This is the hole for the stall warning sensor (just a microswitch with tang that hangs out in the breeze).
Here's the microswitch assembly. This gets attached to a mounting plate installed in the leading edge skin.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Dec 31st, 2011
For some reason I didn't take a lot of photos this week. Worked on the stall warning sensor, countersank the main spar. Worked on the splice plate between the leading edge and the tank, including installing the nutplates, and started riveting the leading edge skin and ribs.
This is the hole for the stall warning sensor (just a microswitch with tang that hangs out in the breeze).
Here's the microswitch assembly. This gets attached to a mounting plate installed in the leading edge skin.
This is the hole for the stall warning sensor (just a microswitch with tang that hangs out in the breeze).
Here's the microswitch assembly. This gets attached to a mounting plate installed in the leading edge skin.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Dec 24th, 2011
Got a little done this week. Mostly getting ready for Christmas. Went to a great Christmas play my nephew and niece-in-law were in at Avalon Hills Bible Church. Wonderful play - we had a great time. Good job Heather and Andrew! Also ran into some old friends from CBN - Yvonne Swain and Bob Crittsinger.
Trimmed the plexi for the landing light. Used a bandsaw as suggested and it seemed to work fine, despite my $25 Craigslist saw and a nearly shot blade...
Installed the nutplates in the ribs for the mounting plate.
Then finished up work on the mounting plate and test fit it.
Match drilled the plexi to the skins and the reinforcing plates.
And here is the more or less finished product. At one point I had everything installed including the light, but forgot to take a picture.
There are still a couple of gaps on the front I want to try to tighten up, but will wait until the whole thing is riveted to the spar assembly so I know exactly how it will come out.
They aren't as big as they look here, but I want this as tight as I can get it.
Also fabricated and installed the vent line this week, and completely fouled up the last of my fuel pickup line trying to make a fuel pickup tube I could live with. Finally ordered one from Van's. It should be here next week.
Trimmed the plexi for the landing light. Used a bandsaw as suggested and it seemed to work fine, despite my $25 Craigslist saw and a nearly shot blade...
Installed the nutplates in the ribs for the mounting plate.
Then finished up work on the mounting plate and test fit it.
Match drilled the plexi to the skins and the reinforcing plates.
And here is the more or less finished product. At one point I had everything installed including the light, but forgot to take a picture.
There are still a couple of gaps on the front I want to try to tighten up, but will wait until the whole thing is riveted to the spar assembly so I know exactly how it will come out.
They aren't as big as they look here, but I want this as tight as I can get it.
Also fabricated and installed the vent line this week, and completely fouled up the last of my fuel pickup line trying to make a fuel pickup tube I could live with. Finally ordered one from Van's. It should be here next week.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Dec 17th, 2011
Mostly worked on the landing light this week. I heard from Don at Duckwork's to try measuring edge distance from the outside and the light went on. I had a naggy feeling that it was ok but couldn't see past it. Glad to hear it's good to go.
Of course now I have to cut a big honking hole in the leading edge. No pressure....
After measuring and re-measuring about 10 times to make sure it was as perfect as I could get it, I finally cut the hole.
I did *not* want to have to order another LE skin.
The best tool for cutting turned out to be a metal cutoff wheel in my Dremel. It couldn't totally follow the curve, but was way better than everything else I tried.
This is after cutting and about an hour of cleaning up the cut. I left plenty of room so I could sneak up on the best fit. There's no going back once it's cut.
I spent 2 or 3 hours filing (maybe more) before I was finally happy with the fit and edges. This is about 1/2 way through. The best tools were a straight and 1/2 round file and a scotchbrite wheel for my drill.
Finished up the hole and started on the mounting plate. A couple of nutplates go in each of the outboard ribs (the light is mounted on a mounting plate bolted between the ribs).
Starting to work on the mounting plate.
Then started fitting the plexi for drilling and fabricating the reinforcing plates that go inside.
Of course now I have to cut a big honking hole in the leading edge. No pressure....
After measuring and re-measuring about 10 times to make sure it was as perfect as I could get it, I finally cut the hole.
I did *not* want to have to order another LE skin.
The best tool for cutting turned out to be a metal cutoff wheel in my Dremel. It couldn't totally follow the curve, but was way better than everything else I tried.
This is after cutting and about an hour of cleaning up the cut. I left plenty of room so I could sneak up on the best fit. There's no going back once it's cut.
I spent 2 or 3 hours filing (maybe more) before I was finally happy with the fit and edges. This is about 1/2 way through. The best tools were a straight and 1/2 round file and a scotchbrite wheel for my drill.
Finished up the hole and started on the mounting plate. A couple of nutplates go in each of the outboard ribs (the light is mounted on a mounting plate bolted between the ribs).
Starting to work on the mounting plate.
Then started fitting the plexi for drilling and fabricating the reinforcing plates that go inside.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Dec 10th, 2011
Did some cleanup work on the tank skin. Started work on the T708 tank plate and fuel float.
Landing light arrived this week from Duckworks (LL-DW-09). Got the 55W halogen unit - LED is tempting but pricey and the 100W seems more than I need - hopefully the price will drop in a few years and I can upgrade to the LED unit. Didn't think to take a picture of the whole kit. It is pretty complete though, and should be no problem to someone who's been working on a kit for a while.
I wanted to work on it right away while the LE skin is unfinished and off the plane, but I couldn't seem to find a way to put it on the wing and still have sufficient edge distance on the plexi. Spent a couple of nights marking and measuring and moving trying to make it work.
Here's the template on the wing while I'm trying to figure it all out
Not a lot of edge distance here...
Fired off an email to Duckworks while I was fiddling. He got back to me a day or two later - the answer is obvious. I had the plexi on the outside while fitting, but the radius is much different when it's inside. It's still snug, but there is sufficient edge distance. DOH!
This is from a later session - definitely adequate edge distance.
Finally abandoned the landing light since I hadn't heard back and dimpled the main ribs, rear spar and finished up the top skins.
Also test fit the tank after dimpling the screw holes to #8.
Landing light arrived this week from Duckworks (LL-DW-09). Got the 55W halogen unit - LED is tempting but pricey and the 100W seems more than I need - hopefully the price will drop in a few years and I can upgrade to the LED unit. Didn't think to take a picture of the whole kit. It is pretty complete though, and should be no problem to someone who's been working on a kit for a while.
I wanted to work on it right away while the LE skin is unfinished and off the plane, but I couldn't seem to find a way to put it on the wing and still have sufficient edge distance on the plexi. Spent a couple of nights marking and measuring and moving trying to make it work.
Here's the template on the wing while I'm trying to figure it all out
Not a lot of edge distance here...
Fired off an email to Duckworks while I was fiddling. He got back to me a day or two later - the answer is obvious. I had the plexi on the outside while fitting, but the radius is much different when it's inside. It's still snug, but there is sufficient edge distance. DOH!
This is from a later session - definitely adequate edge distance.
Finally abandoned the landing light since I hadn't heard back and dimpled the main ribs, rear spar and finished up the top skins.
Also test fit the tank after dimpling the screw holes to #8.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Dec 3rd, 2011
I don't have a lot of pictures from this week. Sunday the 26th there was some fabulous weather so I had a marathon priming session that lasted about 5 hours all told. I primed pretty much all the remaining main wing skins, doublers, ribs, J bars, etc for both the left and right wings. Didn't get to the flaps or ailerons cause it got dark. Very happy to have all that out of the way.
The rest of the week I worked on removing vinyl from the rivet lines on all the skins, then finished up the tank ribs.
Removing the vinyl from just the rivet lines (I use a wood burning tool with a brass tip and a ruler to melt the plastic) keeps the skins protected as much as possible.
Getting ready to finish prosealing the inboard tank ribs.
Ribs are finished. Time to start working on the vent line, inboard rib fittings and fuel pickup line.
Flaring a fuel line. I completely botched the pickup lines. The flares were fine, but I couldn't get the pickup bit to look like I wanted. I finally found some on Van's web site and just ordered them.
Kurt came over again on Saturday the 3rd. We deburred and dimpled wing skins for about 3 or 4 hours. No pictures of the fun. Kurt has definitely seen some of the more mundane and unpleasant sides of building.
The rest of the week I worked on removing vinyl from the rivet lines on all the skins, then finished up the tank ribs.
Removing the vinyl from just the rivet lines (I use a wood burning tool with a brass tip and a ruler to melt the plastic) keeps the skins protected as much as possible.
Getting ready to finish prosealing the inboard tank ribs.
Ribs are finished. Time to start working on the vent line, inboard rib fittings and fuel pickup line.
Flaring a fuel line. I completely botched the pickup lines. The flares were fine, but I couldn't get the pickup bit to look like I wanted. I finally found some on Van's web site and just ordered them.
Kurt came over again on Saturday the 3rd. We deburred and dimpled wing skins for about 3 or 4 hours. No pictures of the fun. Kurt has definitely seen some of the more mundane and unpleasant sides of building.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Nov 26th, 2011
Finished up dimpling the tank skin and ribs for the left fuel tank.
I've been looking around for an accurate and easy to use scale for proseal. I wanted to find one that was small, preferably digital, not too expensive, and that would be able to accurately measure down to the 1 gram range, since at times I may not want a very large batch. (proseal is mixed at a 10 to 1 ratio by weight). Finally found a nice postal scale at Walmart aircraft supply.
One of the nice features is a tare button. I plunk a piece of cardboard on top to mix with and zero it out and we're good to go. So far it's worked great.
First thing is to clean everything with solvent (I used Acetone and MEK) to make sure everything is squeaky clean so the proseal will stick. Van even has you dump the rivets in solvent. The vinyl tape is an idea I got from Steve Solomon - worked great to keep things cleaner. Proseal is stringy and sticks like mad to anything it touches (and smears horribly...) (did i mention it's hard to clean???)
Mixed up the first batch of proseal and installed the stiffeners in the bottom of the tank. These can be back riveted, which leaves a much nicer finish (although cleaning the back riveting tool after is a pain.)
Getting ready to mix the goo.
After letting the stiffeners cure a couple of hours I decided to go ahead and start on the fuel filler and tank drain.
Fuel filler opening.
And the not nearly so nice back side of same:
(experienced builders will note something important missing... i forgot the vent line clip!!! argh! had to drill out a rivet and add it later)
Drain fitting:
And the incredibly ugly backside -
Kurt Franz (fellow member of EAA Chapter 339) came over Friday afternoon and was kind enough to help out fitting a couple of the ribs to the fuel tank (if he'd known it was a proseal party he might have called in sick...).
Some of the results.
Read on a blog that someone had built a tilting frame for the tank. Seemed like a good idea, so I did this version. This was a bit floppy. At Kurt's suggestion I reinforced the center with a crossbar which helped a lot. Much later I added a shim system to hold it rigid while riveting the backplate and Z bars.
I've been looking around for an accurate and easy to use scale for proseal. I wanted to find one that was small, preferably digital, not too expensive, and that would be able to accurately measure down to the 1 gram range, since at times I may not want a very large batch. (proseal is mixed at a 10 to 1 ratio by weight). Finally found a nice postal scale at Walmart aircraft supply.
 |
One of the nice features is a tare button. I plunk a piece of cardboard on top to mix with and zero it out and we're good to go. So far it's worked great.
 |
First thing is to clean everything with solvent (I used Acetone and MEK) to make sure everything is squeaky clean so the proseal will stick. Van even has you dump the rivets in solvent. The vinyl tape is an idea I got from Steve Solomon - worked great to keep things cleaner. Proseal is stringy and sticks like mad to anything it touches (and smears horribly...) (did i mention it's hard to clean???)
Mixed up the first batch of proseal and installed the stiffeners in the bottom of the tank. These can be back riveted, which leaves a much nicer finish (although cleaning the back riveting tool after is a pain.)
Getting ready to mix the goo.
After letting the stiffeners cure a couple of hours I decided to go ahead and start on the fuel filler and tank drain.
Fuel filler opening.
And the not nearly so nice back side of same:
(experienced builders will note something important missing... i forgot the vent line clip!!! argh! had to drill out a rivet and add it later)
Drain fitting:
And the incredibly ugly backside -
Kurt Franz (fellow member of EAA Chapter 339) came over Friday afternoon and was kind enough to help out fitting a couple of the ribs to the fuel tank (if he'd known it was a proseal party he might have called in sick...).
Some of the results.
Read on a blog that someone had built a tilting frame for the tank. Seemed like a good idea, so I did this version. This was a bit floppy. At Kurt's suggestion I reinforced the center with a crossbar which helped a lot. Much later I added a shim system to hold it rigid while riveting the backplate and Z bars.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
October 29, 2011
Had a lot going on this week (Hickory was at a Band competition at Towson University where they finished 2nd of 20 someodd bands. Pics here. Becca's friend Sam ran over the mailbox, so I had to replace that, plus we were getting our kitchen re-done (new countertops).
Finished match drilling the main skins as well as the leading edge skins.
Fit and match drilled the W908L rib and W919 joint plate to the leading edge skins.
Finished match drilling the main skins as well as the leading edge skins.
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| From Left Wing |
Fit and match drilled the W908L rib and W919 joint plate to the leading edge skins.
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| From Left Wing |
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| From Left Wing |
Friday, October 21, 2011
October 22, 2011
Now that the wing stand is complete, I'm ready to continue with the left wing assembly.
Worked on the left wing this week. Top skins (W927 doubler, W902 inboard and W903 outboard) and "J" stringer. Also fitted and match drilled the bottom inboard and outboard skins (W904 and W905 respectively).
Fitting and match drilling the upper skins and doubler. I put the leading edge on the left side just to see how it would look.
Back side (bottom in this case) of the left wing while I'm working on the top skins. The leading edge of the wing is up. The inboard side (that eventually attaches to the fuselage) is left. The fuel tank will be fabricated later and will be attached to the upper left of this structure. The fuel tank doubles as the inboard leading edge of the wing.
Working on the "J" stringers. The stringer is in the middle of the photo up against the skin - they sit in a slot cut in the rib. These are free floating (they are riveted to the skin, but nothing else) and serve to stiffen the top skins and add additional strength.
Working on the bottom skins. The cutouts are for access panels that will be added later. They will be used during annual inspections as well as allow access to wiring and control linkages.
Worked on the left wing this week. Top skins (W927 doubler, W902 inboard and W903 outboard) and "J" stringer. Also fitted and match drilled the bottom inboard and outboard skins (W904 and W905 respectively).
Fitting and match drilling the upper skins and doubler. I put the leading edge on the left side just to see how it would look.
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| From Left Wing |
Back side (bottom in this case) of the left wing while I'm working on the top skins. The leading edge of the wing is up. The inboard side (that eventually attaches to the fuselage) is left. The fuel tank will be fabricated later and will be attached to the upper left of this structure. The fuel tank doubles as the inboard leading edge of the wing.
 |
| From Left Wing |
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| From Left Wing |
Working on the "J" stringers. The stringer is in the middle of the photo up against the skin - they sit in a slot cut in the rib. These are free floating (they are riveted to the skin, but nothing else) and serve to stiffen the top skins and add additional strength.
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| From Left Wing |
Working on the bottom skins. The cutouts are for access panels that will be added later. They will be used during annual inspections as well as allow access to wiring and control linkages.
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| From Left Wing |
October 15, 2011
Got quite a few things accomplished this week. Finished riveting the main ribs to the main and rear spars. Thought a lot about wiring (decided to go with Van's black nylon conduit using their method of drilling a 3/4" hole in the rib web between the first and second lightening holes). Drilled and deburred the conduit holes. Built the wing stand that will hold the wing during skin work and final riveting.
Laying out the wing stand on the floor to make sure everything will fit. It turned out that I was able to keep both work tables (I originally thought I'd have to disassemble one) by placing the stand about 2' from the edge and putting casters on both tables. Everything fits great and Patti can still get the Ody in the garage.
Here's the attach structure to the roof of the garage. The garage door on my side will be inop until I finish with the wings. This is sitting right in the path of the door. It will only open about 3 feet now.
The wing stand mostly complete and with the spar assembly hanging from it. I ended up tweaking quite a bit more since things are pretty tight and you have to be able to attach skins and things in between all the support structure.
Van recommends a 4x4. I ended up making mine from 2 2x4x8' stock - it was better wood. Put some Titebond on it and 3" screws and it is super strong. Dead straight as well.
Laying out the wing stand on the floor to make sure everything will fit. It turned out that I was able to keep both work tables (I originally thought I'd have to disassemble one) by placing the stand about 2' from the edge and putting casters on both tables. Everything fits great and Patti can still get the Ody in the garage.
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| From Left Wing |
Here's the attach structure to the roof of the garage. The garage door on my side will be inop until I finish with the wings. This is sitting right in the path of the door. It will only open about 3 feet now.
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| From Left Wing |
The wing stand mostly complete and with the spar assembly hanging from it. I ended up tweaking quite a bit more since things are pretty tight and you have to be able to attach skins and things in between all the support structure.
Van recommends a 4x4. I ended up making mine from 2 2x4x8' stock - it was better wood. Put some Titebond on it and 3" screws and it is super strong. Dead straight as well.
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| From Left Wing |
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Oct 8th, 2011
Working on the wing this week. After *finally* getting the ribs, rear spar and doublers (at least most of them) primed last week I'm finally able to start working on the left wing assembly.
Technically you're supposed to cleco everything together and match drill. I like to go a bit beyond and trial fit a bit more just to get a feel for how everything goes together and as a sanity check to make sure everything looks reasonable and I have a good understanding of what is happening.
Here's the wing with the nose ribs, main ribs and "J" stringer put together.
Riveting the main ribs to the rear spar.
Riveting the main ribs to the front spar. These guys take some doing because it's fairly tight by the ribs, they're big rivets and you don't want to jimmy up the spar by bouncing the gun or the bucking bar.
Closeup of some finished rivets.
Wed evening after it was too late to rivet any more I did a test fit of the skins to see how they fit and make sure everything was aligned properly. Looks a lot more like a wing this way.
Technically you're supposed to cleco everything together and match drill. I like to go a bit beyond and trial fit a bit more just to get a feel for how everything goes together and as a sanity check to make sure everything looks reasonable and I have a good understanding of what is happening.
Here's the wing with the nose ribs, main ribs and "J" stringer put together.
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| From Left Wing |
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| From Left Wing |
Riveting the main ribs to the rear spar.
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| From Left Wing |
Riveting the main ribs to the front spar. These guys take some doing because it's fairly tight by the ribs, they're big rivets and you don't want to jimmy up the spar by bouncing the gun or the bucking bar.
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| From Left Wing |
Closeup of some finished rivets.
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| From Left Wing |
Wed evening after it was too late to rivet any more I did a test fit of the skins to see how they fit and make sure everything was aligned properly. Looks a lot more like a wing this way.
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| From Left Wing |
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
July 30th, 2011
Working on the left elevator and the trim tab. Van's has some wonderful notes in the plans about this.
"Most of the mistakes made on the empennage are made on the left elevator and trim tab. Fair warning."
:)
Jeff said he had to redo the trim tab 3 times before he got it right.
What a cheerful note to start on.
Actually the first thing I did is finish riveting the right elevator, then of course I had to mount it to the horizontal stab just to see how it looked.
Basically you just barely set (about 1/2 way) about every 10th rivet, then keep working through the remaining little by little, the entire time constantly checking to make sure you don't have a curve in the edge. You then flip it over, set them most of the way (skipping as before), the flip it back over and finish everything off. You check for straightness every 3 or 4 rivets. Takes about an hour. Thankfully this came out dead straight. As you are setting them you rotate the gun to parallel the skin so the shop head sits flush with the skin. It's easier than it sounds.
Mostly done. Just doing the final setting.
And here is the result. I installed the rod end bearings and temporarily hung the elevator on the horizontal stabilizer.
The left elevator is similar to the right, but has a cutout for a trim tab, so most of the stiffeners are quite a bit shorter, plus there is a trim tab spar and a small spar in the elevator that the trim tab mounts to. There is also an access panel where the trim cable goes. Different enough to make it interesting and you have to pay attention.
All the match drilling, deburring, dimpling and priming is pretty much the same.
Working on the counterbalance ribs and skin. Using the pneumatic squeezer to rivet the skin to the ribs.
Elevator horn after riveting.
E-921 gusset. This has some great instructions (after you find the piece of aluminum you're supposed to fabricate it from.... [i went around using a mic on every scrap piece Van's gave me trying to find one that's .063 thick...]). The instructions are "Rivet the E-921 gusset". That's it. I'll figure it out, just got a kick out of it. Pretty terse even for Van's.
Left elevator assembly. Spar is clecoed into place while I rivet the counterbalance assembly (bit sticking out on the far end) to the spar. The opening on the near end is the access for the trim table.
"Most of the mistakes made on the empennage are made on the left elevator and trim tab. Fair warning."
:)
Jeff said he had to redo the trim tab 3 times before he got it right.
What a cheerful note to start on.
Actually the first thing I did is finish riveting the right elevator, then of course I had to mount it to the horizontal stab just to see how it looked.
Basically you just barely set (about 1/2 way) about every 10th rivet, then keep working through the remaining little by little, the entire time constantly checking to make sure you don't have a curve in the edge. You then flip it over, set them most of the way (skipping as before), the flip it back over and finish everything off. You check for straightness every 3 or 4 rivets. Takes about an hour. Thankfully this came out dead straight. As you are setting them you rotate the gun to parallel the skin so the shop head sits flush with the skin. It's easier than it sounds.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
Mostly done. Just doing the final setting.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
And here is the result. I installed the rod end bearings and temporarily hung the elevator on the horizontal stabilizer.
 |
| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
The left elevator is similar to the right, but has a cutout for a trim tab, so most of the stiffeners are quite a bit shorter, plus there is a trim tab spar and a small spar in the elevator that the trim tab mounts to. There is also an access panel where the trim cable goes. Different enough to make it interesting and you have to pay attention.
All the match drilling, deburring, dimpling and priming is pretty much the same.
Working on the counterbalance ribs and skin. Using the pneumatic squeezer to rivet the skin to the ribs.
 |
| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
Elevator horn after riveting.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
E-921 gusset. This has some great instructions (after you find the piece of aluminum you're supposed to fabricate it from.... [i went around using a mic on every scrap piece Van's gave me trying to find one that's .063 thick...]). The instructions are "Rivet the E-921 gusset". That's it. I'll figure it out, just got a kick out of it. Pretty terse even for Van's.
 |
| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
Left elevator assembly. Spar is clecoed into place while I rivet the counterbalance assembly (bit sticking out on the far end) to the spar. The opening on the near end is the access for the trim table.
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| From Dale's RV Project - Elevator |
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