Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2023 01

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day	notes	hours
6	Intending to re-fit at least the port door in order to begin implementing mod SM15833, start to get the fuselage out onto the drive for access to the port side when I notice that the safety support screw on the dolly has become bent and allowed the dolly to collapse. The starboard side of the duct has borne down on the trolley-jack that was stored on the dolly and has got bent. Roll the fuselage out onto the drive. Can't get at the bent screw with the angle grinder, so hacksaw it off. Unscrew the stub of the screw with some effort as the threads are obviously a bit damaged. Run a M12 x 1.75mm tap into the screw hole. Need to use an adjustable spanner and Mole Grips to turn it as there is no space to get a tap wrench on it. Find a potential replacement screw - only 75mm compared to the original 100mm but should be OK as the original seemed unnecessarily long anyway. Would be even better if I added a spacer to the surface that the screw bears upon, as that would also reduce slightly the angle at which the screw hits the pad. Start to check the upper and lower jacking limits needed then find I can't lower the U/C because of the BID across the flap slot. Cut away the excess BID across the slot with padsaw and tidy edges with TC file. Now U/C can be extended and jacking limits checked. Looks as though a spacer of up to 20mm could be used. Sort through the steel offcuts drawer and find a piece of steel plate 5/8" x 1.5". Hacksaw off a 60mm length of it. Clamp it in place on the bearing surface using the new safety screw. Check what screws could be used to secure it and find some M5 x 20mm capscrews that will be perfect. Drill from the aft side through the original bearing pad into the spacer block 3.5mm at 2 places, then open each to 4.4mm. Unclamp the spacer block and take it in to the bench vise for tapping M5 x 0.8mm. Now getting dark and starting to rain so roll fuselage back into garage. Drill the holes in the original bearing pad out to 5.1mm and fit the spacer block. I suspect that the safety screw got bent as a result of bumping the dolly sideways, a necessary part of the business of getting it in and out of the garage. It lives with the port side tight against the east wall, so has to be pulled a bit away from that before it will roll out freely. The sub-frame has only got castoring wheels at one end, so the others have to skid. Must remember to jack the dolly up slightly before bumping it sideways in future, so that the safety screw is not in contact. Bring the rest of the tools in from the rain and clear up.	3699.0
9	Roll fuselage out onto drive. Open trailer and get out port door. Note in passing that there are many droplets of condensation hanging on the inside of the railer roof. Fit port door and gas spring to fuselage. Get out starboard door, fit it with its gas spring. Get parts for Mod SM15833 (Door Latch Shoot-Bolt Stop) out of box 26 and leave in cockpit. Set fan heater running in trailer to see if it will disperse the condensation. Start to fit port door shoot bolts and door handles but quickly realise I should have done that BEFORE fitting the door to the fuselage! Remove the door again. Insert the shoot-bolts and start to fit the external & internal handles but something is obstructing the movement. It is the exterior handle catching on the edge of the Perspex glazing as it swings towards the open position - one of the places where the Perspex has not bedded in well to the door rebate has occurred adjacent to the handle! Wonder if all that is needed is a chamfer on the inboard face of the handle to ease it over that lip. File a chamfer and try again. No, that gets the handle started onto the Perspex but it won't go much further. With the securing bolt removed, swing the handle round and mark the limit of its movement on the Perspex with a fine felt-tip pen. Chamfer away the Perspex from the edge up to that line with the power file on slowest speed. Insert the handle again and check movement; much better but still binding a bit. Get a piece of carbon paper and fold it to work on both sides. Hold it between handle and Perspex to check where relief is needed. File off marked areas, check again with carbon paper, repeat until no binding occurs. Fit handles to shoot-bolts and re-fit door to fuselage. Check on the trailer - fan heater seems to have had no effect at all on the condensation. Mop the droplets off the trailer ceiling with a sponge and a bucket held under it, collecting about 100ml of water. Roll fuselage back into garage. Spend some time looking for the starboard seat cover plates on which I did the bilge paint test, but they seem to have vanished - must be in that infamous Really Safe Place.	3702.0
13	Roll fuselage out onto drive. Referring to instructions for Mod SM15833, position shoot bolt stop on port fuselage as described. Check the alignment with the aft shoot-bolt, with the forward shoot-bolt engaged and the aft shoot-bolt just in line with the edge of the fuselage rebate. Mark the centre position of the stop at the edge of the rebate. Mark a line aft from that point parallel to the door ledge. Position the stop on that line and hold it in place with duct tape. Drill through forward hole in stop 3mm. Insert a long M3 screw to maintain alignment and drill aft hole. Insert another M3 screw and re-check alignment of stop with shoot-bolt. Remove stop. Try to dig out the brown foam between the inner and outer skins from around the holes with a bent paper-clip, but foam seems very resistant to that approach. Try judicious use of small spherical burr in Dremel tool which is more successful. Mix a small batch of 90-second Araldite and spread it into the holes and between the skins. Clean excess epoxy off with acetone-soaked tissue and leave to cure. While waiting, remove access cover from port side of baggage bay for access to inner face of flap actuator slot. BID needs to be applied there over the crack at the aft end of the slot to complete the repair. Fit shoot-bolts and handles to starboard door and repeat the shoot-bolt stop alignment process, hole drilling and epoxy filling as done on the port side. Drill out the holes on the port side 3mm. Insert the supplied M3 bolts into the stop and fit it to the fuselage, with washers and stiffnuts on the inside of the fuselage. With a magnifying glass, check the orientation of the "tiny arrow" on each of the hexagonal plugs; apply some cyanoacrylate adhesive to each recess in the stop and insert the plugs. Forward plug sits slightly proud, but aft one is flush. Check the position for the forward fairing and lightly abrade that area of the door. Degrease that and the fairing with acetone. Mix a small batch of 90-second Araldite and apply it around the edge of the inner face of the fairing. Position fairing on door and hold in place with duct tape for cure. On starboard side, repeat the re-drilling and fitting process for the stop, and the bonding of the fairing. Tidy up tools etc and pull fuselage back into garage.	3705.1
14	Peel the duct tape off the starboard shoot-bolt stop and fairing. Wipe off residual adhesive with acetone-soaked tissue. Mark line on door edge for screw-hole and drill 2.7mm - slightly surprised that once through the door edge there is little resistance - the fairing appears to be hollow. Countersink with snail countersink. Check screw depth in countersink. Extract screw, apply cyanoacrylate adhesive and fit screw. Wipe off excess adhesive. With some effort, reach over top of fuselage and peel duct tape off port stop & fairing. Wipe off adhesive residue. After clearing some stored items on the east wall out of the way, open door to mark the screw position. Drill from inside the cockpit, countersink, check screw depth, then fit with cyanoacrylate applied and wipe clean.	3705.6
20	Check dimensions of starboard inner door handle to plan making a knob. Hole in handle is a tight fit on a AN3 bolt. Handle thickness is 4mm and it is 19mm wide at the end. Its outboard face is quite close to the Perspex, about 4mm at the closest point. With the guard plate held in position, there is about 12mm clearance between the inboard face of the handle and the guard on the cover plate. Would really need to fit the cover plate properly to confirm that dimension. I don't appear to have any button-head 10-32 screws in half-inch length, but there are some 0.5" CSK ones; on present measurements, 5/8" would be just too long. I note that the manual calls for the handle to be cranked inwards so that there is room to fit a knob on the outboard face, but that seems to invite scuffing of the Perspex from fingernails, rings, etc during operation. I am inclined to leave the handle straight (or even put in a tiny crank outwards) and fit the knob on the inboard face. On that basis, the knob would be 19mm OD round aluminium bar faced to 10mm length and counterbored 15mm diameter by 9mm deep. The counterbore needs to be 9mm deep to ensure the stiffnut is in safety, and 15mm diameter to clear a 3/8" socket of 14.5mm OD. Don't appear to have any 19mm or similar round aluminium bar in stock. Will need to check measurements on the port side too before cutting any metal. Post query on Matronics Europa e-mail list asking if it is OK to fit the knob on the inside of the handle. Order 100mm of 19mm round aluminium bar online.	3706.2
23	Assemble door mechanism covers to both doors to check clearances. Starboard door: inner handle to Perspex 8mm, handle to guard 11mm. Port door: inner handle to Perspex 13mm, handle to guard 6mm. So, to get maximum clearance for a knob, both handles could do with cranking a bit, and they could be cranked either inboard or outboard. If cranked inboard as called for in the manual, and the knob mounted on the outboard face, that would leave the inboard face completely clear for the black and yellow marking as called out in mod SM15833. Because it would be very close to the guard, that warning would be well-concealed when the handle is in the closed position. If the handles were cranked outboard to allow the knobs to be fitted on the inboard side the knob would occupy most of the space where the warning mark should go, and the marking would also be more visible with the handle in the closed position. So, I guess I have talked myself into following the manual! Note while sitting in the cockpit that my thought of fitting a knob on a cover plate fixing screw (for pushing the door forward to engage the aft shoot-bolt) may not be satisfactory. Both the screws on the bottom edge of the door are rather close to where the door seal will be. An alternative thought is to add a knob on the guard plate, clear of the inner handle movement. Although it is a less rigid location, it would actually be more ergonomic. Also note while sitting that my head is almost touching the Perspex with the present stack of temporary cushions, which are about 170mm tall uncompressed. Would need a little more clearance for a headset.	3707.1
24	Climb into cockpit and close door. On the inboard face of each inner door handle, mark with a felt-tip pen the edge of the guard. This should provide a guide for the outer bend line when cranking the handles. Consider that it might be worthwhile drawing up the required bend angles so that there is a chance of getting the bends close to what is needed on the first try.	3707.2
28	100mm x 19mm aluminium round bar delivered.
31	Start to draw up the inner door handle plan in CADintosh, to guide the bending operation. Mark on the starboard inner door handle the top edge of the guard plate, as a guide to where bends can be made. Get the door seals out of the trailer and fit a short length of one to the bottom corner of the forward edge of the starboard door aperture. Close the door and mark on the guard plate the edge of the door seal, as a guide to positioning a knob (for pushing the door forwards when closing, to ensure the aft shoot-bolt goes in). Remove guard plate and dismantle mechanism. Mark on the guard plate where the top edge of the door frame will be inside it, to allow clearance for the head of a screw securing the aforementioned knob. Check bench folder for clearance to make the cranked bends - looks promising, there is a a set-back of about 9mm at about 10mm above the bend line. Draw up the required bends for the starboard handle in CADintosh. Make the bend lines 4mm away from the possible extreme locations of the bends, and make the bend radius 8mm. To put the handle 1mm clear of the guard will require a crank of 10mm, with bend lines 21mm apart, at 25mm & 46mm from the end of the handle. Mark the bend lines on the starboard handle and double-check that they indicate the correct directions of bend. Set up the folder in the bench vise. Clamp the starboard handle in the folder, on the line for the first (forward) bend. Interpose a piece of scrap aluminium sheet between the moving face of the folder and the workpiece. Bend up to 25.5 degrees as measured using the digital level. Unclamp and reverse the workpiece. There is not enough clearance for the bent end so put a piece of aluminium plate under the handle to raise it. Using the aluminium sheet softener as before, bend to 25.5 degrees, confirmed by the bent section now being at 0 degrees. Unclamp handle. Put it on a flat surface and check the crank offset using the height gauge of a vernier caliper. It is 9mm rather than the intended 10mm but at least that is on the safe side. Assemble the door mechanism and guard plate. As expected from the above measurement, the handle is about 2mm clear of the guard plate. Dismantle and increase both bends very slightly. Re-assemble everything again. Now the handle is just about 1mm clear of the guard plate, and its outer face is about 16mm clear of the Perspex at its closest point. So, say 14mm would be a safe length for the knob on the end of the handle. Notice that a fine scratch has appeared on the outside surface of the Perspex, in an arc above the outside handle. Don't know how it happened, but will have to see if I can polish it out. Consider that it would be better to make all of the knobs from plastic rather than aluminium, as metal is not needed for strength and plastic would be a bit lighter!	3708.7

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