Archive for category Leading Edges
Right Landing Light Installed (11/5/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Wings on November 5, 2011
3.8 Hours -
With Amber’s help, I moved the left wing back to the cradle, and placed the right wing on the table with the bottom side facing up. My goal for today was to finish the right landing light installation.
Since I had already done a lot of the prep work on the pieces of the right landing light, all I had to do was to make the leading edge cutout and finish the lens. Installation of the right light was identical to the left, so I won’t go into much detail on this post. However, the details of the left light installation can be found in several posts starting with the one from 10/23/11.
The biggest difference with the right landing light was that it was easier. Just about everything, so far, has had to be done twice, and the second time has always been much simpler than the first. In this case, I had much less hesitation in making the big, leading edge cutout. I also learned a few tricks on the left lens that I was able to implement on the right.
The leading edge cutout isn't as intimidating the second time around.
After finishing the edges of the cutout, it looks good.
In the end, the installed light looks good. I didn’t test this one in the wing since I had previously tested the lamp when it was outside the wing. However, using my multimeter, I did test to make sure I had a good ground connection between the lamp and the wing structure.
A head-on view of the finished landing light in the right wing.
A side view of the finished landing light in the right wing.
Now, all that is left with the wings is to rivet the outboard bottom skins!
Left Landing Light Finished (11/3/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Wings on November 3, 2011
2.0 Hours -
Finishing up the left landing light was a relatively simple task. I spent more time playing with (a.k.a. testing) the light than installing it.
To finish the light installation, all I had to do was install the reflector/bulb in the main retainer bracket, install the weather-stripping around the leading edge cutout, and then install the lens. Overall, the finish looks good with no noticeable gaps between the lens and the wing skin.
Once everything was assembled, I hooked the light up to my bench power supply and fired it up. The garage wasn’t very dark, so it’s hard to tell how bright the light is, but I think it will be ok. If I get into some serious night flying, I’ll probably upgrade the bulb to a 100W lamp (current is 55W). In order to ensure that this upgrade is an easy one, I’m going to run 14 gauge wire for my power and ground, and I’ll install a breaker/fuse appropriate for the bigger wire.
After installing the reflector, bulb, and lens, I had to fire it up!
Another picture with the garage lights off. Its brighter than the picture looks, but I may still upgrade to a 100W bulb before any serious night flying.
Just for fun, I took a picture of the light on the wall. Tough to judge anything from this since there is nothing to compare to.
After I finished playing with the light, the last task I had to do was to figure out how I want to ground the light. I decided to go with a nutplate installed in the outboard leading edge rib. I’ll attach the ground wire to this using a #6 screw and some washers. However, I’m not even sure if this is necessary. Using my multimeter, I tested continuity, and it seems that the light is self-grounded through the bracket to the wing. The ground wire is easy to install, so I’ll probably do it just to be sure, but it would be nice to find out if it is even necessary in this case.
I installed a nutplate on the outboard leading edge rib. This will accept a #6 screw and anchor the light's ground wire.
Finally, I started getting the right wing ready to be moved from the cradle to the table. I now have a stack of ailerons and flaps in the corner of the garage. A year ago, I probably would have been much more concerned about piling the control surfaces on the floor, but I now realize I’m building an airplane, not a work of art. However, I did place a layer of padding between the concrete floor and the first control surface in the stack.
Left Landing Light Continued (10/26/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Wings on October 26, 2011
2.3 Hours -
At this point, the left landing light is essentially finished.
I cut the lens to size using my band saw and then finished the edges with a multitude of tools. Once the lens was finished, I had to match drill it to the wing skin. To do this, the instructions recommend placing some strapping tape on the lens to make a handle that can be used to pull the lens into place from outside the wing. Once the lens is positioned, the holes are drilled to #40, then #30 and then further enlarged after removing the lens from the wing.
A "handle" made from strapping tape is used to pull the lens into position for match-drilling to the wing.
After the lens is drilled, there were still a few minor things to do. The lens retainer brackets had to be final drilled, receive nutplates, and be positioned on the lenses with some double-sided tape. The main light brackets had to be riveted together and have a couple nutplates installed, and the screw holes in the wing skin needed to be enlarged and dimpled.
The lens retainer brackets are attached to the lens with some double-sided tape. Sorry for the bad picture, but I had already cleaned the lens and I wasn't going to take it back out of the bag for a picture.
The main brackets were riveted together. After cleaning them with some acetone, they looked good, so I'm going to leave them as bare aluminum.
All that is left is to complete the electrical work and test it. For now, all I’m going to do is to figure out what type of connectors I want to use and install those on the lamp side…the power wire will get run through the wing much later down the road.
Deburred Landing Light Parts (10/25/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Wings on October 25, 2011
0.8 Hours -
Not much to report today. I spent just under an hour deburring landing light components. I still need to do some touch-up work with a smaller Scotchbrite wheel, but the lights are basically ready for assembly. I now also think I’m going to keep the parts bare metal. Most likely, I’ll just prime the lens retainer brackets since they are not alclad.
I also received a letter from the factory today stating that my fuselage kit is scheduled to ship the week of Nov. 28. That should give me enough time to wrap up the wings and get the garage organized.
Left Landing/Taxi Light Started (10/23/11)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Main Structure, Wings on October 23, 2011
3.2 Hours -
Today, I wanted to start riveting the outboard bottom skins on the wings, but I didn’t get very far. I rigged some rope to the ceiling and the outboard end of the skin, allowing me to lift the skin for riveting access, but I still couldn’t reach the first few rivets. Because of the orientation of the rib flange where the two skins overlap, it is a difficult stretch to get to the first few rivets along the aft spar. If the wing were lower (maybe even on the floor), I could probably reach by laying on it. However, I decided the best option will be to move the wing back to the cradle for at least the first bit of riveting since I know I can reach the aft spar through the access hole. Depending on how it goes, I may or may not move it back to the table to finish.
Using a piece of rope, I lifted the outboard end of the wing skin to allow access for riveting.
Another view of the lifted wing skin. No matter what I tried, I couldn't reach the first few rivets. However, I should be able to reach them if the wing is back in the cradle.
Since the wing was already on the table, I decided to start working on the leading edge landing/taxi light. I originally planned on using the Van’s wingtip landing lights, but I had to change this plan once I decided to make my own nav/strobe lights. Because of this change, I decided to go with the Duckworks leading edge lights. The 55W rectangular original light to be specific.
The Duckworks lights are auto headlights that have been modified a bit and bundled with a mounting kit specific to RVs. Duckworks also provides all installation hardware, some nice instructions (with pictures), and CAD templates. The lights will be positioned in the outboard bay of the wing’s leading edge, with one light in each wing.
The first step for installing the light is to mark the location of the hole that will be made in the leading edge of the wing. A CAD template is provided along with measurements for positioning the template. Once positioned, you just trace the cutout onto the wing.
A template is taped to the leading edge in order to trace the landing light cutout.
The landing light hole is marked. I sure hope I have the positioning correct before puncturing my beautiful leading edge!
After checking the positioning of the cutout multiple times, I mustered the courage to start cutting a hole in my pristine leading edge. I drilled a few pilot holes, then went at the corners with a large unibit. Finally, I used a Dremel with a cutoff wheel to finish the cut.
No turning back now...I started cutting the hole with a unibit in the corners.
The hole was finished using a cutoff disk in my Dremel. The initial cut is pretty rough.
The initial cut was pretty rough around the edges, so I used a combination of tools to finish it. A 2″ Scotchbrite wheel in a die grinder, maroon and gray Scotchbrite pads, some emery cloth, and 30 minutes of time, left me with a great looking cutout in the leading edge. I don’t think this could have turned out any better than it did…what a relief!
A combination of tools were used to finish the hole. After about 30 minutes of finishing, I was very happy with the result.
With the big hole finished. The next step is to drill the screw holes for the lens retainer brackets. Both the leading edge template and the brackets are used to position these holes. Only the screw holes are drilled into the leading edge, and they are left at #40 for now. Eventually, they will be enlarged for #6 screws.
The retainer clips and leading edge template are used as guides for drilling the lens screw holes. These are left at #40 for now.
Next, two nutplates have to be installed in each of the two outboard leading edge ribs. Duckworks provides another template for marking the locations of the nutplates in the ribs. Once the locations are marked, it’s a simple matter of drilling and installing the nutplates with pop-rivets.
Another template is provided to mark the location of two nutplates in each of the two outboard leading edge ribs.
Nutplate holes drilled (identical holes on the next inboard rib too).
The nutplates are installed on the outside of the bay using pop-rivets.
After installing the nutplates, the light retainer bracket is fitted. The bracket comes as two pieces that have to be riveted together. For the RV-7 the full lengths of the brackets are needed, but they are shortened for some of the other models. Even though I would not have to cut the brackets, I temporarily installed them just to check the fit.
The light retainer bracket is in two pieces which have to be fit and then drilled/riveted together.
Once the fit of the brackets was confirmed, I marked out a rivet line and drilled the brackets. At this time, I went ahead and drilled the brackets for both wings since they should both be the same size. The directions weren’t very clear on what type of rivets to use, and only 3- rivets are included in the kit, but I decided to use 4- rivets instead. I haven’t decided if I will use flush or universal head rivets, but I almost think that universal heads will give a neat look to the brackets. Also, I think I will paint the brackets white rather than leaving them as bare aluminum.
The main light brackets drilled and clecoed. I haven't decided yet, but I think I'm going to paint these white.
Finally, I pulled out one of the plexi lenses and positioned it over the cutout in the wing. Using the cutout as a guide, I roughly marked where the lens will need to be cut. The directions recommend leaving 3/4″ of material beyond the cutout on the top and bottom, and 5/8″ on the sides. I’ll make the rough cut on these with a band saw, but, at this point, I decided to call it a night.
The landing light lens has to be trimmed to size. Here, I've marked it for the initial cut using the hole in the leading edge as a guide.
The Left Wing Has a Complete Leading Edge (12/16/10)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Fuel Tanks, Leading Edges, Wings on December 16, 2010
0.7 Hours -
After work today, I had a little time to work on the plane. I managed to finish fastening the left fuel tank to the wing. To my surprise, all of the z-bracket bolts went in easily! Once I loosely installed all of the bolts, I went back through and tightened them to the proper torque. Then, I finished installing all of the skin to spar and skin to joint strip screws.
The tank went on the left wing surprisingly easy...everything lined-up well.
All of this went fairly quickly because I got smart and purchased a small, Black and Decker cordless screw driver. This looks like a miniature drill, but I don’t have to worry about over-torqueing fasteners because it applies less than 60 inch pounds of torque at its highest setting. At $30, it may be one of the best purchases I’ve made!
Once all of the screws and bolts were tightened, I gave the tank a quick inspection. The leading edge/tank joint is about as good as I could have hoped for. There are no gaps on the top side and only a single, small gap on the bottom near the spar. The gap on the bottom is so small that I will probably leave it as is.
The top leading edge/tank seam is perfect!
The bottom leading edge/tank seam has one, slight gap. However, the camera makes it look bigger than it is and I will probably leave it.
Before moving on to something else, I wanted to seal up all of the openings on the left tank. The only openings still open were the fuel drain, fuel pick-up line, and vent line. To seal up the drain, I installed the drain valve. For the fuel and vent lines, I just pulled some balloons over the AN fittings on the outside of the tank. These should keep bugs out, but still allow the tank to “breath” as air pressure changes.
I wanted to close up all the holes in the tanks in order to keep insects, etc., out. I installed the tank drain valve and a couple of balloons on the three remaining openings.
With the left wing ready for top skins, I’m getting to the point where I can’t put off repairing the right fuel tank much longer. My plan is to cut access holes in the baffle…one hole for each bay of the tank. After the holes are cut, I’ll be able to reach into the tank and apply a new bead of sealant along the baffle/skin joint. In preparation for this, I marked the center of each bay on the baffle. These marks will be the center of the 3” access ports I’m planning to drill.
I can't delay my right tank fix much longer. I've marked the baffle for drilling access ports.
Riveted Right Leading Edge to Spar (12/13/10)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Main Structure, Spars, Wings on December 13, 2010
1.0 Hours -
Tonight, I finished riveting the right leading edge to the spar. As with the left side, all of the skin to spar rivets could be squeezed.
Once the leading edge was riveted, I spent a few minutes removing the rest of the blue vinyl from the leading edges.
Next up, I need to finish countersinking, deburring and dimpling the wings.
Leading Edge Riveting/Left Fuel Tank Test (12/12/10)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Fuel Tanks, Leading Edges, Main Structure, Spars, Wings on December 12, 2010
3.5 Hours -
The first task on my to do list today was to rivet the leading edges to the spars. I’m not deviating from the plans very often, but this is one case where I did. The plans call for solid rivets to connect the leading edge ribs to the main wing spar. Even with a riveting partner, I think this would have been very difficult. Instead, I opted to substitute pop-rivets, a tactic many other builders have used here. My rivets of choice are MSP-43s and MSP-44s. Based on their rated strength, they should be more than adequate.
The space for installing the leading edge rib/main spar rivets is very tight for all but one of the ribs. I had to use my modified rivet puller (with one side ground down), along with an angled rivet spacer that I described in an earlier fuel tank post. The spacer allows me to put a slight bend in the shank of the pop-rivet, giving me more space for the rivet puller, while still allowing me to apply even force across the entire rivet head. Using this method, my arms were still exhausted by the end of the session!
It's a tight fit for these leading edge to spar pop rivets. Solid rivets would have been a serious pain in the ass.
Once all of the leading edge to spar rivets were set in both wings, I set-up my squeezer and started squeezing the leading edge skin to spar rivets on the left wing. After these rivets were set, I was tired of riveting, and decided to leave the skin to spar rivets in the right wing for another day.
The left leading edge is permanently riveted to the spar.
Next, I installed the stall warner access cover plate in the left leading edge. There’s no real reason this needed to be done right now, except that I just wanted to get some parts off my work bench. The cover plate is installed with ten #6 screws. I was a little surprised at the size of the gap that is present between the cover plate and the rest of the leading edge skin. Generally, everything in the kit has been very close tolerance to far. Fortunately, this will be on the bottom of the wing where no one will see it.
The stall access cover has a bit of a gap all the way around. At least it is on the bottom of the wing and won't be seen.
The last thing I did today was to perform a leak test on the left tank. This is the first time I tested this tank, so I had to move all the test equipment over from the right tank. When I started to pump air into the tank with a bicycle pump, I became a bit worried when the balloon didn’t start to inflate. However, all of the sudden, when I started feeling around the balloon for leaks, it rapidly began to inflate!
I don’t think waiting for a couple days to see if the balloon stays inflated is a good leak test (plus I know there are leaks where the balloon is attached to some tubing), so I went ahead and sprayed the tank down with some soapy water. After a close inspection of all the rivets, I’m happy to report there are NO LEAKS in the left tank! Too bad I still have some leaks in the right tank to fix…
When testing the left tank, the balloon inflated and a soapy water spray-down showed no leaks!
Still More Leading Edge and Wing Prep (12/11/10)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Main Structure, Panel/Wiring, Spars, Wings on December 11, 2010
5.0 Hours -
Time really flew by while I was working on the plane today. I started doing some simple, repetitive things like deburring, dimpling and countersinking, and, the next thing I knew, I had been working for 5 hours!
I started off by finishing up my countersinking on the left main spar. Since the left leading edge was completely assembled except for the new inboard rib, I needed to get all of the leading edge attach holes countersunk before I could start working on drilling the new rib. Since the holes in the leading edge skin were already dimpled, I needed the corresponding countersinks in the spar completed to ensure that the leading edge would fit tightly on the wing.
Once the left spar was countersunk, I clecoed the leading edge on. Before inserting the new rib, I deburred and fluted it. Then, I marked a center line all the way around the rib on the flange. This line will be visible through the holes in the skin, ensuring that I have the rib appropriately located before drilling.
The left leading edge went back onto the wing, again, to drill the new inboard rib.
I drew a line down the middle of the flange on the new rib...I will be able to see this line through the skin and ensure that the rib is being drilled properly.
After the line was drawn, I inserted the rib into the leading edge/wing. Once I could see the line on the aft rib flange through the holes in the spar, I used a 12” #30 drill to drill the holes in the aft flange using the holes in the spar as a guide. Then, it was on to the #40 holes that attach the rib to the leading edge skin. Since I could see my line, it was easy to line-up and drill the flange.
The centerline on the rib was easily visible through the holes in the skin.
Once all of the holes were drilled, I removed the leading edge from the wing, and finished the new rib by deburring, dimpling, scuffing and priming it. While waiting for the primer to dry, I did some more deburring and dimpling on the main wing structures. After the primer dried I riveted the new rib and joint plate to the left leading edge.
The top rib is the old rib with holes too close to the bend. The bottom rib is the new one...notice the holes are located properly this time.
Ready to rivet the new inboard rib and joint strip to the left leading edge.
Next, I installed the stall warner and ground wire into the leading edge. Two bolts hold this in place, and the assembly can be adjusted up or down slightly to ensure that the switch can trigger. I also installed the wire that runs from the warner into the fuselage. However, for now, this wire will just be coiled inside the wing structure with no terminal installed on the fuselage end. Before leaving the stall warner, I used my multimeter to test the continuity on my ground connection.
Then, I continued my never-ending task of deburring, dimpling and countersinking the spars and wing structure.
Finally, I clecoed the leading edges to the wings for the final time. Next time those clecoes come out, they will be replaced by rivets (finally!).
My girlfriend was playing with my camera and taking bad pictures of me...
The wiring for the stall warner runs through a snap bushing in the spar.
The leading edges are clecoed onto the wings for the last time. Next time the clecoes come out, they'll be replaced by rivets!
More Countersinking and Wing Prep (12/10/10)
Posted by Ethan Jacoby in Construction, Leading Edges, Main Structure, Panel/Wiring, Spars, Tools, Wings on December 10, 2010
2.3 Hours -
Tonight, I resumed countersinking the left spar. I finished countersinking the bottom of left spar and the leading edge portion of the top of the spar. To do the top, I had to remove the outboard skin. Now, I just have the top/inboard of the left spar and the entire top of the right spar remaining to be countersunk.
Once I finished countersinking for the evening, I cleaned the spars with acetone and sprayed some self-etching primer to cover the exposed aluminum in the countersinks.
After countersinking the main spar, I cleaned it and sprayed some self-etching primer.
Ready for a break from countersinking, I decided to make the ground wire for the stall warner system. This was fairly quick to complete since all I had to do was to cut a 3.5 inch piece of 18 gauge wire, strip both ends, and crimp on terminals. To crimp the terminals, I ended up buying a ratcheting crimper from SteinAir. The dies on the crimper are interchangeable, and I purchased dies for both RBY and BNC terminals.
I bought this ratcheting crimper from SteinAir. It has dies for both RBY and BNC terminals.
Nothing complicated...the stall warner ground wire is a 3.5 inch piece of 18 gauge wire with terminals crimped on each end.
Finally, I started deburring and dimpling the left wing structure. Trying to break up the monotony, I would deburr a rib and a portion of the rear spar, then dimple those sections. Changing tasks like this seems to help me work longer. However, there is still a lot of countersinking, deburring and dimpling left to do in the wings.
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