| day |
notes |
hours |
| 2 |
Leave all work trousers in to have the knees patched as they keep getting caught on things. Chain drill 5/64" to start then with a hacksaw blade in the padsaw cut a slot on the centre of the tunnel spine for the throttle lever. Widen with Perma-Grit files to just admit the lever (the "spar slotter" is just the right thickness). Assemble the lever TH02 to the box TH01 and offer up from underneath. Insert temporary short screws to hold in position. Extend the slot aftwards until the lever can almost touch the aft screw. |
2122.8 |
| 3 |
While sorting out one of the miscellaneous storage boxes, come across some plastic snap-in covers that I bought at the LAA Rally. They are round with 4 securing prongs, but wonder if they could be trimmed to fit the oval rudder pulley access holes at the sides of the seats. The prongs appear to be about the right spacing to fit the longest dimension of the holes. Cut one side off one of them to remove the prong and allow it to fit in the starboard hole and snug up against the side of the tunnel. Amazingly, the prongs provide an excellent snap-fit. Trim off the other side to bring it flush with the edge of the seatpan depression and chamfer it slightly. That now seems to be ideal. On the port side, there is a much wider shelf, so first just cut two opposing prongs off flush with the underside of the second cover and try it for size. That hole is a bit shorter fore-and-aft, so enlarge it slightly with Perma-Grit files until the prongs just go in. There is no need to trim the cover on the tunnel side, but with a little trimmed off the outboard side that too looks just right.
Roll fuselage out onto drive. Get TH03/04-1.6M throttle cables, BEA1001/1.6M choke cable, FL10 sleeve and TH06 idle stop out of box 19 in trailer. Also AN3-10A bolt, AN960-10L washers, AN960-416L washers, TLPK424BS rivets, TLPD424BS rivets, TAPK33BS rivets, MS21042-3 stiffnuts and MS21042-4 stiffnuts out of box 20 in trailer. Also collect the aluminium fuel filler (supplied by Tim Ward) and the 2 off each of two types of eyeball vent from box 9 and take them to box 17 in the garage.
Remove the throttle lever from the pivot screw. Remove the throttle cable inners and fit the outers to the throttle box with AN960-416L washers and plain nuts and re-insert the inners in turn. Assemble the throttle cable eyes to the lever with a plain nut, then re-attach the lever to the pivot screw. Check travel - the lever moves fully forward against the edge of the box before the cable eyes contact the bushes of the outers, so there is no problem with travel restriction. Note that the end of the AN3-10A bolt is touching the starboard wall of the throttle box. Remove lever from pivot and remove cable eyes from lever. Remove cable outers from throttle box. Note that the AN960-416L washers were overlapping very slightly, so file a small flat on the edge of all 4 of them and store them on the cable bushes. Switch the Nyloc nuts to the aft ends of the cable outers and do them up finger-tight to retain the washers. Nip up the plain nuts firmly with pliers at the forward ends so they won't wander off. Re-assemble the cable eye hardware, without the cables, onto the throttle lever. Fit the lever onto the pivot screw again and attach to the tunnel spine with the temporary screws. Check forward travel, and enlarge slot forwards until the lever just touches the screw. Lever rubbing slightly on starboard side, so remove throttle box, dismantle lever from the pivot and reverse it. That cures the problem of the bolt rubbing on the inside of the box. File slot slightly. Re-fit box to tunnel and check freedom of movement. Better, but still rubbing a bit on starboard side, so rather than enlarge the slot excessively, remove it all again and put a very slight bend to port in the lever just above the pivot. Re-assemble everything and with some light filing of the slot edges, travel is now free and smooth throughout. Fit handle to check appearance - very satisfactory.
Remove choke knob and locknut and find that the O-ring is perished and split. Replace it with one from stock - 6mm x 2mm seems to be about right. File the flap actuator slots where marked at the retracted position, and open out all the way down to the size of the flap actuator cross-tube. Getting a bit dark to try out the choke cable position so roll fuselage back into garage. Put TLPK424BS, TLPD424BS, MS21042-3, MS21042-4, TAPK33BS and remainder of AN960-416L & AN960-10L in small drawer units. |
2126.5 |
| 5 |
Order some M8 x 35mm stainless button-head screws for the brake master cylinder from Westfield Fasteners. |
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| 6 |
[10:35] Don overalls over regular trousers and move the car out of the way. Pull fuselage out onto drive and position with nose down the slope to see if that will make rigging any easier. Pull trailer forward to allow room to take out wings. [10:52] Insert FL15 flap actuator cross tube into fuselage slots (much easier now that the slots are full-width throughout their length!) and insert FL17 bearing housings. [10:57] Move stuff out of trailer for access to wings. [11:05] Wheel out port wing. File forward face of SRBF spar guide slightly as I suspected the spar was tending to bind there. Constrain the pitot-static tubing and connectors away from the aileron linkage with duct-tape across the wing root. Try inserting port spar but it stops (as before) with wing pins just entering the sockets. Try a few more times, greasing the pins and sockets, jacking the fuselage up a good bit and sliding the wing dolly in and out to change the angle of entry. Eventually find that with fuselage just a bit higher than originally, it goes in OK. Insert 1/2" bolts part-way into spar bushes and fit aft pip-pin. Pull and push FL15 with bearing onto the end of the port flap pin. [11:40] Move engine, wheel out starboard wing. Grease pins. Insert spar until the pins just touch the sockets, then line up and pull FL15 onto flap pin, without pulling it completely off port pin. Push in starboard wing until it goes fully home with some wiggling. Insert pip-pin (the tool had got bent and needed some attention) and tap spar pins further in. The port end of FL15 is rubbing in a couple of places; it's possible to file those, without removing the wings, until movement is free. [12:15] Check starboard end of FL15 for freedom of movement and file slot locally to clear. Clamp laths to flaps to counterbalance them in the retracted position. Check for lateral clearance at ends of FL15, but there is none and it feels as though the flaps are being sprung very slightly outboard. Mark the positions of the inboard ends of the flaps on the wing trailing edge. Remove all pins and de-ring wings. Remove FL15. Port flap now rests at the marked position, but starboard flap rests about 1mm inboard of the mark. So, to ensure a small clearance (about 1mm each side) in the retracted position, FL15 needs to be shortened by about 3mm. Scrape and clean off with petrol the drafting tape used to label FL15. While cleaning it up, notice a small nick near one end. Dress it out with a fine Swiss file, then smooth off with 600 grade emery paper and the ScotchBrite wheel. Scribe a line around each end of FL15 about 1.5mm from the end. Fit a new 32TPI hacksaw blade and very carefully cut to the marked line. On the second end, manage to keep the offcut in one piece, but it is less than 0.5mm thick. File ends true, dress out a couple of hacksaw scratches with a fine file and the ScotchBrite wheel. Stop for lunch. [14:10] After lunch [14:40] clean and degrease the ends of FL15 and the outer surfaces of FL17 bearing housings. Apply Loctite 638 to each end and bearing housing in turn and insert. [14:52] Put FL15 assembly back into the fuselage and re-ring the wings. [15:10] Set the flaps retracted with the counterbalances. Clamp FL16s between lugs of FL15, just touching fuselage floor. Check for equal clearance between flap root and spherical bearing, and insert a split mixing-stick at each side to maintain that equality. [15:40] Mark fuselage floor at outer edge of FL16s, then re-clamp them at different angles and again mark outer edge on fuselage floor. Join the forward and aft marks with a straight-edge; the centre mark is slightly outboard of that line in each case. Measuring between the lines (after crawling out & in to get a ruler) shows they are not quite parallel. Re-check position of forward mark by clamping FL16s in lugs and sighting down along the edges. Port is OK, but starboard needs to move outboard about 2mm. Crawl out of rear fuselage again to get set-square and check trueness of lines against aft side of baggage bay. When satisfied with correctness of lines, add the inner lines at 15mm inboard of the first ones, and mark 90mm aft of baggage bay. Chain-drill 5/64" and cut inboard, outboard and aft edge of holes with padsaw. [17:05] Getting too dark and cold to continue, so move Dorothy's car, de-rig wings and return them to trailer. Re-pack and close trailer. [17:40] Move Dorothy's car, wheel fuselage into garage. [17:48] Couple up car to trailer and reverse it back to its parking spot. Park Dorothy's car and close carport. [18:05] |
2133.5 |
| 7 |
[10:20] Very cold, so put on old anorak on top of overalls. Move car, roll out fuselage onto drive. M8 x 35mm stainless screws delivered. Fit them to brake master cylinder and note that I should have ordered some stainless washers too as the plain ones (22mm OD) are looking a bit sad. [10:45] Cut forward end of hinge slots with Bohler Minitool jigsaw and diamond blade. File edges square and check that FL16/FL18 sandwich fits in the slots. Looking ahead slightly, check that flap hinge alignment tools are handy, but can't find the 0.75mm/60lb nylon monofilament line that was used with them, only 0.4mm/20lb and 0.98mm/80lb. Spend some time looking for it, but then realise I probably don't need it today anyway. [11:50] Degrease FL16s, FL21 and AIC040604 bearings. Apply Loctite 638 and drive bearings into place using light taps of a hammer on the vise anvil. Can't find FL11 for the hinge assembly but after consulting the database find they are in box 3 rather than the small drawers where I expected them to be. FL23 spacers will not even fit into the bearings in FL16, never mind run freely in them - maybe they have been distorted when driving in - so run a 1/4" drill through the bearings a couple of times to fix that. Do a check assembly of FL16s and FL18s on the bench with plain nuts. [12:55] Stop for lunch. [14:00] Dismantle FL16/FL18 assemblies and re-assemble in fuselage hinge slots. Starboard seems OK, but port hinge slot is too tight. Dismantle port FL16/FL18 and file hinge slot from inside fuselage, using marked lines for guidance. Re-assemble and FL16 swings freely now. Insert FL15 cross-tube and try to slide FL16s into lugs but there isn't enough room - hinge points need to move down and/or forward. The FL18s are already down on the fuselage floor, so the only option is forwards, which could be achieved by chamfering the forward end of the hinge slots to accept the slope of the FL18 hinge arms. Dismantle FL16/FL18 again and file a chamfer on the forward end of both hinge slots. Offer up FL18s and they do sit a bit further forward, but are now prevented from going any further by the fillet at the junction of the fuselage floor and the baggage bay. To address this, file a chamfer on the front edges of the FL18 mounting plates. The starboard one needs a larger chamfer as the layup radius is larger on that side. Now both FL18s sit much closer to the baggage bay when offered up. Blend in the corners of the chamfers with a fine Swiss file and smooth the whole area with the ScotchBrite wheel. Assemble the FL16s to the FL18s and now it's possible to slip the FL16s into the FL15 lugs. There is a slight rubbing of the starboard end of the FL15 tube against the fuselage slot at the upper/aft side. Relieve that with a Perma-Grit file and now there is only a slight binding of both FL16s against the outboard sides of the hinge slots at aft end of travel. Unclamp FL16s and dismantle both FL16/FL18. [15:45] Stop to prepare dinner. [16:45] File outboard aft ends of both hinge slots. Re-assemble FL16/FL18 and clamp FL16s to the FL15 lugs. Now only the slightest rubbing of FL16S at the forward end of the hinge slot. However, that side of the hinge slot is already up against the marked line, as is the outboard side of the port hinge slot. FL16P has more clearance on its outboard side so FL18S needs to move inboard. Unclamp FL16s and dismantle starboard FL16/FL18. File inboard edge of starboard hinge slot. Re-assemble everything and now FL15 moves smoothly and freely throughout its full travel. [17:35] Roll fuselage back into garage, re-park car and remove overalls. [17:50] |
2138.9 |
| 9 |
Get some M8 stainless penny washers from ScrewFix. The fishing tackle shop in Cheltenham has closed, so search further afield for the 0.75mm/60lb nylon monofilament line that I used with the flap hinge alignment tools. First place tried on A38 has nothing bigger than 0.57mm/30lb, but success at the second try in Tewkesbury, appears to be even the same brand I had before. Find a piece of aluminium angle 3mm x 38mm x 38mm about 610mm long that will serve as the straight-edge between the FL18 brackets. The manual talks of wedges and spacers to keep the FL18 in place, but that sounds a bit unsatisfactory. Ideally the FL18 should be clamped up to the undersurface of the straight-edge to make sure nothing moves. Rather than tapping holes into the FL18s, consider that sacrificial nylon screws could be used, inserted from underneath with holes tapped into the straight-edge. As there is not much room between the FL18 and the fuselage floor, would need to use countersunk screws that are only just too large to enter the 4.8mm holes in FL18 and thus have minimum projection. After trying out a few sizes, M4 seems about right, but I have no countersunk nylon screws of that size in stock. Replace washers on brake master cylinder screws with M8 stainless penny washers. Order some M4 countersunk nylon screws from ModelFixings. |
2139.4 |
| 10 |
Roll fuselage out onto drive. Manual calls for 562mm between outside edges of FL18s. At the flange, they can be moved over a range around that dimension, but measured at the hinge end where they are restrained by the FL16s clamped to the FL15, the measurement is 561.5mm, which I'm prepared to accept. Mark lines across the straight-edge at 561.5mm apart and clamp the FL18s to the straight-edge, aligning the outer edges with those lines. Spot through 2 holes on each FL18 onto straightedge with 4.8mm drill. Unclamp, centre-pop the marks and drill through 3.4mm. Tap the holes M4 using bench drill to keep straight. Find some short M4 countersunk screws for trial assembly and fit FL18s to straight-edge with them. Offer up to the slots and it looks promising. Slight transverse movement possible so will have to re-check correct location with the wings rigged. Collect re-welded spar clamp from Roger Bailey at Gloster Strut. |
2140.7 |
| 11 |
M4 nylon CSK screws delivered. |
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| 12 |
[10:08] Move car, roll fuselage out onto drive, tail down slope this time. [10:16] Assemble FL16s to FL18s then realise the straightedge protruding beyond FL18s blocks the movement of FL16s. Dismantle again. Scribe lines on straightedge against inboard edge of FL18s for location, remove FL18s from straightedge and cut off ends of straightedge flush with outboard edges of FL18s. Re-assemble FL18s to straightedge, check dimensions, insert into slots. Start to clamp FL16s in FL15 lugs then realise the flange of the aluminium angle straightedge is fouling the bend in the middle of FL15. Dismantle it all again. Reverse position of straightedge so the flange will be forward rather than aft and thus clear of FL15 movement. Clamp FL18s to straightedge, check dimension, spot drill to mark hole centres, unclamp, centre-pop, drill 3.4mm, tap M4. Assemble to FL18s and confirm dimensions still correct. Drop into fuselage slots, assemble FL16s then clamp FL15 lugs to FL16s. Full and free movement now over whole range of flap travel. [11:55] Pull trailer forward and move out stuff to get at wings. [12:05] Wheel out port wing and rig it - goes in quite easily, including flap pin. Insert aft pip-pin and part-insert 1/2" bolts as spar pins. [12:15] Move engine. Re-fit starboard spar clamp in trailer and check fit on spar. Need to move cowls to allow enough movement of wing. Wheel out starboard wing and, with a bit more fiddling that port, rig it. The port flap pin lined up OK without assistance, but the starboard one is slightly low and needs to be re-positioned when ready to enter socket. [12:45] Climb inside, check transverse clearance on FL15 cross-tube and mark against inboard edges of FL18s on fuselage floor at both extremes. [13:00] Stop for lunch. [14:35] Undo flap hinge screws and start to thread nylon line through, then realise the brass end fitting I made is to fit the FL9 bushes, not the hole in the hinge arms which are 10-32 bolt size (~4.8mm). M5 screws would just about fit those holes, so find a couple of short brass M5 CSK screws. Put each in the 5mm collet chuck in the lathe, centre drill and drill through number 68. Using these new line guides in the wing hinge arms, string the nylon line through the hinge arms via the holes in both FL18s. Can't get the FL18s far enough forward to clear the line; it is touching both of them. Take some photos from each end hoping I can take measurements off them. Get my small red laser pointer and check its beam width - about 1mm. Put another M5 brass screw in the collet chuck, centre drill and drill it through 1.5mm. Insert that in the starboard FL18 hole. The laser pointer has a slightly domed front surface which helps to align it with the flap hinge hole. With care, I can direct the laser beam from the starboard flap hinge hole through the 1.5mm hole in the starboard FL18 and onto the surface of the port FL18. Try to take photos for measurement of laser beam spot distance from FL18 hole, but don't have enough hands, and the laser beam seems to be upsetting the camera focus anyway. Visually, the spot appears to be about 5mm forward of the edge of the hole in FL18 (and very slightly lower than its centre). Repeating the exercise with the laser pointer at the port side gives a similar result. The flap hinge arms are 1195mm apart. While doing these checks, notice that the mixing-stick spacer is still in place on the starboard flap root beside the pin and thus restricting transverse movement of the FL15 crosstube in that direction. The location marks on the fuselage floor for the FL18s will need to be re-visited. [15:55] Derig and put away wings in trailer. The angle of the starboard spar clamp is causing one of the dolly wheels to lift off the floor. Block the wheel up for now to avoid putting a twisting stress on the spar, but will have to put a tapered shim on the fixing for the spar clamp later. Maybe that was what contributed to the failure of the original weld. Store the cowls nearer the ramp as I can't seem to find a safe place clear of the wings for them now in the trailer nose. Reload other stuff into trailer, close up, couple car and re-park trailer. Roll fuselage into garage. [17:20] |
2146.4 |
| 13 |
Remove FL18s from straightedge. Tidy some bagged screws and washers into compartment boxes. Mask bonding faces of FL18s. Scour FL18s and FL16s with fine ScotchBrite pad. Starting to rain so too humid now to spray them. Mark all W35 and wing pin socket stiffnuts with inspectors lacquer. Remove surface rust patches from FL15 with a combination of wire wool, ScotchBrite pads, wire brush on polishing spindle and wire brush on angle-grinder. |
2149.0 |
| 18 |
Take masking tape and support wire off rudder pushrod. Store it on rudder vee. Apply masking tape to both ends of FL15 crosstube to protect spherical bearings. Set up 5 support wires in carport. Degrease and hang up in turn FL15 crosstube, FL16 hinge arms and FL18 hinge brackets. Spray 1 light coat etch-primer on FL15. Start to spray zinc chromate primer on aluminium parts, but something seems to be wrong with the spray-can nozzle as it's very uneven and coming out in large blobs rather than the usual fine mist. Wipe the mess off the first part, and fiddle with the spray can nozzle doing tests until it seems to be a bit better. Start again spraying zinc chromate primer on FL16s & FL18s. Slightly more successful; although it still looks quite messy initially with a lot of splatter, it appears to flow into a more even coat before it dries. Repeat for 2nd & 3rd coat of etch-primer on FL15 and zinc chromate primer on FL16s and FL18s. Leave them all hanging to dry. Think about spraying a white top-coat on FL15, but the etch-primer instructions indicate a 24 hour wait before doing that. Mark the already-sprayed FL20 flap pushrod with lines around each end at 5mm and 10mm from the ends. Try the AN490HT11P threaded rod ends in it; they are very tight fit. I think it will cause problems to remove them for swarf removal after drilling the rivet holes, so will not even try to do that. Spray ACF-50 into the tube from both ends. Fit a temporary plain nut on each rod end in turn to protect the threads and tap it into the tube with a plastic mallet. Centre pop once at each end on the 5mm line and drill right through 3.2mm, supporting tube on vee-blocks. Try a rivet, but won't go in, so open up holes with 3.3mm drill. Deburr ends of holes. Dip each of 4 rivets in Duralac, insert and set with air riveter. Wipe off excess Duralac. Centre-pop each end on 10mm line, at right angles to first holes. Drill right through 3.3mm and deburr. Dip rivets in Duralac, insert and set. After a pause for lunch, bring sprayed items back into garage. Keep FL15 on its hanger so it won't need further cleaning for the top coat. Considering how messy they looked at first, the FL16s and FL18s appear reasonably smooth now. Peel masking tape off FL18s. Mix a small batch of Isopon P38 polyester filler and fill the small depression between the fuseholder holes on sub-panel area of the F14 instrument module. Tackle surface rust patches on LG05 and LG07 reaction plates with wire brush on polishing spindle, then get into the corners with a small wire brush on the Dremel. Clean out the bores of the holes with coarse wire wool. |
2153.4 |
| 19 |
Take FL15 cross-tube on its hanger out to carport and spray several mist coats of appliance gloss white to finish a small aerosol can. Take LG05 and LG07 reaction plates out to carport. Degrease with acetone and set plain side down on a large offcut of plywood supported by the stool. Spray several mist coats of etch-primer, to finish a can. With a fresh can of white, spray another coat on FL15. Remove choke knob and fixing nut and check choke control bush dimensions. The threads are 13mm OD but there are diametrically-opposed flats where it reduces to 11.2mm. Offer up nut to aft face of tunnel spine to see how low it can go while remaining reasonably flush. Run a felt-tip pen around the inside of the nut to get a centre mark. Drill 3/8" and with Perma-Grit files enlarge to the required oval shape, trying the control for fit from the aft side at intervals. Fit choke control and the cables pass well clear of the throttle box - the choke control hole could even have been made a bit higher without causing any problem. Bring FL15, LG05, LG07 in from carport. With rods and the laser pointer, check the space available between the top of the tank and the underside of the headrests. There appears to be plenty of room for both the sight tube and the vent pipe. Directly above where the sight tube emerges from the cockpit floor, drill a 1/4" hole just under the edge of the shelf between the headrests. Note that it would be good to put grommets around both tubes where they pass through the structure. Ordinary rubber grommets won't do because they are made for much thinner panels, but Heyco bushes would be ideal; I have a couple in stock but not the right size. For securing the tubes, 6.4 & 9.5mm P-clips seem to be just right. |
2155.7 |
| 20 |
On the way to the Europa Club Committee meeting, revisit the calculations of how far the FL18 holes are out of place. From the photos, it works out at 4.5mm viewed from port side and 4.8mm viewed from starboard. From the laser pointer exercise, I had not done the geometry correctly before, but now having thought more clearly about it, I need to work it out by algebra rather than graphically in CADintosh. It comes to about 4.2mm. Discuss the problem with Pete Jeffers after the meeting. He is surprised at the size of the discrepancy, but thinks it should be OK to carve away the BID tape and the base of the baggage bay bulkhead. He is comfortable for me to seek a second opinion. |
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| 21 |
Developing bad chest infection, so too tired to work outside today despite it being nice weather! Do some online searching for Heyco bushes. The Heyco US site lists items that look useful, but the UK agent's website is under reconstruction so will have to phone them on a working day. Some UK suppliers have similar products under the Richco and Pro Power brands, but can't find both the sizes I need. |
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| 23 |
Send e-mail to Andy Draper with query about flap cross-tube hinge problem. |
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| 24 |
Reply received from Andy Draper with details of what would be permissible to solve the hinge position problem. |
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