Not a lot got done today. Some retail therapy, including a hand riveter.
Clamped and drilled the remaining holes, dissassembled, cleaned and then reassembled the RH pedal.
Can't rivet it yet - still need to arrange the anodising.
Same process, different pedal.
Drilled the 1/2" hole in the rudder control horn, and lacerated a finger on the sharp edges of the drill press when the key slipped while tightening the chuck, grrrgh. Positioned, drilled and bolted the remaining hinges to the rudder bracket.
Have also started filing down the upper edges of the hinge brackets. As installed, there's a sharp edge on them which prevents full forward deflection of the pedals.
Acquired an AN4-45 bolt, nut and washers and finally assembled the nose wheel/fork/axle.
Despite the best efforts of NZ Post to ensure the package was stolen, the replacement axle insert arrived today. Tonight I drilled the replacement RH axle strut & insert to complete Phase 2, and got stuck into the axle drag struts. The measured bolt-to-bolt distances for both struts is 33 1/8". This is highly reassuring - I must have done something right. Maybe, just maybe, Delta Echo will be sitting on her landing gear by the end of the weekend...
Fabricated the spacers required for the top ends of the vertical shock struts - the long ones are for the ends of the
suspension bungee, and the short ones ride in the slots cut in the shock plate.
To my utter frustration, I discovered I'm missing a couple of AN4-34A bolts used in the suspension. Spent the afternoon brooding in front of the fire and scheming the purchase of the replacement hardware tomorrow (Monday). After several hours had passed I decided to at least get the wee beastie on her wheels, suspension finished or not.
There should be another spacer on the right of that bolt, but it's too short.
Never mind - Delta Echo is finally sitting on her wheels!
Issues with the seat belt. The original version (as per the documentation) has the shoulder straps running over a spacer mounted between the seat braces, and down to an attach point co-located with the landing gear shock plate. The belt supplied by StarBee, however, reflects their updated design which has a new mounting point up the mast. In my view, this is a superior arrangement (less risk of spinal compression in a crash), but I am going to have to fabricate a clamp for it. Maybe I can leverage this as a mounting point for the strobe as well.
This evening I installed the longer bolts and full set of spacers in the two suspension upper strut fittings. I had to file a small amount off the inside lower edge of those fittings to allow full travel to the top of the shock plate.
Started experimenting with the two bungee loops - this stuff is not easy to tie, and for obvious reasons you don't want it coming undone. Still evaluating knots.
Filed and sanded more material off the notches in the engine bearer diagonals to avoid fraying the suspension bungees. Shortened the spacers in the vertical shock struts to increase the number of visible threads extending through the nuts, and then reassembled everything, applied copious amounts of white lithium grease, and installed the bungee suspension loops, which are tied using a knot called a "Retrace Overhand".
Experimented unsuccessfully with getting the a/c outside for a photo. Some remodelling of the garage doors seems inevitable.
Cut the required 1.5" spacer, did some filing around the slot in the tailboom, and installed the tailwheel. The bolt needs to be swapped out for a shorter one.
Back on the rudder pedals. Filed down the remaining hinge brackets to allow full forward deflection of each pedal, and started on the six diagonal fairing cuts.
Dissassembled the beast this evening, and then cleaned and bubble-wrapped lots of bits. The mast, keel, tail, cluster plates, seat braces, axle struts, shock struts, tank mount & engine mount are off to get polished and anodised tomorrow.
Dropped the various bits of aluminium at the anodiser's this morning, and spent this evening finalising the CAD for the instrument panel, which has been emailed off to be CNC'd.
Have instructed Alert Anodising to put a gunmetal finish on the airframe, and after spending some time worrying about where to source the exact fluorescent orangey-pink paint I want for the tail & instrument pod... this evening I found it in the local hardware store ("Dazzle Scarlet"). Also going to use it on the drag struts & control tubes.
ScotchBrited, sanded, degreased and primed both drag struts, two coats.
Finished the fairing cuts on the rudder pedals.
Sanded and undercoated the drag struts,
and rounded the ends of the rudder hinge brackets.
This evening I put the first fluorescent coating on the drag struts. This stuff is even more appallingly luminescent than I hoped :)
Also drilled the pedal bracket and assembled everything on the nose block, this time using drilled bolts with castle nuts.
After applying the clear coat.
I'm not at all sure how this will turn out - the nozzle kept blocking during the spray, resulting in a very patchy application indeed. Also not certain what kind of surface the stuff will form when dry.
Am going to redo the painting. The finish is excellent - but the ends are something of a mess, and touch-up attempts did not improve things. Am too demoralised to post any pictures. A can of paint-stripper will be acquired tommorrow :(
Stripped the drag struts all the way back to bare metal and re-applied the primer. This time around I'm not sanding between coats; which should hopefully leave an unbroken layer of paint right to the ends of the struts.
Undercoat II. This proved to be more of a drama - while moving them out of the way for the night, the struts slipped off the supports a couple of times, necessitating more paint, and some sanding downstream. Not to mention elevating my blood pressure somewhat.
Decided to strip the struts and start from scratch. Again. Back to the primer.
Assembled the rudder pedals, control horn and linkages. Unfortunately, there's a problem. As designed the forward pedal deflection is severely restricted by the geometry of the linkages. The Heim fittings hit either the control horn, the pedal extensions, or the adjacent washers, depending on the exact configuration being tested.
Emails, discussions on the forum, phone calls and experimentation. The cure involves multiple alterations:
(1) Widening the pedal brackets by about 1/4" each side.
(2) Replacing the washers either side of each Heim fitting with 1/8" long,
3/8" OD aluminium spacers, which will be bevelled at the ends to allow maximum freedom of movement of the fittings.
(3) I've filed a bevel into the outboard trailing edges of the control horn and the brace to improve clearance.
(4) Swapping the male and female Heim fittings around so the flat edge of each female fitting is parallel to
the trailing edge of the control horn.
To add to the frustration of the day, I ran out of undercoat halfway through spraying the second drag strut, and there just wasn't enough time to acquire a second can in the 20 minutes allowed for additional paint. Now have to wait 24 hours before proceeding further.
10:30pm. Have cut six new 1/8" aluminium spacers, and put a bevelled edge on the two existing 1/2" specimens. The chuck marks are clearly visible.
Light dawns.. kudos to Brian Jackson of Michigan for discovering the root cause of the problem: The supplied nose-block is longer than specified, placing the main bracket further forward and thus reducing the spacing between the pedal extensions and the control horn.
I had an interesting exchange with the anodisers this morning - much confusion over exactly what I wanted done to the parts, but it seems the material is back from being polished a week ahead of schedule.
This evening I acquired another can of undercoat, and finished the remaining drug strut.
Also fabricated a replacement control horn brace, with the clearances needed for the Heim fittings.
Am putting the whole rudder pedal issue in a holding pattern till I hear more from StarBee; may yet rebuild certain components. In the meantime, there's the seat mount to be getting on with.
