The F-633 R control mount replacement magically appeared on the front steps today. I promptly went downstairs, drilled and trimmed the part per the plans. Using my drill press this time around yielded a perfect result. I mounted both brackets and test fit the control arms. It all worked perfectly.
Tomorrow I will be drilling and riveting all the nutplates and …
Tasks Completed:
The right side control mount didn’t turn out to my liking. It didn’t sit flat with the bulkhead because the holes are slightly off 90 degrees. I ordered a new part and moved on to riveting the forward bulkhead and arms together. A couple of rivets look suspect. I’ll drill out and redo tomorrow.
Also I spent time with the plans trying to figure out whether to countersink the bulkhead for the web stiffener riveting or dimple it. The bulkhead is .040. Technically for an AD4 rivet the material should be .050 thick. But if I dimple the material I am afraid I will enlarge the hole on the .063 web stiffener angle. Time to write Van’s.
Tasks Completed:
Tonight I started drilling the wire pass throughs in the center section parts. This requires expanding a small hole into a biggerhole using a unibit. I just purchased a benchtop drill press that should help with the smaller parts.
Tasks Completed:
NOTE: The unibit in the drill press worked great except for shaving of a bit of the flange when the unibit got too close. Van’s says, “buff, prime, build on.” So I will.
Tasks Completed:
Note: The trim tab has a slight upward curve caused by the misalignment of the top holes. I am not sure how the fit ended up being off slightly. This will be another item to ask the tech counselor about. Worst case, I’ll end up building Trim tab #3! I’ll save it for a rainy day in 2009!
Tasks Completed:
Note: A couple of the rivets for the horn did not seem to seat well. I will need to review with the tech counselor. Also getting everything dimpled and riveted together in the trim is a BITCH! I made a couple of cosmetic booboos to the skin trying to get dimple dies and a squeezer in there.
After reflecting over christmas I decided to go the way of many who have gone before me and order another trim tab skin. The deciding factor was a lack of clearance between the elevator and trim tab where they meet on the trailing edge. I didn’t mark my line for the outboard tab bend using the square so after the bends were made the edge clearance goes to nil as it goes aft.
On the bright side I decided to do this now to save from drilling rivets or ordering all the other trim trim tab parts. Once the skin arrived on Thursday I made quick work out of redoing the bendsm matchdrilling, and dimpling all the parts.
Tasks Completed:
I started on the trim tab tonight, but quickly got into a little trouble. The wood break I made for bending the elevator skin tabs does not have interlocking top half. So when I tightened the C-clamps the inside half slipped out causing a slight kink in the trib tab skin. It’s minor and helps “customize” my -7 but after that I hung up my tools for the night.
Tasks Competed:
A lot got done today on the left elevator. I went over to a friends shop to get a good cut on the oak I planned to use on the sking tabs and trim tabs. I marched through the riveting of the skeleton and even the tab bending went quicker than I tought it might. Even with the doublestick tape I had trouble keeping the very end of the wood inplace for the bend. Overall I am pleased with the results. I hope to improve my tab bending art when doing the trim tabs.
When riveting the skeleton I waited to rivet E713 and 714 together. Instead, I first riveted the inboard rib to the spar and then riveted the outboard rib to both of these. Getting to the rivets that mount the ribs to the spar is WAY easier with this method. I also replaced the original counterweight with a new one because I had cut the original down. Getting the holes to line up with the counterbalance skin holes and the ribs holes was a pain. I highly recommend not screwing this part up in the first place. With a little body english, I finally got the bolts to fit.
Tasks Completed:
Today I played hooky from work. I got some good quality time in with the construction. Discovered my work on the left counterweight was a screw-up. I could probably add some weight back once it comes time to balance but I decided to keep everything neat and tidy. So I ordered a new E714 from Vans. Next up I etched and primed the left elevator structure. It was in the low 40’s outside but the primer seemed to go on alright.
I began to set up for bending the trim tab cut out on the left skin. I need to go to a friends shop to get a good straight cut on the piece of oak that will be my bending jig. After setting that aside I decided to finish up the servo mount. I built a little wood jig to help me countersink the coverplate neatly. I had previously dimpled the cover plate so I need a small piece of wood the cleco onto the plate without any distorting. It worked out great. With the brackets mounted I installed the servo motor. Only now I can’t seem to get the assembly to fit into its hole on the skin.
Tasks Completed:
Over the last few days I have transfered all my paper and electronic logs of the build over to this blog. It’ll be much easier to update and edit along the way. Plus I can share progress with other builders and maybe pass on some of the hard lessons I learn along the way.
Also today I went down and picked up Dave Parson’s old wing cradle at his hanger in Renton. The wings aren’t due till April but its never too early to carve some space out in the basement. It was nice to see his -7A up close. I learned some good intel. On some of his systems.
I might switch to putting the landing light in the wingtips instead of the duckworks setup. It looks like less of a hassle. His dual AFS EFIS setup is sweet but he did say it wasn’t flawless. Little glitches here and there during updates and such. That probably won’t dissuade me from installing an EFIS but I should do more research on each model and the support that comes with it.
Tasks Completed:
Note: I ended up removing a bit more than I wanted but its within spec. Also there was a bubble exposed after cutting away the lead. I’ll probably end up filling with epoxy just to keep moisture out.
Update (12.11.07): DO NOT remove material from the left E714 counterweight. I did not read the plans carefully enough. There is a note under the trim detail for the right counterweight that says this is for the ride side only! The extra lead on the left side is to counteract the additional weight created by the trim tab.