| day |
notes |
hours |
| 2 |
Wrap end of braided hose with masking tape again. Hold lightly in vise soft jaws and cut off in the middle of the tape with the angle grinder. Seems to be a slightly tidier cut than with the Dremel wheel, although care is needed at the end of the cut to finish cleanly. Would be useful to have some aviation-style tinsnips to snip off the few stray strands of wire. Try pushing it into the socket (held in vise soft jaws) with the tape on it. No trouble getting it started at a slight angle then working the other side in with a small screwdriver, However, the tape seems to be impeding its further entry into the socket, so pull it out and remove the tape. Try again using the same technique and with similar effort, it goes a bit further in. Twisting hose while continuously pushing it in results in slow inward movement, and eventually it reaches the back of the screw threads. Apply masking tape around the hose to mark the position of the end of the socket. Oil the nipple, threads and inside of hose liberally with 3-in-One. With socket gripped in soft jaws, start fitting into socket while checking for hose push-out. Once started by hand, quite easy to turn with a spanner, but soon gets much stiffer. Eventually, with considerable effort, achieve the 0.031" (about 1/32", 1mm) required maximum gap between the red and blue parts. Plug the fitting with a plastic cap from box 5 and return hose to box 27.
Check length of supplied EURO41 self-tapping screws against the thickness of the LG02 fork - they seem much too long and the protruding points would be hazardous. Instead of 25mm as supplied, about 15mm would be the maximum safe length and 10 or 12mm would be fine.
Trim excess off port flap root extension inner layup with Dremel cut-off wheel and sand back flush to outer layup with Perma-Grit block.
At ScrewFix, get some 1/2" x 8 stainless steel self-tapping screw and a set of 3 cheap aviation tinsnips.
Position lowest P-clip and mark through it for the screw-hole. Position a piece of steel angle between the fork and the wheel to protect the disc and the tyre. Drill 2.8mm at the marked spot but that is too tight for the screw to enter. Re-drill, increasing in small steps up to 3.7mm, which finally allows the screw to be driven in with moderate effort. Fit clip. Check freedom of movement of brake pipe around LG01; position & mark for top P-clip just behind LG04 hole in LG02, allowing some slack for retraction movement. Drill on mark and fit top clip. Mark hole for middle P-clip, positioning the clip to keep the pipe clear of the tyre where the fork bends. Need to use pneumatic angle drill to get at that hole. Fit P-clip. |
2292.6 |
| 3 |
Brake bleed kit delivered from Europa factory. It consists of a 10ml syringe and a funnel with a screwed end to fit the master cylinder, but no flexible tubing, which surprises me. Check with Karen and there is indeed no flexible tube supplied as standard, but she agrees that it would be useful to include some of the right size and will see if she can find anything suitable. Have a look online and order 2m silicon tubing in each of 3.2mm, 4mm, 4.8mm & 6mm ID from Advanced Fluid Solutions. Dynon D2 delivered from Transair. Check the "pinch" mount in the empty top centre hole of the main panel and initially it seems to be OK. However, (a) adding the power plug fouls the altimeter adjustment knob, and (b) the sprung tongues that extend sideways to hold it in place foul the instrument each side, preventing it going securely home. Problem (a) can be addressed by powering it from the mini-USB socket on the LH side. That will not obstruct the ASI, nor will the adjacent external GPS antenna plug. Problem (b) can be fixed by just filing a bit off the ends of the tongues. Rotating the backplate to let the tongues operate vertically (where there are no obstructions) instead of horizontally would lose the small notch where a cable can be fed through to the back of the panel. The free/cheap apps on the iPhone don't appear to work with the D2, but the device itself seems fine after switching off and on again once on charge. Check suitability of straight aviation tinsnips for trimming wire whiskers on free end of braided fuel hose and they seem to do quite nicely. Check fit of brake-bleed-kit funnel in brake master cylinder filler hole. Leave D2 on charge overnight. |
|
| 4 |
Tidy up tools, airline etc from previous work. Roll fuselage out onto drive. Take out baggage bay parts. Open trailer and take starboard flap out to it. Vacuum up aluminium swarf from drilling LG02 for P-clips. Fit starboard flap, photographing the orientation of the fittings for future reference. Bring out port flap, fit it to wing and photograph fittings. Close up trailer. Disconnect FL15 cross-tube from pushrod and remove bolts holding it to FL16 hinge arms. Slide FL15 out of place to allow independent operation of flaps with wings rigged. Check AC43-13 section 7 for correct lock-wiring of multiple bolts. Follow example 2 (clockwise) on page 7-23 to fit lockwire to the bolts holding the LG25 starboard stub axle. Fit lockwire to the bolts holding the brake slave cylinder. Roll fuselage back into garage. |
2295.7 |
| 5 |
Move cars. Roll out fuselage onto drive and park tail-down. Roll trailer forward, take out stuff in the way of the wings, wheel out port wing and rig it. Move engine, wheel out starboard wing and rig it. Flap root extensions look almost OK without any trimming when flaps retracted, although both seem a bit further away from the fuselage than my remembrance of the blue foam formers. However, on starting to file off excess at the starboard TE with a Perma-Grit flat file, it becomes obvious that it had been forcing the flap slightly outboard. With filing off the high spots at various places the gap reduces to almost zero. A bit more filing brings the gap to near the 5mm called out. Port flap root extension only a bit of filing at the TE end to bring it close to a satisfactory state. Pull wings out and install FL15 crosstube again, then remember that the edges of the slots around FL15 need to be filled with flox, and that would be much easier without FL15 in place. Remove it again (sigh). Cut away brown foam between skins around the slots with a Dremel cutter as usual. Mix a peg-1 (30g) batch of standard epoxy and add a couple of doses of flox to it to make it non-slump but still spreadable without picking up. Fill around the extra drain hole by the rear bulkhead (which already had the brown foam routed out) and around both FL15 operating slots. Smooth the flox mixture well into the recess so that it won't stick to FL15. Re-install FL15 and port quick-connect aileron bellcrank which had been left off since patching the edge of the spar hole. Re-rig wings. Note that the pip-pins in the aft lift pins go in easier if the seat-back spar pins are not yet inserted. Get out the weather-resistant tie-wraps. Ray returns my engine crane. Tie EURO13 bungee cord to upper tube of LG01 with 2 half-hitches and secure the free end with 3 tie-wraps. Try to thread it under the LG02B anchor tube but it won't go because it's meeting the edge of LG02A just behind. Try from the rear instead and although awkward to reach past the wheel, I can push it through with a long screwdriver, needed because the gap between LG02B and LG02 is rather tight for the diameter of the bungee. Use clamps to hold it in tension for the last couple of loops until the top tube has 6 loops over it plus the end tie-offs. Secure tail end with just 1 tie-wrap for now. Try operating the retract lever and it's now do-able with some effort but the lever won't go into the "up" gate. Untie the end of the bungee and using clamps again to hold the tension, add another loop. Re-secure end with 1 tie-wrap. Try retract lever again and now there is minimal effort required for either up or down movement. However, the lever won't engage in the "up" gate. The swinging arm will now stay up unassisted so leave it there and jack up the dolly as high as it will go for best access underneath. Flaps still have a little way left to travel, so they are not the problem. The tyre is just touching the brake master cylinder and its elbow connector, and the slave cylinder is catching the rudder cable. It appears the LG02 swinging arm is either too far to starboard or is being swung too far up. I had centred it very carefully when installing LG01, so (unless it was supposed to be offset a bit to port?), that can't be the problem. To reduce the amount of "up" movement the pre-compression of the LG06 suspension block could be reduced, but not by much as the M8 bolts do not have much spare length. To get at the forward M8 nut, have to remove most of the bungee again (but at least now I know how many loops are needed). Can just turn the forward M8 nut by reaching through LG01 with an open-ended spanner. Undo it until there are barely 2 threads visible beyond it. Similarly undo the aft M8 nut. Re-thread the bungee (have to trim the end as it's getting too furry to poke through) and re-secure the end. Try retract lever again and it seems to get a bit nearer the "up" gate than before but still won't engage and the same fouling is happening with the brake parts. While examining the setup from various angles, notice that LG08 seems to be not quite over-centre which is a bit worrying. Measure roughly the distances between the various pivots to see if I can get a better idea of what's happening by drawing it up. LG02 centre-centre ~560mm. LG01-LG04 ~140mm. LG08 centre-centre ~140mm. LG08-LG04 ~134mm. |
2303.0 |
| 6 |
Post query about undercarriage retraction problem on Matronics e-mail list. Tubing delivered from Advanced Fluid Solutions. Try the fit on the brake bleed nipple. 4mm ID goes on, possibly tight enough to seal, but 3.2mm is much better, needing a firm push to get it on. It also fits the end of both syringes directly. Find that the PDF build manual doesn't have pages 31-5 to 31-8 (the firewall templates) so scan the paper pages so I can print them out for transfer to card. Discover while trying to get exact-size printouts that apparently the Brother MFC-J6720DW doesn't honour the A3 borderless page setup unless it's invoked directly in the print dialogue. It will print on some A3 card (210g/sq m) from Hobbycraft if fed through the manual feed slot, so print all 4 firewall templates on card. |
|
| 8 |
The general opinion on the Matronics e-mail list is that my problem is not uncommon, and that I'll have to re-work the "up" gate to reduce the amount of retraction, and then re-work the flap retraction setup to return to the original amount of flap movement. Order another FL19 flap horn plate from the Europa factory. |
|
| 10 |
Replacement FL19 delivered from Europa factory. |
|
| 12 |
After completing the socket to be sunk in the patio for the garden umbrella, finally get back to some aeroplane work. Push bungee top loops to port for access to flap actuating mechanism. Note position of chamfer on original FL19 and file new one to match with coarse half-round file. Dress out scratches from that with a half-round Swiss file and polish up with ScotchBrite wheel. Degrease it with acetone, hang on a wire hook and spray a light coat of U-Pol Acid #8 etch-primer. Leave for about 20 minutes then spray another light coat of primer. |
2303.6 |
| 13 |
Finish off an almost-empty can of Halfords Appliance Gloss White giving the FL19 a light coat. Position undercarriage just clear of brake parts and mark position on retract lever slot. Remove bungee cord. Spray another coat of white on FL19 from a fresh can. Check distance between LG05 and LG07, which should be 79mm according to the PDF manual, and that's much easier to measure than the distance between the pivots. On forward face it is about 78.5, which is surprising as I expected to need to reduce it. Check distance at aft side - have to jack up dolly to full height to get at it - and it is pretty exactly 79mm. Undo nut on forward bolt - 4 off 1/12 turns with the open-ended spanner - and that brings it to 79mm, with some thread still visible beyond the nut. Now try to check the over-centre geometry. Thread a piece of nylon fishing line through the centre of LG09, underneath the roll-pins, and hang ring spanners on the ends to keep it in place. Very difficult to get my head into a position where I can sight along the line and see how the centre pivot aligns with the line when it is stretched across the centre of the bottom pin. Eventually conclude that the line is on the centre of all 3 pivots on the starboard side - ie there is no over-centre. Then notice that LG08P looks slightly clear of the LG01 stop, and indeed I can slip a ruler between the two. LG08S seems to be in good firm contact with its stop. Don't understand how this could have arisen as both were touching the stops when the holes were drilled back on 8th April 2013, and don't know why I hadn't spotted it before. Whatever has happened, looks like the starboard stop needs to be filed or ground back a little to allow both LG08 to make contact. That should also put the 3 pivots into the over-centre state. I hope that it will not affect the latching of the lever into the "down" gate; I might have to replace the retract lever if that happens. However, access to the stop for filing or grinding is very restricted. Prop tyre up with a piece of angle iron against the dolly to get LG08S well away from the stop. Try to get Dremel into the space but it's just too long. Could remove suspension unit from LG02 and remove LG02 from LG01, but that seems a bit of a palaver. Don't want to take the suspension assembly off the LG08 if I can help it as that's quite fiddly. Try the MiniCraft drill with a small grindstone in the chuck; it works but only for a short while as the chuck won't hold with the side load. |
2306.1 |
| 17 |
Check size needed for blanking plate to cover 2 gyro holes at bottom left of main panel - about 80mm x 170mm. Find the piece of 3mm aluminium plate that was cut out to form a holder for the radio panel when it was water-jet cut and mark out a rectangle 80mm x 170mm on it. Cut to approximate size and true up edges with millennicut file. Chamfer edges and corners. Check fit of Dynon D2 and file ends of tabs slightly to clear the instruments each side. Clamp blanking plate to rear of main instrument panel, centred on bottom-left instrument holes. Scribe through all 6 screw holes. Centre-pop, centre drill and drill through 4.2mm for SS button-head screws M4 x 10mm. The Airbox covers about one and a half standard instrument holes, and if situated at the starboard end of the space where the turn gyro and DI had been, that leaves room for connectors at the port side and also leaves the on-off button clear of the Dynon D2 above it. Offer up Airbox in clip mount to check size (about 45mm diameter) and location (35mm up, 56mm in from starboard edge of blanking plate) of clearance hole needed. Mark that centre and make a hole with the 46mm holesaw. Have to keep stopping to clear the teeth of the holesaw as the metal is quite soft and picks up very readily. Position blanking panel with a couple of temporary screws and offer up the Airbox in mount - looks perfect. Find a piece of 25mm x 25mm x 3mm aluminium angle and cut off an 80mm length. Cut away a 25mm length in the centre of one flange and check how the mount will fit. File a bit more clearance. Check again with blanking plate in-situ find that some needs to be taken off the other flange as well. Cut and file that away, check again. Mount a bit too tight, so slightly thin the flange it's sliding onto with the power file. Do a trial assembly and mark location of angle on blanking plate. Mark and centre-pop angle in 4 places for rivet locations. Hold angle and plate together in correct orientation with engineers clamps and drill through 3.2mm. Countersink front face of plate with 1/4" drill bit. Fit angle to plate with 4 off TLPK429BS rivets from tail kit in box 12 that Graham Singleton's rudder drive mod made redundant. Put remaining 2 of those rivets in the pack with the others of the same size in box 5. Re-assemble it all again and scribe around inside of hole for the mount on the angle. Centre-pop and drill 4.2mm. When assembled again, the hole is not quite in the right place so open up to 4.8mm which is fine. A button-head SS M4 x 16mm screw is just right to hold the mount. Dismantle, lightly clean face of plate on ScotchBrite wheel, degrease with acetone and spray a light coat of green zinc chromate primer. After about 15 minutes spray another coat of primer. After about an hour, spray a light coat of Halfords matt black, followed by another once it has flashed off, then another a couple of hours later at bedtime. |
2310.7 |
| 19 |
Fit radio panel to F14 instrument module with 10-32 x 1/2" SS button-head screws. Thread cable for external antenna through fan hole as there isn't enough room to get the plug through the proper hole with the instrument module in place on the firewall. Put the small 12v lead-acid battery on the floor of the instrument module. Crimp female blade connectors onto red and blue wires. Use them to connect battery to dual-USB outlet; leave it dangling out of one of the holes on the sub-panel. Fit blanking plate to main instrument panel with plain M4 nuts on the M4 x 10mm button-head screws. Fit Airbox clip mount to it with plain nut on M4 x 16mm button-head screw. Fit M4 anti-vibration bobbins to anchor nuts around main panel, then fit main panel with the shortened M4 button-head screws. Connect Airbox & Dynon D2 to the USB outlet to check function. All well, disconnect battery lead from USB adaptor. Esther arrives, but has forgotten to pack the aluminium AN spanners! |
|
| 20 |
Today is our party for our 5th wedding anniversary and my 70th birthday. Should also have been celebrating the aeroplane completion, but ho-hum . . . Roll out fuselage onto drive. Jack up dolly enough to remove sub-dolly (whose wheels are too small for grass). Bandsaw a chunk of wood into 2 triangular ramps to get over the kerb at the edge of the drive and onto the grass. Pull the fuselage onto the grass and chock the front wheels with the wooden triangles. Roll the trailer forward, take out the stuff obstructing wing access; put the cowls and the prop out by the fuselage. Roll out the port wing. Get it up onto the grass and rig it. Move engine in trailer, roll out starboard wing and try to rig. Can't get the flap pin to line up to allow complete engagement until Esther helps by holding the flap down while I push the wing home. I will have to fit the cones as promoted by Bob Harrison to guide the flap actuator onto the pins. Connect 12v battery to USB adaptor & power up Dynon D2 & Airbox. Also power up Garmin GPSmap 296, which should be fine for about 5 hours on its internal battery, which was charged overnight. Throw tarpaulin over cockpit area as rain showers are threatened. Put stuff back into trailer and close ramp. Couple up car to trailer and reverse it right back to the fence to make room for wheel chair access to patio. In various dry spells during the afternoon, various children climb into the cockpit & try out the controls, and various adults inspect the aircraft and ask question. After everyone has gone home, pull the trailer forward, unload the stuff again. De-rig the wings and put them away, them load the rest of the stuff back into the trailer. Roll the fuselage down onto the drive. Bring out the engine crane and hoist the forward end of the dolly enough to fiddle the sub-dolly back into place under it, then lower it. Roll fuselage back into garage. Find a piece of aluminium angle long enough the bridge the gap between the aft ends of the dolly where the centre-section was cut away. Drill through the chipboard pieces 5.5mm to allow a long M5 screw to drop in at each end and secure the angle in place. Push the whole dolly slightly sideways as usual to get clearance to walk past, and instead of sliding across the floor as usual, the port aft wheel folds inward as the piece of chipboard connecting the forward and aft parts of the sub-dolly disintegrates! Can't do anything about it now, but will have to replace that piece of chipboard with something more substantial. Disconnect the 12v battery from the USB adaptor and power down all the screens. Couple up the car and reverse the trailer to its usual parking spot. |
|
go to list of milestones
go to previous page of journal 
go to list of narrative pages
