Autopilot Installation begins...
The AP arrived on Saturday morning. Two servo's, control head and a box of hardware. Headed out to the airport early Sunday morning to get started. It took about 3 hours to get the wing servo installed. There are no installation instructions, only a few drawings. The drawings don't indicate what the bolt/washer setup is supposed to be, so I did what I could. I was also able to get the wiring at the servo completed.
Home for lunch and a siesta!
Back at the airport, I pulled off the baggage wall to start on the pitch servo. The bracket was installed several years ago when I built the fuselage, so it was just matter of bolting it on. Then I played with the servo push rod and it just didn't look right. It was too long and the servo arm was going over-center. Weird! The drawing called for the pushrod to be 5.75", which I had right. The bracket is supposed to be 2.8", so I checked.... it's 2.25 inches. UGH! I pulled the servo back off and put it aside while I figure out what to do. I can remove the bracket and shift it, would require drilling out 7 rivets. I'm going to call TT tomorrow and see if I can just shorten the pushrod arm instead as long as I don't have any binding or interference.
Next I started tackling all of the wiring at the control unit. I used a DB-25 connector with crimp-on pins instead of the solder-on that TT provides. A lot easier to deal with. All of the wires were run and marked, so it was just a matter of trimming to length, crimp on the pins and insert into the connector. I had to remove the wire going from the Garmin 496 to the data logger so I could feed the AP.
With the wires all done, I moved to installing the control head in the panel. The ADI Pilot II has two knobs on the face, so I had to create the cut-out for the left knob. I put to unit in place and screwed it in. Looks good! The afternoon accounted for another 3 hours or so.
Once I get the pitch servo situation figured out, I'll terminate the wires and I'll be ready to test the unit. I need to be ready to go by Friday as I'm headed up to pick up the grand-daughter in Moline, IL.
Home for lunch and a siesta!
Back at the airport, I pulled off the baggage wall to start on the pitch servo. The bracket was installed several years ago when I built the fuselage, so it was just matter of bolting it on. Then I played with the servo push rod and it just didn't look right. It was too long and the servo arm was going over-center. Weird! The drawing called for the pushrod to be 5.75", which I had right. The bracket is supposed to be 2.8", so I checked.... it's 2.25 inches. UGH! I pulled the servo back off and put it aside while I figure out what to do. I can remove the bracket and shift it, would require drilling out 7 rivets. I'm going to call TT tomorrow and see if I can just shorten the pushrod arm instead as long as I don't have any binding or interference.
Next I started tackling all of the wiring at the control unit. I used a DB-25 connector with crimp-on pins instead of the solder-on that TT provides. A lot easier to deal with. All of the wires were run and marked, so it was just a matter of trimming to length, crimp on the pins and insert into the connector. I had to remove the wire going from the Garmin 496 to the data logger so I could feed the AP.
With the wires all done, I moved to installing the control head in the panel. The ADI Pilot II has two knobs on the face, so I had to create the cut-out for the left knob. I put to unit in place and screwed it in. Looks good! The afternoon accounted for another 3 hours or so.
Once I get the pitch servo situation figured out, I'll terminate the wires and I'll be ready to test the unit. I need to be ready to go by Friday as I'm headed up to pick up the grand-daughter in Moline, IL.
posted by Matthew at 7:07 PM
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