Sunday, September 8, 2013

Details, details

Today has been a day of details.  There are still a few that need to be taken care of on the wings before I move on to the fuselage.  For example, the control tubes, bell-cranks, and push-rods all need to be manufactured and hooked up to the ailerons which themselves need to be properly attached and adjusted. Pitot static tubing needs to be run and the bottom skins need to be deburred, dimpled and cleco'd in place on the wings.  Sounds simple enough doesn't it?  Well, 12 hours later I did manage to get the control tubes, bell-cranks, and push-rods manufactured, and hooked up to the ailerons.  I also managed to get the ailerons attached and adjusted.  I ran into a bit of a problem though. On the left aileron I found that one of the rivet shop heads is interfering with the smooth movement of the aileron.  So, I am going to have to grind that tail off and just to be safe I am going to drill and install another 426 rivet with the flush head on the correct side.  On a side note I did drill the holes for the AOA lines for my pitot static system but found that the bushings that came in the SafeAir kit were for a 3/8" hole and the pre-drilled holes are 7/16".  So I ordered some new bushings from Aircraft Spruce.

Every time I think I am being creative in finding a new way to do something I eventually find that somebody else already figured it out.  However, I did come up with the simple way of cutting a nice square piece of bushing with my drill and hacksaw.  

Here are the aileron push rods with the ends riveted on.

Here are the finished control tubes all cut to length, primed (inside and out), and ends riveted on.  Came out pretty nice I think.

I'm not even going to try to take credit for this one.  This is a mod I found on Smitty's web site (he got the idea from somebody else).  This is the aileron travel stop.  Its just a delrin rod (7/8" in diameter) with a hole drilled in it big enough to fit the bushing.  After installation it looked great!