I started off in the shop today glassing the aft side of each aft nose/avionics cover tab with 1 ply of BID.  I then peel plied the layups.

I then got busy on the lathe machining the knobs that secure the wire pins for each interlocking hinge assembly which is another added securing point for the nose cover.

I made up the first knob to ensure it would work, and as you can see here it does.  The wire pin does have to contort just a bit, but not bad enough to stop this from working (as I can tell so far).

When the hinge pin is out to raise the aft nose/avionics cover, it will have a hard stop (which I plan to work on tomorrow) that keeps the pin in the last segment of the nose (longeron) side of the hinge.

Here’s a clear picture of the knob that attaches to the hinge pin via a set screw.

I then tried the same initial knob/pin assembly on the left side, which worked out just as well.

I then tested it with the forward CL-2 canopy latch hook to ensure there was clearance when the hinge pin was all the way out (aft), and as you can see there is.

With the first hinge pin knob looking good, I started in on knob #2.

This is the first time I’ve knurled something, and since I tried to do it for both knobs altogether, it flexed the aluminum rod a bit and didn’t quite get the bite I was hoping for.  But it still turned out acceptable, so I pressed on.

Here I’ve added some pics showing how I used a die to cut the 1/4-20 threads.

I then tested the drilled center hole to see how the wire pin fit… nice and snug.

Here are the left and right knob/hinge pin assemblies for the aft nose/avionics cover.

Here is the right knob/pin assembly installed.

And the left.

By this point in the evening, the BID on the aft faces of the CAMLOC hinge tabs was cured, so I trimmed and cleaned them up before glassing the forward tab faces with 1 ply of BID.

I then spent a good 45 minutes working on the lower right panel.  It was getting a bit late, and using the Fein saw makes a LOT of noise, so after I got the circuit breakers and tach source select switch installed I called it a night.  Over the next day or two I’ll finish up the 3 big switches (Master, Ignition 1 and Ignition 2) that will get mounted down in this corner.

And with that, I called it a night.