Monthly Archives: October 2017

Chapter 23/24 – Throttle Quadrant & Armrest

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Today I started out by removing the peel ply from the cured throttle quadrant mounting hardpoint layups and then cleaned it all up.  I then drilled the holes into each of the 4 hard points, removed the protective plastic wrap I had stuffed into each one to keep the nasty stuff out, and then cleaned up each hole to allow me to test mount the throttle quadrant.

I have to say it all looks good and I’m very pleased with the position of the throttle quadrant.

Today was more of an R&D day than it was a build day, as there was a lot of configuration stuff to figure out for not only the immediate throttle quadrant area, but the entire left armrest console. For example, when I placed the left armrest vertical wall in place, I immediately noticed that it “fanned” out in a way towards the aft end since the armrest wall was basically parallel with the centerline of the airplane.  This makes the side wall look as if it’s fanning out too, because in reality, well, it is since the fuselage gets wider at the pilot seat bulkhead.  This is probably even more pronounced on my plane since I have a more football shaped fuselage than do most Long-EZs.

I also needed to see how the seating space was affected in the pilot’s seat by this “fanned” out left armrest sidewall.  Interestingly enough, I had plenty of room either way as I wasn’t really pressed against either one.  I sat in the pilot’s seat a good 45 minutes simply taking notes and getting a good feel for how the ergonomics of possible configurations would work.  I will add though that the past few days, being able to actually sit in the cockpit and process ideas based on real dimensional data, have been invaluable.

Before I could decide to kick the aft end of the left armrest vertical wall outboard or not, I needed to know if the aft end would still allow me to mount the fire extinguisher in it since I really don’t see anywhere else to mount it . . . and keep it accessible in case of emergency [Side note: I’ve seen so many canard aircraft with fire extinguishers that are truly only accessible on the ground… not good in my book!]

So I drug out the fire extinguisher and low and behold, if I kicked the aft end of the left armrest wall outboard about a 0.25″ (e.g. narrowing) it will still allow me to slide the fire extinguisher in there . . . with a caveat: I’ll have to glass the aft end of the left armrest vertical upright with the inside glass laying up glass-to-glass with the glass on the exterior of the armrest console.  No big deal of course, just a bit more work.

With data in hand, I decided to go with the narrower, albeit straight, armrest configuration. So I was about ready to glass the top and side of the left armrest together and then the ancillary stuff, but honestly the armrest was the easier layup so I went ahead and knocked out the more difficult ones first: the glass sleeve (tube) that the fire extinguisher will get mounted into (on the left, pic below) since I won’t be using the included metal bracket; and the cup holder that I plan on installing just forward of the throttle quadrant.

Interestingly, I needed the ID of the cupholder to be 2.9″ and the only thing I could find that could be used as a mold (without making one from foam) was a small household fire extinguisher that I pulled out of my other house when I sold it (shown on right, pic below).

A point of note on these: due to the fact that I have a TON of leftover UNI from previous layups, I used it for the majority of glass in these 2 layups.

Tomorrow I plan to glass the left armrest top to the left armrest sidewall as the first thing on the build agenda.  Then while that is curing, I’ll pull the peel ply and clean & shape these 2 layups I did tonight.  I also plan on continuing in my quest to finish the left pilot armrest console so that I can press forward with the few GIB area and nose area items, including finalizing the install of the heat & air system.  This of course will be facilitated by my being able to install the 3 heat/air control cables into the left armrest.

 

Chapter 23/24 – Throttle Quadrant Install

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I started out today actually redoing yet another round of updates on some wiring diagrams, since I had switched around some remote functions on the GNS480 handled by the 5-way castle switch.  I wanted to get the diagrams updated ASAP to reflect the changes before heading into the shop.

The weather was unexpectedly sunny & nice, so I took the opportunity to cut 4 beveled plywood hard points to reinforce the aluminum threaded inserts that the throttle quadrant will mount to.  I then rounded the corners with my sanding block.

A bit later I drilled the appropriate size holes and then trimmed the top 2 plywood hard points… this throttle quadrant is marketed more towards RV bubbas so it mounts a bit odd going into a Long-EZ with the top mounting bolts almost even (but maybe 0.050″ low) with the top of the throttle quadrant plate.  Not a huge issue, I just either had to trim down my top hard points or have to deal with them sticking above the top of the armrest.

To be clear, I had sat in the pilot’s for quite a while in an attempt to ascertain the right spot (for me) to mount the throttle quadrant.  Since I’ll have to redo the actual lever for the throttle handle I have some flexibility on the height and left/right position of the handle, thus the main issue to determine today was forward/aft positioning and did I want it sunken a bit below the surface of the armrest or not [I chose not].

This pic below jumps ahead a bit after I had decided where I wanted the throttle quadrant mounted and subsequently after the holes in the left fuselage sidewall were drilled.  I set the throttle quadrant threaded aluminum mounting posts into the holes, climbed in and ensured that this is where I wanted it before I finalized the install.  I did move it forward 0.4″ from my originally planned mounting position. As you’ll note by the pics below, obviously I liked this spot so I pulled the pressed forward with the install.

I prepped each threaded aluminum insert by taping up the outboard (open) ends of each one, and then bolting a tape-covered washer to the inboard open hole.  I then mixed up some flox and started by floxing the threaded aluminum inserts into each plywood hardpoint.  I then floxed the threaded insert/plywood hardpoint assemblies into their respective holes.  Of course the back (outboard) side of each plywood hardpoint was slathered with flox as well, providing a fair amount of surface contact area for added strength.

[In hindsight, if I had really taken note on how close the bottom 2 hardpoints were together, I might have just made one longer plywood hardpoint.  No worries though since what I used below worked fine too.]

While the floxed-in threaded insert/plywood hardpoint throttle quadrant mounting assemblies cured, I then prepped the layups by cutting and prepregging 2-plies of BID for each hardpoint.

After the flox cured the majority of the way, I then mixed up some more epoxy, wet out the prepregged 2-ply BID layups and went to work.  Here you can see all the threaded insert/plywood hard points glassed and peel plied.  I then set a heat lamp on them (….my shop was a balmy 66° F).

It was getting late so I left the threaded insert & plywood hardpoint throttle quadrant mounting assemblies alone to cure in peace while I went upstairs to get a bit of research in.  Tomorrow I’ll mount the throttle quadrant and dial in its exact, final location (left to right) in the left armrest console.  Then I’ll start the process of building out the left armrest as I install the console internals as well.  Again, this is still all part of the quest to get the lion’s share of the internal fuselage/cockpit components installed so that I can then install/construct/glass the firewall, nose & canopy.

 

Chapter 21/24 – Pilot thigh support done

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I started off this morning, which was surprisingly rain free unlike the forecast had called for, by quickly getting the thigh support cover outside.  I set it up and then shot it with 2 coats of clear.

While the thigh support cover clear coat was drying, I took the opportunity to reinstall the fuel valve bracket and the actual Andair fuel valve.

A couple of hours later I installed the dry clear-coated thigh support cover.  Not surprisingly, I’m super happy with how it came out, both structurally and paint-wise.

Here’s a close-up shot of the support screw that secures the fuel selector valve bracket to the thigh support fuel valve pedestal base.

I made an honest attempt to finish installing the Dynon Intercom but was quickly reminded that I’m completely out of D-Sub connector pins and a host of other electrical supplies.  I put together an order on SteinAir and will pull the trigger either later tonight or first thing tomorrow after I do a bit more inventorying to ascertain my current benchstock levels.

Since I couldn’t wire up the intercom, I decided to make the forward pilot seat area fuel system video that I said I would a few months back when I made the GIB thigh support sump tank video.  So here it is:

After I messed around for a few hours filming, editing and uploading the video, I then spent well over an hour finalizing all the electrical diagram updates from the recent panel mock-up wiring.

Tomorrow I plan on sitting in the pilot’s seat (I wanted to give the clear coat a good 24 hours to dry before sitting on it) and figuring out the locations for the left armrest console components.  Also, I also plan to start the final installation of the Parking Brake pull T-handle and start on the nose hatch pull-to-open T-handle as well.  In short, I have a number of build tasks I can now start with the knowledge of my exact sitting ergonomics in hand.

 

Chapter 21/24 – Finishing fuel valve base

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Today I started out by pulling the peel ply and cleaning up the side layups on the inside of the fuel valve pedestal base.  I was going to layup the entire rest of it, but then determined that since I had decided to use thin-walled 1/4″ aluminum tubing to make up the top rounded edge that I needed an inside wall to create the “U” shaped channel, or rounded groove, along the top edge of the pedestal base.

So I glassed the aft inside wall and just as I did with the side walls, dug the foam out of the edge of the thigh support plate below and filled with dry micro.  I then laid up 1 ply of BID overlapping slightly onto each of the previous interior sidewall layups.

I then put the layup under a heat lamp so that it would cure even more quickly, which it did.  A little over an hour later I pulled the peel ply and cleaned up the layup.

I then sanded the top of the pedestal base to ensure the top edge was even all the way around.  I then double checked the fit of the thigh support with its newly attached fuel valve pedestal in place around the fuel valve bracket.

I then spent a good half hour bending and shaping a piece of 1/4″ 3003-0 Versatube to create the top edge of the fuel valve pedestal base.  I considered using Nylaflow, but it’s really hard to get it to straighten out.  I also considered just shaping the foam by hand, but I changed my mind in having a bit higher edge around the fuel valve bracket, so I figured the aluminum tubing was very light and would fit the requirement nicely.

I failed to get any pics of the my ensuing tasks, but after I ensured the fit of the 1/4″ tubing was correct I then set it in place and filled in the gaps with micro and then glassed over the entire pedestal base with 1 ply of BID.  I overlapped the BID ply onto the thigh support cover top about a half inch.  When the layup was done I then peel plied it.

One question I had to answer was what to do on the front side of the fuel selector valve bracket, where its 6 attach screws reside.  Since this area will be the floor to my little impromptu bin –when required– I figured I would simply take some spare glass I had kept around for just such purposes, make a small insert plate, and then simply use a few dabs of RTV Silicon to keep it in place until such time as I may need to remove the fuel valve bracket.

I found just such a piece of glass in my spare parts bin that looked to be about 3 plies thick.  I marked out (amazing how clear this stuff is btw!) the dimensions of the cover plate on the glass piece.

And then sanded it, painted it with 2 coats of darker granite paint, then hit it with a couple coats of clear (not all in one shot, I’m jumping ahead with the pic below).

While the pedestal base layup was curing under the heat lamp, I then cut a piece of 1/16″ thick angled aluminum to create a support bracket tab that I’ll attach a nutplate to in order to allow me to secure the aft end of the cantilevered fuel valve bracket to the aft wall of the fuel valve pedestal base on the thigh support.

Here’s a closer up view of the fuel valve bracket screw support tab.

By this point the pedestal base layup was cured, so I pulled the peel ply and cleaned it up. I then spent a good half hour fitting the thigh support with its newly attached fuel valve pedestal in place around the fuel valve bracket.  With the extra ply or 2 of BID on the inside of the pedestal base wall, I had to do some aggressive sanding in spots and even resorted to filing a bit of the edges of the fuel valve bracket in some spots to get things to fit!  I underestimated how much clearance I would have so the fit was TIGHT!  But I eventually proved myself smarter than these inanimate objects and won! ha!

I then drilled a small pilot hole for the fuel valve bracket screw support tab.  I was off just a hair so I ended up making the hole bigger to use a #8 screw versus my originally planned #6 screw.  With my hole drilled, I then drilled and riveted the #8 nutplate into place on the front side of the fuel valve bracket screw support tab.

After beveling the hole with a countersink, I then tested out a screw to see how it fit.  I think this should do the trick nicely!  Also, while the pedestal base layup was curing I primed & painted the fuel valve bracket, as you can see in this pic.

Here’s a shot of the painted fuel valve bracket in its thigh support pedestal.

I quickly mocked up the fuel valve top assemblies (no actual valve here) as well as the forward screw cover plate to see how it was all looking so far.  I’m liking it!

I then sanded down and prepped the thigh support cover for a couple of lighter coats of primer.  Here’s the results after the primer dried.

Then, for the grand finale of the evening, I hit the thigh support cover with a couple coats of the dark granite paint.  I have to say, I really like my interior paint scheme so far.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain, but if I can I’ll sneak in a few coats of clear on the thigh support cover.  I’ll finish getting the fuel selector valve and pedestal squared away, then move on to figuring out the left armrest console.  I will also try to sneak in finishing the wiring on the Dynon intercom on the instrument panel mockup.

 

Chapter 24 – Fuel Valve Pedestal

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I started off today doing a fair amount of updates to my electrical connector pinout diagrams for a bunch of the work I did on the panel last night.

I then got down into the shop to figure out the fuel valve skirt, pedestal, base . . . whatever it is that you’d call one of things!  Since the fuel valve sits higher than the thigh support cover, then I clearly need something to keep things from falling down under the thigh support, but also I want it all to look finished as well.  Another important function of this piece is that it will keep the seat cushion in place and from sliding forward.

I started by assessing and brainstorming what I needed and what I wanted.  I had a general idea –obviously– but the particulars have been germinating in my mind since the day I decided to place the fuel selector valve in the location I did.  After taking some measurements and playing around with the top few ideas on my list, I decided to keep the top level all the way around, so it’s basically a giant “U”, just flipped forward away from you.

I measured the depth at the back at about 1.7″, although it ended up being a bit taller on the very back part. The front was about 1.3″ high.  The bottom line is that I knew that I could use some of my 2″ thick urethane foam for this task.  I then made a quick thin cardboard template to figure out the lengths and slope on the bottom of the pedestal.  I then used the actual thigh support cover turned upside down to get the interior shape and dimensions transferred to the foam.  I then measured 0.25″ from the inside edge to give my sides, with a bit thicker area on the aft end for room to shape it around the actual fuel valve.  I then used my jig saw and on VERY slow speed cut this out in a very cautious manner.

Once I got the pedestal rough top view cut out, I then marked the sides using my template.  I then cut the lines to give me a straight top and angled bottomed pedestal piece.

I then tried it out on the thigh support by wrapping it around the fuel selector valve.  Of course it took about 15 minutes of the trial and error fitting-sanding-fitting cycle to do this, but I fairly quickly dialed it in.  A bit ironically (or stupidly!) I had the sides reaching forward where I needed them on the rough cutout and then ended up lopping them off too short!  I then had to make a little extension piece for each side and use needles to keep them in place.

You may be wondering, looking at the pic below, why I’m extending the sides all the way forward . . . well, I want an area that is a little sort of a tray, or bin, if you will, to hold small bits either in flight or especially on the ground.

I then mixed up some epoxy with fast hardener and whipped up some micro.  When I set the fuel valve pedestal foam piece in place I did cheat a little and used a spot of 5 minute glue about mid-point on each side.  After about 5 minutes of ensuring it wasn’t moving anywhere then I finished adding the micro fillets all the way around as you see below.

I then laid up 1 ply of BID all the way up the pedestal walls overlapping down onto the seat thigh support about an inch.  After ensuring the layup was all good I peel plied it since I’m going to add another ply of BID over top of it tomorrow.

I then went for pizza & beer with a buddy of mine and we decided to go see a movie. After I returned I decided to glass the straight sections on the inside of the fuel selector pedestal so that I would have glass curing overnight.  Since I used urethane foam on this, the walls are a bit flimsy and I wanted to beefen them up a bit.  So I laid up 1 ply of BID on each inside straight wall of the fuel selector pedestal, peel plied them and called it a night.  For now I stayed clear of the aft curved wall.

As you can see I also added some micro on the inside aft curved foam edge… actually with a little bit of cheater alcohol in it to make it much easier to sand (I learned this trick from Randi of Cozy Girrrls fame).

Here’s a shot of the interior right side glassed with 1 ply of BID (and the alcohol micro).

And shot of the right side as well.

Tomorrow I plan on getting the fuel selector valve pedestal base completed and move on to figuring out and building the pilot left side arm support & console.  If I get a chance, because I didn’t today, I’ll try to work on wiring up the intercom on the instrument panel mockup as well.

 

Chapter 22/24 – Coming together…

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I started out today by doing a bit of electrical system administrivia until I could call GRT Avionics.  I then called them and left a voicemail detailing my tale of woe regarding the AHRS not talking to the HXr EFIS.  Within 15 minutes Mark from GRT called me back and within a minute I had the AHRS online.  It was simply a matter of setting the baud rate to 19200 (which I couldn’t find in the documentation) and it was off to the races from there.

While I had Mark on the phone we also worked through how to set & label some of the analog ports for my specific inputs such as the GIB thigh support fuel sump low fuel alarm. He had to do some digging around but he found the info that allowed me to set all my unique analog port inputs.

Here’s another shot with some slightly different screen views than above.

Upon checking my mail I found that I had received the 4″ USB dongle I ordered to connect the HXr EFIS display to the 4-port USB hub.  The USB hub connects items such as the Radenna SkyRadar ADS-B IN Receiver and by adding a little nub of a USB device also provides Bluetooth capability for the GRT EFIS system.  Specifically, with a small Android tablet the GIB will be able to see essentially the same info on the PFD as I do up front.

I then installed the USB dongle . . . this is the HXr EFIS side

And here is the 4-port USB hub side.  You can see there is not a lot space behind (again, technically “in front of”) the EFIS display unit.

I also received the parts from ACS that I was remiss in ordering in a timely fashion.  With the #2 CAMLOC receptacle in hand I then pressed forward with the pilot thigh support cover CAMLOC locking tabs installation.  Two items worthy of note on these CAMLOC tabs is that, first, I realized I did not have countersunk rivets large enough to mount the CAMLOC receptacles to the tabs…. hmmm?  I quickly determined that a #6 countersunk screw would do the trick so I rounded up some of those (I only had the fancy SS hex drive #6 screws that would work) and some locknuts and got to work.

The second issue was that the left tab would not sit flush with the lower instrument panel cross piece and that it really required some force to get the thigh support cover to seat down in its proper position.  Of course I didn’t notice this until the receptacles were mounted in place and the CAMLOCs were installed tightly.  I fiddled around with it for a bit and realized it just wouldn’t work with the bracket at a 90° angle since it was obvious the angle must be more acute.  I don’t really like bending composite components with heat because things can go south quickly, but I bit the bullet and did just that.  I used a scrap piece of wood to mount the bracket to and then judiciously applied heat and was able to bend the bracket into a more acute angle and . . . Voila! . . . worked like a champ!

Here’s another shot with the thigh support CAMLOC brackets ready to be floxed into place into the fuselage at the base of the instrument panel bulkhead.

Ahhh, this familiar site!  What could it be??  Well, this time around of course it’s the thigh support CAMLOC brackets floxed into place and curing.

While the thigh support CAMLOC brackets cured, I prepped the Trio autopilot pitch servo for removal.  I needed to remove it for a twofold purpose: 1) I needed to repair 2 of its P3 connector pins that were NOT toning out, and 2) I needed to hook it up to the panel-mounted Trio autopilot control head for testing.

I forgot about the cool looking base floxed into place inside the right side of the nose, so I figured I would grab a currently rare shot of no pitch servo mounted on the side wall.

A bit later, after I confirmed the flox had cured, I pulled the weights off of the pilot thigh support cover and checked the fit of the now CAMLOC-secured cover.  Bottom line, as my buddy Dave B. from OZ would say, “It works a treat!”

Here are the left and right CAMLOC receptacle brackets now permanently floxed in place at the base of the instrument panel.

And here’s a shot of both thigh support CAMLOC receptacle brackets.

As I finished wiring up the Trio Pro Pilot autopilot into the instrument panel mockup, I first repaired the 2 errant connector pins on the pitch servo and then connected both servos to the Trio autopilot control head.

I also ginned up a quick little mount for a temporary autopilot disconnect switch just in front of the intercom.  I picked this spot since my actual autopilot disconnect switch is on the control stick.

BTW, the connector you see in the Adel clamp attached to the outside upright of the instrument panel mockup base is the P5 connector, which attaches to the control stick cable connector.

Although I temp-mounted the GNS480 GPS antenna puck last night, I thought I’d get a shot of that and the newly connected Radenna SkyRadar-DX ADS-B IN receiver sitting down low in front of the instrument panel mockup base.  You can see that I zip-tied its own GPS antenna puck to the top of it, this making GPS antenna puck number 5 that is currently connected to this panel mockup!  If you’re curios, here’s the list:

      1—GNS480 GPS Receiver
      2—HXr AHRS
      3—Mini-X EFIS
      4—TruTrak ADI
      5—Radenna SkyRadar-DX ADS-B Receiver

Ok, so here’s the latest shot of the mocked up instrument panel, ready for official power-on test #2 . . . which means that I am really just checking out my Trio autopilot wiring installation.

And here’s the panel with power fired up again.  A quick note that not only did I resolve my AHRS connection issue, but I was able to tweak my GNS480 external annunciator lights and rewire the OAT probe on the MGL clock, so all of my 3 issues from yesterday are resolved.

My last act of the evening, as I was doing some minor configuration inputs on the Trio autopilot, was to personalize that sucker to make it MINE!  [Note the blue GPSS LED light lit up as the Trio AP is talking to the GNS480 GPS receiver…]

Alrighty then my friends, tomorrow I plan to work on both the thigh support cover piece that will wrap around the fuel selector valve to finish off the thigh support install, and also work on finalizing the Dynon intercom wiring connections as much as possible.

 

Chapter 22 – Light it up!

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I started off today by cutting 2 small pieces of wood and attaching them to the existing panel mockup base with wood screws.  The lower 3/4″ plywood plate, mounted vertically just below the left-side row of circuit breakers, does double duty in holding up the second horizontal plate, and at 4.5″ in depth mimics the top of the lower LHS side hole in the instrument panel bulkhead, the highest point for running wires from under the left armrest to behind the panel.  In other words, all the wires going to/from the intercom to behind the panel must be run below this plate.

I mounted the second, thinner plate on top of the arm intercom-positioning jut-out at the base of the panel just forward of the row of circuit breakers.  This plate mimics the left armrest console aft of the panel and forward of the control stick. Since I plan on mounting my master switch and both “mag” switches here, I went ahead and mounted my master switch in its approximate position.  In this setup I’m bastardizing the master switch to serve as a power ON/OFF between battery power and main buss feed.

Over 12 hours later here is the panel –with about as many of the wiring cross connections completed as possible– ready to be fired up for the first time.

After I double checked all the connections, I set the battery in place and attached the leads.  My battery was at 13.8 volts, which gave me a good bit of time to test out the panel.

I took this shot a fair while later after I applied power to the panel.  I had left the GNS480 off for quite a while since it’s a bit of a power hog as I initially worked on configuring the GRT boxes.

Currently, I have 3 main issues I need to address, one major, 2 minor:

  1. My HXr won’t recognize the AHRS unit.  I’ve double checked all the connections, power, RS232 etc.  I’m stumped so tomorrow I’ll contact GRT.
  2. Three of my powered GNS480 external annunciator lights (Korry) lit up even before the unit was powered on.  Clearly I’ll need to figure this out.
  3. The OAT probe is inop on my nifty little MGL clock…. and has never worked.  I’ll contact MGL tomorrow as well.

Barring the usual snags, I’m super happy with the panel.  Tomorrow I’ll probably get back into the shop for at least a bit, but I do want to get the AHRS issue resolved.

 

Chapter 22 – Official Rabbit Hole!

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Yes, panel build: Day 2.

Today I started off by updating my connector pinout diagrams, reviewing the upcoming connector pinouts and then printing up 2 batches of wiring labels.  I had to improvise with some larger yellow wires labels since —surprisingly— I’m out of wire label cartridges.

My goal today was to start on the J4A (front side) PQD (Panel Quick Disconnect) connector, but that quickly devolved into working on the prerequisite connector pinout on the Adaptive AHRS for the HXr EFIS.  The AHRS is the recipient of a number of wires from the J4A connector, so it was natural to finish this task at this point.

I swapped out a number of wires on the AHRS wiring connector for different colors since some of GRT’s pre-installed wires didn’t match my color coding.  I thought about leaving them as is, but it’s a fairly easy task to swap them and will make any future wire-hunting/tracing tasks go much easier if the wires keep the same color on each side of the connectors.  I also pulled a few pre-installed wires that I didn’t need.  Thus, with the AHRS wiring connector squared away, I installed it and then worked on hooking up the wires coming out of it to points yonder on the panel.

At the aft right corner of the Triparagon… a shot of the PQD connector trio: P6 (currently unpopulated), J3 Mini-X connector (on side, vertical) and J4 HXr (top, horizontal).  The relay in the foreground is Relay 9, which handles the COM1 ↔ COM2 swap.  I apparently ran out of wire labels after I constructed it, so it took me a good half hour to tone it out and deconstruct what in tarnation I was up to when I made it!  And with a 3PDT relay, it took a bit of head scratching.  After I got it all figured out and did some quick masking tape labeling, I sent the wires off in their required directions.

[NOTE: This exercise in near-“futility” definitely reinforced to me the importance of wire labels.  No matter how in-depth we get into a certain subtask, 6 months down the road all those details are lost –at least to me– and I need to “relearn” what I did!  Diagrams and wire labels are the only way for me to pick up where I left off months or years later on these countless wiring components and press forward quickly].

Here’s a closer shot of the PQD bracket and connectors.  The front (Triparagon) sides of the J3 (Mini-X) and J4 (HXr) connectors are for the most part complete.  There’s another 8-10 wire connections that will need to be added once it’s all actually installed into the aircraft.

I spent a few hours constructing the 3 x ARINC 429 and 1 x RS232 shielded wire cables that all route through a centralized grommet in the Triparagon from the J4 connector to the GNS480.  The pic below shows these cables from the right side of the Triparagon.

And here are the 4 ARINC 429/RS232 cables on the left side of the Triparagon, ready to be terminated into the GNS480 back plate D-Sub connectors (by the way… I installed the D-Sub connectors on the GNS480 back plate).  I only terminated the RS232 cable at this point since it had standard sockets, whereas the other ARINC 429 cables require High Density pins since they get terminated into connector P5 (high density).  I’m waiting until I get all the standard D-Sub pins & sockets crimped before I reset my D-Sub crimper for high density crimping.

Two of the ARINC 429 and one side of the RS232 connections I highlighted above also feed the Trio Autopilot EFIS/GPS source select switch, the rather diminutive Switch #14. On the right side of the pics above & below, you can see the cross connect cables that are tied into the GNS480’s ARINC 429/RS232 cables (spliced in just before the wires enter the GNS480’s connectors) as they run up over the GNS480 to tie into Switch 14 on the panel.

Here’s a shot of Switch 14, the Trio Autopilot EFIS/GPS source select switch, after I terminated the connections by soldering 9 wires to it: 5 connections come from the ARINC 429/RS232 cable group, 3 from the Trio AP control head, and 1 connection from the GRT HXr AHRS GPS signal.

A closeup of the 9 wires connected to the Trio Autopilot EFIS/GPS source select switch (Switch 14).

To get the wire connection lengths dialed in from the Trio autopilot to Switch 14, I had to install the massive D-Sub wiring harness on the back of the Trio autopilot.

Here’s a closer shot of the installed D-Sub connectors on the GNS480 back plate.

In addition, I also mounted the air deflector on the GNS480 back plate.

Lastly, I used some of the extra terminated wires that I pulled off the GRT wiring harnesses to make up much shorter harnesses for both the HXr and Mini-X magnetometer connectors.

I suspect that my Aircraft Spruce order should be in the day after tomorrow, so that gives me one more full day to knock out as much as I can on the panel before getting back into the shop.  I think I should be close to having the panel pretty much wired after another full day of working on it.

 

Chapter 22 – Initial panel wiring

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I started off today making a quick plan for wiring up the instrument panel.  To be clear, the instrument panel is mocked up, but the wiring I’m doing now is the real deal… always subject to some upgrades (read: changes!).

The plan was to get the TruTrak ADI and MGL clock rewired since I pulled them off the P6 PQD connector and am now running all the wires from point A to point B, as I noted in yesterday’s blog.  I did get them rewired, but not without the requisite issues along the way.  Nonetheless, in the end they are wired & labeled correctly.  So, check one!

My next task was to get the wiring harness for the HXr EFIS built, which is made up of wiring leads of the 3 HXr connectors: A, B & C being consolidated into one 37-pin D-Sub connector which makes up side B of the J4 connector.  Again, as I noted yesterday, since I’m a hair short on connector positions, I pressed a 4-pin AMP CPC connector into service to handle the HXr’s primary, secondary and tertiary power wires along with the single ground wire.

In the pic below, J4B is at the top left.  Then clockwise are HXr B, HXr A, P7B and HXr C connectors.  HXr A and HXr B have a smattering of different types of connections, while P7 –again- is only for power and HXr C is all ARINC 429.  In addition, as you can see I didn’t just get the wires cross-connected, but all labeled as well.  Finally, any wire loops you may see are the loopback grounds for the shielded wiring.

The 3 HXr EFIS connectors, in their final, populated state (l to r) HXr C, HXr A, HXr B.

I then did a test fit of the HXr wiring harness.  Below is a top-down shot.  Yes, it is REALLY tight, but it all seems to fit so far.

And a shot of the 3 HXr connectors . . . installed.

And a shot of P7 connected as well.

Tomorrow I’ll continue to work on the panel with the goal to get the front (Triparagon) sides of the J4 (HXr) & J3 (Mini-X) connectors wired up, as well as the last big bubba left: the GNS480 GPS unit [the Trio autopilot will be a big task as well, but it came with a populated D-Sub wiring harness, so labeling the wires and terminating them with connectors will be the time-consuming part on the autopilot].

 

 

Chapter 22 – Yep, the boring stuff

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Over the past couple of days I’ve had a heavy social calendar with old friends wanting to get together, which is always great.  On Friday and Saturday I squeezed in maybe 45 minutes each day to work on updating my electrical system diagrams, starting with my connector pinout sheets.

Today (Sunday) I started off making a bit of noise by cutting a 19.5″ long x 6″ high arm to mount to the right side of the instrument panel mockup base to allow me to mount the intercom very close relationally to where it resides in the actual aircraft.  Although this intercom is small in size, the whole aft end is nothing but a D-Sub connector and there are a lot of cross connections required from the panel components.

With my requisite construction task out of the way, I then started in on what I’ve been trying to get to for the past couple of days: my electrical system diagrams.  One way I keep track of all my connectors is that AMP CPC connector ID codes start with “P” (“plug”) while D-Sub and mini-Molex connectors start with “J” (“jack’).  This scheme also gives me more numbers on hand for each series, since there are a fair number of distinct connectors in this airplane.

Well, besides the myriad of other updates I needed to do, including finalizing the switch out of circuits coming off the big 24-pin P6 PQD connector, I also created a new 4-pin AMP CPC plug (P7) for the GRT HXr power wires.  Concurrently, I reclaimed its previous J10 tagline for the 25-pin Audio Mixer D-Sub connector.

Finally, if a connector is merely planned and has not been fully pressed into use, I may switch them around in an effort to keep the numbering scheme so that the low numbers start at the nose and get bigger as they move towards the back of the plane (i.e. J1 towards nose, J12 in hell hole, for example).  Well, I stole the P7 moniker from the Trio roll servo that resides in the engine compartment and its new label is now P8.  This of course required physically removing labels and adding new ones.  A bit of a mundane task in doing all this, but in the end I feel wholly worth it in having a well organized, more easily maintainable, electrical system.

With the reallocation shell game complete, I then went to work updating my connector pinout diagram sheets.  After those were complete, I then did a 100% review and update of all my electrical system diagrams.  I added the 6 new GNS480 external annunciators to the panel diagram (#1) and tweaked all the other diagrams as well.

One major difference in my updates this time around, on a number of occasions I noted exactly how long a certain wire was that was included by the manufacturer on their wiring harness, and then approximated how much more I needed to add to complete the physical wire run.  For example, on ElectroAir’s EIS Controller, that will sit in the GIB headrest, the main 20 AWG yellow wire that runs forward to the EI (“mag”) switch on the console is 6 feet long coming off the EIS Controller’s wiring harness.  Not long enough to reach the front, so I annotated that on the wiring diagram.  Now I know to have or reserve some 20 AWG yellow wire to extend the EIS Controller switch wire.

Beyond that, a lot of my diagrams were simply the old versions with my chicken scratch notes annotated on them, while the electronic versions were up to date.  I took the time to verify the info was correct, updated other info as need be, and printed off a fresh copy of every electrical diagram.  I’m sure I’ll need to do this a another few times before the plane is finished, but as of now I have a really good baseline for my entire electrical system being up to date.

As for the actual build, I’m waiting for the CAMLOC receptacle that I ordered from ACS to arrive before I press forward with the pilot seat thigh support installation, and then the subsequent tasks that follow.  I also made some other minor orders for some now known USB cable lengths and avionics panel mounting hardware.  Thus, in the next few days, until the CAMLOC receptacle arrives, I will take the opportunity to focus on getting the panel wired up.