Do. (then undo, redo, reundo, etc....)

There have been reports of the plastic stick and rudder supports breaking, and a very talented SeaRey builder machined some replacements. On a day I didn't feel like working on the electrical I removed the stick mounts and replaced them. This also gave me an opportunity to replace the seat brackets I had weakened with rivnuts. Replacing the rudder blocks will require undoing the front cockpit, so we'll do that after the electrical is organized and the avionics tray is sent out for anti-corrosion treatment,

 Progress is being made on the wiring. I've been taking my time, going through and reorgainzing them so I can easily repair them after the nose deck is assembled. I've also been working on the documentation so I'll know what does what in case I have to repair things 5-10 years from now.
 

Take a wire, trace it, zip tie it with others. Take another wire, unthread it, take the first bundle apart since they're tangled together, sort them out, Ziptie them. Start on the next bundle. Step back, think about what you're doing. Make some notes. Take a break.  Ask Syd a dumb question and get a "You can figure that out yourself, Luke. You'll learn more that way." look.Go for a walk around the airport for exercise and think about it. Jump back in. On a good day, it's almost a Zen state of grace after a while.

"Which way is Ireland?"

Well..... here's one big reason I haven't worked on Osp for a while. I gotta redo my instrument panel.

When we flipped the switch and put power to the avionics, the magnetic/vertical card compass promptly swung almost 45 deg off heading, and when I read the PAR-100EX radio manual it stated that the compass should be at least 6" away from the radio. D'oh!!! Even using the compensating screws I was unable to get a good alignment, and the problem remained when I switched to the Garmin GTR-200.

I discussed solutions with a couple local avionics techs, but either the solutions didn't work or I wasn't satisfied with them, too kludgy. There were a couple things that were annoying me about the way I had designed the panel anyway, so I've made the decision to take several steps backs and redo it. It'll delay flying again, but what I have in mind will pay off later, details to come later as I implement them.

First, I made some braces to hold the panel in place...

then I removed the nose deck. This gave me easier access, plus a better overall view of where stuff fit. 

I also pulled the Skyview and the radio so I could see what was going on behind the panel while I was in the cockpit.

The ACI e-flap controller is a nice piece of engineering, but I'm not crazy about the faceplate. Won't take long to make a different one that fits in better with the aesthetics of the panel.

An extra access panel.... Yeah, that's what I'll call it.

I hate to make this post, but if it saves someone else......

When I was ready to lift my wings off the jigs I made a simple end stand, and put it on small wheels. I rested the wingtips on milk cartons and they worked fine.

 

 

Until the night we moved the wings to Einar's shop. While Einar was holding the left wing I took the stand off and leaned it against the wall, then headed over to lift the wingtip. I heard Einar call out STEVE!!!!, then came the sick, wet sound of tearing fabric. The stand had fallen off the wall, impacting the bottom of the wing and making a 3/4" puncture and a 3" long scrape that didn't quite go through the fabric. I stayed calm on the outside, but was furious and disgusted with myself on the inside.

If it had to happen, it happened in a good spot (not on a rib or in a high visibility location), and IAW the PolyFiber manual a simple patch covered it up. I did make an elongated patch instead of the rectangular one they recommend, though, since I hate having corners that can easily peel up. And it looks better, too.

But it motivated me to build some new stands the way they should have been done in the first place. (Thanks to Ralph for going out of his way and bringing the 2 4x6x16 beams all the way out to Einar's.) 

A piece of threaded rod is inserted into a hinge point, and locked into the outer frame with wingnuts. That's some beautiful scrap cedar I found in the miscut bin at Home Depot for $1.

Now the wing can be easily moved around the shop, without worrying about it falling over. Could have made the end bracket wider, but it's ok.

If the patch is visible after painting I'll make up a decal that says "Wing Monkey Access Compartment. No Step."

Fixes, and her launching cradle

Jetlag therapy for me is now coming to the hangar and starting with simple tasks, then seeing how the day goes. In this case I started with fixing my unplanned modification to the cockpit sides.


-----------Note: the first part of this port details me adding some reinforcing that was advised by a well-meaning but wrong person. DO NOT add these side rails, I ended up carefully chiseling them off later--------------

First thing was to mix some West Systems epoxy and thicken it up with 404 filler. Several years ago I build a Chesapeake Light Craft kayak and their excellent manual gave plenty of building tips I've used working on the hull. In CLC terms, I added enough filler until the epoxy had the consistency of peanut butter, then put it in a ziplock bag and snipped the end off.

This is an easy and cheap way to make a squeeze bag like a chef would use to decorate a cake, and you just squeeze the thick epoxy into place. 

Resist the urge to fiddle too much with it. 

 Or it becomes a sticky mess. Remember, you can always sand it down later.

I also added the support arms for the avionics, one on each side.

And picked up a piece of 6061 aluminum to mount the throttle quadrant to. I'll cut it down to size, and have a piece of nylon machined to fit between the plate and the center fuselage tube. (Thanks Hal, for the great idea.) The lower red knob will not be for a mixture control but for the "starting carbs" in the 914. More on those next year when I get the engine, but for now the 914 does not have a mixture control.

After getting home from the next series of trips that had me stuck in Newark during Hurricane Irene, then going to Japan (where there was a minor earthquake at 0200) I spent the day doing one of my favorite things, working with wood to build the cradle for the hull. For other builders the angle is 160 degrees, the base is a panel from the shipping crate with 3 furniture dollys screwed into place underneath, and scrap wood. The most expensive part was the hunk of foam to set the hull down onto.

Its also high enough that I can work on the inside comfortably from a chair without bending over and killing my back. Getting old sucks.

One of those days where I started mid-morning and went until midnight, then came back the next day for a long afternoon. I was hoping to put the fuselage into the hull this month but I think it will slip to October. No rushing this part.