Chap 17 – Roll Trim Construction

With all the parts assembled and on hand for the new Roll Trim System, I went to work making the ‘X’ tube (which is actually more akin to a plus sign +) that is created by welding two 3/4″ pieces of the 1/4″ dia 4130 steel tubing together. After welding (or soldering) these two pieces together, one tube will get a washer slid onto each end that is also welded/soldered into place.

Waiter's Roll Trim System

I went to work to finalize the setup of my TIG welding corner and dial in my TIG welder.

Welding Setup

After getting the welding station situated, I ran a number of beads to get back into the swing of things.  Although woefully still needing much more stick time on the TIG, I set about making the ‘X’ tube by knocking off the protective coating of the 4130 tube and then cutting the two 3/4″ pieces.

4130 1/4" dia tube4130 piece for "X" tube4130 pieces for "X" tube

I realized after blowing a couple of holes in the thin-walled tubing on my first attempt at making the X-Tube, that I had dialed in the wrong numbers on the TIG box.  Since I was using a 1/16″ Tungsten electrode, I had mistakenly dialed in the amperage for 1/16″ thick 4130 steel versus the correct amps required for 0.028″ walled tubing.  Another issue I had was that my filler rod was about twice the size I needed, so getting it to flow out without burning a hole in the thin tubing was a bit tricky.  Regardless, here was my first attempt at making the X-Tube:

Failed X-Tube

After dialing the amps way down on the TIG welder, I was able to eke out an X-Tube that would handily do the job.  X-Tube #2 was not pretty by any standards, but a quick brush up with the Dremel and some “Flocro” (Flox + Micro) using 4-year old MGS 335 proved to do the trick to make it presentable (see side note below).

Flocro'd Roll Trim X-Tube

Although not a beautiful specimen of welding, this little guy is strong!  I had re-read some of my notes on welding 4130 steel & it stated that 4130 is some tough stuff, and boy they weren’t kidding!  I had a slight bubble on the inside of one of the tubes that protruded about 60 thou (0.060″) into the tube.  No problem, I grabbed a cheap Harbor Freight 3/16″ drill bit to hone out the holes to ensure both tubes were clean.  That 60 thou 4130 slag bump chewed up the end of my bit like it was nothing!  I had to pull out my high-end drill bits to clean this sucker out.

Flocro'd X-Tube

I let the Flocro cure until is was just still soft enough to work.  I cleaned it up and then let it cure another couple of hours as I messed about with my headrest/rollover design.  After it had cured, I did one final clean up and then shot it with gloss black Rustoleum primer/paint.

X-Tube

I then set up a shop light about a foot away and let it dry.

Roll Trim X-TubeRoll Trim X-TubeRoll Trim X-Tube

After a few more hours I dry fitted the X-Tube onto the other components, and all fit well. I then left it alone to get in a good overnight cure.

OLD MGS 335 side note:
As I mentioned before, I was playing around with some old MGS 335 epoxy and hardener for a cosmetic makeover of the X-Tube.  When I say old, this is stuff that I had left with Marco back in the Summer of 2011 when I went to Germany.  The hardener had turned a puke brownish-green color and I had no idea what it would do.  But, my experience with MGS is that the stuff is magic, and since this was for purely cosmetic use without any structural expectations, I figured what the heck.  At first I thought the hardener was chemically dead, since after a couple of hours it was still pretty mushy.  But I left it in front of a heater, and lo & behold, a couple hours later it was hard as a rock.

 

Chap 17 – New Roll Trim

The magical truck that has all the airplane parts stopped by today to deliver an order from Wicks.  Since Wicks had a 10%-off special on all things composite for February I pulled the trigger on another gallon of West epoxy for the final finishing of this bird.  I also ordered something that I thought I had on-hand, but after my recent 100% inventory of EVERYTHING, I realized I didn’t: a piece of 1/4″ diameter x 0.028″ wall 4130 steel tube.

What is this used for you might astutely ask?  Why, my “new” roll trim system.

But first, you may remember that back in June 2013, my good friend, fellow Long-EZ builder, and MASTER machinist, Marco, made me the metal parts for my standard plan’s version roll trim.  From various Canardian PIREPs roll trim is not used a lot and I wanted to keep the plane as light as possible.  Then later, some other Canardians I spoke with talked about the inconvenient location of the plans positioned roll trim lever (read, at right-thigh seat level…not good for someone with more robust thighs!).  A few ingenious builders from the Old Guard had clever workarounds to make the roll trim more mechanically user-friendly… and much better ergonomically.

But after a fair amount of thought I came to the conclusion to strive for K-I-S-S.  I have a very nice, capable china-hat trim switch on a cool Infinity stick, so why not use it for both trims: pitch & roll.  Yes, it may mean literally a few extra ounces, so I’m doing the weight rationalization dance (kind of like ordering dessert after a big meal!), but the simplified operationally convenience will optimize cockpit management in my opinion.

I looked at a myriad of different roll trim ideas out there, many using the “omega”-shaped composite spring (“Wright/Hanka Spring”) firewall aft, but I figured I would try out Waiter’s (aka John McAvoy) Roll Trim System as he describes on his site IFlyEZ.com.  Since nearly all plans for EZ Roll Trim systems revolve around the most expensive item involved: the Ray Allen RAC T2-10A servo, then I’m out literally $10 in parts if I want to switch to the Wright-Hanka style trim spring in case I don’t care for Waiter’s system.  A contributing reason for my choosing Waiter’s system is its location just aft of the pilot’s seat, in some real estate that isn’t being used for anything else.

Waiter's Long-EZ Roll TrimAlso, although this system is light (9.5 oz vs. plan’s roll trim of 4 oz), it still puts the weight of the components forward of the firewall rather than behind it.

With my decision made, I plan to knock this out in the next day or so.

VSWR what?!

In the December 2013 edition of Kitplanes magazine I found yet another useful piece of information, and like so many other times during this build, it came a year or so too late. The article was written by Jim Weir–maker of many canard antennas–and discussed checking the VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) of each antenna before burying it under the skin of a plastic airplane such as the Long-EZ, at which point if you have a problem . . . well, better think up some good solutions!

Jim recommended a MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer to check the VSWR on each antenna to ensure they were good.  Again, my antennas already being installed, I still wanted to check them to A) know if any had a VSWR too high to count as good, and B) pick the best between the COM antennas for COM1, and the best between the NAV antennas for NAV1.  The goal is a VSWR ratio less than 3:1, because anything higher is a lot electrical energy traveling back along the OUTSIDE of your antenna coax cable to the transmitting device (ie, radio), which will drive your available Tx wattage to unacceptably low levels and could damage your transmitter in the process.  In addition, as with so many other units of measurement in the weird & wonderful world of electrons, VSWR readings are logarithmic.  Any increases above a 1.5:1-to-2:1 ratio and things start getting real hairy real quick!

I of course started hunting around for a good, used antenna analyzer at an acceptable price anywhere I could find one.  That pretty much drove me to eBay, where I picked one up for about half the price of a new one.  And thar she be below.

MFJ-259B Antenna Analyzer

The only problem with my newly won prize (which I actually bought a while ago), was the antenna cable adapter that came with it.  These analyzers can be used for checking any antenna and are common in the HAM radio world, so perhaps the antenna cable adapter that came was used for something even more exotic by a HAM radio bubba.

Old Connector ???So although I didn’t know what the mystery adapter was used for, I did know that to check the BNC connectors used on the Long-EZ antenna cables that I would need a BNC adapter for the antenna analyzer.  So, last week I ordered a couple of them, one male and one female, and I got them in today.

New BNC connectors M & F

You can see the new BNC antenna cable adapters on the right, and the old one on the left. Below is a shot of one installed on the antenna analyzer.

It fits!

Since the weather is still too cold to economically heat my workshop for glassing, I plan on terminating all my antenna cables with BNC connectors and then checking the VSWR of each one with this MFJ-259B antenna analyzer.

Winter Wonderland

I thought I’d share some pictures I took on a quick jaunt up to Ridgely Field, MD (East of BWI and north of Easton, MD) out of my new home airport, Potomac Field, MD.

It was a rather cold day and VERY choppy below 3,000′.  I got banged up pretty good until I could finally get out from underneath all the Class B airspace in the DC FRZ & SFRA. Those heavy guys hog up all the airspace! (The guilty know who they are…) :)

Here are some pics I took as I headed back to Potomac on a south-westerly course across Eastern Bay (just southeast of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that crosses from Annapolis to points east), across the Maryland shoreline on the Chesapeake.  In a lot of the shots you can see the small, distinctly-shaped Poplar Island, which is a great landmark when hopping across the Chesapeake.  As you can see, just about every bit of the water was frozen, making this flight look like an Antarctic adventure!

Hope you enjoy these!

Eastern Bay, MDEastern Bay, MD (N)Eastern Bay, MDChesapeake Bay Shore - MD (S)Eastern Bay, MD (NW)Eastern Shore - MDChesapeake Bay (S)MD Shoreline, Chesapeake Bay (S)Chesapeake Bay (SW)Eastern Bay, MDMD Shoreline, Chesapeake Bay (S)Eastern Shore - MDMouth of Eastern Bay - (N)MD Shoreline - Chesapeake Bay (S)Chesapeake Bay (L) Eastern Bay (R)Chesapeake/Eastern Bay (N)Poplar Island (L) Chesapeake Bay (S)Chesapeake Bay (N)Poplar Island, Chesapeake Bay (S)Potomac Airfield (KVKX), MD

And here she is, all snugly tied down and put away back home.

Cheers!

It’s all about safety kids!

Just a few quick photos of my efforts tonight in installing a couple of concrete anchors to keep my drill press securely mounted to the shop floor.  That’s a tall, heavy piece of machinery that sits on a busy corner of my shop.  Plus, by using the drill press table as my mounting location for the bench grinder, I definitely want to make sure that all is secured from an inopportune, destructive and possibly very painful toppling.

I simply pulled out my Bosch mini-jack hammer and within about 10-15 seconds on each hole had the requisite depth.  That hammer drill literally drills into concrete as well as an 18V drill into soft pine!

Drill Press Safety BoltsMondo Hole Drilling!Once the holes were drilled and vacuumed clean, I grabbed my two anchors and the installing jack and started pounding away.

Concrete Bolt AnchorsBolt Anchor TapBolt Anchor SetAfter the anchors were securely in place, the hardest part was aligning holes in the drill’s base over the embedded anchors.  Below is the final product.

Drill Press Anchored!

Back to it … baby steps!

Sorry, but I don’t have any pics to load just yet, but I quickly knocked out a few items on my list that I thought were important to complete in order to establish some data points:

#1 – Elevator weigh-in.  As Canardians and canard builders know, elevator weight and balance is critical.  I established a baseline weight for both my elevators since when I followed the plans method of glassing them, the heat of the curing bondo used to hold the bottom of the elevators in place caused glass-foam delaminations exactly where each blob of bondo was placed.  There’s a great work-around using aluminum duct tape that’s spelled out in a CSA newsletter, but unfortunately the issue with that helpful tidbit came out well AFTER I built my elevators. Besides getting a general idea of each elevator’s weight, the baseline will let me know how much epoxy weight was added after I inject each delam area with epoxy.  If too heavy, I may end up having to rebuild new elevators.

#2 – Fuselage straight & true.  Another issue I wanted to get the skinny on was exactly how straight and true my fuselage is, since I know that I didn’t get it exactly right when I glassed the bulkheads into the fuselage sides.  I still  have to diagram it all out, but although not ecstatic that it was off to any degree, I was relieved to find out that no measurements were off by more than a 1/10th of an inch.  Not great, but definitely workable.

#3 – Landing & Taxi Light Test.  I also grabbed my LED landing and taxi lights, and quickly connected them up to a 12V battery to ensure that they all worked, first off, and to also get a good idea of the light strength and beam pattern of each respective light.  I have to say that I was quite impressed with the lights and I will definitely move forward with my designed electrical plan for the landing and taxi lights.

Final Shop Prep – Part Deux

. . . RISE OF THE MACHINES!!!

You can’t be totally prepared unless your MACHINES are online & ready to go!

My initial objectives starting back on the Long-EZ build is that now that I have my project physically located in one place, I will go back and finish those chapters that I left hanging for various reasons.  For example, chapter 8 of the original plans is where the trademark triangular foam/fiberglass rollover assembly is constructed.  However, since I’ll be employing a metal rollover assembly, it took me a while (actually while I was in Tampa, FL) to design it and to figure out what material I was going to use.  And although I’ve done a fair amount of MIG & stick welding, I of course needed to get trained on TIG welding since I had finally decided that the rollover would be constructed of 4130 steel.  Although I posted this previously, I attended a local welding course in Tampa and the EAA’s TIG welding workshop in Georgia.

As far as equipment goes, the TIG welder needed to be assembled and checked out. Since I added 220v power to the garage for a heater, I changed the welder plug-in side of my HEAVY duty 220v extension cord to a plug that matches my MIG welder.  I then also changed out the plug on my TIG welder to match the plug on my MIG welder, thus both 220v welders can be used with the same extension cord.  I also have an old Lincoln “Buzz-Box” Tombstone welder, but with my change in plugs it won’t be usable for the time being.  With the swap-out of the plug on the TIG welder, and a couple nit-noy issues with the Argon line filter, it’s now all hooked up & raring to go!

TIG Welder

This evening I also finished cleaning up and oiling the drill press, literally knocking some of the rust off of it.  Once I got the drill press good to go, I turned my sights on the bench grinder (I picked it up cheap from Harbor Freight) which I will use primarily for sharpening the tungsten electrodes for TIG welding.  As I was hunting around for a place to mount the bench grinder, I figured that two of the things that I really don’t use that often in building this Long-EZ is the drill press & bench grinder, so why not use that space for a dual purpose and mount the bench grinder to the drill press table and save some space!

And so I did!

Bench Grinder

After finishing the drill press & bench grinder, I spent another hour or so simply cleaning off a bunch of my tools and gear that had years of dust and grit on them.

Thus, from here on out, besides work, flying and my Instrument Training course, any spare time I have I will be putting towards getting this bird finished!

Final Shop Prep

I am very close to the point where everything is organized, functional and operational to begin building.  The major issue I have is storage.  As I mentioned before, my other townhouse in Virginia has a 10’x10′ bumpout in the downstairs area that I used as extra storage, and what really helped was that I also built a large shed in the back yard that held a ton of tools and equipment.

Ok, back to here.  I have a pool table in a room just beyond the garage, which until tonight was covered in a myriad of pieces of blue wing foam, all different shapes and sizes.  Well, I consolidated as much of the pieces that are less likely to be used in the immediate upcoming steps that require blue foam (i.e. canard tips & nose construction) and stuffed them into the box that I just received the new canopy in from Todd Silver.

Blue Foam Storage

The foam I was able to cram into the repurposed canopy box is about half of the blue wing foam that I have, and since this stuff is not cheap to buy, and especially not cheap to ship, then I will keep as much of it as I can on hand until I’m done building this bird.

Once I got it all situated, I covered the end of the box with a doubled up garbage bag, and taped ‘er up.  Then this gargantuan box went up on the top shelf over the epoxy box & glass storage cabinet.

Blue Foam Box

I still  have some room in front and top of the box to store stuff as well.  The rest of the blue foam went into the garage closet that is situated about 4′ in front of the epoxy hot box, so off to the left in the pic above.

Also, to get ready for glassing I wanted to clean up the respirator masks that I use when working the MGS hardener and mixing up batches of epoxy.  Last night I dumped the respirators into the sink in some hot soapy water to let them soak overnight.  Luckily I had two sets of new filters on hand so I swapped those out and now my masks are ready to go! Let’s get some epoxy flowing!!!

Respirators

Engine Hoist Saga Over!

Ok, I know it may not seem like such a huge ordeal, but before I stowed this engine hoist away I wanted to ensure it was working properly.  As you saw from a couple of weeks ago, I had added a full bottle of hydraulic oil to the jack so that the jack would stay up & not move with a load on it.

No joy!

I eventually had to buy more hydraulic fluid and bingo, that did the trick!  After a few days of working the jack & bleeding the air out I finally got this lemon to work!

With the drama over, I folded it up and took a pic before it went into the storage closet.

Engine Hoist

BTW, I used over a third of the hydraulic fluid from the bottle shown in the pic.  Now that this is out of the way, I should be able to finish up the shop SOON and get moving on the build.  As many of you know, working in a tight space requires a fair amount of organization!

Getting there . . .