The replacement cluster plates and missed-out axle inserts arrived today. Sadly, the cluster plates are only a marginal improvement on the original pair; and this is because the one slightly out-of-position hole is in the keel, not the plates. 3 out of 4 holes bolt through perfectly, but the uppermost aft bolt just will not go. Somehow, I'm going to have to fabricate a replacement pair myself which match the tubes.
I have however, got the mast and keel bolted together accurately enough to sort out the seat braces. I grabbed one of the scrap braces, bolted one of end of it to the mast, and clamped the other to the keel. I then proceeded to match-drill through the existing holes in the keel to yield a jig. Armed with this I then produced the right-hand brace. The left-hand version was less successful - too late at night; I had a brain fade, and used the *wrong* hole in the jig... scrap another four feet of angle.
Off to Aeroware in the morning...
Last night I discovered the match-drilling process had left one of the existing holes in the keel a very tiny fraction oversize. After a closer examination this morning I decided there was just a fraction too much side-play for piece of mind. After a trip to Aeroware, I've drilled the hole out to 5/16" and substituted the appropriate bolt.
More dramas with the seat braces - upon discovering the supposed "good" seat brace wasn't, I devised another, and better approach to constructing a jig for the seat braces - two separate pieces of angle, bolted to the mast and keel, and the super-glued together in the middle via a third length. These are going to be the most re-manufactured components in the project, but I'm only losing a foot or so of aluminium each time - the stuff in the middle gets recycled for *other* components...
Cut the last three pieces of angle for the rudder pedals.
Used the jig to fabricate the RH seat brace.
Fabricated the first two-and-a-half rudder pedal brackets, out of recycled 2" x 1.5" angle from an engine mount which is scheduled to be re-constructed.
After finding Sue's cycle pump, this evening I put the wheels together and inflated the tyres.
Emboldened by this success, I then attempted to drill the axle tubes and inserts...
...damaged a thumb, and didn't come up
with a satisfactory means of drilling perfectly-centred holes through the tubing.
At that point I retreated to bed to sulk and lick my wounds.
Spent the night fretting about a very very slightly off-centre hole in a tube/axle insert, and emailed StarBee for
a price on a replacement insert.
Gotta love 'em: Dana's sending me a replacement, free of charge :)
In the meantime - it's airworthy and I'm just being a perfectionist, so it's staying.
This evening after much experimenting, I hit upon an easy means of positioning the holes in the tubing. It involves placing
a saddle clamp on the tube, and then clamping between two parallel pieces of wood. It was then very easy to drill the
remaining five holes.
Started on the drag struts; and as a side-effect the frame is currently upright with the landing gear attached :)
Collected some aluminium sheet in various thicknesses, for the rudder control horn, seat mount, rotor head cheek plates and a replacement set of cluster plates.
Finally got the cluster plates sorted, with the help of some advice from StarBee and a rat-tailed file. If I was doing this again, I'd drill the mast/keel/tail/plates myself.
Cleared out half the garage in preparation for Sue's new car... my build space has just taken something of a hit.
Fabricated the remaining seat brace. This whole process has taken far longer than it should, due to what turns out to be a 1/16" difference in the distance between the top and bottom holes, between the left and right braces. This is I think the cumulative effect of two different slightly out-of-position holes.
Trimmed both seat braces to their final length of 44.25", made the diagonal fairing cuts, and match-drilled the shoulder-harness anchor holes. Phase 1 complete.
Buoyed by this leap forward, I set about drilling the forward hole in the tailboom and seat braces... by moving the drill press on to the floor, supporting the entire airframe on blocks of wood, and match-drilling in one pass.
Cut the replacement RH axle strut to length and dressed it.
Drilled the required holes in the vertical shock struts. Machining for Phase 4, complete.
Sorted out the basic architecture for the GPS / MP3 player.
Started on fabricating the replacement engine bearers. All done bar the cut-aways, and drilling the forward holes in the bearers and seat braces.
More work on the engine bearers - cutting and filing. I'm using 1.5" x 2" angle, not 1.5" x 1.5", and to avoid fouling the shock plate, some material has to be removed from the forward part of the rails.
Made the remaining notch and streamlining cuts, clamped and match-drilled the seat-brace holes.
Filed down the second pair of hinge brackets to nest in the angle they'll get bolted to. Cut and dressed the 1/16" sheet for the first pedal web, and rough cut the second. Called it quits for the night when I realised how much noise the filing was creating.
Filed down the second pedal web,
and marked out, cut, filed & then match drilled the control horn & brace. Need to acquire a 1/2" drill bit for the centre hole.
Still have to drill and bolt or rivet everything together; put the bend in the tips of the pedals, and form the smooth radii
at the ends of the hinge brackets.
Spent the evening re-building one of the tank-mount cross pieces; craftmanship issues.
Decided to re-build BOTH tank-mount cross-pieces. Now much happier with the overall alignment.
Drilled the rudder pedal braces, and put the bend in the two pedal webs, using the vice and a piece of scrap angle as a mandrel. This first had its sharp corner filed down to a smooth curve.
Positioned and drilled the two RH hinge brackets, and assembled the pedal before starting on the drilling process.
