Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2016 11

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day	notes	hours
6	Bud Yerly replies to my e-mail query with comprehensive guidance on all aspects of door fitting. Can't use his complete method as I've already mode some holes, but it appears to be in order to grind down the protruding screws slightly.
8	Get door lock parts out of box 8 and assess where to start. Although it's early in the description, decide to leave putting the offset bend in the DL03 inner handles as it would be easier to see how much bend is needed once things can be assembled to the door. Measure a DL01 outer handle and draw it up in CADintosh. Superimpose a reasonable streamline shape on the upper half using the spline tool. Once satisfied with the shape, mirror it top to bottom. Print out full size in duplicate. Cut out and stick one of these paper templates to each DL01, making sure to have one left and one right hand. The paper is on the outer surface; mark for port and starboard. Hacksaw each roughly to shape and file down to the profile line. DL04 square-ended shafts are a force fit in the square holes in both DL01 and DL03, although they will just about enter the holes. I expected there to be some TAPK36BS rivets in the fuselage kit but the only ones I have are in the FWF kit, so will use those for now and check if I need to order more. Hold a DL04 in place on DL01, pass through a AN3-11A bolt with AN960-10L washer for length adjustment to just enter the threads of a MS21042-3 anchor nut held against the outer face of DL01. Drill through rivet holes 2.5mm. Loosen bolt and remove anchor nut, keeping orientation. Countersink inner face of DL01 with 8mm drill bit. Scrape off paper template around anchor nut area. Fit anchor nut with Duralac, insert rivets with Duralac and pull them while holding the anchor nut firmly against DL01. Repeat fitting of anchor nut on 2nd DL01.	2719.1
9	Find an offcut of mahogany large enough to make the door handles. Smooth off one sawcut face with the belt sander and mark on it the outlines of the 2 DL01. Also mark through the anchor nut for the centre of the recess.	2719.3
10	Bandsaw roughly out the mahogany door handles.	2719.4
11	Check depth of pocket needed in wooden part of door handle to clear anchor nut & screw protrusion - about 10mm seems OK. Mark the pocket area on both pieces of mahogany. Clamp them together in the vise with top surfaces aligned and rout out pockets freehand with 10mm plunge-cut bit in router. Trim the blanks closer to the marked lines freehand on the bandsaw. Mark and centre-pop positions for woodscrews on both DL01, offsetting the holes differently for each to ensure handing is preserved. Clamp each DL01 to its corresponding mahogany piece in turn and drill 2mm in 2 places. Unclamp, drill out to 4mm and countersink to fit woodscrews. Remove the paper template from each DL01 with unleaded petrol and dry off. Screw the handle parts together and smooth off side contours with belt sander. Likewise true up and smooth outer surfaces. Round off and smooth the corners using sander and block plane. Polish a bit more on ScotchBrite wheel and finish off with fine sandpaper to remove dark marks from wheel. Dismantle the handles. Degrease mating surfaces with acetone. Mix a small batch of epoxy adhesive and spread onto both metal and wood surfaces. Dip the woodscrews in epoxy and screw home. Wipe off excess epoxy with acetone-soaked tissue. Take handles in to boiler cupboard to cure.	2722.6
12	Take handles out of boiler cupboard. Epoxy has squeezed out a little more at the joint and seems fully cured. Clean off most of the excess with a scalpel.
15	Dorothy says the handles look so nice it's a shame to paint them white as I had intended, so I'll leave them natural. Thought first of yacht varnish to protect them but probably a coat of Ampreg epoxy would be better. Change the belt on the belt sander from 40 grit to 80 grit and smooth off the handles again on that, removing all traces of epoxy weeps.	2722.9
22	Switch to a 220 grit belt and smooth the handles a bit more, then finish off by hand with cabinet paper. Check the fit of the DL04 shafts in the handles and ease one of them slightly with a fine file so that the square enters the handle a short distance without much pressure. In turn, paint the hole in the handle and the square of the shaft with a small amount of Duralac, assemble by hand and press home in the bench vise, using a wooden soft jaw and layers of tissue to prevent marking the wooden finish. (Should really have fitted the shafts before final finishing of the handles.) Drill 2 holes 4.8mm in a scrap of melamine-faced chipboard and mount the handles to it with AN3-15A bolts. Mix a peg-1 (30g) batch of standard epoxy and brush it onto the handles, trying to brush out bubbles as well as possible. Take the handles to the boiler cupboard to cure, covering them with an old plastic box to keep the rain off in transit. Put the small remaining amount of epoxy in a sealed tub and store it in the fridge to see if it will stay uncured for use later (eg 2nd coat on handles). Check through other door latch parts to see what next can be done. The B1RM shoot-bolt pushrod material is still in the trailer and I don't want to open it in the rain. The pictures of the DL02 mounting plate show it drilled all over, and the manual also mentioned squidging the Redux through the holes when bonding it in, but my DL02 have no such holes, nor can I find reference in the manual to drilling them. Start to mark out starboard door for latch cutout then find it's already got a hairline mark moulded in. Check how the handles are doing. Wipe off drips from the bases of the handles and brush out numerous bubbles. Cut out the inner door skin just inside the pre-marked line with a Dremel cut-off wheel (very smelly - this appears to be a polyester resin layup) and finish the corners with a padsaw. File out to line all round. Can't see how DL02 is going to fit into that hole. There is a pre-marked centre on the outside of the door for the shaft. Make a 16mm hole there with a holesaw. Return to DL02 problem. At first, it seems I will have to extend one corner of the hole to let in the threaded post at the forward end. Then, trying to insert it from the other direction (aft end first) it looks as though the plain post might just fit under the inner skin if there was enough width to drop the plate a bit more at the forward end. File the aperture a little wider top and bottom and that looks promising. Repeat filing in small amounts until DL02 will fit with only moderate persuasion. The positions of the shoot-bolt holes are marked; drill each one first 5/64" then open up to 14mm with a step drill and finish with a round file to allow an easy fit of DL07 with some wiggle room. The handles have developed some more quite large bubbles and as the epoxy is now gelling can't do any more than just puncture them with the brush. Will need rubbing down and probably another coat of epoxy.	2726.9
26	Take B1RM pieces out of trailer and store in garage. Clear tools and door latch parts from underneath fuselage and roll it out onto drive. Suspend cooling duct in what looks like the right place using lengths of rope fore and aft. Fit lower cowl but leave screws slightly loose as it doesn't seem to be sitting in quite the right place. Duct is sticking out of the back of the cowl slightly, and the ends of the side pieces are about in line with the aft edge of the cowl inlet, so obviously it needs to go further forward. Gently tap the aft end of the cowl sides with a plastic mallet and it comes to a better position, but the forward ends of the side pieces have to bend in a bit to clear the cowl. By now the top of the duct is firmly against the bottom of the silencer (manual calls out a clearance of 5mm). Doesn't seem to be a lot of overlap now between the duct and the footwell, but comparing it (later) with the photo in the manual that seems OK. The duct in the manual picture might be slightly further aft than mine is now, but it's hard to be sure as the silencer is slightly different to mine. Remove lower cowl and duct, taking photos at each stage. Roll fuselage back into garage. Take the epoxy resin coated handles back out to the garage and try rubbing down the bubbles and trapped brush hairs with 360 grit wet and dry paper. It's much too easy to go right through the epoxy before getting the bubble flat. I think I'll have to sand the epoxy off and be satisfied with just oiling them once smooth.	2728.5
28	Going into the garage for something else, notice I failed to stop the clock at the end of the last session, so it now reads 2795.8. Will have to see if I can turn it back or if I'll have to note hours by another method until I catch up! Phone Neville and ask about trimming the bottom edge of the duct sides. He says go ahead and suggests running a marker along the inside with it assembled inside the cowl, as a guide to how much to take off. I'll have to take off the rubber seals first, though.
29	Start timing today's work with the iPhone stopwatch instead of the garage timer. Drill out the rivets and recover 30 off EURO11 washers from the rubber sealing strips on the cooling duct. The rubber peels off the metal quite easily, taking most of the RTV with it. Remainder can be rubbed off the metal without much difficulty. It adheres much better to the rubber, but some looser bits can be rubbed and peeled off. Sand epoxy resin off one door handle with belt sander, smooth with hand-held fine wet and dry and apply walnut oil. Now looks and feels much nicer! Scrape some epoxy drips off the back sides of the handles with a scalpel.	2729.9
30	Sand the epoxy resin off the other door handle, smooth with fine wet and dry paper and apply walnut oil to it.	2730.4

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