Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2021 04

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day	notes	hours
6	Received e-mail from MGL saying that the bug in the E-3 firmware has been found and fixed, so if I can organise a firmware upgrade that will sort it out. Reply asking if I can do it myself from a Windows laptop or if I need to send it back to the UK agent Parts for Aircraft.
7	MGL replies saying that the Airtalk adaptor is a pain to create so best to send the instrument to Parts for Aircraft. Phone Paul at Parts for Aircraft and confirm that he's OK to do the firmware upgrade.
8	Disconnect the P1 stick-top switch leads and coil the free ends down into the stick socket to keep them out of the way. Re-fit the temporary support shelf for the instrument panels. Collect all the tools I think I'll need and climb into the cockpit. Unscrew the main instrument panel. Can't get at the E-3 fixings with it laid down flat as usual, but tilting it up towards the centre of the cockpit allows enough access. Using a 1/4" drive 5.5mm deep socket on a ratchet handle, slightly loosen each stiffnut in turn while holding the capscrew with a 2.5mm hex key. Very limited space for swinging the ratchet handle so once loosened a bit, undo the screws from the front with the hex key while holding the socket steady on the stiffnut. Once the stiffnut is free, tilt the socket slightly to retain the nut and carefully bring it out. There is a slight clink as I do that on each of the top nuts - I had forgotten about the washers under the stiffnuts and obviously they fell when the stiffnut was removed. Remove each top screw. With a bit of difficulty, get the socket onto each of the nuts at the bottom and withdraw the screws. The nuts do not stay in the socket because the driver is against the floor of the F14 instrument module and I can't tilt it. Withdraw the instrument enough to get at the jackscrews on the D-sub connector and undo them. One jackscrew brings the connector fixing nut with it. I need to recover all the washers and nuts because I don't want any metallic bits floating around among the wiring! The washers on the bottom screws have stuck to the inner face of the panel so carefully remove them. With the aid of the long-handled mirror and the LED torch, fish out the 2 stiffnuts from the bottom and one washer, using a long Allen key to push them to where I can pick them up. The last washer has slid under the TP-3 body and is hardly accessible. However, a dab of Evo-Stik on a strip of cardboard catches it perfectly. I think, to make life easy when when re-fitting the instrument, I will first bond the stiffnuts and washers to the inner face of the panel, and dispense with the plain nuts in the hex recesses of the instrument. Thus I will only have to hold the 5.5mm socket on the pre-placed nuts while tightening the screws from the front. That sounds much easier rather than trying to position the stiffnuts using the socket, while getting the screws started in them. Undo the recalcitrant securing nut from the jackscrew and re-fit it to the instrument. Pack the E-3 in its original box with some bubble wrap and pack that box in a bigger one with more bubble wrap. Label up ready for posting.	3522.0
9	Post the MGL E-3 to Parts for Aircraft.
12	Contact Paul at Parts for Aircraft asking him to include a MGL OAT sensor when he returns the MGL E-3 instrument after the firmware update.
14	MGL E-3 and OAT sensor received from Parts for Aircraft. Plug E-3 into aircraft harness and check function. Go through full configuration. Flight log: auto detect, RPM T/O 2000 Hobbs RPM: 2000, Maintenance time: 25 hours, Hour fraction: minutes. RPM Scale: 6000, Alarm: on, Alarm: 5810, Pulse/rev: 1.0, Pulse: time, Filter: scale. EGT Channels: 0, Alarm: off. CHT Channels: 2, Mode: Highest, Span: 200 C, Topscale: on, Setpoint: 150, Alarm: on, Probe: NTC, Unit: C. Pressure Display: off. Temperature Display: off. Voltage: Alm on, low 10.0, high 15.0. Power down then up again, and all seems well now, with instrument responsive to knob and buttons. Think again about how to fix the stiffnuts and washers inside the panel for easy re-fitting of the instrument. Had considered epoxy, but it seems too tricky to get that where it would be needed but keep it off the temporary screws, which would need to be greased. Instead, decide to try Evo-Stik Time Bond Which might hold the washer and nut in place well enough but not bind the screw threads too badly. Apply Evo-Stik in turn to the inside of the panel at each fixing hole, to both faces of each washer and to the mating face of each stiffnut. Assemble using a short temporary screw and leave to cure.	3523.1
15	Carefully undo temporary screws in MGL E-3 mounting holes, trying not to dislodge the nuts and washers. Re-fit the E-3 D-sub connector and tighten the jackscrews. Position the instrument in the hole and gently offer up in turn each fixing screw while supporting the nut from inside with a finger. Run in each screw until it hits the stiffness. Once all screws located, tighten each one with the 5.5mm deep socket held on the Armeg ratchet handle as before. Before re-fitting the main instrument panel, power up and check E-3 functions. All seems fine. Also check the "scan" option instead of "highest" for the CHT and that appears now much more sensible than it did before the firmware update. Re-fit main instrument panel.	3523.8
16	With Dremel tool, grind back the protruding ends of the door hinge screws to bring them below the surface of the hinge tangs. Clean out the recesses around the nuts with acetone and toothbrush and blow dry. Mix a peg-2 (36g) batch of Ampreg 21 and add to it 3 good doses of flox. Spread the flox mixture into the recesses on the door tangs and cover with scraps of peel-ply. Spread flox into the prepared slots around the headrest cubby-holes and wipe off the excess with an acetone-soaked tissue. Spread flox into the slot all around the compass mounting arm and wipe off excess. Label the leftover flox and bring it and the compass mounting arm in to the boiler cupboard to cure. Do a test with a small piece of the 4" wide FlexTape on an offcut of polycarbonate. It adheres well and easily, and goes around the edge without much difficulty. Cut 4 off strips 20mm wide from the FlexTape, longer than the sides of the fuseblock cover. Remove protective film from both side of upper and lower polycarbonate fuseblock cover plates. Assemble to polytrace and printed overlay, trying to keep as dust-free as possible. With screws inserted in the holes to keep everything aligned, apply the strips of Flextape to each edge of the assembly in turn, trimming the corners and overlaps once adhered. To make sure it is well bonded, put it on a sheet of aluminium and weigh down with plywood and the lead weights container. Remove the overhead panel and the lid of the headset box. Attach a lead to the digital recorder to the P1 headphone jack with crocodile clips. Make a test recording of the intercom as normal volume. Level much too high and recording badly distorted. Will need to put a potentiometer in the circuit and see how much attenuation is needed.	3526.7
17	Bring the compass mount arm down from the boiler cupboard to the garage. Smooth off the flox edges with Perma-Grit block and half-round TC file. Abrade the faces with a fine Perma-Grit block. Degrease with acetone-soaked tissue. Fit long M3 and 2BA screws to a couple of the holes to act as handles. Mix a peg-1 (24g) batch of Ampreg 21 and to it add about 6 doses of Expancel, then 1 dose of Cabosil. Butter it onto the compass mount arm all over. Hang it to cure among the flap hinge metalwork. One of those parts has mysteriously gone missing; it was certainly there when I photographed the rack of parts on 2017-07-20 - nearly 4 years ago! Maybe it got knocked off its hook sometime but a quick scrabble through the area immediately underneath does not turn up anything. Temporarily solder potentiometers between the P1 headphone jack and the 3.5mm jack lead, and adjust to get a reasonable level of the intercom speech on the digital recorder. About 50:1 seems OK (10k to 200 ) with some occasional clipping. Considering that headphone volume might be cranked up a bit more with the engine running, an even higher ratio would probably be advisable.	3529.1
19	Bring the compass mount arm down from the boiler cupboard to the garage. Remove the screws from it. Sand down the filler coating, first with P40 on belt sander, then fine Perma-Grit block and finally p120 paper on hand sander. Degrease with acetone. Hang on a wire in carport and spray several coats of appliance white. Find the missing flap hinge part in one of the boxes on the table underneath the rack and put it up beside the others. The edging tape on the polycarbonate fuse cover plate has come unstuck and popped up in a few places. Stick it back down and put the plate between 2 flat sheets, under a weight, in the boiler cupboard, to see if the tape will take a set in the desired shape with gentle heat over a few days.	3530.5
21	Look for a spare 3.5mm jack socket without success. Order one from CPC. Remove the peel-ply from the flox on the door hinge nuts. Power up the panel and just for amusement turn on radio and traffic monitor. Traffic monitor spots Eurostar G-SHMI nearby and FlightRadar24 confirms it. Radio is picking up plenty of airborne transmissions on Gloster Approach 128.555. Get the door latch covers out of storage. Check and mark on the starboard door where anchor nuts for fixing screws could be placed, to be clear of all internal mechanisms. Dismantle the mechanism and store all the parts in a plastic bag apart from the long aft pushrod. Drill the aft fixing hole in the cover 3mm. Position the cover on the door frame and drill through the hole into the frame. Keeping the cover in place and the holes aligned, open the holes to 4.7mm. Remove the cover. Insert a temporary screw, with a spacing nut, from the inside of the door frame using an Allen key with a shortened short leg. Fit anchor nut on it. Drill through the rivet holes 2.6mm, putting a rivet in the first hole to maintain alignment. Remove anchor nut and screw and replace them the other way round with the anchor nut inside the frame, ensuring the rivet holes are aligned. Countersink the rivet holes in the frame with a hand-held 5.9mm drill bit. Pull the rivets using the usual spacer on the nose of the rivet gun to clear the temporary screw. Fit cover and drill pilot hole for forward screw. Repeat the rest of the process to fit the forward anchor nut. Fit the cover with temporary short screws. Repeat the whole door latch cover fitting process on the port door. I mis-set one rivet and had to drill it out and fit a new one.	3533.9
24	3.5mm stereo jack socket delivered from CPC. Tack-solder one end of a 220 resistor to the 2 signal tags and the other end to the earth tag of the 3.5mm jack socket. Tack a 22k resistor onto the signal tags and a length of wire to the earth tag. Tack the other end of the 22k resistor to the P1 headphone socket signal tag and the wire to the earth tag. Try some recordings on the Tascam DR05 digital recorder. Intercom level seems about OK. However, just realise that the intercom level is not altered when I change the receive volume. Transmissions received from the Yaesu handheld on Safetycom are OK at the current volume setting (8) but distort when it it higher. Max volume setting is 16, so try leaving it at 12 for further tests. Change 22k resistor for 47k and try again. Now both received transmissions and intercom seem satisfactory, so leave it at that. Undo the temporary soldered joints and solder the chosen resistors to the socket more tidily. Solder wire tails to both resistors, and put a black tape flag on the earth wire. Fit heatshrink sleeves over each resistor connexion to insulate and support, then fit a larger adhesive-lined heatshrink overall. Drill the side of the headset box 3mm and open to 6.5mm for the jack socket. Fit socket to box.	3535.1
26	Order FireAngel CO detector online.
28	CO detector delivered. Slip a length of heatshrink sleeve onto the signal wire from the 3.5mm jack socket in the headset box. Solder that lead to the signal tag of the P1 headphone socket. Remove the black tape flag identifying the earth wire from the 3.5mm socket, slip a heatshrink sleeve onto it and solder it to the earth tag of the headphone socket. Slide both heatshrink sleeves up against the tags and shrink them. With cable ties, secure the wires to the adjacent thick wires for support. Replace headset box cover. Before re-fitting the overhead panel, apply dabs of Shoo-Goo to the ends of the screws and rivets on the headset box fixings, to protect against possible abrasion damage of the wires in the service loop. Consider how I might add a 1/4" Whitworth bush to the overhead panel for a camera mount. Having caught the door latch cover with my sleeve a couple of times when reaching past it, wonder if it might be possible to add another fixing screw near the top, perhaps using a rivnut in the door frame. Start to make a template for the cover for the top of the fuel filler neck. Alter a cardboard box to the approximate shape and size of the Lock & Lock plastic box. Offer it up to the top of the filler and progressively cut away the lower face to clear the filler neck. Trim sides to conform roughly to the fuselage shape. Have to add extra sections in places where too much has been cut off. Stop when a reasonable fit has been achieved and base of box is almost in contact with filler. Will need to make sure that there is space for the proposed fixing brackets.	3537.0
29	Search online for Unified rivet nuts but although I find a few, typically on places that cater for old car restoration, the setting tools with the required mandrels are prohibitively expensive. Metric rivet nuts are readily available and the setting tools are moderately-priced, so order some M4 & M5 rivet nuts and setting pliers online. Consider where a camera bush might be fitted to the overhead panel. There will need to be room for the camera to turn while screwing it onto the bush, so it can't be too close to the headset box. Should be plenty of clearance with the bush more or less in line with the middle fixings. Take some pictures with the Lumix DMC-FT1 looking forward in the cockpit from that approximate location. The full width of the instrument panel falls within the frame, and the edges of the vents are just visible. The extreme edges of the windscreen are outside the frame, but I don't think that matters much.
30	Find a 1/4 - 20 x 1" CSK screw that should be suitable for the planned camera mount in the overhead panel. Draw up the parts in CADintosh. Find from stock a short length of 1.25" round aluminium bar. Chuck the best end in the lathe, truing up as well as possible, and face off the rough end. Centre-drill and fit the rotating centre for support. Fit a parting tool and start to part off a 3mm slice.	3537.7

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