Hi Folks, 

With the engine, exhaust pipes and cowling in my rear view mirror (I still need to get my exhaust pipe brackets final welded) I’m now in the final micro-finishing stage of this project. 

I had planned on pulling the engine early to start the micro and subsequent sanding, but due to the seasonal threatening cold weather, I needed to waste zero time getting onto the micro finishing.  Moreover, I simply taped up the plexiglass and seams around the canopy and am using that as my micro dust block for the cockpit.

To complete the micro finish on the bird I’ll need to have the canopy set in final position, so once the major wing and strake micro finish is complete, I’ll be knocking out the final canopy latch install.  Then the small remainder nose and forward fuselage micro completed.

Very soon after that I’ll be ready to pull the engine, cut and install the Titanium firewall and finalize the micro-finished top side of the bird to paint. 

Again, covering the last couple days in my blog post here, where I focused on machining a modified C4 canopy latch bracket as I start the slow journey to finalize the cowling, wings and strakes finishing and move forward to the final canopy fit, finish and install onto this bird.

After drilling holes and machining the C4 bracket at the top of a piece of 1/2″ x 2.5″ 6061 aluminum stock, I then simply cut the bracket off the top of the aluminum stock using my band saw.

Here’s the bracket, with a fairly rough cut edge, that I just lopped off the aluminum stock (the band saw blade was a little dull for this thick piece of aluminum, but not wanting to change it out, I pressed forward) .

And here is the final modified C4 canopy latch bracket after I cleaned it up.

For those that may have any interest in how I machined this part, I whipped a fairly quick video covering the creation of this modified canopy latch bracket.  Enjoy!

Continuing to slowly press forward!

Once again, this post covers the last couple of days… and yes, it IS cold.  My above ground pool (currently in “pond” mode) is frozen over solid, and has been for a few days.  I can certainly work in the shop and get it heated up to a decent temp, but that incurs the cost of essentially having 2 jet engines blaring away near full time to do it.  Although not overwhelming, the smell of Kerosene and constant jet noise clearly is not the most pleasant working environment.

That all being said, and “whining” aside, I still need to get this bird done, and specifically prepped for primer and paint.

So I finished what is a close-to-final task on the wing leading edge lights by taping up the respective lenses with thin Tyvek tape around the perimeter edges (taking over 20 minutes per lens), and then secured the lenses in place on the leading edge light flanges with duct tape around the center of the lenses.  Here we have the inside of the taped-up right wing lens, with the left wing lens taped into place.

And then the right wing lens taped into place.

After mixing up some West epoxy with 205 (fast) hardener, I then whipped up some micro/West 410 to fill the gaps around the wing light lenses as they were firmly in place on their respective wing light flange.  Here we have the right wing light lens with micro around the perimeter (pic 1) and the left wing light lens as well (pic 2).

After stuffing the left winglet top edge video camera threaded inserts with saran wrap plastic to protect the threads, I also filled some divots, rough spots and inserts’ edges with micro/West 410.

While the micro that I had just applied cured I set about to do some work on the lathe to knock out another three (3) 6061 aluminum threaded inserts for the bottom of wing-winglet video camera hardpoints —which I’ll install when I finish the bottom of the wing-winglet intersection fairing on each side.

Once the micro had cured around the perimeter of each light lens: right (pic 1) and left (pic 2), I pulled the lenses off the wing leading edge light flanges.  Now, note the top center edge of the flange where the tape was securing the light lenses in place.  Clearly no micro was applied here (or on the bottom side of the flange either), so round 2 was to fill in these minor gaps.

For round 2, I taped the lenses in place on the outboard sides of each lens to expose the center gap that did not get micro’d during round one.

I then whipped up a very small amount of micro and applied it to the top and bottom edges of the lens on both the right wing (pic 1) and the left wing (pic 2).

Another task I finally got around to was pulling the top cowling off the bird to expose the front right corner of the cowling interface (aka aft inboard edge of strake) to sand that down a decent bit to check if I could finally get the top cowling secured in place at this corner.  Finally… success!  Here the top cowling is secured on the right front corner and ready to have the micro sanded down even across the cowling, strake and wing at this junction (I plan to do that tomorrow).

After all my sideline shenanigans were complete, I pulled the lens off the right wing leading edge light flange (pic 1) and did the same on the left side (pic 2).  Yes, there’s some minor cleanup I need to do to the micro, and after that I plan on epoxy-wiping the flange perimeter edges where I just added the micro and also the filled cleco holes.

Then after a final sanding of the epoxy wipe (and paint) the light lenses will be ready for install with silicone RTV.  Again, I’m waiting until I get the bird to the airport to dial in the aiming of the lights before I do the final light lens install.

And with that, I called it a night.  More tidbits to follow as I hack my way through this quite chilly weather spell.

As par usual, after our wonderful New Year’s trip to Asheville, NC it’s taking me a bit to get back into the swing of things on the build.

One reason, again, is the rather chilly weather we’re having here.  I missed getting to the primary place I go to for Kerosene, so that delayed me a whole day since my shop is just too cold to do anything other than very focalized tasks involving epoxy, obviously using heat lamps to keep the generalized area warm enough to cure.  Moreover, my normal shop heating just can’t do much without those torpedo heaters fired up since the insulation on my shop’s ceiling is now no longer (due to squirrels).

I did get the threaded inserts on the top of the left winglet cleaned up, and tested them with a couple of screws.  The next step on these will be to fill them with saran wrap to protect the threads as I add a minor bit of micro fill around them, and then re-epoxy wipe the winglet top with a few coats.

I also spent a good hour carefully removing all the wires I ran for the wing leading edge lights operational test (and video), and getting all the wiring put back away and labeled for the wire I actually cut for the lights.

I then removed the lights from the brackets, and removed the brackets from the wing leading edge light pockets.  Instead of painting the brackets this time around, I simply covered them with carbon fiber vinyl and cut out the the screw holes for access.

Instead of fancy hex-drive button head screws to secure the lights to the brackets, I had some stainless steel Phillips-head screws that I decided to paint black.  I did a round of 4 of these screws before Jess and I left for Ashville, but the other 4 were installed on the right wing light.  I then swapped the screws and painted the next 4 as I installed the now black headed screws to secure the right leading edge light to its bracket.  Here’s a couple of shots of that.

My plan is to keep the heaters fired up a good bit during this cold spell and get back to work to knock out the numerous items I have on my list to get all the micro finishing complete and this bird ready for paint.

Pressing forward… again!

Today I wired up the wing leading edge lights to test out the light units themselves and the switch and power wiring circuit as well.

Here we have the left wing leading edge light powered on.

And the right wing leading edge light powered on too.

I threw together a very short video to show these lights in action, mainly since it’s hard to see the wig-wag feature in a still pic… ha!  Enjoy.

Moreover, Jess and I will be heading out of town for New Years, so it will be a few days into January before I’m back in town and back on the build.

Happy New Years!

I didn’t get nearly as much done today on the build as I had planned on, but I did make a small dent.

I started off by taping off the right wing around the leading edge light pocket, as well as the lens flange and pocket floor, for primer and paint.  I then sanded the aluminum light bracket support standoffs and cleaned them with acetone, before installing a screw in the end of each one to protect the ends and threads from paint.

I shot the pocket insides with a couple coats of primer before heading out for some errands and spending the evening with Jess and her son.

Upon returning home later in the evening I shot the leading edge light pocket with a few coats of black paint.  I then let that set up for the requisite hour annotated on the can before hitting it with a couple rounds of clear coat.  Here’s the result of that immediately after shooting the clear coat.

In between the rounds of paint, I worked on the right leading edge light bracket, riveting in 4x MK1000-6 platenuts, including the ground wire on the inboard bottom screw position.  This completes the required platenut installs on both light brackets, that will allow me to install the lights into the brackets AFTER those are installed into the leading edge light pockets.

[I’ll note that Randi and Chrissi sent me a few pics of their leading light install, where they used -6 platenuts on the light brackets.  I had planned on simply using a nylock nut on the aft side of the bracket for each screw, and thought the platenuts were a little overkill for these light brackets.  After getting to a certain point in my own LE light construction, I then realized that since the space is so tight within the light pocket, you can’t install the light attached to the bracket as a unit, but rather must install the bracket first, then install the light to the bracket.  This little data point pretty much mandates the use of platenuts as you can’t reach in around the back side to secure a loose nut for each of the four screws securing the light to the bracket… there’s simply no space to do so.  Just one of many Aha! moments for me during these leading edge light installs]

Tomorrow I plan on completing the lens install prep by taping up the light lenses and securing them in their final position on each light flange, then filling the minor perimeter gaps with micro.  Once cure, I’ll pull the lenses and clean up the micro.  This micro along with the cleco-hole-filling micro will get a few rounds of epoxy wipes, then all will get sanded to eliminate any blemishes on the wing surface in prep for wing painting (which is again why I installed these lights now).

I started out today on the right wing leading edge light using my new light bracket support standoff drilling jig to drill holes in the aft wall of the light pocket.  The hole on the right side of the pic looks off due to parallax and the angle of the jig hole.  By looking directly into the hole at the proper angle the hole would be aligned to the jig.

After getting the holes drilled and foam cleared out, I cleaned the standoffs with acetone in prep for floxing and microing them into the standoff holes in the aft wall of the right wing LE light pocket.

Here we have the light bracket support standoffs floxed and micro’d into place, with the bracket attached in place.  You can see a couple of foam spacers used to ensure the bracket is as far aft as possible inside the pocket, but not too far back as to mess with the clearance of the installed light.

Before mixing up the epoxy to make the flox and micro for installing the right LE light bracket support standoffs above, I also drilled and prepped the 2 threaded inserts for the top of the left winglet to secure the video camera mount.  I then floxed/micro’d them into place as well.

With a good round of floxing and microing under my belt, I then taped up the left wing LE light pocket edges and surrounding wing for primer and paint.  I sanded down the support standoffs and cleaned them up with acetone.

I then shot the inside of the light pocket with a couple coats of primer.

I then hit it with 3 medium coats of black paint.  After the black paint cured for not quite an hour, I shot it with 2 coats of satin clear.  At least I was shooting for a satin look… looks pretty glossy to me, but we’ll see how it looks tomorrow.

Then, after another 45 minutes or so I pulled all the surrounding tape, paper and plastic away from the left wing leading edge light pocket.  Here are some shots of how it looks currently.  Again, I’ll let the paint and clear coat cure overnight and assess it tomorrow.

My last task of the evening was to install K1000-6 platenuts onto the left wing light bracket.  I also constructed a couple of ground wires (one per side) with FastOn ring terminals and installed one of them between the bracket and the inboard platenut.

And here we have the light installed into the bracket.

Tomorrow I’ll repeat the primer/paint/clear coat and bracket configuration on the right wing leading edge light.

Today was a heavy machining day in that I did 4 individual jobs to mill a pair of fuel cap retaining tabs (below) and a pair of wing leading edge light brackets (further below), both pairs newer and improved versions than the previous ones I made.

Although I machined the light brackets first, I didn’t get any action shots on the mill like I did with the fuel cap tabs, so I’m showing those first.

Here’s the pair of new and improved fuel cap retaining tabs, used primarily as a safety feature to ensure an unchecked/unfastened gas cap doesn’t fly off the strake and into the prop.  I machined the bottom one out of stock that was about 0.05″ smaller than my design, simply because I don’t want to waste any (now) expensive aluminum if I can compromise a hair on a self-generated design.  Thus, it looks a scant bit different (it’s also at a different angle) than the top one.

Here is a collective shot of all my machining tasks of the day… each job going fairly well, some better than others (wink).

It took me about 20 minutes to clean up each wing light bracket, after which I mounted the bracket support standoffs to the bracket.  The first pic is of the CAD diagram I got from Nick Ugolini with the dimensions for creating a wing leading edge light.  I colored in the standoffs and bracket in pencil (pic 1) and then did my best to show that my work here is spot on dimension-wise as it sits atop the diagram (pic 2).

I spent well over an hour assessing and double-checking my light position, as well as using my drilling jig (sorry, no pic of that) to drill out the 3 standoff holes in the aft wall of the left wing leading edge light.  I then test fit the light again, and although snug, this time around it fits and is definitely workable.

I cleaned and prepped the standoff holes before cleaning and prepping the standoffs for flox and micro, which I then worked over the next 30 minutes.

Here we have the left wing leading edge light bracket attached to the 3 support standoffs which are floxed/micro’d into their respective holes in the aft wall of the light pocket.  On the bottom left you can see a small block of foam, which is a 1.2″ spacer between aft wall and bracket.

I then left the standoffs to cure overnight and called it a night.

Pushing forward!

I started off the build today by checking out the fit and configuration of my newly modified wing leading edge light mounting bracket… specifically, the 3D printed mockup of it.  As I’ve highlighted before, it’s amazing what less than a 1/4″ difference makes on this build, and here on the light bracket it has made a huge difference in allowing me to both position and center the light in the wing leading edge light pocket.

To ensure I had enough clearance between the light body and the light bracket aluminum support standoffs I went ahead and mounted those to my 3D printed bracket mockup.  And as I expected, it all passed muster.

I then spent another couple hours finishing up the wing light mounting brackets’ 3/8″ diameter 6061 support standoffs by tapping and threading the 3 right wing standoffs with 10-32 threads, and then knurling the aft half and creating flox grip grooves on the lathe for all of them.  As you can see, these guys are all ready for install into the aft wall of the respective wing leading edge light pockets.

Earlier in the day I had redesigned my wing leading edge light mounting brackets’ support standoff holes drilling jigs in CAD to match the footprint of the new brackets.  I thinned them down considerably to eliminate over an hour of print time, and was able to get them both printed in under 4 hours.  And here they are, hot off the 3D printer!

Tomorrow is Christmas, so first off, Merry Christmas! everybody.  I’m not sure how much work, if any, I’ll get done but my next task is to machine the new wing light mounting brackets (which I didn’t get to today) before getting the wing lights set into position in each wing leading edge pocket.  I’ll then get the support standoffs floxed/micro’d into place.

Yes, this has been about a 2 week detour on getting these wing leading edge lights installed, but I think in the end they will add a lot of needed visibility to my bird, as well as extra light during night ops… not to mention add at least 20 knots to my ramp speed! (Smile)

I started off today pulling the peel ply, razor trimming the overhanging carbon fiber and cleaning up the edges of the right wing leading edge light lower flange.  As on the left wing yesterday, this completes the construction of the right wing leading edge light compartment.

I then started working the configuration and the placement of the light inside its bracket inside the left wing leading edge light pocket.  Just as with the drilling jig, I hit a snag as I realized that the bracket for the light is just a skooch too big.  As with too many things on this bird, I’m now in the realm of dealing with 1/16″ to 1/8″ clearances to get things to fit.

So back to the drawing board, er, uh, CAD modeling in Fusion 360.  I pulled up the wing leading edge light bracket CAD file that I had completed in January this year —nearly a year ago— and reworked its dimensions.  I narrowed the height by 0.11″ each side, so nearly a quarter inch total in height.  This may result in the light-retaining screws (middle 4 screws) overhanging the bracket a bit, but “engineering” compromises are king in this build.  I also narrowed the bracket over 3/16″ (~0.2″) as I brought the corner screw positions in closer towards the light body at an angle, so both vertically and horizontally… in line with my height and width reductions.  The single screw and standoff attach on what is the inboard side remained unmodified.

As per my modus operandi, I kicked off a 3D print of my new reduced-in-size light bracket as I headed back out to the shop.

Out in the shop I took 3 of the four 6″ lengths of 6061 aluminum rods that I had ordered eons ago from McMaster-Carr and cut them in half on the horizontal band saw.  I then chucked one up in the lathe, faced off the cut end before I drilled & tapped it with 10-32 threads.

Here we have the 10-32 thread tapping (pic 1) and testing the threads with a #10 screw (pic 2).

I knocked out drilling and tapping the left wing leading edge light bracket’s 3x support standoffs with 10-32 threads before calling it a night.  I will knurl and groove the other ends of these bracket supports since they will get embedded in flox/micro in 3 holes drilled into the leading edge light’s pocket aft wall (thus the drilling jig).

Yes, as quite often happens during this build, adjustments and redo’s must be done. Tomorrow I plan on verifying/finalizing the brackets’ new configuration and machining a pair of new ones.  If all goes well I may just knock out machining the final (also modified!) fuel cap security tabs as well . . .  pushing on!