Rear canopy trimming, C-725's

I marked the hole locations in the top skin for the aft canopy. Marked the skin edge on the aft canopy and trimmed it to about 1.5" back. Want to leave myself some wiggle room.

Also made up the C-725 blocks. I may have to make them again though as I forgot to position them on the frame and drill the holes before tapping them, no I can't use them as a drill guide. Also, I need to countersink the holes in the frame which will probably run into the block a bit. Should have thought ahead more.

FYI, the aluminum blocks for this are wrapped up in the gas strut package. However, I have not yet found the ball studs nor the acorn nuts that go with. Can't even find it on the finish kit parts list. I looked through all the bags I had and all the drawers I've put stuff in... nowhere to be found.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Countersink canopy frame side rails

Went back out for an hour or so and countersunk the holes in the frame side rails where the canopy side skins will get riveted. I also drilled two holes in each of the side flaps that I had forgotten to do previously and riveted them down. There was enough material left in the countersink to provide sufficent grip for the rivet.

Canopy gap fairing

Weather warmed up a bit today (36 F) .... time to get back to work.

I pulled out another piece of aluminum strip to try my hand at making the canopy gap fairing again. This time I cut it 6.5" wide to start. I drilled the holes, making sure it was sitting flush on the canopy all the way around. Didn't skip any holes either, just removed the screws as I came to them. This one is a keeper I believe.

Gap fairing. Will trim aft edge once it is back on the fuse.

I finished countersinking all the holes in the canopy and enlarged the holes to 5/32". I enlarged the holes in the frame to #27 and deburred everything.

Side rail countersunk - You can also see the two rivets I set to hold the 'flap down'. Also notice the extra screw hole in the flap.. not called for but will help hold that flap down.

I need to work on the gas struts next. I also am going to need to shoot some paint on the frame before I can mount the canopy for the final time. Also need to start working on the rear window.

(Time: 3 hrs)

Service Bulletin for Tip-Up

Van's has release a Service Bulletin for tip-up canopy planes. It involves reinforcing the F-632A channel at the aft end where it attaches to the F-706 bulkhead. Link: http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/sb05-1-1.pdf.

Not a lot of work going on... I did some work the other night trying to make the canopy gap fairing that goes over the top and messed it up. The weather has been somewhat cold. I think I'm currently in a no-building funk. Builder Buddy Bill is in the same funk as well... I think this may have been triggered by the realization of how much money I need to spend to finish the plane and how that is going to change the completion date. Going to talk to the bank this week and see if they can do anything for me.

VIT (Very Important Tip) Read before riveting C-702 skin

(No work done this past weekend..too cold but it's warming up this week, so I'll be back to work.)

I was just reading Brian Mayette's site and noticed he is about to start riveting his C-702 skin to the WD-725 frame. He included a picture and I noticed he hadn't done a couple of things yet that are necessary before riveting.

I don't think I saw any place in the manual that said "rivet the 702 skin to the frame" so I already did it and now I have two problems. So, if you are doing tip-up, DO NOT RIVET THE SKIN ON YET until you do the two following things.

-- The C-702 skin has 'flaps' on each side that extend back along the WD-716/725 frame. These flaps transition to the C-603 side skirts. These flaps need to get riveted to the WD-725 rails but the holes aren't pre-punched so if you don't pay attention you could forget. (Like me!) The problem is that if you forget, there isn't enough room to get behind the flap to countersink the frame for a dimple.

-- Even more importantly, the forward mounting point for the C-690 gas strut is a little hunk of aluminum block that gets screwed to the WD-725 frame. The screws are installed from the outside through the C-702 skin, then the WD-716 rail and then into the C-725 Ball Stud Fwd Mount. The hole in the C-702 skin for the #10 screw needs to be dimpled and the frame gets countersunk. Refer to DWG 49, C-690 INSTALL ISO located in the lower left portion of the plans. You can't access this area with the skin riveted on.

Looks like I am going to have to drill out some rivets along the sides so I can countersink the holes for the rivets and screws. UGH!

Side skirts drilled, canopy countersinking

I back drilled the screw holes in the 603 side skirts by climbing in through the baggage area. (Easier than taking off the whole canopy structure) I back drilled using a #30 bit. Since there are three screws holding the canopy in place behind the skirt, you have to take it off, remove the screws and then put the skirt back on and drill the three holes.

Next I countersunk the holes in the canopy along the side. Easy enough. (I could have just drilled the holes to #27 since I do have a #27 countersink.)

To cover the gap between the forward and aft halves of the canopy, I am going to use a strip of .032 aluminum. I've seen other builders use a fiberglass layup in this area or just use nothing. I want it covered. The strip will be just wide enough to hide the support frame. (Idea came from Ray Doerr.)

(Time: 3 hrs)

C-603 Side skirts

I managed to get some time in the shop. I pulled out aluminum sheet used for the C-603 canopy side skirts, marked the hole locations and drilled them to the W-725 side rails. Next time I'll back drill through the canopy into the skirts for the screw holes.

Caution: The two bottom aft holes on the skirt need to be higher than the rest (noted on plans). I would also caution you to check the height of the bottom row of rivet holes after drilling the first one. The plans call for the row to be 7/16" but this puts it very close to the flange of the W-725 rail. I'd go to 1/2"... your call.

Tip: Before you rivet the C-702 skin to the frame, make sure you drill the two rivet holes that hold down the aft edge of the sides to the frame. I forgot and now I can't countersink underneath the flap, no room. I'm going to drill and countersink these holes and probably glue the flap down as backup.

(I've been posting in the FWF blog as well.)

(Time: 1.5 hrs)

Coming

Decisions!

Yesterday I think I made a decision to change props. (Engine/FWF Blog)

So what happens this morning??? Dynon announces the new EMS-D10 engine monitor! (Press release)

I had pretty much decided on using the IK AIM-1. While some don't like the look of it, I do. And the format of it allows it to sit visually better in my panel in the radio stack. The cost is about $2150 with probes.

So now we have this new Dynon unit that certainly has visual appeal. The cost is $2295 with probes... and it will display an EFIS screen if you connect it to their D10A unit. UGH! (Package deal EMS-D10 and EFIS-D10A for $4250)

Really, the decision is a bit of a no-brainer. I've already been planning a Dynon unit on Sandi's side. The graphical display of the Dynon unit is nice.

BUT, I really do not like the physical format of the unit as it completely screws up my panel design. I could put it on my side in place of the AH I have but that would make it somewhat difficult for Sandi to see. This location would also be nice, since I could toggle between the EFIS and Engine Monitor. The AIM-1 unit was going in the radio stack. The Dynon unit won't look righ in the radio stack and really screws up the 'balance' of the panel visually. You don't understand how important a balanced panel is to me.. maybe it is some character flaw coming out. The other option would be to put the two Dynon units side by side on Sandi's side of the plane.

Of course I could also just stick with the AIM-1 as planned.

Canopy drilling....

I accidently left one of the small space heaters running overnight, so when I went out to the shop today it was a toasty 33 degree's. Well hec.. let's fire up the rest of the heaters and do some work. So after a couple of hours of taking the chill off I headed back out.

Short time in the shop... I finished drilling the canopy along the sides to the F-725 side rails. I countersunk a few holes on one side in preparation for attaching the side skirts.

Side rail holes drilled. (Yea.. it's dark)

Another side shot.

Aft edge.

I need to trim the passenger side of the canopy a little bit more and a small amount on the aft edge on the pilot side.

(Time: 1 hrs; Total Finish: 119.5)

Tech Inspection

Our Chapter 1329 Tech Couenslor emailed me this past Friday and said he was available to come out. (We've been trying to hook up for months.) He came out Saturday morning and we yacked for a good couple of hours. Says I'm doing fine work. We spent a lot of time talking about my engine. He just happens to have a borescope and when it gets warmer will come out and peek at the cylinders and inside the engine. So my 3rd and final tech inspection is done.

When I get to the point of having the FAA do final inspection for certification, I'm planning on having a 'fellow builder(s) inspection'. I'll invite 4 or 5 builders/flyers to come out and go over the plane to catch anything I may have missed. Then I'll have the FAA come out and do their thing.

Yea.. it is STILL freakin' cold.

Status report.. no building going on.

The weather here in KS has been very cold lately... daytime highs in the 20's and lows in the single digits. It was 6 degrees (yes six!) on the way to work this morning. I really like it to be at least in the 30's to go work in the shop.

We've reached a point in the project that I kinda knew in the back of mind would come some day but tried not to think about. So far, the cost of the build has been spread out over 2.5 years... the engine we borrowed money to buy and it's now paid for. However, we are at the point where major expenditures need to be made and we just don't have the $$ to make them. When I started this project, I had figures of about $40k-$50k to get the plane flying. I'd say we have just around $30k into it now. I think at minimum another $12k-$15k just to get it in the air. $25k+ would get it built the way I want. At this point I'm going to try and make purchases that will keep me busy working but at some point, I may run out of things to work.

One of the major purchases is a propeller... kinda need one of those to fly. I just found out that the lead time on the Sensenich props is 14-16 weeks! That's four months! So that is the first thing that I'll be ordering so it is in the pipeline. After that, the cowl will get on order.... since that will keep me busy for a couple of weeks but that has a 4-6 week lead time as well.

Major purchases left to make:

Propeller - $1,935
Cowl/Plenum - $1,350 (Sam James)
Engine Monitor - $2,150 (IK Tech AIM-1)
Firewall Forward Kit - $2,200 (I already have some things from the kit)
Starter & Alternator - $600
Transponder - $1,300 new or $600 used
COM - $750 for a new ICOM but has no NAV functionality. $2,200 for a used Nav/Comm
NAV/Position lights - $780
Dynon - $2,200 (for Sandi)

Then there is all the piddley stuff like altimeter, seats, encoder, stick grips, intercom, wiring/electrical, paint, engine pieces/parts, etc....

Things I can do w/o ordering anything else. :-)

-- Finish canopy installation
-- Mate wings to fuse and rig flaps/ailerons.
-- Mount wing tips
-- Install leg fairings and wheel pants
-- Install tips on empennage

That list right there will probably keep me busy for at least a couple more months and I'm sure there are some other things. :-) Once the cowl arrives, I'll mount the engine (probably tempoarily) so I can install the cowl. Would be nice to have the prop to do that but probably won't happen.

Drilling screw holes in canopy

As soon as I got home, I turned on the heaters under the canopy and in the shop. Came back out later after dinner to do some work....

I drilled the screw holes on the aft edge of the canopy to the 631 channels and a few along the side rails on the pilot side.

A bit of a dilemma here. The plexi drill bit is 1/8" which is just a tad smaller than the #30 pilot on the countersink but you need to countersink the holes for screws. Also, once the hole is countersunk you need to enlarge the hole again for a #6 screw and you want it a bit loose in the canopy to give room for expansion/contraction of the canopy. In the end, you want the hole in the aluminum to be #28 (I think) so the screw is tight there, you want the hole in the canopy itself to be 5/32" and it needs to be countersunk to accept a screw or a dimpled skin.

It seems that most builders pre-drill the holes in the canopy frame to #40, clamp the canopy in place, use a 1/8" plexi bit to drill through the canopy, hit the #40 hole, go through the #40 making it a 1/8". Supposedly there is a #6 countersink with a 1/8" pilot on it but I don't have it and Avery's #6 countersink has a #27 pilot on it. They then countersink the canopy with a #6 countersink, enlarge the canopy hole to 5/32" (there is a plexi bit that size) then enlarge the hole in the aluminum to #28. All that make sense?

What I did: I marked the hole positions on the canopy frame. Using the 1/8" plexi bit, drilled through the canopy until the tip hit the aluminum underneath. Then used a regular #30 drill bit and enlarged the hole through the canopy and drilled through the aluminum. (I'd suggest being carefull if you do this. I was nervous as hell using the regular #30 bit on the canopy.... it usually made a squeeking sound going through and you could tell it wanted to grab.) I'll countersink the holes with my #30 countersink, then enlarge the canopy hole to 5/32" and the aluminum holes to #28 or whatever size they need to be for a #6 screw.

Another item to note. The builder has a choice on what to do with the gap/seam between the front and back halves of the canopy where they meet on the roll bar. If you do a really good job of creating straight edges on each half, you could just leave the gap exposed. Another option would be to create a fiberglass fairing attached to the front half of the canopy that would overlap the aft half when closed. The problem with that is that the fiberglass would get chipped/cracked/broken during the open/close process. What Ray did on his RV-9A was to create an aluminum strip to cover the gap. I have some of the leftover aluminum he used, so I'll be doing that same thing as I think it looks nice, covers that gap and won't be prone to cracking/chipping like fiberglass will.

(Time: 1 hr)

Tip-up frame riveting

Warmed up into the 40's today. I made some small adjustments to the canopy where it passes through the slot in the skin. I set the canopy back on the fuse and then crawled inside (through the baggage area) to push the F-631A channels up against the canopy. Bad news... they don't fit well. The problem is that I trimmed the ends where the two pieces mate. I figured since I trimmed the same pieces for the rollbar, I would have to do it for these too. Nope. I had about a 3/8" gap between the two. So I called Bill who hasn't started on his rollbar yet, let alone the canopy and he gave me two of his F-631 channels.

TIP #1: Don't trim the ends of the F-631A channels!

TIP #2: Don't drill the channels to the side rails until after you position the channels up against the canopy.

I adjusted the flange of the new channels and fluted them to take out the warp. Of course I did a much better job this time than with the first set. (I marked where the screws will go and put two deep flutes between each screw.) Climbed back inside and positioned the channels and clamped them in place. You then remove the canopy and carefully drill the splice plate without moving anything. I also drilled the ends of the side rails to the channels as well. The manual never tells you when to rivet this stuff together, so I decided to pull it all off and rivet everything together before I started drilling holes in the canopy.

The joint of the two 631A's. (I used rivets just taped in place to hold the alignment of the splice plate.)

Wide angle shot of the 631's.

Bottom end of 631s attached to W-725 rail.

Drilled, countersunk, deburred and riveted things together. So my tip-up frame is nearly complete. Only riveting left is the canopy brace parts and the side skirts. I'm waiting on the canopy brace pieces until I paint the inside of the frame.

I had a late afternoon migraine that put me down for a couple of hours. I wanted to get the canopy drilled but ran out of time. I did peel the plastic back on the canopy and taped things down, sanded the edges smooth, marked the frame for the holes that need to be drilled and set the canopy back in place. It's all ready to be drilled during the next work session.

(Time: 5 hrs)

C-702 skin done and some panel work

It is still cold here in KS... and we still have ice covering everything. The weather have been horrible about predicting warmer weather, which hasn't arrived. Been nearly a week since I've done any work, so this morning I plugged in the heaters and then ran up to help Ray set some rivets on the RV-10 wings. Came back to a 51 degree shop temp.. good enough. :-)

I spent some time finishing the rivets on the C-702 skin. I had a helluva time with the two forward corner rivets and ended up putting pop rivets on both sides. I just couldn't get a good shop head. Good to have that done.

Riveted tip-up frame back on fuse. (If you look close, you can see how I modified the slot to allow the canopy to fit better.)

I pulled out the panel and mounted the instruments I have. This amounted to enlarging the punched holes so the instrument would fit and drilling the screw holes. Mounted the ASI, AH and VSI.

The weather is really screwing me up. I really need to be working on the canopy. I don't have any other metal work to do... the canopy is the last bit of the fuse to work on. I'm gonna have to pull out some fiberglass parts to work on I guess. Even that could be tough in the cold.

(Time: 4 hrs)

No progress for a few days...

Monday night I had an EAA meeting to attend. Looks like the next couple of days are going to be very cold and we have a snow/ice storm moving in. Weather does look good for later this week though. Next session I'll be finishing the riveting on the tip-up frame.

I was reading Paul's log the other day and noticed he's getting a hangar soon... FOR $$450/MONTH! Holy Mother of Mary! Ya'll need to move to the midwest! Assuming I ever find a hangar, I expect to pay ~$175/month. The brand new hangars at K34 are going for $225.

Tip-up frame

Long day in the shop but finding it hard to remember all what I did.

I drilled the panel support ribs to the subpanel and I had to remake one of the little angles on the sides that holds the panel in place. For some reason the hole wasn't lining up all of a sudden.

I deburred and dimpled the C-702 skin and the canopy brace pieces. I also countersunk all the holes in the tip-up frame and spot primed places that won't get hit with paint later on. I riveted about 85% of the 702 skin to the frame before calling it a night. I just have the sides left to do.

Doesn't seem like 8 hours worth of work...

Tip-up brace supports drilled in place.

(Time: 8 hrs)

Project visit and air vents

Didn't get out to the shop until 11:00 or so and did some cleaning while I waited for Robert and Kelli to show up. Robert has recently finished a Team Airbike and is thinking about building an RV.

After they left I worked on the air vents. I thought the plastic vents Van's supplies were hokey and worthless so I bought some nice aluminum vents. They are smaller in diameter but look a helluva lot better. I used the tan adapter that Van's supplies and made an aluminum plate to go on the front of it to mount the actual vent.

How it will looked when mounted.

Here is the face plate I made. I'll just proseal the vent to the back of the plate.

The backside of the vent contraption.

I probably did some other things but I don't remember.. maybe I took some pictures.

(Time: 4 hrs)