Monthly Archives: October 2017

Chapter 22 – More panel stuff

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Today was still all about the panel mockup.  With a number of changes I’ve made to the wiring on the back side of the panel, I needed to check those changes to ensure they would fit my design requirements.  Once I determined that I was heading in the right direction, I made the changes which required a fair amount of pulling wires out primarily out of the PQD P6 connector and then re-adding them to other connectors and/or splicing them directly into the Triparagon side wiring.

The main reason behind all this is I had a major rethink on the process of removing the panel.  I had giant brain blank earlier when I didn’t take into account that my removable panel component wiring wouldn’t be routed through one giant opening in the panel, since the current composite “shadow” panel will in most respects mirror the outer 0.063″ 2024 aluminum panel overlay.  This means as wires from each instrument traverses their respective holes to a common connector point, then if I tried to remove the panel after disconnecting that one connector (eg PQD P6), all the wires would get hung up at the connector as the panel was being removed.

Hard to follow?  Think of an octopus on the back side of the panel reaching each of his 8 tentacles through a different hole on the panel. Then think of him grabbing ahold of 8 rods larger than each hole.  You can’t pull the octopus away from the aft panel unless he releases all the rods, and you can’t pull the rods away from the front of the panel without squishing poor Mr. octopus against the back of the panel.  In this scenario though, all the rods (instruments) are attached to the front panel overlay and Mr. octopus represents the panel quick disconnect (PQD) connector, while his tentacles represent the respective wiring to each instrument… hope this analogy makes sense.

Ok, so I removed the PQD P6 connector out of the equation for my MGL Clock, TruTrak ADI, and a few other panel mounted components.  Thus, instead of A→B, B→C, I now simply have A→C with B (P6) cut out of the pic. Of course this change entailed lopping off wiring terminating pins & sockets and then re-terminating the wires by splicing them together.  It also required a fair amount of wire relabeling as well.

My new method of panel removal for these smaller components will be to simply remove the connector at the back of each component.  In the end, it should only add a few minutes to panel removal, and will also allow me a cleaner wiring harness overall since I won’t have as many convoluted wiring runs.

In line with all I stated above, I finished the wiring for the red & green Gear/Canopy warning system wires that I initiated yesterday.  I soldered spliced the wires together for a straight shot from LED light to warning module on one side, and LED light to E-Bus power on the other.  I of course labeled all the wires as well.

If you recall, I have 3 connectors that make up the Panel Quick Disconnect (PQD) connectors: 24-pin AMP CPC, 37-pin D-Sub, and 15-pin D-Sub.  On the PQD scheme, I switched things up a while back by claiming the 15-pin D-Sub to handle the GRT Mini-X wiring only, while the 37-pin D-Sub handles the GRT HXr wiring only.  However, since I didn’t have enough pins in the 37-pin D-Sub for all the HXr connections, I decided to separate out the 4 power/ground wires and connect them through a mini-Molex connector.

Thus, since the 24-pin PQD P6 connector is an AMP CPC connector, when I pulled the main, secondary, tertiary and ground wires from the P6 connector, I would need to cut off these connectors to re-terminate the wires for the new 4-pin mini-Molex connector. I then remembered that I possibly had a spare 4-pin AMP CPC connector, and after some searching around –Voila!– I did.  I weighed the AMP CPC vs the mini-Molex and the difference was the AMP CPC being 0.08 oz heavier.  With a much better & more robust connection, plus not wasting a couple of dollars in lopped off connectors (which I’ve already had a fair amount of!) I pressed forward with simply removing these wires out of the P6 connector and popping them into my new P7 connector.  So HXr power wires on the Triparagon side are complete.

I guess my old military side came out because I then went through and labeled all the D-Sub and antenna connectors on the back panel of the GNS480 GPS unit.

And the back panel of the GRT HXr EFIS.

The moving of wires off of one connector onto another connector, or connecting straight to a wire lead all required a ton of annotations on my connector pinout diagrams.  I have company coming in tomorrow, and a heavy social calendar this weekend, but I will try to get all these changes on my electrical system updated ASAP.  After I get the required adminstrivia updated, then I can get back to actual shop work.

Chapter 22 – Fun’s over…back to work!

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I started out today by re-drilling the holes in the pilot seat thigh support CAMLOC receptacle mounting tabs where I had added 2 plies of BID (no pic).  I was ready to install the mounting tabs with CAMLOCs in place, but realized it wasn’t the best idea with only one CAMLOC receptacle on hand.  Obviously I need to order one, so I added it to the small ACS order that I’m compiling.

I then started reviewing what I had left to finish my panel mockup.  With the 2 AG6 warning annunciators, I’ve ridded my panel of all extraneous warning lights save 2 (one red, one green) that specifically are allowed on my panel for the JBWilco Gear & Canopy warning system.  Interestingly, out of all the LED panel assemblies I have in stock, I did not have a green light.  I had the nice Cadillac of LED panel lights that my friend Eric at Perihelion Designs peddles, of which I have a Red & Amber version of, but I don’t have a green.  I went to Eric’s site, but alas I didn’t see them on there (I’m sure even if I missed it he would sell me one).  Interestingly I found Eric’s nice LED assembly on Stein’s site… ok, I had an identified source of supply for my green light!  Check.

So I marked up the panel using the sexy red LED panel light assembly I had on hand … Uh, Houston we have a problem, and it’s space…. not outer space, but space for the fancy robust flange included with Eric’s LED light assemblies.  They could easily fit, but at almost 0.45″ in diameter, they do take up some real estate!

In my quest for a green LED, I did run across Jack Wilhelmson’s Landing Brake switch plate that included a red and green LED… bingo!  Of course I had to rid the LEDs of their soldered component webbed matrix bondage stuff, but after I whittled them all down I ended up with a green and red LED light, albeit with short, solder-encrusted stubby leads. Knowing how these lights look in a panel, plus the diminutive plastic “grommets” used to hold them in the panel, I decided to go with these.  Plus, I really like repurposing stuff that might otherwise just end up in an old parts bin!

I checked Jack’s included landing brake wiring schematic (I’m too lazy to attempt deciphering the resistor color band codes) to determine that he did in fact use a 470 ohm resistor . . . perfect!  Thus, I reused that as well in my evil plan here.  I soldered Jack’s repurposed resistor to Jack’s repurposed green LED.  I then added the appropriate color-coded 22 AWG wire leads by soldering those into place as well.

I then soldered one of my benchstock 470 ohm resistors to the red LED, and also soldered on the appropriate color 22 AWG leads.

While I had the soldering iron fired up & soldering kit ready to go, I knocked out a quick soldering task that I had open on the books: I ridded myself of a big, bulky, heavy and unnecessary deutsch connector that resided on the ground wire to my ElectroAir EIS Controller.   To be clear, in my latest phone call with the ElectroAir bubbas, I specifically asked if this would present any issue: obviously they stated no, the connector was simply in place for ease of installation.  In my case, it would not make installation easier . . .

So, I unceremoniously lopped off each side of the deutsch connector.

I stripped the wires and prepped them for splicing (notice the longer 3-strand “tail” on the top wire).

I then joined the wire together, wrapped the lead (“tail”) around the joined wire bundles to secure the wires together tightly, and then soldered the whole affair.

I then added a piece of heat shrink to finish out my ElectroAir EIS Controller ground wire streamlining . . . Voila!  Aaah, much better.

Unlike my cleaned up ground wire above, my next task was to add complexity to the instrument panel mockup base by creating a mounting frame for the Triparagon, since it’s such an integral part (read: epicenter) to the electrical and avionics systems.

I added a top frame assembly that mimics the F28 bulkhead, including a mounting tab for the Triparagon.  On the forward bottom side I simply screwed a small block of wood in place.  I then slathered on a couple quick coats of white primer to make it all match and let it cure while I was drilling and cutting out mounting holes in the panel mockup.

Quite a few hours later, I brought the dry instrument panel mockup base upstairs, since it was ready to be pressed into service.

I then mounted the Triparagon in place.

Here’s an aft/side shot of the Triparagon.

I then mounted the ELT control head (bottom component on center strut), switches and circuit breakers into the panel mockup.  Right as I was getting ready to mount the panel into the base, I realized I had left out the diminutive Push-to-Test button for the top row Korry lights [I haven’t even address the actual wiring for the GNS480 external Korry light annunciators yet].  So after figuring out it’s exact location, I hauled the panel down to the shop and quickly drilled the mounting hole (with some requisite panel-thinning immediately behind it so it would fit depth-wise).  I then mounted the panel onto the base front uprights.

I then mounted the compass card, GRT Mini-X EFIS, TruTrak ADI, and MGL clock.

I didn’t realize it until much later, but for some reason I inexplicably mounted the MGL clock on the front (outside) of panel vs from the back.  After looking at it for a bit, I realized that I really like it this way.  I will try mounting in the traditional manner and assess, but I am really liking how it looks mounted on the front side of the panel.

I then went offline for a bit panel-wise and had to dig into the Garmin GNS480 unit manual for the details on installing the backplate onto the mounting tube (bracket).  My GNS480 came with the tube and an entire new mounting kit replete with a myriad of tiny screws, washers, etc. to assemble the backplate, D-Sub connectors and antenna connectors.

Once I got the backplate installed onto the mounting tube, I then mounted the tube into the panel mockup.

I then spent the next 2+ hours installing the remaining panel components: GNS480, GRT HXr EFIS, and Korry indicator lights.

I also mounted the 2 LED warning lights that I soldered up previously.  Here’s a shot of just the instrument panel . . . closer to what you would actually see in the plane.

And an even closer shot of the panel components.

Over the next few weeks/months I’ll do all the wiring and cross connects for the panel & Triparagon.  I would like to get it wired to the point that in the next 7-10 days I can fire it up and check out the HXr to ensure all is good with it.  As for now, I’m done with my major digression and will get back to working on the pilot seat area & left pilot armrest console in my continuing quest to finish off the lion’s share of interior cockpit component installs and configuration.  This will of course facilitate closing up the top of the nose and getting the canopy installed.

 

Chapter 22/24 – ELT bracket installed

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I started out today pulling the peel ply from the ELT mounting bracket base layup.  I then cleaned up the layup and drilled access holes for my 4 embedded K1000-6 nutplate assemblies.  Finally, I pulled the plastic wrap out of the mounting holes to reveal nice, ready to go screw mount holes.

I then did a test install of the ELT mounting bracket.  All was good except at the front, where the existing floor of the fuselage slanting forward up to, and including, the bottom panel bulkhead lip (the stuff that I cut out to make the ELT sit flat) was physically too close to the mounting bracket and was keeping the mounting clip from getting inserted onto the latch hook.

It took me 3 rounds of cutting, grinding and sanding to finally get it dialed in just enough where I could get the upper latch ring down over the lower latch hook.  With that action, my ELT mounting base is officially installed!

I took a quick shot showing the clearance to the left of the ELT mounting base with the left armrest console sidewall.

I then grabbed my digital level and tested the angle of the ELT mounting base: only 2.9° nose high… I’ll take it!

With ELT mounting bracket “sideline project” out of the way, I started on the final task #3 of my 1-2-3 task list that I ginned up early last week for getting the pilot seat thigh support finished.  In my mind this 3 item list was going to take 2 days . . . and here we are almost a week later!

Anyway, task item #3 is getting a CAMLOC installed in each forward corner of the thigh support top/cover plate (or “floor” as it’s called in the plans).  I rounded up a 3/8″ thick piece of foam that was glassed both sides to mimic my thigh support cover.  I also rounded up the 7-ply glass bracket stock I had made up this past weekend.

I marked the bracket stock to cut out a bracket for the CAMLOC receptacle, which I only have one for testing purposes at this point [NOTE: All my other “CAMLOC” receptacles for the engine cowlings are the SkyBolt variable adjustable type].

I then trimmed the bracket stock and lopped me off a nice bracket from it.

A bit later, here’s my 2 CAMLOC brackets for the pilot seat thigh support, with holes drilled for the receptacles.  As you can see I also grabbed another stud and grommet, which I’m also testing to determine my preference.

I then drilled the stud/grommet thru-holes both left & right in the forward corners of the thigh support cover plate.

Here’s a shot with both stud/grommets in place on the thigh support cover.

I then did some multi-faceted layups.  I started by slathering flocro in the thigh support corner stud/grommet thru-holes (after I prepped the holes by digging out the foam around each hole).  I worked the flocro in nice and good so that it was set inside & past the edges of each hole.

A few hours later I redrilled the thigh support corner stud/grommet thru-holes for nice strong holes with very clean edges.

I needed some more surface area for my thigh support CAMLOC receptacle brackets to mount to, so as part of my multi-faceted layups I used some flocro to mount a couple ~5/16″ thick foam pieces (that I previously shaped) into the upper outboard corners of each of the panel bulkhead’s “map pockets”.  I then glassed patches of BID –2 plies front, 1 ply aft– over these newly inserted corner pieces.

I then peel plied the layups and left them to cure.

A number of hours later I pulled the peel ply and razor trimmed the freshly glassed CAMLOC receptacle brackets’ backplate mounting extensions.

The last bit of glassing I did on the days’ big layup-palooza was to added 2 plies of BID to the top of each thigh support CAMLOC receptacle bracket.  I noted when the CAMLOCs where in the closed/fastened/locked position, that the stud was just slightly proud of the grommet.  I figured 2 plies would get me acceptably closer to a flush stud inside the grommet.  Plus I’ll have paint on the thigh support cover, so I should be able to dial in the depth of the stud to match the grommet on each side.

With my shop work complete for this evening, I then spent over 2 hours working on my mockup/test instrument panel.  I drilled out & jig sawed the 8 holes above the HXr EFIS (PFD) for the Korry status lights, and then another 6 holes above the GNS480 GPS unit for the external GPS annunciator lights (also Korry).

I then spent a good amount of time figuring out where the remaining panel components, mainly switches, will go.

Tomorrow I hope to finish up the pilot seat thigh support CAMLOC install and the instrument panel mockup configuration.  For the panel I’ll probably construct a behind-the-panel cross bracket to mimic the F28 bulkhead so that I can install the Triparagon on the panel mounting base.

 

Chapter 22/24 – ELT mounting base

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As I was getting started in the shop I heard the UPS guy drop off my VAN’s O-320 engine baffle kit.  It was another hour before I could collect it up and inventory all the parts.  I know I will have to make both the standard mods to the baffling kit (i.e. trim for EZ cowling), but I’ll specifically have a significant mod in the forward right hand corner where RVs have their oil cooler located.

Still, I’m extremely happy I got this kit since it gets me about 80% there on getting the baffles finished and installed.  (I’d like to recognize and thank Buly again for his tip to go this direction!)

As for the build, I dug out the foam a hair over 0.25″ deep in the area at the bottom left fuselage bulkhead that I had previously “flattened” to allow for the ELT mounting bracket to be installed.

I then traced out the shape, grabbed a piece of H250 foam (to add more strength back into this somewhat critical area) and then trimmed the foam to fit.  The foam piece I grabbed wasn’t big enough so I back filled the corner with a crescent shaped piece.  For all the OCD’ers out there grabbing their inhalers, out of curiosity I just checked the price of H250 on ACS: $175 for a 2’x2′ piece!  The first piece I bought was just under $100 back in 2011, and the second piece less than $120 back in 2013.  So, it’s NOT cheap and I’m not wasting any to make something that’s getting buried in glass look perfect!

Note that you can see the 2 dots I marked up that show the front bolt positions for the ELT mounting bracket.

I then used some spare G10 Garolite pieces I had lying around to make up these 2 forward nutplates for the ELT mounting bracket.  These nutplates will get buried under the uber expensive foam above.

I then marked and cut depressions into the bottom of the H250 foam to allow the nutplates to sit flush.  I then 5 min. glued the nutplates into the H250 foam.  As the 5 min. glue was curing, I then made up a another, narrow 2-nutplate mounting plate out of G10 Garolite.

I then test fitted all my pieces/parts in prep for glassing in the H250 foam into the foam divot I started out making this AM.

After prepping the nutplates by stuffing them with plastic wrap to protect them from nasties, I then flocro’d the H250 foam –with nutplates attached– into place.  I then glassed 1 ply of UNI with the threads running in a nose-to-tail fashion, and then covered that with 1 ply of BID.  I then of course peel plied the layup.

A few hours later I pulled the peel ply, cleaned up and did some judicious sanding on the freshly cured layup.

I then shaped a piece of urethane foam for the aft 2/3rds of the ELT mounting bracket base.  At the very tail end of this aft foam piece will sit the longer, narrow 2-nutplate mounting plate.  I taped up the bottom of the nutplates in this plate, set it in place in the urethane foam and then checked the front bolt marks through the front bolt holes on the ELT mounting bracket.

When the configuration looked good, I then micro’d the urethane foam base in place to the fuselage floor with the ELT mounting bracket set in place on top (to ensure the bolt holes were aligned).  I then slid a 2×4 piece down the center of the ELT mounting bracket, ensuring that none of the bolt holes were covered up (ensuring alignment).  I then placed weights on top of the 2×4.

Here’s another shot.

After a couple of hours, I removed the weights and cleaned up a bit of excess micro that had oozed out.  I then sanded the top of the urethane foam base to match the top angle and elevation of the forward embedded foam base.

After getting a good prep in, I then glassed the aft ELT mounting bracket urethane foam base into place with 1 ply of BID.

During the evening I was able to add a bit to the mockup instrument panel.  If you notice, I redrilled the 2″ hole for the heating vent so that now it is located just above the left armrest intersect point.   I then drilled the holes for 3 switches right above the newly relocated heating vent.  I also drilled and mounted my 2 dimmers (center of center post).

Tomorrow I’ll continue on my quest to get the pilot seat area knocked out.  Now that the lion’s share of effort is out of the way on the ELT mounting bracket base, I can get back to the pilot thigh support seat and get the corner CAMLOCs installed.

 

 

Chapter 22/24 – If it pleases the panel

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I started off today by pulling the peel ply off of the 7-ply bracket stock, and in turned pulled the bracket stock off of the taped-up 4130 1×1″ square tubing form.  As you can see, it came out just fine.  I just need to sand the inside, trim it up and cut it into individual brackets.

Here’s an end view shot of the 7-ply bracket stock.  Note the CAMLOC that I’ll be using the bracket stock to install.

I had to run some errands, including returning a motorcycle trailer I borrowed from a friend of mine… that took quite a few hours.  When I returned, I essentially spent the rest of the evening figuring out tweaking the component locations on the mockup instrument panel.  I think I’m really getting this panel dialed into where I want it!

I did have to make one major change so far: you can see in the lower left hand side where I filled the 2″ diameter heat vent hole back in by sanding down one of the 2-1/4″ instrument hole plugs that came out when I drilled the upper holes.  I then glued the new 2″ round plug back into place (I wanted to get this done so it would cure overnight).  The reason for doing this is that I decided the switches below the vent need to be higher for easier access, especially since the throttle handle will hinder easier access to that lower area just above the left armrest.

Tomorrow I’ll start back on the ELT mounting bracket and then probably do a lot more on this panel.  I want to get the panel to the point where I can get some serious wiring done in order to power up and check out all the instruments that I have on hand.

 

 

Chapter 22/24 – Prepping ELT install

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Today I started off with the main task of installing a CAMLOC in each corner of the pilot thigh support plate, with an associated mounting tab underneath glassed to the lower instrument panel bulkhead.  Well, I quickly realized that to know exactly where the left side CAMLOC mounting was going to reside, I needed to the details of the ELT install.  For example: If the ELT couldn’t be set in low enough under the thigh support, then the CAMLOC assembly might sit too low to allow clearance for the ELT and have to be mounted farther inboard.  Also, if I did install the CAMLOC mounting tab, that’s just one extra extrusion to bloody my knuckles on as I worked on installing the ELT mounting bracket . . . see where I’m going with this?  It’s all sequencing, right?!

Alas, it was time to work on prepping the lower instrument panel and fuselage floor for the ELT mounting bracket.  The ELT is 7.75″ long, so it will extend out from under the seat just a tad, but not enough to get in the way while ingressing and egressing the plane.  I also confirmed with the ACK ELT techs that a “few degrees” up or down is not going to affect proper ELT operation. And to be clear: the manual states that left & right should be no more than 10° off centerline, so for up & down I consider anything less than 10° to be ok (the tech didn’t provide an actual value).

I started the process by marking a channel for the ELT mounting bracket.

I then cut the very bottom of the instrument panel bulkhead, that makes up the bottom cross piece of the “map pocket,”  which I removed right after I snapped this pic.

Then, over a few cycles, I trimmed the glass a little and then sanded the channel in the floor down.  I kept doing this until I constantly got the angle of the ELT mounting bracket to about 3.5° nose high.  I’m definitely going to call that a win.

I have a 3″ x 3″ x 7.75″ cardboard mockup that I made of the ELT.  I tried that out a number of times during the floor channel excavation.  Not one time did I have any clearance issues at the aft end of the thigh support channel.  Actually, if you look in these pics the only issue I had was when I was re-leveling the fuselage at the longerons.  My electronic level fell into the cockpit and put a nice divot in my front seat, then it slammed into the wedge duct top corner and dinged it up pretty good too.

I need to ponder a little more and assess just how I’m going to install the ELT mounting bracket.  I have some ideas, but I wanted to let them germinate a bit before glassing this all up.

Today I also cut 2 small side pieces and the center strut for the mockup instrument panel. I then glued them in place at the bottom of each panel area (L, C, R) with wood glue. An hour or so later I did a quick mock up in the fuselage to see how the mockup test panel compares to the real one.  Looking pretty good!

I also did a number of things with the panel mockup, such as mount it to its base (sorry, no pics… yet).  I also installed the GNS480 mounting tube and test fitted the 480… which installed nicely.

I’ll need some mounting brackets for the CAMLOCs to hold the thigh support cover plate in place, so I took my 1″x1″ piece of 4130 steel and taped it to a glassing board.  I then covered the top and outer edge with a piece of clear packing tape.

Then I laid up 7 plies of glass: 6 BID and 1 UNI, to make up a 1x1x8″ angled composite mounting bracket… which will of course get cut into 8 little mounting brackets.  Once I laid up the glass plies, I of course peel plied the layup.

Tomorrow I have to run some errands and visit some people, so I won’t be back in the shop until the afternoon.  But I do plan on setting the nutplates and glassing in the base for the ELT, and possibly getting a couple of 90° mounting brackets made up and ready for installing the CAMLOCs.

 

 

Chapter 22/24 – Ribs are done!

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Today I started by . . . yep, adding the last bit of dry micro to the last 2-3″ middle area of each micro cap on the pilot thigh support ribs.  These things looked like twins with their shiny micro midsection glaring away, untouched and unspoiled by the thigh support top plate.  So, after sanding the middle micro areas on each each rib top dull, I then whipped up another round of dry micro and applied it.  All in all, I seriously only needed 1/8″ to 3/16″ more micro here, but man this is one of those things in the build that wants to be stubborn!

As the dry micro cured atop my ribs, I got to work finalizing the instrument cutouts for the mockup instrument panel that I’m constructing.  This panel will not only allow me to test instrument, avionic & component placement –and FIT!– but also put them all in their near-final position to allow me to wire them up.

After a few hours I finally saw what I’ve been looking for the last couple of days: no flat or untouched micro atop both my thigh support ribs… yeah!  I started cleaning them up by literally shaving the sides of the overhanging micro like you would a big block of cheese.

Once I got the sides close, I then switched to a sanding block to finalize the sanding of the added micro top.  I may add one more ply of BID just in the center areas for strength, but primarily to keep these from getting chipped away over the years.  Regardless, this part is DONE!

I then tested out the ELT location using the mounting bracket that was included in the ACK E-04 Retrofit kit (read: “starter” kit, IMO) that I just received today [perfect timing!]. The kit also included the panel mounted control head, so I’ll be mounting that in the mockup panel as well.

I also received the Eberhard latch that I’ll be using for the nose hatch.  This is close to the one I saw on Rick Hall’s Cozy IV at Rough River.  I added the wire clamp nut assembly making it pretty much ready for install [Note: I might take the drill to it and drill a few lightening holes since this thing is a bit heavy for its size].  Below the latch is in the hatch closed & locked position.

Here’s the Eberhard nose hatch latch in the hatch open position.

I also cut some uprights for the base of the mockup instrument panel.  I’m making this panel mounting stand a bit taller than just the main instrument panel area to allow for mounting the Triparagon behind the panel, since it plays such a key role in the panel instruments’ wire cross connections.  I went to dinner with my buddy Rob tonight, so before I left I spent about 15 min. painting this base with some white primer to hide all the unsightly water marks and wear on these “trash” pieces of wood that I used.

Tomorrow I plan on continuing with the seemingly unending saga of getting the pilot thigh support top plate installed.  My main task is to get some tabs glassed onto the lower aft side of the instrument panel to allow mounting 2 CAMLOC fasteners that will secure the front side of the seat support plate in place.  I’ll be working on the base for the ELT mounting bracket as well, shaping the fuselage floor to permanently install nutplates to secure the ELT bracket.

 

Chapter 22/24 – Pile the weight on!

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I started out today spending well over an hour doing some research, answering questions, and providing info to Bob Nuckolls, et al. in response to a question I asked on the Aeroelectric Connection forum.  The question I asked was on how to create or modify a 4-into-1 video splitter to channel the micro cameras I’ll have on ship for viewing the back seat left & right fuel site gages, top side looking aft (at engine/prop), and bottom side looking aft (at engine/prop).  This device will then feed a GRT-integrated USB video module that will allow me view the video feeds in a small sub-window on my EFIS either auto- cycling through (that was one of my questions how) or by manual select.

I then got to work on round 2 of the pilot seat thigh support rib tops.  I took the profile of the bottom of the thigh support cover’s underside contour and then cut a cardboard template out so I had a good 1″ wide rib top edge profile to then cut the 1-ply prepregged BID tapes for each side of each rib.

Below you can see I’ve got the 1-ply layups + peel ply on the left rib (bottom) and on the side of the right rib, with the plastic still yet to be pulled.  I know I’ll have to add around 3/16″ -1/4″ more dry micro on top of the existing micro, so I laid up these edge plies of BID so they stuck up above the existing micro a bit.

Once the layups cured for about an hour, I then trimmed them a bit, cleaned them up and then added another round of micro.  I then of course had to add massive amounts of weight to the thigh support cover plate . . . Why?  Because I could …. (grin)

During my shop shenanigans I heard a delivery truck stop by.  A little while later I did in fact find a couple packages on my doorstep.  The first one was from Airflow Performance and had the 90° and 85° air intake elbows that I ordered, with the associated gaskets.

These elbows make up the physical mount and air intake for the air coming out the of Silver Hawk fuel injection servo into the Superior cold air plenum.  In the pic below, the nose of the aircraft would be to the left, prop to the right.  Since all the cold air induction plenums are built for forward facing engines, to incorporate one I had to get my air turned around.

To be clear, this isn’t something I did willy-nilly, although I know a number of Cozy builder/ drivers have done it with reportedly good success.  I conferred with Kevin Murray at Sky Dynamics, my IOX-340S engine builder, Tom Schweitz, and just within the last week I had a good discussion regarding getting this air turned around with Pete at Precision Airmotive, the maker of the Silver Hawk fuel injection system.

I’ve also been discussing this quite a bit with Chris Seats, a fellow Long-EZ builder.  While Chris is not using the Silver Hawk FI (he’s using the EFII system) he is using the Superior cold air induction plenum, so he has to turn the air around as well.  Chris is constructing his own air intake duct out of Carbon Fiber, but was curious about the weight of these combined elbows… which is 1.7 lbs. total.

The other package contained the 2″ high “EXPERIMENTAL” vinyl label that will eventually go on the inside bottom frame of the canopy rail.  It’s kind of hard to tell, but the lettering is simple black letters with a white shadow.  If you’re wondering why I bought this now, remember I had 2 weeks to do nothing but research and figure some of the smaller issues out… so while I had the opportunity I played around with my vinyl decal styles and pulled the trigger on a couple orders.

While my second round of micro on the thigh support ribs cured, I then spent a good amount of time determining the exact location of my GRT HXr EFIS on my panel mock-up blank.  I then cut the PFD mounting hole in the panel and test fit the HXr.

After a gazillion tweaks on the dimensions, trying to ensure every component gets a spot at the (panel) table, I then cut out the mounting hole for the Garmin GNS480 GPS unit that you see “installed” here.

Here’s a shot of the GRT HXr EFIS and GNS480 mounting tube behind the panel.

And another shot of the GNS480 mounting tube.  I’ll have to play around with getting the tube mounted in this panel mock-up blank, since it is a different configuration than how it will actually get mounted in the real panel.

I then spent another couple of hours dialing in the remaining panel avionics, instruments and components.  Since it was too late to do another inevitable round of micro, I left the weights in place on the thigh support cover and hit the rack.  Tomorrow I’ll continue with my primary push to get the pilot’s seat and fuel valve cover completed so I can move on to the left armrest (which, in turn, when finished will allow me to do a final mount of the GIB heating & air ducts).

 

Chapter 22/24 – Heat & Seat

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Today I started out by doing a fair amount of research on my ELT placement, which was why I didn’t want to glass in the outboard thigh support tabs last night.  I’ve planned out my ELT location under the left side of the thigh support, but of course that can change if it doesn’t go in as planned.  I’m installing an ACK E-04 ELT, so I called them today and confirmed the mounting parameters.  I also learned that ACS sells a retrofit kit for this ELT, which is also a “starter” kit with just about everything but the actual ELT module.  I went ahead and ordered the retrofit kit so that I could get my hands on the mounting bracket to install that as early on as possible.

With my ELT info in hand, I then prepregged out another 2 setups of 4 plies of BID + a ply of CF.  I then glassed in the outboard thigh support tabs, placed the cover back on and weighed it down.

Here’s the results a few hours later.

While the outboard thigh support tab layups were curing, I grabbed my 1.25″ thin walled (0.035″) 6061 tubing and cut it in order to make a “T” duct for my heating system.  This “T” duct piece will sit upside down just in front of the left side instrument panel.  The air will flow straight to get to my left foot, and up to get to my upper body (via a vent).

I then entered my data on the online metal calculator, printed off a template, and then taped it to the shorter piece of tubing.

I then used my Dremel Tool to shape the end of the tube.

I then used the shaped tube to mark the longer tube.

I then Dremelled a hole in the longer tube.

My “T” duct fitting is ready to be joined.

With some excess micro, I joined the two pieces of tubing together.  I didn’t glass or rivet it, because these are such light pieces I think micro will do fine to hold them together. Plus, this is also not a critical flight component so I’m more concerned with weight than I am if it happens to break at some point in the future (again, which I highly doubt it will).

I then prepped the tops of both the left & right pilot thigh support ribs.  The task here will be to pile up dry micro and then press it down to the correct height using the thigh support top as a form.  I dug out the foam edges and then vacuumed them, plus all the foam bits scattered all about.

Here’s the whole shebang ready for some micro!

I whipped up a bunch of dry micro –after micro-slurrying the foam edges– and piled it on the top of each thigh support rib.  I then placed the top back on (see a trend here?!) and weighed it down.

A couple of hours later I pulled the pilot seat thigh support top/floor off and was quite surprised at what I found.  The micro was barely touched!  That means A) my ribs are WAY too short! and B) my thigh support top/floor plate is way sturdier than I ever imagined!

So I cleaned up the sides of the micro piles, made them even with the rib sides, and knocked off some rough spots.

I also noted that the epoxy that I had applied to the protective duct tape on the lid wasn’t even touched… I’m still surprised at how low & off these ribs are!

I was wondering a bit on just how to glass the rib sides over the new micro, but now that I have a sense of just how high the ribs need to be (there were a scant few spots of micro that were flattened), I’ll prep the micro first, then glass the sides, then add more micro… tomorrow!  From there, I’ll call it a day on the ribs because I think they’ll be in actual contact and nice and strong.

Another task I did tonight was to cut out an instrument panel blank from a piece of 1/4″ plywood.  I’ll use this as my initial test base for panel instrument placement and wiring.

I also spent a good 45 min working on the placement of my panel components.  Here you can see where I placed the instruments on the back side of the panel.  Also note that I quickly mounted the Triparagon back into place to verify how the instrument panel instruments align with it.

With the Triparagon mounted, I did a quick test fit on the GRT HXr EFIS GADAHRS.  It looks like it will fit in its planned spot nicely.

I then double checked the elevation of the GADARHS unit… also good.

Tomorrow will be more of the same!

 

 

Chapter 24 – I’m back! :)

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After I got home yesterday from my running around the mid-Atlantic region for the past 2 weeks, I of course had a number of chores to take care of.  I then decided to update some of the build pages on this site, and got prepared for today.  I also caught up with some other builders, read the latest CSA, and did a quick bit of research.

Tonight I wanted to get a quick layup in as a foundation for tomorrow’s build endeavors.  I had originally planned to glass in 3 tabs along the top edge of the front side of the thigh support wedge duct.  However, I decided to wait on the onboard tabs and focus on the middle one.

Why am I putting tabs along the front edge of the wedge duct?  Well, if you think about the original plans pilot thigh support, first of all it’s actually glassed into place. Next, the most common configuration is to either have the thigh support floor/plate/top hinged on the aft side so that it swings up & aft, or at a minimum at least removable and not glassed in . . . so what do these all have in common?  The aft edge of the thigh support floor/plate/top is supported along its entire length.

Mine is not.

So I just want to give a little extra support to the top plate so that it doesn’t balk at me or my pax stepping on it during ingress/egress ops!

Thus, I prepregged two sets of 2 plies of BID and decided to throw another “trash” piece of carbon fiber in the middle for added rigidity, making 5 plies total.  I then wet out the glass, combined my sets into one set with the plies as follows: 2 BID/1 CF/2 BID.  I set it in place, making sure it was high enough on the wedge duct, and then added a little flocro in the corner where it bent back (actually forward) away from the wedge duct.

I then placed the pilot thigh support floor/plate/top in place (with tape on the bottom where it interfaced with the glassed tab). I then weighed down the thigh support floor.

Since I used fast hardener, after a few hours it was cured.  I pulled the weights and then the thigh support floor off the layup and it looked great.  I had peel plied both the face and the front of the support tab, so I pulled the peel ply.

Here’s the center thigh support center support tab in it’s raw form.  I should note that when I laid up the tab in place, the 5-ply glass pad measured 2″ x 2″.

I then did a quick trim on the support tab while the glass was still in its “green” state.

Tomorrow I’ll continue to finalize the installation of the pilot thigh support to then allow me to get on with installing the left pilot armrest & components.