old office (where I did remember seeing them) to a place of safety when I had to clear things out of the way of the builders for the house re-modelling. I guess with all the kerfuffle then I didn't have a chance to note the location in the inventory database, and just expected I'd remember where they were left. Quickly send an e-mail to Karen at Europa telling her I no longer need to order Mod 77 & Mod 51. Find a suitable-size cardboard box & put all the items from both jiffy-bags in it. Label it box 13, leave in garage and amend the parts inventory appropriately, removing storage references to box 14.
Work rudder pedals backwards and forwards for a few minutes to ensure witness marks on CS22/CS23 SRBF bearing blocks where they are still binding slightly. Dismantle CS21s again and note that the pedal shafts left running in 2 bearings (port, forward, on port side and starboard, aft, on starboard side) are still quite stiff to move but the others, running only in a single bearing, are now moving quite freely. Dismantle bearing blocks and as expected they show plenty of black witness marks where they were rubbing. Work first on port blocks, planning to go a bit beyond just removing the witness marks, as I don't want to have to do this too many times. Once the black areas are gone, try to take the full width of the bearing surface back equally. Easiest to do this with the Noga three-square scraper as it has a reasonable length of parallel section. The ends of the AN3-20A bolts are looking quite dry so put some general-purpose lithium-based grease in a syringe and squirt some down into each anchor nut. Re-assemble port bearing blocks and both shafts now move freely, almost to the point of sloppy, so will stop there. Repeat the scraping operation on the starboard bearing blocks and again re-assemble without fitting CS21s; both starboard shafts turn freely now. It's obvious now that it's much easier to assemble the rudder pedals in this order, and add the CS21s last - I forgot that after fitting into the bearing blocks, 2 of the shafts could slide outboard slightly to make room for insertion of the CS21s. Temporarily push the shafts together without the CS21s and insert bolts to keep them aligned. Both shafts still turn freely with no sign of binding. |
1510.2 |
| 24 |
Dismantle starboard rudder shaft bearings and find that I can remove the pedals after all. Clean up the edges of the hole in the firewall where the floor layup has spread over. Relieve top edge of hole slightly where it was just touching the shafts. Port side needs less work and no need to dismantle pedals. Re-assemble starboard side pedals into bearing blocks and re-assemble CS21s between shafts, with fresh Duralac. Clean off excess Duralac with white spirit. Mark and drill the holes for the return springs. Start to collect the parts for securing springs and cables but can't find FL10 & OR9 in box 3 as expected. Eventually after much time looking through all boxes in garage and checking all worksurfaces etc, find they are in the small drawer units in a separate non-alphabetical section for FL misc & OR misc. I didn't spot them there when looking for bolts etc as I was expecting all the drawers to be alphabetical. Fit springs to inner faces of firewalls. Lay out the 7x7 cable (which is still in one piece with a thimble on each end) on a clean floor and find the mid-point. Wrap a single turn of masking tape (in the hope that will pass through Nicopress sleeves) around at that spot, and cut through the centre of it with a Dremel cut-off wheel. Start to assemble one cable onto CS21, but realise I won't easily be able to poke the other end through the hole at the rear of the wheel well and under the pulley. Need to lift the fuselage to get direct access to the back of the wheel well. Attach the previously-made lifting handle to the LG frame and find a wooden box that will neatly fit on a stool to support it at a suitable height. Although the lifting handle seems to be above the CG, need to ensure fuselage cannot tip sideways when lifted off the dolly. Make a support for the tailplane torque tube from an old pallet. With that support in place under the torque tube, try to lift the front end of the fuselage and it's much too heavy to lift safely, so take away all the parts boxes, worksurfaces and assorted bit & pieces that are weighing it down. That makes it just about manageable. Lift it and insert the box on top of the stool to support the handle, leaving just enough room to work at each side of the whole setup. Everything seems stable, so roll the wooden dolly out from under the fuselage for better access. Lay starboard rudder cable out in front of the fuselage. Insert the cut end through the LG frame and then, lying underneath the fuselage, draw it through the hole in the wheel well rear bulkhead, under the pulley and push it aft through the tunnel. Draw it fully aft and wrap spare length forward again from the TS05 restraint bulkhead. Secure the thimble end and the return spring to starboard CS21. Rudder pedals move nicely when the cable is pulled at the tail end. Repeat the insertion and securing exercise for the port cable. Will need underside access again for making & fitting the pulley cable safety blocks, but haven't room now to leave everything out of the fuselage & don't want to over-stress the bottom half with too much weight, so slide the wooden dolly back into position and lower the fuselage onto it again. Put the parts boxes etc back in the cockpit. |
1516.1 |
| 25 |
From the inspection hole, it looks as though each pulley cable safety block should be about 10mm thick, 30mm wide and 40mm long (fore-and-aft), with the grain thwartwise. Clear all the parts boxes etc from the fuselage and lift it as before onto a box on top of a stool. Slide the wooden dolly away. Check from underside the clearance between the pulleys and the fuselage floor and it is about 8mm, so 7.5mm blocks should be fine. Find an offcut of mahogany about 10mm thick and start sanding it down on the belt sander, then give up as it's taking too long. Instead find a block of mahogany 47mm thick and take a 7.5mm slice off it about 60mm long with the bandsaw. Try it for size: very close, but won't quite fit either side. Cut into 2 off 30mm lengths, mark P & S, and sand each down a bit on the belt sander. Now both will go under port pulley but are a tight push fit under the starboard one. Sand each a bit more; now fine on port side but starboard only just clear of pulley. Sand it a bit more to allow for adhesive thickness. Chamfer forward and aft ends of both blocks. Abrade the bonding area with Perma-Grit file (only just fits across the tunnel). Clean off dust & degrease bonding area with acetone-soaked tissue. Mix small amount of rapid epoxy and spread on bottom of blocks. Position each and try to weight them down with metal rods through the inspection holes but this proves tricky to arrange and unnecessary anyway. Check pulleys rotate freely after epoxy sets. Leave fuselage propped up for the moment. While checking where FL25 is used, notice I don't have the wooden dowel called out for the retraction handle (only a piece long enough for the bump stop was supplied in the kit) so decide to order some 25mm plastic rod. Not sure what will work best, so order 1 each of polypropylene, acetal & nylon from MetalandPlastic. Deburr the straight end of the 3/8" aluminium tubing and blow it out clean with the air compressor. Clean and oil the flaring tool. Fit AN818-6D nut & AN819-6D sleeve to the pipe and make a flare on the end. Bend to 90 degrees quite close to the end and try it for fit on the fuel selector outlet - needs more of a bend. Remove and bend a little more and now it fits fine. Tighten nut. Unroll coiled end of tube - reaches to rear bulkhead. Fit filter-funnel to it with urethane tubing. Use a paper towel as a filter-paper in the funnel and pour in a little kerosene (paraffin) to lubricate the selector. Blow it through a bit in both main & reserve positions. Seal open end of tube with insulation tape. Lower fuselage onto wooden dolly again. |
1519.7 |
| 26 |
Remove curing tent base from fuselage and lift it onto the stool/box combination as before. Fit LG02 swinging arm to LG01 frame to see where rudder cables need to be kept clear of it. Support it at an appropriate angle with a wooden block. Now need to keep rudder cables in tension so lay the ends out beyond the aft end of the fuselage and fit thimbles and Nicopress sleeves to both. Loop a piece of insulated single-core electrical wire through each and round a heavy weight to keep cables in tension. Seems the best location for the cable guide is towards the forward end of the ply rib under the seat. On both sides, holding the cable 17mm away from the rib just causes it to touch the tunnel wall further forward. The manual calls out 20mm for the guide but as FL25 is 25mm wide I will try to use the full width; otherwise there would be very little meat left with a slot of >17mm. Bandsaw 2 off 30mm lengths of FL25. Clamp together in the milling vise and true both sawn ends. Re-clamp side-by-side with a sacrificial piece of aluminium underneath. Find that I have in stock a 3mm ball-ended mill with a working length of about 18mm. Set it up on the centre-line of the FL25 pieces and mill a slot 17mm deep across both of them. Take guides out of vise and check on cables. Only just causing cable to touch tunnel wall on each side. Return them to the milling vise, preserving orientation, and take the slot 0.5 mm deeper. Now just about as perfect as one could wish with both cables clearing the tunnel wall. Return the guides to the milling vise, replace milling cutter with 4.8mm drill bit. Find edge of workpiece using cigarette-paper method and use X-Y table to locate & drill each hole position. Leave the fuselage in the raised position. Remove the odds and ends that were outside on the small curing-tent base and lean it against the wall for now. |
1523.8 |
| 27 |
3 off 25mm OD plastic rods delivered. Raining so can't lay the rudder cables out of the garage as before. Arrange a large plastic jug behind the fuselage aft bulkhead to provide a smooth large-radius turnaround and take rudder cables round it. Connect the free ends together with the insulated wire looped round the brake lever as an anchor. Notice while rigging this up that the starboard cable is rubbing slightly on the fuel tank in the tunnel. Will need to rearrange the washers on the starboard pulley to prevent that. Offer up port guide block and try to ensure it is not dragging the off-line either up or down. Keep it positioned as far forward on the rib as possible, while leaving room for the AN970-3 washers. Mark through the top bolt hole only with the lead of a Chinagraph propelling pencil. With a 4.8mm bit fitted, the cordless drill only just fits in the width of the tunnel. Drill through the marked hole. Start to get the AN3-12A bolts out and then remember I will need longer ones as I'm using the full 25mm width of the FL25 instead of the specified 20mm. Try AN3-13A and that is OK with a plain nut but will not leave any threads showing with a stiffnut. However, I only have 2 off AN3-14A in stock. With the nut finger-tight, wiggle the guide until in line with the cable. Sight down the cable from the forward end and the guide is slightly low, by about the thickness of the cable. Take guide off and drift the hole upwards with the Perma-Grit needle file. Nearly right now, remove and ease the hole a bit more with the file. Now I think the cable is about as straight as one could hope for. Clamp a small adjustable spanner on the nut and jam it against the seat bottom. Tighten up the bolt enough to hold it while drilling the lower hole. Check again that the guide is still in line with the cable. Change to the Tight-Fit drill kit, with the longer #10 drill bit I recently got. The ones in the Tight-Fit kit are too short for this job, so I'm really glad I ordered the longer ones. Drill through the guide into the rib. Start to fit the AN3-14A bolt in the 2nd hole and realise I can't get the 2nd washer on flat. The holes in the guide are on 18mm centres but the closest centres that AN970-3 washers will allow is about 22mm. So, grind flats on the edges of 4 off AN970-3 washers to allow them to fit. Check that the bolt heads are well clear of the LG02 swinging arm. Offer up starboard guide, mark and drill upper hole in rib as for port. Fit with AN3-14A bolt. Sighting along the cable shows this one is nearer than the port first try, but needs to come up very slightly. Order 2 off AN3-14A bolts, AN827-4D 4-way cross and AN826-4D elbow from LAS Aerospace. |
|
| 28 |
Remove starboard rudder cable guide and ease hole upwards with Perma-Grit needle file. Re-fit and cable line-up looks perfect. Tighten nut with spanner clamped on one side, check alignment, drill lower hole with Tight-Fit drill. Insert 2nd AN3-14A bolt. Grip both bolt heads with large adjustable spanner. Fit modified AN970-3 washer, grease MS21042-3 stiffnut and fit it. Replace top plain nut with greased stiffnut. Put a dab of inspectors lacquer on both stiffnuts. Deflect cable away from LG01 frame by hand to check what thickness of rubbing blocks are needed. On both sides, cable is just touching the LG01 frame when it is about 6mm clear of tunnel side. So, for the minimum 2.5mm clearance, the rubbing blocks would need to be 8.5mm thick. Looks as though the 10mm specified in the manual should a good starting point. Start to plan the easiest way to get the blocks to size. |
1527.5 |
go to list of milestones
go to previous page of journal 
go to list of narrative pages
