| day |
notes |
hours |
| 3 |
Looking through a CPC catalogue, notice that it identifies most of their crimp terminals as "double grip" so order some 6.35mm & 4.8mm blade connectors to see if they will grip the insulation in the desired way. |
|
| 4 |
Order a couple of smaller (15W) power resistors and 3.5mm jacks for audio output from RS. |
|
| 6 |
Crimp terminals received from CPC and resistors & audio jacks from RS. Roll out fuselage onto drive. Mark outlines of fuselage hard-points (wing pins and seat harnesses) on outside by shining a light through from inside. Can't see all of rear wing socket hard-points as the fuel tank overlaps them. Take off a section of gel-coat with the power file to find the forward extent of the hard-points. Mark lines extending the edges of the hard-points and the location of the rear pin well beyond the layup area. Remove gel-coat over the entire layup areas with the power file. This operation is getting slightly easier with practice - it needs a gentle brushing action with no pressure. Forward socket layups will be 120m high by 135mm long; aft ones will be 150mm high by 135mm long. Mark centres and drill harness hardpoints - remembering difficulties on forward wing hard-point, use 1.8mm, 3.6mm, 5.4mm & 1/4" in sequence and it goes really easily. Vacuum out swarf from seats, cockpit floor and headrests. Start to mark out BID. Roll fuselage back into garage. |
1964.6 |
| 7 |
Mark outline of wing socket reinforcement layups on inside of fuselage. Aft will be 125mm high by 140mm long. Forward will be 135mm long but tapered in height and slightly different each side. Port is 205mm high at forward end and 305mm high at aft end. Starboard is 195mm high at forward end and 275mm high at aft end. 4130 steel tube for rudder pushrod and other stuff delivered from LAS Aerospace. Check tube for fit with threaded rod end and it won't go in! Clean up again carefully with deburring tool and wire wool. Measure OD, wall, ID of tube and OD of fitting with digital caliper; everything seems to be OK, but it still doesn't fit. Looks like I will have to ream the tube slightly. Mark out on BID 8 off 120mm x 140mm, 8 off 150mm x 135mm, 8 off 125mm x 140mm plus 2 off trapezium shape 135mm wide by 205mm to 305mm long. Order an adjustable reamer (13/32" to 7/16") from Tracy tools. |
1966.8 |
| 8 |
Mark 2 more trapezium shapes 135mm x 205mm & 305mm on BID, and 4 off 135mm x 195mm & 275mm. Position F14 instrument module against firewall to see what size of shelf could be used to support the panels while they are withdrawn for wiring. Find a piece of melamine-surfaced chipboard 230mm wide and cut to fit between door sills. From the aluminium pieces used to support the spar hole layup, cut and bend 2 brackets to hang on the sills and support the chipboard about 90mm below the sills, level with the top of the brake lever. Fit 2 off M5 hank bushes to each bracket and attach to chipboard with M5 countersunk screws. Replace brake filler cap securing screw with a stainless one. Measure width of towing bush on tailwheel using inside and outside calipers. Inner faces are 72mm apart, outer faces 92mm apart, and the bush is 16mm diameter. After some thought, cut pieces of 38mm x 38mm x 3mm aluminium angle to 2 off 148mm & 2 off 196mm. Drill 2 of them 18mm for bush, then hacksaw a 16mm slot from edge to hole. Clamp, drill and assemble them with 4.8mm pop-rivets. Check fit on tailwheel, looks good. Plan to use a length of aluminium tube for a handle. |
1972.4 |
| 10 |
Put PLY0 & PLY12 in box 2 in garage. Roll fuselage out onto drive for access to both sides. Mark the 8 BID layup shapes onto pieces of polyethylene sheet and turn over so the ink side is away from the epoxy. Cut out the 32 pieces of BID and lay them in stacks of 4 on the polyethylene sheets where marked. Abrade the bonding areas inside and out with coarse Perma-Grit flexible sheets, extending the abraded area a little beyond the marked layup areas. Also abrade the top corners of the spar holes where the prepreg was left exposed between the new & old layups around the spar holes. Vacuum out dust. Degrease all bonding areas with acetone. Mix 2 off peg-4 (75g) batches of epoxy with slow hardener and pour onto layups to wet. That does both inside ones and part of one outside layup. Need to pause there as resin bottle is empty. Wet out inside layup stacks fully and apply to the marked areas. NB it's really good to have the layup outlines marked with extension lines on the fuselage beyond the layup area, as I can easily align the similar lines on the polyethylene sheet when offering up the layup. Peel-ply the inside layups. Decant some Ampreg 20 into the resin bottle from the supply can. Mix 2 off peg-4 (75g) batches of slow epoxy and wet out remaining BID stacks. With the rest of the epoxy, apply small patches of BID over the top corners of the spar holes. Fully wet out the outside layup stacks and apply them to the fuselage. Peel-ply all outside layups. Roll fuselage back into garage and set fan heaters going with old one at thermostat 3.5 and new one at thermostat 3. Initially 14C, 75% RH inside fuselage as although it's been quite warm during the day in the sunshine, it's getting towards dusk before I finish. However, it's at 19C, 57% RH within half an hour, and the leftover epoxy in the sample cup is still quite liquid and not yet gelling. An hour later, it's 21C, 47% RH and the sample is starting to gel. |
1978.0 |
| 11 |
Adjustable reamer delivered from Tracy Tools. 26C, 35% RH inside fuselage. Adjust reamer to minimum size, which is well undersize for the bore of the 0.5" tube. Adjust it larger in small steps, checking each time to see if it will take a cut at one end of the tube. Once it starts to bite, check if AN490HT8P threaded rod end will enter tube after each cut. Adjust, cut, check, repeat until rod end just goes in. Square off end of tube with a fine file for a snug fit against the flange of the rod end. 28C, 33% RH inside fuselage. Turn down fan heater thermostats to 3 and 2. Mark 5mm and 10mm lines around tube from reamed end. Centre-pop on 5mm line, insert rod-end and drill 1/8" through, supported on vee-blocks. Insert AN470-AD4-10 rivet, centre-pop on 10mm line at right angle to first rivet and drill through in same fashion. Mark orientation of rod-end to tube, dismantle, deburr and remove swarf by pushing a piece of tissue through. Apply Duralac and re-assemble. Set rivets with 4lb club hammer. Clean up with white spirit. Cut to about 50mm longer than old pushrod and ream end to accept pushrod. Clean out swarf with a tissue. |
1979.5 |
| 12 |
26C, 32% RH inside fuselage. Sample well cured. turn off fan heaters. |
|
| 13 |
Get an offcut of carpet out of trailer for sticking to the instrument panel support shelf, and some of the remaining electrical stuff to check sizes. About 200mm of the 38mm x 38mm x 3mm aluminium angle would provide enough room to mount the 3 circuit breakers, the relay and the fuse for the crowbar. Try the 12V-24V converter box on the floor of the F14 instrument module. The D-type connectors for the MGL instruments project quite a way behind the sub-panel, so the converter box will have to mount on edge rather than flat to clear them. Get a pair of Molex-style locking connectors from Maplin for the connexion to the line-out and loudspeaker sockets. Take circuit board out of converter box and drill 2 off 4mm holes on 80mm centres in the narrower long side of the box. Using the box holes as guides, drill through the base of the instrument module using the tight-fit drill kit. Also drill clearance holes for the heads of the self-tapping screws that hold the box together. |
1980.3 |
| 15 |
Collect Sirs compass from sorting office (not in yesterday to sign for it). Unfortunately the short mounting foot is not as drawn in the Sirs documentation and will not allow the compass to be mounted on a horizontal overhead surface. However, it adjusts to quite near horizontal, so a slight bend in a piece of aluminium plate should solve the problem. If I don't have any M3 brass screws for securing the compass, will need to order some from Westfield Fasteners. Roll fuselage out onto drive. Remove peel-ply from wing socket reinforcement layups. Sit in port seat and check possible location for compass. Looks OK just ahead of the overhead panel, but I will need the windscreen in place to determine just how far forward it can safely go. Look in SRBF offcuts drawer for something suitable for making rubbing strips at bottom of fuselage spar holes. Note that clearance has to be left for the aileron quick-connect bellcranks which are not fitted at present. Find a couple of pieces, mark them up and bring them to the required shape and size with the bandsaw, hacksaw, file and belt sander. Abrade the mating surfaces and degrease with acetone. Mix 10g + 4g batch of Redux 420, spread on mating surfaces, position the 2 SRBF pieces and clamp them in place. Roll fuselage back into garage. Hold the M4 anchor nuts in place on the 12V - 24V converter box and drill through the rivet hole 2.7mm. Countersink the holes and set TAPK33BS rivets. Find a grommet and a tie-wrap with a mounting hole and drill the box for both of those. Take the whole converter into the office to change the leads to Raychem 44. Edit the misc wiring diagram to show the turn gyro ground connexion through the converter, and update the wiring database to match. Also correct & update a few other wiring items. |
1984.2 |
| 17 |
Remove coloured ribbon-cable wires with PVC insulation from 12V - 24V converter. Solder on new Raychem 44 wires of suitable lengths to reach final destinations. Pass wires through anchor tie-wrap and grommet in box side. Re-fit board to box with Loctite 243 on screw threads. Carefully identify each wire and label them with printed paper numbers secured with clear shrink-wrap sleeves. Tighten up tie-wraps and fit box cover - need to file small clearances on edges of it for grommet and anchor nuts. Connect to 12V battery and to turn & slip gyro. It runs up OK, but the needle seems to be sticking and won't respond to slow turns, only sudden ones. Send e-mail to Robin Morton asking for advice. |
|
| 18 |
Drill a block of wood 3/4" through to act as a jig to hold W34s while drilling through from W26As. Hold both pieces down with drill table clamps and drill through 1/4". Mark all pieces for orientation with paint marker. |
1984.7 |
| 20 |
Roll out fuselage onto drive and support aft end on stool to get approximately level fore-and-aft. Remove clamps holding SRBF spar guide strips. Pull trailer forward and take out all the stuff in the way of getting the wings out - and just for once, here's the list: generator, fuel can, chain block, winch cable box, box 15, box 9, baggage bay bulkhead, cowl duct parts, cockpit module assembly table, trolley with boxes 23, 19, 20, 21, 16, etc & D-hatch moulding, tailplanes, ailerons, propeller, box 10 and box 11. Roll out port wing and with more than usual difficulty wheel it past trailer and out to drive. Must have aligned the trailer differently today. Try inserting the spar and the starboard temporary pin goes in without too much difficulty. Port spar hole, however, is too high for seat-back bush hole. Extract spar, file down SRBF guide a little, try spar fit again. Repeat several times until port spar pin just goes in. Still not quite right as can't get incidence right (just looking roughly at lines drawn on fuselage side from previous incidence setting). Extract spar and file a bit off the forward face of the step on the SRBF guide to let the spar rotate a bit more. Re-rig and now much better. With spar extracted, drill port forward pin hole through the layup. However, with the spar now held closely against the seatback by the SRBF guide, the pin is striking the fuselage side somewhat further forward and the hole will need filing to match. Fit W27 & W26 sockets to port wing pins. A small amount of filing is needed on the surface to let the pip-pin go in without effort. Insert port spar and fit temporary seat pins into port spar but not protruding beyond it. Move engine box and roll out starboard wing. Roll trailer further forward and that makes it easier to get wing past between trailer and other structures. Try inserting starboard spar but it won't go in very far. The vertical face of the SRBF guide needs taking back quite a bit. File it back and try again - better but more needed. File further and next try is more successful. However, more will need to be taken off the guide to get the incidence correct. Notice front face of spar has a scratch, obviously from a sharp corner of the starboard side spar socket. File that down and smooth off corners. File more off vertical face of SRBF guide. Re-insert spar and it seems OK now. Adjust wing dolly position to get holes aligned and push seat pins home. Clamp wooden laths to flaps as counterweights to keep them retracted. Fix a string to the the wingtips as before and find there is quite a bit of sweep-back. Adjust wings to remove sweep. Fit flap setting template to port wing root and the incidence is almost perfect already. Check starboard wing incidence with template and adjust it slightly to match. Using a wedge, measure clearance between W26A and port fuselage side at narrowest point, with W26A swivel at mid-travel, as 11mm. Repeat on starboard side - 9mm. Measure W27 clearance using a ruler, sighting down through wing root gap; port 2-3mm, starboard 3-4mm. Mark socket positions on fuselage sides. De-rig and put wings back in trailer. Re-pack everything, hitch car to trailer and re-park it. Roll fuselage back into garage. |
1990.3 |
| 21 |
Fit threaded end to rod-end bearing on rudder; about 11 turns, leaving about 8 threads free. Hang rudder on clecos. Thread pushrod onto rod-end bearing on bellcrank and check length - rudder stops a few degrees starboard of neutral with bellcrank against stop. Lock rudder pedals at neutral with tubes through them. Mark pushrod at TE of fin. Check measurement between similar mark on rod-end and shoulder where end of tube will be - about 25mm. Mark the new pushrod to match and compare it with the old one; it is about 15mm longer. Hacksaw off waste, keeping well long of mark. File off burrs outside and run reamer down to clear burrs inside. Fit and try deflections with pedals unlocked. Port travel is about 10 degrees or so short of the 30 degrees needed. Pushrod is touching the edges of the hole in the sternpost at both extremes. Remove pushrod and file sternpost hole slightly. Shorten pushrod by about half the distance from the end to the mark (about 5mm). Deburr, ream, and try again. Slightly closer to required deflection to port and travel to starboard is well beyond the 30 degrees so no more relieving of sternpost hole needed at that end of travel. Decide to try adjusting of threaded end for final length check. Thread is 28TPI and cut end of pushrod is now about 3mm beyond the mark, so about 3 more turns would be equivalent to cutting off at the mark. Screw pushrod into rod-end bearing on bellcrank by 11 turns, then 3 more. Check port deflection - getting nearer. Screw pushrod in 1 more turn and check again - hardly seem to have changed. File LE of rudder slightly more to make sure it's clearing the rod-end at full port travel. Screw pushrod in 2 more turns and check again. Now seems perfect - just over 30 degrees travel in each direction when the bellcrank hits the stop. Quite tricky to check starboard extreme, have to hold bellcrank with one hand and 2 set-squares against the fin and rudder with the other, but with some fiddling it's possible to get a clear confirmation that the angle is beyond 30 degrees. So, pushrod needs to be shortened by 6/28" or 5.4mm. |
1992.1 |
| 22 |
Realise that I don't actually have to shorten the rudder pushrod any more. If each end is set to 11 + 3 threads engagement that would still leave about 5 threads further adjustment at each end - a total of 11/28" or about 8.9mm which seems plenty. File the cut end of the tube to get it really true and deburr. Screw in both threaded ends 14 turns and re-check maximum deflections - just over 30 degrees each way. Remove pushrod and mark orientation of aft threaded end. Mark lines 5mm and 10mm in from end of tube. Centre-pop on the 5mm line. Set up in vee-blocks and drill through 1/8". Insert rivet to hold insert in place. Centre-pop at right-angle on 10mm line, set on vee-blocks and drill. Remove rivet and pull threaded end out. Clean bore and blow out swarf. Squirt ACF-50 down inside of tube & on threaded end. Re-fit insert, fit rivets and set with 4lb club hammer. Much easier to strike straight & true with rivet setting anvil at eye level on vise anvil than on floor as I had done before. Remove rod-end bearing from rudder. Screw forward end of pushrod 14 threads into rod-end bearing on bellcrank and finger-tighten checknut. Likewise screw aft rod-end bearing onto pushrod 14 turns and finger-tighten checknut. Insert bearing into CS29 and drop bolt into place to hold it. Looks as if it would be a real struggle to fit the washers there in-situ, and looking at the bearing on the bellcrank that one would be much easier to re-connect in-situ. Try pedal movement while sitting in cockpit and it has a satisfactorily "controls full & free" feeling, with solid clunks at the end-stops. Lock pedals at neutral and check resulting rudder position. Because of the offset hinge and its own weight, rudder tends to hang slightly starboard of neutral, with the starboard cable slightly slacker than the port one, but when the rudder is set to neutral by eye, the bellcrank also appears to be at neutral, so I'm satisfied with that. Remove pedal locks and check extremes of travel again, viewing from above with set-squares held against rudder and fin surfaces. Both directions show a similar excess of a few degrees beyond the minimum of 30 degrees. Remove bolt and unscrew pushrod from forward bearing. Remove clecos and take rudder off. Re-fit aft bearing to CS29 in rudder, preserving the orientation and the order of washers. [AN4-10A bolt inserted from the top through CS29 flange, AN960-416 washer, MW4 bearing, AN960-416L washer, CS29 flange, AN960-416 washer, MS21042-4 stiffnut.] Add a dab of inspectors lacquer. Notice that pushrod seems to be weeping ACF-50 slightly so wrap it in tissue and leave in a safe place to drain. Post query on Matronics e-mail list about space available between plenum chamber and firewall with carb heaters fitted. Karl Heindl replies giving 100mm but warns of different carb heater dimensions - his moves the carbs aft by 18mm. |
1994.5 |
| 24 |
Empty box 10 in trailer, move its last contents B1RM, W36 & FL15 to garage. Get carb heater kit out of engine box and move to garage. Measure fin and rudder hinges for BID reinforcement. Top will be 125mm x 90mm, middle 155mm x 100mm, bottom 175mm x 100mm. Find some pieces of aluminium extrusion that I can lightly clamp against the hinge areas of the layups to ensure flatness. Measure the carb heater fittings. Overall thickness is 31.5mm. Recess on one side is 14mm deep, and spigot on other side is 13mm long. That gives a difference of 17.5mm between the internal end of the recess and the end of the spigot, or 18.5mm between the base of the spigot and the opposite face of the fitting. The exact displacement of the carbs and plenum chamber will depend on the profiles of the intake manifold spigots and the carb recesses, but I'm happy to use the larger figure of 18.5mm for safety, and overall the measurements confirm that my carb heater kit is the same as Karl Heindl's so I should have 100mm clear between the firewall and the plenum chamber. |
1995.2 |
| 25 |
Coldest day so far this season so start the fan heaters immediately. Drill through forward wing pin starboard layups 1/2". Mark 2 off each rectangles on BID 175mm x 120mm, 155mm x 120mm and 125mm x 120mm. The extra width compared to the measurements is to ensure that the layups oversail the hinge edge slightly and make the positioning less critical. Mark 3 similar rectangles on polyethylene sheet and turn ink side down. Find a few offcuts of BID that will do for the aft dolly nutplate layups if I get time to do that today. Abrade rudder hinge bonding areas with coarse Perma-Grit flexible sheet and degrease with acetone. Cut the BID and lay 2-thick on the polyethylene sheet. Mix a peg-4 (75g) batch of epoxy with slow hardener and wet out the BID. To the remainder add a small amount of flox and spread it into the small voids on the sternpost at the joggles. Lay on the layup top layup and peel off polyethylene sheet - have to trim the width slightly. Stipple well into corners. Repeat for middle and bottom layups, which do not need trimming. Remembering how much epoxy ran off the last layups using slow hardener, apply generous amounts of peel-ply in several layers to each layup. Apply pieces of polyethylene sheet on top of peel-ply and lightly clamp aluminium extrusions against hinge areas to keep them flat. 20C, 42% RH. Leave fan heaters running. 23C, 35% RH by bedtime. |
1998.3 |
| 27 |
28C, 30% RH. Turn off heaters. Remove clamps, polyethylene sheet and peel-ply from rudder hinge layups on fin. Saw and file back starboard edges to match original profile. File lumps off port edge where it was filled with flox and restore original internal profile needed to clear rudder when swinging to port. Unwrap mainwheel tube [Cheng Shin Rubber Ind Co Ltd 8.00-6/7 CST Best Quality]. Dust well with talc, inflate slightly and fit into tyre. Dismantle wheel. Fit tyre with tube inside to LG14 port wheel half (the one with the valve hole). Fit LG18 axle and LG16 spacer followed by LG15 starboard wheel half. Insert 6 off M6 bolts and screw into LG17 brake disc. Tighten equally all round and fit stiffnuts. Try to inflate tube, but can't get any inflator connector onto the valve. Eventually dismantle wheel again to see if a slightly different amount of inflation would help push the valve out more, but any significant inflation makes the wheel halves impossible to assemble. Deflate a bit and start again. Notice that I could push the valve out far enough for an inflator to grip the valve before I join the wheel halves, so try that. Alas! Although the connexion was good before assembly, it must have been dislodged during the assembly process as the air is just blowing out the side of the valve. Will have to see if I can get a valve extension. Degrease all W26 parts, trying not to remove the orientation markings, and grease both pip-pins. Insert port socket housing W26B into W26A body then insert W26C barrel. Turn W26C in-situ and apply small amounts of Loctite 638 to each land as it passes the wing pin hole. Rotate to proper alignment and insert greased pip-pin. Keep moving W26B within W26A to prevent those 2 parts sticking together. It finishes slightly stiff but easily movable. Repeat for starboard W26; first attempt gets messy, so stop, clean up & start again. Better 2nd try, and movement of W26B is quite free on this one. |
2001.4 |
| 29 |
Roll fuselage out onto drive. Notice that edges of SRBF spar guides are a bit sharp, so chamfer them all with a fine file. Start to see if the dummy spar could be used as part of a jig to ensure the wing pin sockets are set up true, then realise that all I really need is a straight-edge along the side of the fuselage as the spar aperture is reasonably true. Extend the marks showing the positions of the aft sockets well outside the bonding area for the mounting pads. Hold straight-edge in position and measure the slope of the fuselage across the diagonal of the marked area - about 5mm over 75mm. Draw up the profiles of both pads in CADintosh. Port one is 9mm to 12.2mm across the 50.8mm circle of the socket base, and 8.5mm to 13.1mm across the base of the 45 degree chamfer. Starboard one is 7mm to 10.2mm on the 50.8mm circle and 6.6mm to 10.9mm across the base of the chamfer. Look for suitable plywood and the nearest usable piece is 17mm thick. Add that dimension to CADintosh drawing and the overall diameter of a 17mm thick piece at the base of the chamfer will be 84.8mm. Mark and bandsaw 85mm squares from the 17mm plywood, then cut off corners to make octagons. Round the corners off with the belt sander. Tilt the bandsaw table to 45 degrees and chamfer all the edges in small sections by hand. Smooth off chamfer on belt sander, checking that small face is still slightly larger than minimum needed for the socket base. Thin and taper the port one to about 8.5mm at one edge and 13mm at other. Offer up to fuselage with straight-edge and it looks OK, but rocks about because of fuselage curve. Hollow out the centre slightly with power-file until it sits more stably on the fuselage. Lightly scuff the small face with the belt sander. Likewise thin the starboard one to about 11mm, tapering down to about 6.5mm. Try fit and hollow slightly to avoid rocking. Fit a ratchet strap around the fuselage just forward of the bonding area, and cut a couple of pieces of polyethylene sheet to keep the strap away from the sticky bits. Mix 10g + 4g Araldite 420 (Redux) and add small amounts of flox until it is non-slump. Clean port fuselage bonding area with acetone, avoiding the surrounding positioning marks. Spread about half the Redux on the back of the port pad and place it in position, aligning taper diagonally and lining up the central flat area with the surrounding marks. Press firmly on, and wipe excess Redux around edges to ensure bond goes all round. Similarly spread most of remaining Redux on back of starboard pad, clean fuselage with acetone and place pad. Place polyethylene sheet over starboard pad and slide ratchet strap into position over it. Likewise position polyethylene and strap at port side. Tighten strap a little and re-check position of both pads. Re-align with marks, tighten strap and again and re-check alignment. When strap secure and pads in correct alignment, roll fuselage back into garage and turn on fan heaters. Initially 14C, 82% RH - although the sun was still above the horizon, dew was already starting to form on the top of the fuselage before I could get it inside! Up to 18C, 60% RH in a few minutes. At bedtime, 23C, 39% RH. |
2005.3 |
| 30 |
25C, 34% RH. Sample cup well cured. Turn off heaters. |
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