| day |
notes |
hours |
| 1 |
Short and right-angle USB leads delivered. |
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| 2 |
Try out some of the USB leads on the Dynon D2 and Airbox Aware 2 in-situ on the panel. While the right-angle ones initially seem good, in fact the much shorter straight leads leave less cable dangling around and are probably the optimum solution. Remove clamps, support blocks and polyethylene sheet from support ribs. The thin fingers of Redux in the sample cup are still a bit rubbery, but that is to be expected from the ambient-temperature cure. Not sure if the reinforcing layups are to be both sides of each rib or only 1 side. Mark out 16-off pieces 200mm x 50mm on BID. (Will all be needed even if only 1 side to be reinforced, as bottom ends of ribs need layups too.) Fit another 2 tie-wraps to the starboard end of the retract assist bungee, orientating them so that the protruding part is away from the adjacent turns of the bungee to avoid wear. Remove the 1st tie-wrap and fit another in the correct orientation. At the port side of the bungee, pull it a little tighter to deal with the slight pressure I felt when the flaps were connected, then secure as for starboard. Add a 4th tie-wrap lower down to secure the long end, rather than cutting it off. |
2368.0 |
| 3 |
Abrade Redux fillets with a TC round file. Scuff-sand bonding areas with coarse Perma-Grit sheet. Find a block of wood to support centre of bulkhead while upside-down. Fit one end support frame to the small layup board and cut off a large length of polyethylene sheet to make a curing tent. Cut and lay out 8 pieces of polyethylene sheet. Cut and lay out on them the 16 pieces of BID, stacked in pairs. 16C, 56% RH, start fan heater. Mix a peg-5 (90g) batch of standard epoxy and wet out BID. Transfer each piece in turn to a rib-bulkhead join and stipple out. Add peel-ply. Move bulkhead to floor at opposite end of layup board to the support frame, and drape polyethylene sheet over it all to form a curing tent. The bottoms of the ribs provide support for the tent, but care needed to avoid them slicing through the sheet when pulling into place. Turn on fan heater inside tent and turn off other heater. Check again after a couple of hours and inside the tent it's 33C, 20% RH. Fan heater has moved a bit from vibration so put a piece of carpet under it to stop it walking around. |
2370.3 |
| 4 |
29C, 20% RH inside curing tent; sample cup well cured; turn off fan heater. |
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| 5 |
Remove peel-ply from baggage bay rib layups. Trim ends of layups with padsaw and smooth off with Perma-Grit block & files. Move bulkhead to cockpit. Climb into rear fuselage and tilt bulkhead into position, bending top to clear headset socket box. Fit 8 clecos to hold in place. Notice that port rudder cable is outboard of inner rib and starboard rudder cable is inboard of inner rib. My feeling is that both should be inboard (and thus clear of the area under the access panels). Crawl out through the D-hole, remove cushions etc that could be obstructing the cables, move rudder to about centre and have a look back into the tunnel from the wheel well. Not really obvious which cable run is correct. Remove clecos, ease bulkhead up and slide port cable under rib to inboard side of rib. Doesn't look much better - it's pressing quite firmly against the rib, and both cables are now touching the rubbing strips on the containment bulkhead. The starboard rib could be pressed out a little bit to clear the cable, but the port one would need to move significantly more. Remove clecos and bulkhead and have a look through the manual for further guidance - can't find any. Without the bulkhead, the cables are about 167mm - 170mm apart in the area of the ribs. The space between the inner ribs is about 167mm and the distance between their outer faces is about 174mm. So, it would not be right to route both cables outboard of the ribs, especially as the cables will move close together as the rudder is deflected. They'll have to go inboard of the ribs, and rubbing strips will be needed. Can't find any thin pieces of SRBF large enough, so order some Tufnol sheet 590mm x 285mm x 0.4mm from RS. Fit baggage bulkhead and clecos, keeping both cables inboard of ribs. Mark rib positions on fuselage floor and cable positions on ribs. Mark conduit positions on bulkhead and also a couple of places where the edges could be relieved. |
2372.4 |
| 6 |
Find a couple of lengths of wood about 187mm long and wedge them between the bottom ends of the inner baggage bay support ribs. Play the heat gun gently on both sides of the joint between the port rib and the bulkhead floor, checking temperature frequently with IR non-contact thermometer. Stop heating once both sides have reached about 90C. Leave wedges in place while it cools down. Seems to have done the trick - at the marked position of the cables, the distance between the ribs is now about 175mm. Tufnol sheet delivered from RS. Cut off 2 pieces 210mm x 75mm. Find some thick pieces of plywood and chipboard to spread the clamping pressure. Abrade one side of each Tufnol piece on coarse Perma-Grit block then wipe them and the ribs off with an acetone-soaked tissue. Lay them on pieces of polyethylene sheet for spreading Redux. Mix 20g + 8g Redux and spread fully but very thinly over one Tufnol piece and the corresponding area on inside of the port inner rib. Put the Tufnol piece into position and press to get good contact. Lay a piece of polyethylene sheet over that side of the rib and position plywood and chipboard each side. Clamp up with a couple of G-cramps to get the parts in closest possible contact, then undo them and check that the Tufnol has not migrated away from its desired position. All well, so replace wooden pieces, with a clean piece of polyethylene sheet, and clamp up again. Repeat the process for the other piece of Tufnol on the starboard rib. |
2375.2 |
| 7 |
Redux sample cured to "leather" stage. Cut out previously-printed card templates for firewall pieces. Trial fit to LG01 and hold in place with masking tape. Need to remove starboard rudder cable from actuating horn to allow fitting of starboard side piece. Template looks quite close to what's required, although cable holes will need to be adjusted. As the bonding assembly left on the aft fuselage is a bit unstable while moving the rudder etc, remove clamps and wood from baggage-bay ribs. Bonding looks OK, although there is a bit of squeezed-out Redux that will need to be ground off. Cut and file off excess Tufnol at ends of ribs. Fit baggage-bay bulkhead and clecos. With template in place, re-fit starboard rudder cable to horn. Will need to support tail end and operate rudder pedals to extremes to make sure cable holes in template are sufficient. Bottom tabs look as if they should be longer but otherwise template fit is quite good. Will need to source some high-temperature RTV. Do some internet research and place order. |
2376.4 |
| 12 |
J B Weld high-temperature RTV silicon sealer delivered. Check baggage bay floor for flatness with a straight-edge, to make sure the support ribs are not pushing it up in the middle - looks fine. Roll fuselage out onto drive. Lift tailwheel off the ground by supporting tailplane torque tube on wooden blocks placed on a couple of stools. Exercise rudder to check sizes and positions of cutouts in firewall for rudder cables. Get Dorothy to hold rudder over in full-deflection position as it won't stay by itself. Mark card templates for changes needed. Not sure if the pedals were really going to full travel so find a length of aluminium bar (~690mm) that fits between the pedals and the front of the thigh support to wedge the pedals to full deflection in turn. Port edge needs to bend aft slightly to clear bellcrank so could do with extending to meet composite firewall in that area. Drill out the fixing holes in the baggage-bay access covers where they were covered by the layups. Insert the previously-used wooden props between the inboard baggage bay support ribs (noting that both ribs are now clear of the rudder cables) and mark their positions on the fuselage floor. Remove clecos and take out baggage bay bulkhead. Gascolator flow direction requires that it be mounted on the outboard port rib rather than the inboard one as I'd originally thought. Offer up gascolator and fuel pump to outboard port rib to check positioning and pipe runs. Consider getting Andair bracket for the gascolator but then find that a piece of the 38mm x 38mm x 3mm aluminium angle I have in stock would make an even better bracket, providing more finger clearance between locking ring and mounting surface. Assemble drain and blanking plug to gascolator with Loctite 577. Plug is drilled for lockwire so will be a suitable anchor for lock-wiring the bowl securing ring. Assemble AN816-6-2D to pump inlet with Loctite 577 followed by AN818-6D & AN819-6D to that and to gascolator outlet. Looks as though it should be just possible to fit a piece of pipe between the two, with the pump tilted to 45 degrees as required. The pump may need to be fitted on a stand-off to line up the connexions better. Check LAS Aerospace website to see if a 45 degree adaptor could be fitted to the pump inlet instead of the AN816-6-2D but although the 90 degree elbow (AN822) comes in a version for 1/8" NPT & 3/8" OD pipe, apparently the 45 degree AN823 does not. Also, the inlet end of the gascolator is quite close to the FL15 flap actuating cross-tube and it may not be possible to bend the pipe in a small enough radius to clear it; a look at the bends on the pipework around the selector valve confirms that more room would be needed than is available if the gascolator is mounted at the forward edge of the rib. Phone Andair and they say it should be no problem to remove the existing connexion and fit a different one. Checking again on the pipework around the selector valve shows that an elbow connexion puts the extremity of the pipe about 40mm away from the mating face of the connexion, which will be fine for clearance from the FL15 cross-tube. Order a 1/4" NPT female connexion from the Andair website, as it's much cheaper than the AN6 elbow, and an AN822 elbow will be about the same protrusion as well as allowing some flexibility in angling. Order some 1/4" UNF stainless steel fasteners for mounting the gascolator from Westfield Fasteners. The gascolator should be mounted low enough for the drain to protrude slightly below the fuselage floor. Cut a 43mm length of the 38mm aluminium angle and tidy up the ends. Set it in the milling vise. With a 1/4" slot drill, make holes 8mm in from outer edge, 23.5mm apart and symmetrically positioned along the length. Try fitting to gascolator with temporary screws - perfect! Remove and make a similar pair of holes on the other flange, but 17.5mm in from outer edge to centre them on the flange. Put baggage bay bulkhead back in and re-fit clecos. Re-fit bracket to gascolator and position on forward edge of outboard rib. Mark position of drain valve on fuselage floor. No room for drill, so remove clecos and baggage bay bulkhead again for access. Drill through fuselage at marked spot and enlarge slightly with Perma-Grit cone to clear drain valve. Slacken fuel pipe outlet on selector valve and swing pipe to port so the aft end is outboard of the inboard baggage-bay support rib. Wonder if I could use one of the plastic snap-in covers for dropping the gascolator bowl, but on checking they are just too small so will have to make a hinged panel as originally intended. Will need to have top access anyway through the baggage bay access hole to do the lock-wiring - it would be very awkward to do that from below. Replace baggage bay bulkhead and clecos. Position gascolator and mark bracket holes on rib. Fit a AN818-6D nut and AN819-6D sleeve to the end of the stock piece of 3/8" aluminium pipe, after removing the protective tape. Make a flare on the end of the pipe. Using the spigot I made to support the end of the pipe, and the cutaway in the bender to take the sleeve, make a 45-degree bend as close to the end as possible. Measure/estimate where to cut off the pipe to leave enough length to make the second flare. Cut off and clean up the end, tape up the end of the stock piece to keep it clean. Fit nut and sleeve - have to push the sleeve quite hard to get it back far enough; squeezing the pipe to reduce the ovality caused by the bending helps. Make the flare and connect the pipe to gascolator and pump. The assembly seems to just fit within the area of the outboard rib, and it seems the pump does not even need a stand-off. Roll fuselage back into garage. |
2384.3 |
| 13 |
Pro-Seal high-temperature RTV silicon seal delivered. |
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| 14 |
1/4" UNF fasteners delivered from Westfield Fasteners. |
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| 15 |
Collect Andair fitting from sorting office - not delivered yesterday as signature needed. Remove temporary screws holding gascolator bracket. Degrease tapped holes in gascolator. Fit bracket to gascolator using 1/4" UNF x 0.5" stainless steel hex cap screws with spring lock washers and Loctite 243 on threads. Remove clecos and baggage bay bulkhead. Remove pipe to pump and cap gascolator outlet. Position gascolator bracket on outboard rib with wooden block behind to prevent breakout when drilling. Ensure bracket holes are lined up with marks and edge of bracket is aligned with forward edge of rib, then clamp firmly in place. Using bracket holes as guides, drill through rib 1/4" using right-angle air drill as inboard rib prevents use of normal drill. Trial fit gascolator to rib with 1/4" UNF x 0.75" stainless steel hex cap screws, with 11/16" OD (actually M6 DIN 9021) stainless washers and Nyloc stiffnuts behind rib. Re-fit baggage bay bulkhead and clecos. Ensure gascolator drain is in the hole made for it then tighten screws holding bracket to rib. Take out clecos and bulkhead. Re-assemble pump pipe to gascolator. The pump will need some stand-offs. Having checked again the approximate dimensions of the AN822 elbow on the fuel selector valve it looks as though there should be just enough room for a similar elbow on the pump outlet. However, I want to do a trial fit of that before drilling the pump fixing holes. Look for some aluminium from which to make stand-offs, then find I have the ideal item ready-made in stock. The spacers from the scrapped BTRL silence cabinet corner fittings are 8mm thick by 20mm OD with 1/4" holes. Try them under the pump fitting lugs and they seem just perfect. Check the length of bolts required to accommodate the spacers and it looks as though AN4-10A will be fine - which is good as I seem to have some of those spare in stock. Order AN822-6D and AN822-6-2D elbows from LAS Aerospace website. |
2386.5 |
| 16 |
Phone LAS Aerospace and add an AN833-6D elbow (alternative for fuel pipe through firewall) to yesterday's order. Bend aft end of fuel pipe from selector valve up to the approximate position for the elbow on the gascolator inlet. Remove masking tape holding card firewall templates in place. Undo starboard rudder cable connexion to release starboard section of template. Re-fit cable finger-tight to keep everything together. Take off parcel tape holding FW02 & FW03 together and remove residue with acetone. Place card templates on stainless steel firewall sheets and move around to get best fit, allowing for places where extensions beyond the template outlines are needed. Re-draw fuel system diagram and update fuel system database to reflect latest changes. Spray card templates with 3M Photo Mount and stick onto firewall sheets, laying out as decided earlier. Crimp a red male blade connector onto the fuel pump supply-side wire. With felt-tip pen, mark where extensions are needed to the card templates, and using a circle template, mark circles and centres of all internal-corner radii. Check which screw-holes can be drill immediately and which need to be spotted through from overlapping sheets (should really have punched the holes through on the card templates while they were set up on the LG01 frame). Centre-drill at all marked points and drill out the corner radii with a step drill. Try the right-hand (el-cheapo) aviation snips on a corner cut but they just bend the metal instead of cutting it! Straight snips seem to cut OK, though. |
2391.6 |
| 17 |
AN fuel pipe fittings delivered from LAS Aerospace. Do trial assembly of AN822-6-2D elbow to fuel pump outlet and check what angle it finishes at, and assemble pipe between gascolator and pump. Once satisfied it can be done up firmly to point in the right direction and will clear the corner of the bulkhead, unscrew and re-fit with Loctite 577. Fit AN816-6-2D to pump inlet with Loctite 577. Assemble pipe and mark position of pump lugs through spacers onto rib. Remove pump, plug open connexions and using right-angle air drill, drill rib at marked positions with wooden block clamped to back of rib to prevent breakout. Re-fit pipe and fix pump to rib with spacers interposed, using AN4-10A bolts, AN960-416 washers, AN970-4 washers & MS21042-4 stiffnuts. Have to bend the edge of one AN970-4 washer slightly to clear the curve of the rib-bulkhead joint. Remove AN6 fitting from inlet end of gascolator. Try the AN822-6D elbow on the new 1/4" NPT fitting to see where it points when tight. Put baggage bay bulkhead into fuselage and offer up new gascolator fitting to check angle for inlet pipe connexion. It needs to go slightly tighter than 45 degrees, which is handy as that won't won't block access to the fitting screws. Fit the elbow with Loctite 577. Re-check match with pipe angle - looks fine. Remove bulkhead and fit Torx screws to secure gascolator inlet fitting. They will need to be centre-popped to lock them. |
2392.7 |
| 20 |
The 38mm x 38mm x 3mm aluminium angle is not quite wide enough for mounting the Floscan fuel flow sensor so order some 2" x 1" x 1/8" aluminium angle from Metals4u. Fit wire number labels under heat-shrink and crimp blade connectors onto Floscan flying leads (having decided that is more flexible for doing the wiring, and for future maintenance, than butt connectors). While checking the wiring diagrams, am reminded that the FF-1 fuel computer can be connected to a GPS for range display. Check MGL, Garmin and Trutrak data sheets to make sure everything would be compatible. Order GPS NMEA cable for FF-1 from Parts For Aircraft, plus some more 12AWG & 10 AWG wire. I think some the wires from the alternator regulator to the busbars should be 10AWG instead of 12AWG - will need to amend the drawings. Check the length of bolts required to fit the Floscan sender onto the 1/8" aluminium - about 1 5/16" would be OK, but looks like it will need to be 1.5" as Westfield Fasteners don't stock anything between that and 1.25" in 1/4" UNF SS cap screws. There is barely room around the sender mounting holes for standard hex heads, and not really enough room to get a spanner on them. |
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| 21 |
2" x 1" x 1/8" aluminium angle delivered from Metals4u. Remove crimp connector from fuel pump red supply wire and attach a wire-number label to it under heat-shrink sleeving. Crimp on a new red male 1/4" blade connector. On a short length of 20AWG tefzel wire, attach a label under heatshrink and crimp a 6mm red ring and a 1/4" female red blade connector to the ends. Undo lower fuel pump fixing bolt and fit the ring end of that wire, and the ring terminal on the pump black captive wire, under the bolt head, re-fitting washers and stiffnut. Check how long the bracket should be for the fuel flow sender - about 45mm looks good. The bolts to fix the bracket onto the inboard rib need to be clear of the rubbing strip, either above or below. Above is not attractive as it will tend to limit the length of straight pipe run each side of the sender. Below would be better, but the fixing would need to wait until the rib is bonded onto the fuselage floor. Fit AN816-6D 1/4" NPT to AN6 adaptors to inlet and outlet ports of sender using Loctite 577 on the threads. Mark and hacksaw off a 45mm length of the 2" x 1" x 1/8" aluminium angle and tidy the ends with files. Hold sender in place on the long flange and mark the fixing hole positions with a carpenter's pen. Centre-pop the marks and drill 7/64" then 1/4". Deburr with snail countersink bit. Check fit of sender with temporary AN4-12A bolts and all is fine. Similarly mark and drill 1/4" holes on short flange, 11mm in from ends and edge, for attaching the bracket to the rib. |
2394.6 |
| 22 |
GPS connector for FF-1 and cable delivered from Parts For Aircraft. |
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| 23 |
Re-draw FF-1 fuel computer wiring diagram to show GPS NMEA interface, and add datestamp. |
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| 24 |
Re-draw GPSmap 296 & wing leveller wiring diagrams to show GPS NMEA interface to FF-1 fuel computer and add datestamps. |
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| 26 |
Finish adding datestamps to CADintosh wiring diagrams and updating PDFs. Upload latest version of wirebook and wire list to website. Amend ATR833 comm radio wiring diagram to show connexions within P1 control column, add new wires to wire database and label diagram to match. |
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| 27 |
Amend trim wiring diagram to show connexions within P1 control column, add new wires to wire database and label diagram to match. Update wirebook and wire list. |
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| 29 |
Shorten wires attached to stick-top switches and re-terminate to keep the connexions well clear of the bottom end of the stick. |
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| 30 |
Straighten one end of the 3/8" aluminium pipe stock and remove the sealing tape from the end. Deburr the end. Slide nut and sleeve onto pipe. Make a flare on the end. Clean off swarf and fit to pump outlet elbow. Fit flow sender to aluminium-angle bracket with temporary M6 bolts. Clamp bracket to port inboard baggage-bay support rib in estimated correct position. Lay ruler against bracket and sight across to mark position of bend on pipe. Wind bender wheel back from mark to find bend start point and bend pipe 90 degrees to run horizontally thwartships. Sight in line with flow sender and mark position of 2nd bend. Find bend start point as before and make 90 degree bend so pipe now runs horizontally fore-and-aft. As the pipe is not yet cut off the stock, have to remove pipe from pump to complete the bend. Re-fit to pump and check approximate length required to reach flow sender. Mark, remove and cut off slightly long. Re-fit pipe, check that there is at least 6" of straight run into flow sender, and adjust position of sender to suit. Remove pipe and cut to final length. Clean up end, fit nut and sleeve and make flare. Blow out pipe with airline and re-fit to check how everything lines up - all looks fine. Remove pipe and tape ends to keep it clean, re-fit caps to pump and flow sender. Cut out stainless steel firewall parts, taking care to cut oversize to the templates where marked. Both the RH and LH snips are not really cutting - I think they might be better if the pivots were tightened - but the straight snips seem to be OK and there are no real curved cuts on this job. Vacuum up cutting area in an attempt to get rid of all the very small sharp offcuts. Crawl into rear fuselage, pull baggage bay bulkhead into place and fit clecos. Check where to cut pipe for gascolator inlet elbow and mark pipe. Remove clecos and bulkhead. Retract gear to make room for pipe cutter. Cut pipe to length and clean up. Fit nut and sleeve, make flare, wipe clean. Pull bulkhead back into place and fit clecos. Assemble pipe to gascolator - the fit and the pipe run look fine, with the pipe well clear of the FL15 cross-tube and the rudder cables. |
2397.7 |
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