Apr 04, 2022     Front Seat Belts - (6 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

I bought six 4-point harnesses at Oshkosh 2019 and had to figure out their installation. The front harnesses will be attached to the rear spar tube. I originally welded in an attach point for a three point harness, so I had to fabricate a bolt-on attach loint for the center points of the shower harnesses. The pictures show the result. Also, there was not quite enough strap material foe me to bend down to the flap handle, so i used steel strap to make 9" extensions for the shoulder harnesses. Otherwise, the harnesses bolted into the as-designed mounting points. The lap straps will need an extension if I gain much weight though.

  Apr 03, 2022     Main gear and toe - (8 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

This time represents work on the main gear, culminating in the adjustment of strut length and measurement of toe. Using 8 ft pieces of aluminum channel held flush to the tires, I measured the toe to be 1 degree in.

  Mar 31, 2022     Elevator Control Cables and misc things - (3 hours)       Category: Controls

I installed and pinned the castle nuts at the elevator bell crank and control arms and safety-wired the turnbuckles after tensioning the wires to 30 lbs. The tension increased when the stick was back and decreased with the stick forward. The elevators are nicely balanced, so I believe this is a function of the cable routing and the differences of geometry at the extremes.

I also installed some labels on the panel, installed the OAT probe, installed the ELT battery, and installed some of the inspection panels in anticipation of W&B day.

  Mar 30, 2022     Fuel Flow Test - (3 hours)       Category: Fuel System

The fuel flow check for N27AZ was performed on 30 March, 2022. The aircraft's main fuel tanks were drained until approximately three gallons remained in both right and left main tanks. Then, the aircraft was parked on the side of the taxiway with the tailwheel downhill, providing a deck angle of 19 degrees as recommended by users on the Bearhawk Forums. Flight testing will verify this angle.

The fuel supply line was disconnected from the carb and secured to an exhaust pipe nearby with the outlet at the same level as the carb inlet. A small table was configured to hold cans to catch gas as it ran through the fuel system.

To test the fuel flow, the fuel valve was placed in the desired position and the fuel was caught in a bucket until flow stabilized. Then, a timer was started and fuel was caught in an oil bottle for exactly 15 seconds. Four samples were taken at a time, then fuel flow was shut off and samples were weighed. All samples were very similar in weight. The sample shown in the picture contained 13.868 oz of fuel. This was converted to lbs per hour:

13.868 oz/(15 sec) x 4 / 16 (oz/lb) x 60 (min/hr) = 208 lb/hr

Fuel flow at max power is estimated using a 0.55 lb/hr/hp specific fuel consumption (this will be flight tested):

0.55 (lb/hr/hp) x 250 hp = 137.5 lb/hr

The final results of the fuel flow test in this configuration were"

208 lb/hr / 137.5 lb/hr = 1.51

Thus, the fuel system provides 151% of the fuel required at full power in this configuration.

The same test was conducted with the fuel selector in the Left and Right position. In each of these tests, fuel flow was 121% of the fuel required at max power. Thus, the aircraft will be placarded to takeoff, climb, and land with the fuel selector on BOTH.

The flow test was repeated with the fuel selector on BOTH until inadequate flow was measured at the outlet of the fuel line. At this point, there was 1.5 gal of fuel remaining in each tank. Therefore, each tank has an unusable fuel quantity of 1.5 gallons

  Mar 26, 2022     Wing Tip Landing Lights - (6 hours) Category: Wings Misc

Drilled another nose rib into the wing tips to help maintain proper profile and also act as a bracket for the landing light fixture. Then made brackets to hold the light bulbs and cut out a hole in the leading edge of the tip skin.

  Mar 25, 2022     Wing wiring - (6 hours) Category: Electrical

Installed the following wiring in wings. Used Molex connections wing root and at each appliance. Local grounds

Nav light power
Strobe light power
Strobe sync
Landing Light
Aux pump
Pitot heat (left wing only)
OAT gage (left wing only)

  Mar 24, 2022     Fuel leak check - (5 hours) Category: Fuel System

Bought 25 gal of gas and used two 5 gal containers and a siphon line to systematically move it from tank to tank. For each tank, I let it sit over night and used an inspection mirror to examine the surrounding fuselage structure for leaking gas. Fortunately, I found no leaks in the system.

  Mar 21, 2022     Stabilizer & Elevator troubleshoot - (12 hours) Category: Controls

When first assembled, I don't remember much resistance in the elevators. However, I didn't have the flying wires installed (or purchased) at the time, nor did I really tighten down the bolts in the elevator hinges. When fully assembled and with the appropriate amount of tension in the flying wires and control cables, it took 8 lbs of force to move the stick forward and back. I first used a syringe to inject valve grinding compound into the hinges through the grease holes. This did not provide significant improvement, possibly because the hinges rotate less than a quarter of rotation around the spar tube. Then I had to push a ton of grease through the hinges to clean out the valve grinding compound. After putting it back together, I lubed with Mouse Milk since that has seeping properties. Got the force down to 3-4 lbs. Undecided whether that is appropriate for flight. I add lube each day and wiggle the elevator in hopes that it will continue to loosen over time.

  Mar 18, 2022     Wing to fuselage gap parts - (10 hours) Category: Wings Misc

There are four pieces per side which bridge the gap between the wing and the fuselage. The top piece begins just aft of the skylight and ends at the forward end of the skylight. This is simply a strip that is drilled to both the wing and the fuselage, and also functions to hold the edge of the skylight lexan down. The forward pieces were very hard to build, and I ended up buying a sheet metal shrinker to make them presentable. They extend from the skylight, around the leading edge of the wing, and back to about the main spar on the bottom. The bottom pieces extend from here to the aft edge of the wing skin and have a small angled inboard edge. lastly, I made extensions for the flaps that miss the fuselage by about 1/4" when the flaps are down. They have some irregular inboard edges due to the flap pulleys and cable fairleads that populate that area.

  Jan 12, 2022     Wing Struts installation - (2 hours)       Category: Wings Misc

  Dec 27, 2021     Mounting the wings & control surfaces - (6 hours)       Category: Wings Misc

  Dec 19, 2021     Instrument panel and forward, final details - (6 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

  Dec 16, 2021     Prep for paint - (3 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

  Dec 08, 2021     Cowl final details - (3 hours)       Category: FWF

  Oct 30, 2021     Windscreen fairing - (6 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

  Oct 08, 2021     Final boot cowl and avionics before cowl paint - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

  Oct 06, 2021     Interior lights - (3 hours)       Category: Electrical

  Sep 24, 2021     Avionics work       Category: Electrical

  Feb 11, 2021     Panel fabrication       Category: Instrument Panel

  Jan 27, 2021     Brake line connections and oil drain       Category: Landing Gear

  Jan 22, 2021     Avionics tray and EMS planning - (4 hours) Category: FWF

It feels like progress has slowed down and head scratching has sped up as I confront avionics. I built an avionics tray to mount behind the instrument panel. Everything on it will be accessible by removing a panel on top of the dash. Now I'm sorting through wiring diagrams to figure out what attaches to what. On the bright side, I did a practice crimp and--while the EAA tutorial says to give it a 5 lb tug to test it--I pulled with a good portion of my strength and it was solid. And that's with a very old and cheap crimp tool.

  Jan 20, 2021     EGT, CHT probe installations - (1.5 hours) Category: FWF

After installing a few adel clamps to secure the parking brake and cabin heat cables, I marked and drilled the exhaust stack for the EGT probes and installed them so they angle aft as they exit the exhaust. I then installed the CHT probes

  Jan 19, 2021     Brake lines - (2.5 hours) Category: FWF

I assembled the polyflow brake lines between the reservoir and pilot-side brake cylinders. It proved to be very difficult to push the plastic line onto the metal fitting, either because of the excessively tight fit or perhaps the cold temps. I deburred the inside opening of the plastic line with the deburring tool and used a slow drill bit that was exactly the inside diameter of the line to clean out the inside, then it was possible, but very difficult, to assemble the fittings.

After discovering I'm short on nipples to screw into the brake cylinders and parking brake valve, I moved on to attaching the parking brake valve. I used mounting tabs under the forward fuselage floor (that were originally meant for a fuel valve) to attach a bracket for the parking brake valve and also a clamp to hold the end of the control cable.

  Jan 18, 2021     Firewall completion, engine re-installation and hookups - (12 hours)       Category: FWF

Jan 18: I drilled out the engine control cable mounting holes in the instrument panel to the required 3/4" diameter (except that my unibit got dull and simply wouldn't go the last step--need a new one), then strung the mixture cable through its hole and used it as a mockup for both the mixture and throttle to build the control plate that will mount to the bottom of the oil pan and hold the cables. I am making it out of 6061-T6 0.063" material which has an angle bent into it from when it was cut from the material used to make the fuselage door sills. I also re-mounted the exhaust support that had to be moved to make room for the oil cooler.

Jan 17: I spray-primed the oil cooler spacer tubes and installed the oil cooler. It fits just barely in the chosen location, but the 4" hose runs nicely up to its baffle inlet. I also finished running the magneto harness wires for the top spark plugs and behind the engine.

Jan 16: I played around with mag harness routing, and finally started bolting things down. I got as far as to bolt the harness wires for the lower spark plugs to the cylinders, with two thick washers underneath each on to allow for the lip of the valve cover.

Jan 15: Completed the rear heat control cable mounting, then re-mounted the engine and started hooking up hoses.

Jan 14: Completed firewall penetrations, then installed the control cable for the front heat box.

Jan 13: Screwed the cowl tunnel to the firewall. Because I left so little room on top of the bottom firewall flange, I had to use countersunk screws installed flush on the inside to clear the lower front fuselage tube. Unfortunately, their ends are sticking out into the cowl exit air, but nothing can be done about that now.

  Jan 11, 2021     Firewall completion - (8.7 hours)       Category: FWF

9 Jan: I removed the engine mount bolts and removed the firewall to begin cutting the holes for all the penetrations. This took some time, as had to figure out how much pressure to hoist the engine with to minimize the friction of the bolts. Once off, I drilled and riveted nutplates around the perimeter for cowl fasteners. I am only dimpling the holes where the cowl doors go and a few holes in between cowl fasteners and will be installing countersunk screws and nuts in those areas to hold the boot cowl to firewall. I also installed the camloc receptacles (two per side) to hold the cowl doors shut.

10 Jan: With the firewall laying on a sheet of plywood, I drilled the brake master cylinder in place (one fastening bolt will pass through a tab welded to the fuselage tube), the oil cooler mount, two cabin heat boxes, and the other pass throughs.

11 Jan: To cut the large holes for cabin heat boxes, I tried a hole saw but the stainless laughed at it. After scratching my head overnight, I decided to try a hammer and chisel, with the chisel held at an angle so a sharp point was penetrate the firewall and the blade would shear a little ways from the point. It worked great, but left a very rough edge. I cleaned up the edge with a grinding stone attachment in the dremmel, finishing it off with sandpaper, and it came out great. I also drilled the battery box to the firewall, and fabricated a backing plate that will go behind the firewall and fasten to the fuselage tubes so that the battery box is not only held in place by .016 stainless. Finally, I drilled for the master solenoid and B&C ground block.

12 Jan: I experimented with bundling the various wires and control cables that will be traveling to the engine to determine how large to drill the penetrations. I determined that my engine control hole (throttle, mixture, prop, carb heat, primer tube) will fit inside a 3/4" fire sleeve, so I modified a AN931-6-16 grommet to accommodate. The engine gauge wires will pass through an unmodified 6-16, and I will use a stainless pass-through that came with the heat boxes for the electrical system and ignition wires. The AN-931s will have a stainless shield over them for protection. I had to widen out one to 3/4" with a uni-bit, which required cleanup with a grinding stone in a dremmel. Finally, I riveted the oil cooler pieces and nutplates together so that tomorrow I am ready to start assembly.

  Jan 08, 2021     Cowl deburring, camloc backplates, and engine removal - (1.8 hours) Category: FWF

I deburred the nutplate holes on the lower cowl where the scoop will attach but realized I was short several nutplates so will rivet those on later. I then fabricated aluminum backplates that will go between the fiberglass nose bowl and camloc receptacle for the cowl doors to fasten to. Lastly, I removed the boot cowl and got the crane in place to remove the engine for some final firewall work before bolting it on for the last time.

  Jan 07, 2021     Cowl final things - (2.5 hours)       Category: FWF

I deburred and riveted the cowl exit lip and inner scoop piece to the bottom cowl, and then drilled the bottom cowl for CAMLOC receptacles. To do this, I widened the original hole out to a T-sized bit, then stuck the shaft of the bit through the hole to hold the CAMLOC receptacle in place while drilling the first leg. Then I cleco'd that leg and drilled the second leg, then removed the cleco and drill bit, deburred, and it's ready to rivet.

  Jan 06, 2021     Cowl air scoop and removal - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

Not a lot of physical progress today. The cowl air scoop forms a tunnel with the air filter inside it. Some sort of baffling needs to stop the air from flowing all the way through the tunnel past the air filter, and I attempted a few different iterations of that, but each one had its own problems. Finally, I decided to handle the problem with a new piece of fabric baffling that will have a circle cut in it exactly the size of the air filter, and fill the gap between the filter and the tunnel. It's on order.

I trimmed the exit lip and finished up the inside piece that goes above the cowl air scoop to close in the cowl there. Then, I removed the cowl from the plane and trimmed the doors to length and deburred the edge.

  Jan 05, 2021     Bottom cowl scoop and inside fairing - (3 hours) Category: FWF

I completed drilling the scoop to the bottom cowl. Not very scientific--I just ensured it was centered and square. I then trimmed an angle into the leading edge of the scoop. After this was drilled I used a posterboard template to trace out a piece for the cowl exit lip. I then cut the piece and fashioned the curve by drilling every 1.125" and making the appropriate bend. Lastly, I made the inside fairing to close in the area above the air filter using the same method. While I originally thought the extra area of the air entrance vs standard kit air boxes would be an advantage, a brief calculation of the airflow through a 540 cu in engine at 2400 RPM revealed it would only need between approx 5 - 15 sq in depending on speed.

  Jan 04, 2021     Cowl fabrication - (11 hours)       Category: FWF

This entry represents 31 Dec - 4 Jan.

I decided to change course and finish up the cowl. I used paper templates to cut out oversized door pieces and drilled them and the hinges to the upper cowl. I then used ratchet straps to tighten the doors down and reached inside to trace the line of the firewall on the aft door edges, and carefully trimmed the forward edge until it fit into the nose bowl seat. I then measured out where the camlocs will attach and drilled the doors to the nose bowl, firewall, and finally the lower cowl while ensuring the ratchet straps were very tight.

I also took Justice and Asa to Greene County Airport to use their 4 ft roller and brake to fabricate the rounded air scoop for the bottom of the cowl and the rounded lip that will go on the corner between the firewall and cowl tunnel.

There were times that I simply stopped working and sat in the cockpit for quite a while to visualize the instrument panel and make airplane noises.

  Dec 30, 2020     Cowl and firewall - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

I installed the cowl just enough to measure how large of aluminum pieces I need to cut for the doors, then removed everything and focused on the firewall. My aim was to tape all the firewall accessories in place and mark the holes where penetrations will be drilled, then remove the firewall and cut all the openings. The following is a list of all the components that I'm considering and what factors play into their location on the firewall.

- Note, there will be a cooling lip above the cowl tunnel so I'm saving a bit of real estate there
- For all components, ensure adequate clearance to access oil filter, oil screen (practice an oil change before drilling anything, including torque wrench access)
- Oil cooler: need to locate the bracket where it will fit with the cooler on it between the engine mount tubes, and were a 4" hose can travel to the baffle orifice
- Crankcase breather: I will have a large aluminum tube traveling down the firewall from a flexible crankcase breather hose and terminating over an exhaust pipe
- Battery box: Need space above the box to slide the battery out (~6.5" in the case of my large EarthX). Also want it to be close to...
- Battery master solenoid: close to battery, out of the way of everything else. Prefer to use bolt attaching through the firewall to fuselage structure.
- Brake reservoir: Near parking brake, out of the way of everything else, near edge of firewall for easy filling.
- Cabin heat box x2: Ensure heat outlets are at suitable places on rear side of firewall (above rudder pedals) and ensure hoses have clearance to attach
- Power Wire penetrations: grouped near battery, preferably near engine mount attach point to use that structure as wire supports
- EMS wires: preferably near engine mount attach point to use that structure as wire supports
- Cable penetrations: Throttle, mixture, carb heat, prop, primer tube: all should allow reasonably straight passage through the firewall to their destinations
- Cable penetrations: Cabin heat: allow for easy access to control cabin heat valves

  Dec 29, 2020     Primer and Mag Harness - (2 hours) Category: FWF

I learned that the magneto harness--while appearing to be symmetrical around the cap contact points--can only be installed in one orientation--the correct one. As I have taken one of the caps on and off several times, I never realized this and in retrospect I always accidentally installed it correctly. Now, they are both screwed on and I'm waiting on more high temp adel-style clamps to finalize the harness installation.

I also fiddled with the primer tubing. I couldn't determine for sure how the original primer tubes were installed, I am able to recycle most of them to build a 5 cylinder priming system while saving loads of time off building it from scratch. I will keep cyl #5 open to install the manifold pressure gauge. More to build still here.

  Dec 28, 2020     Oil door, Mag harness, Primer lines - (3 hours)       Category: FWF

I installed the camlocs in the oil door one at a time using the following steps:
1) Drill through the door and substrate, widening to a D-size bit which is the right size for a very tight fit to a 2600 series camloc stud
2) Drill the substrate hole out to S-size bit.
3) Use the back end of the S bit to hold the camloc backing plate in place while drilling and clecoing the two #40 holes.
4) Debur and countersink as required, and rivet the backing plate in place.
5) Install the camloc stud with the retaining washer.

I then installed the mag harnesses, not knowing at the time that they can only be oriented one way. Turns out, I installed both in the correct orientation on the first try completely by accident. Lastly, I squirted the red Permatex around the baffles wherever sealing was required. I also did considerable had scratching to figure out how the bent-up primer lines I had were supposed to be assembled and realized that I'm short on hardware. ACS here I come.

Later, I riveted nutplates around the bottom side of the nose bowl where the bottom cowl attaches and also along the nose bowl split.

  Dec 19, 2020     Bottom cowl and nose bowl - (4 hours) Category: FWF

For both the 19th and 20th, I finalized the size of the carb hole in the bottom cowl and riveted the entire bottom cowl together. I also started on the nose bowl, cutting backing straps to go around the inside where the bottom cowl attaches and along the nose bowl split.

  Dec 18, 2020     Bottom cowl - (2 hours) Category: FWF

I fabricated the four steel fittings for the lower cowl attachment at the corners. The forward steel fittings had a joggle in them--along with the c-channel--to go underneath the nose bowl for a more flush finish. The rear fittings will simply go over the firewall and boot cowl flange. I made the fittings the full inside width of the c-channel so there would be plenty of room to install the camloc hardware.

I also drilled additional holes between the firewall flange and boot cowl. These will have a flat head screw to hold the two pieces together firmly whenever the cowl is removed.

  Dec 17, 2020     Bottom Cowl - (2 hours) Category: FWF

This morning I drilled all around the firewall flange to a #21 size hole which will open up to fit a #8 screw when dimpled. Then i went around the areas that will not be dimpled (everywhere thats not under the cowl door) and opened them up to #19.

I removed the bottom cowl and cut out the cowl exit hole to be approx 100 square inches, and also opened up the airbox hole as required for the carb heat hose and control cable.

Finally, I cut some .032 steel for the attach point reinforcements. I'm making these larger than the Beartracks suggests, because I want the Dzus fasteners to penetrate these and have a large diameter.

  Dec 16, 2020     Nose bowl, misc - (3 hours) Category: FWF

I used poster board paper to make templates for the reinforcing strap that goes inside the lower nose bowl and drilled through both for #8 nut plates. Bearteacks suggests -4 rivets here, but I want the option of easily disassembling it if needed.

  Dec 15, 2020     Nose bowl - (2 hours) Category: FWF

I drilled out the top cowl to nose bowl interface for #8 screws. I wanted a hefty backing under the top nose bowl flange, because with the top cowl installed the forward part of the skin has a lot of flex. So I bent an 0.032 aluminum angle and fluted the flange to match the slight curve of the top nose bowl, then drilled it into place being sure there was plenty of clearance from the baffles. The flange and nose bowl were drilled for nutplates, then epoxied together and the nutplates were riveted in.

  Dec 14, 2020     Baffling: tension wires - (2.5 hours) Category: FWF

It took more time than expected to install these, mainly because of the difficulty of threading the protective tubing onto the wires. The kit came with plastic tubing to install on the wires wherever they touched the engine. Because of the bends at the ends of the wires, I basically had to thread each piece on, and some of the wires had 4 pieces on it. It's installed though. I also installed the bolts that plug the spark plug holes in the baffling. The last hour was spent fiddling with the lower cowl and planning for it's installation along with planning for the air box scoop.

  Dec 14, 2020     Top cowl riveting - (1.5 hours)       Category: FWF

I did some final deburring and riveted the top cowl piece except for the steel fittings at the corners (paint is still drying). I also applied antiseize to the spark plugs and torqued them.

  Dec 13, 2020     Top cowl fittings, dimpling, deburring - (3 hours) Category: FWF

I cut out steel fittings for the top cowl. I put a joggle in them so that they will go underneath the nose bowl flange. In the evening, I deburred and dimpled the top cowl pieces to prep for riveting.

  Dec 12, 2020     Baffle seals done - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

I did some final trimming and riveting of the baffle seals in the first hour and a half. After that, I removed the spark plug hole plugs to let any preservation oil drip out and checked the gap on the spark plugs. I threaded them into the cylinders just to close the holes until my anti seize arrives.

Finally, I tried out the Vans hose that is supposed to be for the crankcase breather. Its short, so will require a 1" aluminum tube to vent out the bottom of the cowl. I found one in the corner of the shop that was previously used to make a tool that was supposed to turn on the city water to the house we bought in 2015 so that we could have indoor plumbing for Thanksgiving. It didn't work for that, but if it cleans up nicely it will be a great breather tube.

  Dec 11, 2020     Baffle seals - (1 hour) Category: FWF

Using poster board as a template, I made seal pieces for the baffle area around the prop flange and cut vertical slits in the fabric seals for the upper cowl c-channels.

  Dec 10, 2020     Baffle fabric seal - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

The fabric has a curve to it that I hope will come out with heat. Otherwise, its fair easy to install this stuff. I'm mainly using 4" strips that extend 2.5" above the baffle, and the rivet hole is about 0.5" below the baffle edge. I arrived at these numbers using the TLAR ("that looks about right ") method. I still need to do the forward area.

  Dec 09, 2020     Alternator, baffles final install, and fabric - (2 hours) Category: FWF

I figured it would be easiest to torque and safety wire the alternator bolts prior to permanently installing the baffles (first hour). Then I attached the baffling for the last time hopefully. I then drilled and deburred the rivet holes for the fabric using the 1.5" to 2" spacing recommend in the Vans instructions.

  Dec 08, 2020     Baffles and engine bolt - (2 hours) Category: FWF

The first hour was spent riveting the final pieces to the baffle, and they are now ready for permanent installation and fabric seal treatment.

Then, I replaced the bolts holding the engine to the mount. I originally overtorqued them by accident and decided I would feel best if I replaced them. Will do the same for the bolts hiding the mount to the fuselage.

  Dec 07, 2020     Oil door and baffles - (5 hours)       Category: FWF

I ended up rebuilding the oil door to where the hinge attaches to an angle rather than to the cowl skin itself. It didn't eliminate the gap, but it got smaller. Now I see why many people don't build their oil doors this way.

Then, I fabricated the conical baffle piece and the tension wires that hold the baffles under the cylinders, and a few other final baffle details.

  Dec 07, 2020     Oil door - (2 hours) Category: FWF

I cut the hinge for the oil dip stick door and drilled it to the cowl such that the bulge of the hinge is inside. I might do it different on the cowl doors, however, because there is still quite a gap required between the door skins and the cowl skin along the hinge line to allow full motion of the hinge. I probably should have attached the cowl side if the hinge to an angle piece rather than to the cowl skin itself.

  Dec 06, 2020     Baffles and upper cowl - (3 hours) Category: FWF

I drilled the remainder of the upper cowl to the c channels and cut out a door for the oil dip stick. There is enough flexibility in the upper cowl that I decided to add a stiffener at the forward edge of the oil door.

I also made a new left forward top baffle and installed nutplates where required on the baffles.

  Dec 05, 2020     Baffles and upper cowl - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

I finished riveting together the forward baffle assemblies except for a single piece that I wanted to re-make. I'm so low on 0.032 material that I needed to make the upper cowl section first to ensure I had enough, so I cut it out and didnt quite finish drilling it to the C channel.

  Dec 04, 2020     Front baffles, misc - (5 hours) Category: FWF

Over the last few days, I intermittently worked on the front baffles. The RV-10 baffle kit is too short in the front, so I fabricated an extension for each side which is riveted to the native material on the right side, and will be screwed to the native material on the left side. The left side will encircle the governor, so it must be removable to remove the governor. The extensions are trimmed to the nose bowl contour, but require final deburring and riveting before completion. Some of these mornings were spent with family in the garage, occasionally sitting in the airplane just for fun.

  Dec 01, 2020     Baffling and misc - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

For the first hour, I examined the throttle and mixture cable bracket from Dan's PA32-260 (pictured below) thinking I could copy it exactly, but turns out the engine mount lower tube is in the way. I also want to procure the mixture cable and end hardware before progressing there. The Vans cable bracket definitely won't work. I then started replacing an oil drain plug with the quick drain plug i bought. The aft plug wouldn't budge, and I'm not entirely sure it was meant to be a drain plug, do I cut the safety wire on the right plug only to find the quick drain plug wouldn't go in because of interference from the exhaust. So I set that aside for now.

The second hour was spent doing the final trimming and deburring if the lower front baffles. Now we're on to the upper front baffles, which will take some extra special attention since I already had to do the lower baffles different fromnthe plans.

  Nov 29, 2020     Removing an engine from a PA-32 - (8 hours)       Category: FWF

This is a picture log of removing an engine from a PA-32-260. The primary purpose of these pics is to aid in reinstallation.

  Nov 29, 2020     Rear Baffles - (2.5 hours) Category: FWF

I did the final trimming, filing, and deburring of the rear baffles and the support bracket. They are complete minus the fabric seal. I trimmed the forward baffles and studied the plans to understand their interface with the nose bowl.

  Nov 28, 2020     Rear Baffles - (2.5 hours)       Category: FWF

I spent way too much time looking at the carb Iron box from different angles, imagining how to build a scoop for it. Then started working on the rear baffles again, installing the oil cooler hose flange and the carb heat and cabin heat hose flanges. I also traced final trim lines on the rear baffles and shortened the center support bracket.

  Nov 27, 2020     Bottom Cowl - (3 hours)       Category: FWF

I match drilled some holes for a new left side cowl skin, then cleco'd the skin in place and drilled the nose bowl using the same technique as the right side with the same good results. I then pushed up on the bottom seam until it was flush and clamped the back end toward the firewall. Then I removed both skins and drilled a double row of rivets along the seam. Finally, I cleco'd the top parts of the skins on and installed the carburetor. I then pulled each side skin up over the carb and traced the required cutout. Once the cutout was made, I installed all the clecos, carburetor, and air box.

  Nov 26, 2020     Bottom Cowl       Category: FWF

I marked and drilled the nose bowl between the two bottom c-channels on 3" centers with a double row of rivets in the bottom middle to join the two halves. Then I experimented on the left side bottom cowl piece to figure out the best way to tightly drill it to the nose bowl. On my first attempt, I wrapped ratchet straps around it and back drilled it using. 90 degree attachment in the drill. This worked ok until I trimmed the forward edge to nest inside the nose bowl flange. This decreased the radius around which the skin was wrapped, which caused some small but noticeable waves between rivet holes. I tried to fix this by rolling the edge but didn't like the result.

With this lesson learned, I trimmed the forward edge of the right side piece before drilling. I then wrapped it in ratchet straps, and used another ratchet strap on the bottom to pull it tight from a point on the wall of the shop. This held it tight, but I still found a need to press in on the bottom nose bowl before drilling to get perfectly flush. I found an accommodating piece of plywood to do the job while I back drilled from inside. The right side piece came out perfect. I then cut another piece of aluminum for the left side. I barely have enough material left to make the cowl doors so no more mistakes.

  Nov 25, 2020     Bottom cowl - (2.3 hours)       Category: FWF

This morning I cut out two pieces for the bottom cowl using the posterboard template I made yesterday and started by drilling them to the lower C-channels. I wrapped ratchet straps around the cowl to hold them flush and went down the firewall end with my homemade strap duplicator and drilled the lower cowl to the firewall on both sides.

  Nov 24, 2020     Exhaust hangers and lower cowl - (1.5 hours)       Category: FWF

The Vetterman exhaust comes with four hangers which are supposed to suspend the two exhaust exit pipes from three motor mounts. As the Bearhawk has only two motor mounts in that area, some improvisation is required. My first try resulted in suspending the each exit tube from an area of the engine mount above it, then tie them together with a third hanger. Once I get confirmation from Clint that this is ok, I'll trim everything to fit and tighten up the hardware.

After that, I used poster board to make templates to cut out aluminum for the lower cowl. I'm down to a single sheet of 4x12 .025 so want to ensure I use it sparingly as I still have doors and gap fairings to make.

Finally, I took these pics of the accessory case to solicit aid in identifying these ports.

  Nov 23, 2020     C-channels and misc - (4 hours)       Category: FWF

I completed the C-channels for the cowling and attached the carb and air box to check the length required for engine controls. Beyond that, I spent a lot of time test fitting different accessories and tracing locations onto the firewall, and figuring out exactly what I need to finish up. Which means an Aircraft Spruce order is in order.

  Nov 22, 2020     C-channels - (4 hours) Category: FWF

I trimmed the c-channels to length and started fitting them in place. I scratched my head for a while determining the best way to figure out the center of the nose bowl as a reference point. Finally, I eyeballed from the center of the engine up to the nose bowl and made a mark, then measured from that mark around the top half of the nose bowl to the seam on each side and it matched perfectly, so I called that center. I then spaced the top channels apart just enough to get the oil dip stick out, and drilled them in place. If I would have made this a solid .032 piece like Bob spec'd, I could have made it narrower, but it ended about 13.5" wide.

The bottom channels were more challenging because they have to be level with the door sills, clear the muffler off the #6 cylinder by at least 1/2", and provide for access to the bottom spark plug on the #1 and #2 cylinders. I measured a billion times so I could cut/drill once, and it worked. The spark plug access is tricky as I will have to put the socket on the spark plug before inserting the ratchet, and the ratchet has to be nested in the C-channel to get on the socket, but I tested it on both sides and it's comfortably doable. I then used the digital level to ensure they were level with the door frames and drilled.

  Nov 21, 2020     Nose bowl, baffles, exhaust - (2.5 hours)       Category: FWF

I used a level with some blocks on it to get the nose bowl perfectly level before fixing it in place. I then used a contraption made with aluminum angle to trace cut lines on the baffles. I will cut 5/8" below these lines. Next i wanted to fix the nose bowl in place by attaching the four c-channels but to locate those i needed to have the exhaust bolted on to ensure proper clearance. So I assembled the exhaust except for the hanger hardware.

  Nov 20, 2020     Prop install and removal, wood backplate, misc - (5 hours)       Category: FWF

Late yesterday Amber helped me bolt the prop on. This allowed me to measure where the nose bowl needed to be and build a wood plate to clamp it to. This morning, I removed the prop and drilled the nose bowl halves together, among several other random things. Later in the day I made the wood piece and clamped the nose bowl into position.

  Nov 19, 2020     Front baffles and accessories - (3 hours) Category: FWF

I did most of the assembly work on the front baffles, but haven't riveted them together completely until I can get the nose bowl in position to test their angle. To do this, I first had to bolt on the alternator to check the belt length so that I could install the starter ring gear and prop with the option of not removing it again. I also played with the governor and starter installation a little, realizing I didn't have any tech data on that. Finally, I bolted and torqued the spinner back plate onto the prop hub so now the prop is ready to install.

  Nov 18, 2020     Right side baffles - (3.5 hours) Category: FWF

I assembled the baffles that go behind cylinder #5 and also the ones that go on the side of the engine. Next step was to remove bolts from the engine case to install brackets to support the baffles. I finally temporarily installed all completed baffles (everything but in front of the engine) to check for fit and to prepare for the front baffles.

  Nov 17, 2020     Baffles - (2.5 hours) Category: FWF

I will endeavor to keep accurate records on the time it takes me to complete the baffles, as I've struggled to find any objective data thus far. I'm not including the ~1 hour I took last night to open the box, unpack everything, and look over the documentation. This could have taken 5 minutes, but the kids were watching a movie so I took longer. At first glance, I realized that I needed to get my deburring wheel operational again because deburring was going to take a huge amount of time with all the small pieces with a large amount of cumulative edge length. I managed to drill, deburr, and rivet the first three major baffle pieces and the stiffener angle near the #6 cylinder.

  Nov 16, 2020     Engine Mounting - (1.5 hours)       Category: FWF

The engine is mounted! I started by applying Tef-Gel to the engine mount bolts to 1) protect them from corrosion, and 2) make it easier to remove them if necessary. I'm anticipating needed to remove the engine/mount one more time to complete firewall penetrations. Once bolts were inserted in the engine mount, I hoisted the engine and used hand pressure to hole it at the correct angle while getting the bolts to slide in one at a time, with the help of a rubber mallet. From there, the nuts were installed, torqued, then I very slowly lowered the engine to see what would happen to the tail of the airplane. Sure enough, the tail lifted off its pedestal and required a few pounds of force to keep her down. So I hung a 5 gal bucket full of scrap steel and lead from the other tail handle. Finally, I cut a black garbage bag to act as an engine cover by day.

  Nov 15, 2020     Engine mounting prep - (2 hours)       Category: FWF

Part Numbers:
Barry 94110-01
AN7-27 bolt w/castle nut, various washers

I finished some rearranging of the garage, then rolled the engine and hoist into position. At this point, I have not prepared the firewall at all beyond screwing it to the mounting tabs, so plenty more work in that department is required.

I then began the delicate process of bolting the engine mount to the ears on the engine case. This proved to be more difficult then anticipated, as the holes are only aligned when the Barry mounts are compressed somewhat, so after the first three bolts were inserted, the fourth hole was out of alignment by more then half the bolt's diameter. I used my trusty channel lock pliers (the jaws wrapped in plenty of protective duct tape) to pry the motor mount ear and engine mount flange toward each other in shearing motion until I could get the bolt slid in, then it was mostly downhill from there as I tried different washer combinations to see ensure the nut was clamping down on the Barry assembly and the pin hole aligned with the castle nut when the proper torque was applied.

The instructions with the Barry mounts were vague, and there was a small hole drilled just offset from the metal faces of the mounts. I assumed this hole could partly function as a moisture vent if nothing else, so I ensured all mounts were oriented so that hole was below the bolt. Once everything was together, I torqued the bolts.

  Nov 14, 2020     Prep for engine installation - (3 hours)       Category: FWF

I am well overdue for a shop cleaning, and now that it's engine hanging time and I need to pull the fuselage out anyway, it is time for a good cleaning. I started in the morning, and finished up in an afternoon session with Bliss as my helper. I dragged the fuselage outside to swap it's orientation in the garage so that I will be doing the engine work near the entry door and not near the dirty garage door. Bliss helped by placing a board wherever I wanted to put down the tail. I deflated the tires to clear the garage door frame, but am not certain it's actually necessary. Makes me feel better though. Finally, I covered the fuselage in a new plastic paint tarp to protect it from my garage.

  Nov 13, 2020     Rear heat outlet - (2 hours) Category: Interior Finish

I re-made the rear heat outlet (just aft of rear seats) from a fancy box to just a flange that is screwed to the floor. I also built a plate and backing plate to fill in the hole left from the box. Finally, I deburred and re-installed the firewall, so nearly ready for the engine installation.

  Nov 12, 2020     Fuselage access covers - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I finished fabricating, trimming, deburring, prepping, and priming the six access covers for the aft fuselage (one for each side of the forward stab tube, then an upper and lower on each side for the rear tube). I plan to cover these in the yellow Oratex just so they blend in as well as possible.

Following that, I began installing the rear heat box outlet under the floor, but realized that I fabricated it before installing the stringers, and now it interferes with the stringers. My backup plan is to just have the SCEET tube bend 90 deg to a flange screwed to the floor. This method will be lighter and a cleaner installation, but I will have some work to do filling in the existing hole in the floor.

  Nov 11, 2020     Fuselage access covers - (1.5 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I started fabricating the covers for the aft fuselage access holes.

  Nov 10, 2020     Rudder cable exits - (1.5 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I finished up gluing the rudder cable exit backing plates on each side, and also needed to adjust the rudder cable by shortening the 4130 tabs that set the distance between the rudder pedal horn and the cable shackle to achieve a full 30 degrees of travel. On the left side, I need to glue a .032 washer on the stop bolt to get the distance right. I also removed the firewall and deburred many of the holes prior to permanent installation.

  Nov 09, 2020     Rudder cable exit backplate fab and misc tasks - (7 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

Between the 6th and 9th, I made some back plates for where the cable exits the fuselage, and mounted the rudder so I could get the exit points just right. I also determined that the rudder travel was not reaching a full 30 deg so that will require adjustment. I also experimented with various means of filling in gaps between the fabric and fuselage members in the interior, but ended up removing the patches because it looked worse with them on. I went around the fuselage with a soldering iron to make holes for screws, bolts, cable exits, drain holes, pulleys, etc.

  Nov 05, 2020     Under Door Fabric and float patches - (1 hour) Category: Fabric Cover

I finished the right side under door fabric and cut out a patch to put over the float fitting area. Even so, It's hard to make that area look perfect. I might solicit advice from Lars.

  Nov 04, 2020     Under door fabric - (2.2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I glued the left side under door fabric with no issues. I was hoping to wrap it up around the door sill as a contiguous piece, but unfortunately I had to slice it at the bend in the door sill. Doesn't look terrible, especially if I install a door sill plate at a later date. I did the same on the right side, but didn't quite finish gluing all around.

  Nov 03, 2020     Under main door fabric areas - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

Happy birthday Ella, and happy election day! I examined the remaining pieces of fabric and determined there is barely enough to do under the main doors, along with the back and bottom of the rear seat and the bottom of the main seats. So I started work on the fuselage side panels by trimming and tracing them followed by two coats of glue in the basement. The garage was too cold to apply glue this morning, but I will start on that tomorrow and hopefully get the fuselage gluing completed this week.

  Nov 02, 2020     Final shrinking part 2 - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I finished the final shrinking. Unfortunately, I experienced a runaway temperature condition on the heat gun while trying to even out the fabric attachment over the bottom longeron, and I burned a hole in the Oratex. So cleaned the area very well and glued a patch over the hole. It's great how easy repairs are, but I was hoping to to have repairs on my brand new airplane! This is the third time I've burned a hole in the fabric due to runaway heat (where I'm humming along at 450 deg, then suddenly a hole opens up on the fabric and I realize the heat gun is climbing through 800 deg F). There is one other on the fuselage in a very discreet location and another on the bottom of a control surface. The most significant repair to date is on an aileron where molten lead came out a unnoticed hole and burned away some fabric.

  Oct 27, 2020     Final shrinking - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I got part way through the final exterior fabric shrinking, including applying the heat gun to any edges where the fabric was glued a little too far around a curve. Then, we went on vacation.

  Oct 26, 2020     Fuselage top - (1.5 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I spot glued, trimmed, and finished the top fuselage fabric and also organized my leftover Oratex pieces to figure out what to keep and what not to keep.

  Oct 26, 2020     Fuselage Tapes - (3.5 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I glued down the 2" tapes along the vertical stabilizer ribs, and laid a 3" tape on top of the vertical stab. Then I ran two 3" tapes down the top stringers to the base of the vertical stab, and another 3" tape up the vertical stab. Because there were two tapes converging on one at the base of the stab, I decided to use a separate tape for the stab rather than trying the technique suggested in the manual where a single tape was used with a complex process of cleaning the glue off, gluing both surfaces, and shrinking the middle.

  Oct 25, 2020     Reinforcing tape and rib/stringer lacing - (3 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I applied reinforcing tape over the vertical stab ribs, and also along the first few feet of top fuselage stringers behind the skylight. I then rib laced all of those areas. and applied a couple coats of glue

  Oct 23, 2020     Top Fabric - (1.5 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

After looking at it in better light, the top stringer to stabilizer transition is actually symmetrical. The garage lighting originally cast a shadow on one side that made it look lopsided. So I pulled out the piece of fabric I cut for the top, and marked it for gluing, then taped the top fuselage for gluing, and applied the first coat of glue to both.

  Oct 22, 2020     Left Side Fabric - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I spent all morning just trying to get the transition from the top stringer to vertical stab to lay flat and shrink the surrounding fabric. Two challenges remain with no clear way forward yet. The first challenge is the contour of the fabric is different on the left side vs right, likely because of a difference in how I pulled on the fabric before gluing. I had no idea it would be so different. Challenge two, somewhat related to the first one, is that there was too much loose material next to the transition area, so shrinking at high temperatures did not fully pull the fabric tight. I mitigated heating the glue holding the fabric to the top longeron and pulling it down over the longeron and re-gluing it, then shrinking the loose fabric that is now below the longeron. It not looks tight, but isn't as tight as I would like, and is still not symmetrical on either side of the vertical stab.

  Oct 21, 2020     Left side fabric - (3 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I glued and shrunk the fabric at the forward end of the left side, and trimmed/glued the fabric down the stringer toward the vertical stab. Later in the day, I glued the fabric on the rudder post and vertical stab except for about 2 feet in the area around the stringer-to-stabilizer transition area which will require some special application of heat.

  Oct 20, 2020     Let side fabric Category: Fabric Cover

Using the same apparatus as I used on the right side, I stretched the fabric at the forward end of the lift side and marked it for glue application. I also marked and applied glue to the fabric and structure in the vertical stab area.

  Oct 19, 2020     Left side fabric - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I glued the fabric along the top longeron, the window and door frames, and the rear inspection frame. Then gave it an initial shrinking with the iron and heat gun. I feel better about this side regarding the upper stringer to vertical stab transition as I allowed for more material to make the fold over the top longeron. I recommend ensuring you have enough fabric at that transition before gluing any of the rudder post or anything else above the lower longeron.

  Oct 18, 2020     Left Side fabric - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I used the magnets to set the left side fabric in place and started ironing along the bottom longeron. After the initial tack, I creased the excess along the tape line and cut it before gluing it all down. I followed with the heat gun and felt blade along the bottom. The second picture below shows the fabric in the area of the float mount. I plan to make another patch to go over this area to ensure it's weather tight before calling the fabric complete.

  Oct 17, 2020     Left side fabric - (1 hour)       Category: Fabric Cover

Last night and this morning I used magnets to preliminarily attach the left side fabric, then traced and trimmed it before removal. I then spread it out on the living room floor to clean and brush on the glue.

  Oct 16, 2020     Avionics arrived - (.5 hour)       Category: Instrument Panel

I opened the boxes that came in a shipment from GRT and inventoried everything. I bought the Horizon 10.1 with a remote magnetometer and remote mounted EMS. It includes the AOA and IFR approach options and also their SafeFly GPS.

  Oct 16, 2020     Left Side Fabric - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

This morning I filed down some high spots on the fuselage and spot-painted them, and also riveted the round window frame on. I finished up the right side fabric by ironing down some loose edges, and finally riveted the lower forward aluminum backings using a combination of CCC-42 pop rivets and -4 solid rivets. I'm really glad that I re-made those.

  Oct 15, 2020     Misc fabric tasks - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I painted the aluminum that backs the fabric around the gear legs, and also brushed glue in all the grooves along the sides both in the baggage compartment and between the right lower longeron and right side fabric. I also used JB Weld to attach the left side access frame at the tail and ironed on the right side round forward access frame for the tail's forward spar. I located it to be somewhat centered between the upper stringer and upper longeron so that the spar carry-through will be somewhat centered in the hole. This allows an opening big enough to get my hand in when the carry-through is not in place so that I can connect the trim cables when needed.

  Oct 14, 2020     Misc fabric tasks - (2 hours) Category: FWF

I originally made aluminum pieces to go under the fabric in the area of the landing gear legs and aileron cable pulley so that there would be no loose edges in the fabric. When I pulled those out, I was dissatisfied in how much space I cut out around those features. Without fairings on top of the gear, there would be a lot of daylight coming through there. So I re-made them to be smaller. Once the paint dries, I'll rivet them on and start on the fabric in that area.

  Oct 13, 2020     Right Side Fabric - (2 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I visually completed the right side fabric piece by gluing all around the vertical stabilizer and shrinking with the heat gun and iron. I went over all the fabric with the iron at 130 C and will later do it again at 160 C. I still need to finish gluing around the top stringer and forward stringer, but will need to re-apply some glue in that area as I believe I already activated the existing glue with the shrinking.

  Oct 12, 2020     Right side fabric - stringer to tail transition - (1 hour)       Category: Fabric Cover

Using lots of stretching and tugging, and aided by strategic cuts in the fabric, I was able to attach the fabric to the stringer-stabilizer transition area. I was worried there would be difficulty here as it required a lot of stretching to avoid having large wrinkles in the area at the base of the stabilizer. Later in the day, I traced the stabilizer onto the remaining fabric and applied glue to the remainder of the stabilizer and fabric.

  Oct 09, 2020     Right side fabric - (0.5 hour) Category: Fabric Cover

I stretched and glued the fabric at the forward end of the right side to the stringers and top former, then did some shrinking to verify eventual satisfactory tightness. I think after shrinking at 160 C it will be amazing.

  Oct 08, 2020     Right Side Fabric - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

Hopefully the left side goes faster! I glued the fabric to the stringer above the first bay aft of the baggage door, then started working on the forward part. As it sat, there was a large longitudinal wrinkle in the fabric because of the shape of the forward fuselage. After pulling and heating a lot, my plan evolved to using large clamps to hold the fabric tight in multiple directions (forward and in), then use the heat gun on the fabric until the wrinkles were out. I had to stretch a little, heat a little, stretch a little, heat a little, etc., but eventually I got the fabric to lay nicely on the forward fuselage area, so I marked and brushed glue onto the fabric and fuselage stringer and forward former.

Then I moved to the back, which has proven to be more challenging. It's very difficult to stretch the fabric to contact the concave arch where the stringers meet the fuselage. The challenge is slightly abated by tilting the fabric over the stabilizer forward a little, but this causes a large crease all across the stabilizer and an even larger one between the stabilizer and top longeron. But I think I can avoid doing this by simply applying loads of heat wherever the fabric is taught while stretching it to contact the arch. So I brushed glue on the fabric, stringer, and arch to prep for this challenge.

  Oct 07, 2020     Right side fabric - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I finished and somewhat shrunk the fabric on the right side up to the top longeron. I have been tacking it in place with the iron and going back with the heat gun and felt blade to heat it up again. On the door formers, the heat really dissipates so it's hard to judge how much heat to pump in there. Everything below the top longeron came out great. On top, it's going to get tricky and I'll need to use heat to stretch the fabric in some places. I'm going to start buy attaching the fabric to the stringer in the area over my baggage compartment (one bay aft of normal baggage compartment) and stretching from there.

  Oct 06, 2020     Right side fabric - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

Yesterday I brushed the glue onto the fuselage and right side fabric piece. Notably, I only went as high as the top longeron on all surfaces as I wanted to ensure a tight fit there before proceeding to wrap it over to the top stringer. I also allowed small wrinkle at the top longeron near the vertical stabilizer forward spar so that there would be extra material to wrap over the curve from the fuselage to the stringers. I used the heat gun to shrink this wrinkle on the upper longeron so that there was no actual wrinkle in the fabric.

The shape of the forward fuselage is interesting to when it comes to wrapping, as the top longeron has a slight concave curve near the forward fabric termination. As it turns out, it was not simple, but definitely manageable.

  Oct 05, 2020     Fuselage rear access holes - (2.5 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I fabricated, scuffed, painted, and attached nutplates to the frames for the rear fuselage access holes. I then used JB Weld to attach the rearmost frame on the right side in position. this is mainly to ensure it doesn't move when the fabric is shrunk, but the adhesion doesn't matter much beyond that.

  Oct 05, 2020     Right side fabric fit and tracing - (2 hours) Category: Fabric Cover

I positioned the large piece of fabric on the right side using the magnets. Comments on the forum suggest not following the distributor's advice on covering from the bottom longeron all the way to the top stringer, including the vertical stab. I can see that the fabric will certainly have some wrinkles when it goes on, but based on how much I've seen it stretch, I'm going to try it.

I plan to glue it to the bottom longeron first and then up the door post and rudder post. As it goes up the rudder post, I will give it a wee bit of slack to help when the time comes to stretch it over to the place where the stringers attach to the fuselage, but it will likely take some heat to help with the stretch.

  Oct 04, 2020     Prep for fuselage fabric - (2 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I finished up a few things inside the tail section prior to applying the right side fabric. This included torquing and pinning the bolt holding the aft pulley section and the bolt holding the trim crank (both are additions to the plans and not on most Bearhawks).

  Oct 02, 2020     Test fitting of left stabilizer and elevator - (2 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I bolted on the left stabilizer and elevator to validate my design for the access holes. I will have the standard small round hole for the forward stabilizer spar, but fabricated a unique rear hole frame designed to minimize the size of the access cover visible on top of the stabilizer while providing generous space underneath to facilitate access to the pulleys, trim cable hook-ups, and tailwheel spring bolt.

  Oct 01, 2020     Bottom Fabric - (6 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

Though the bottom fabric took about 4 days, I consolidated it into a single post. It was fairly easy, and I left a little extra overlap at the leading edge so there would be extra glue surface securing it there. It was trickiest around the float fittings, but came out nicely.

  Sep 30, 2020     Stringers - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

While I elected to use the flimsier Aircraft Spruce stringers, I beefed them up with extra reinforcement to the fuselage and between themselves so they would be less likely to twist or buckle under load. On the top and bottom, between each bulkhead attach bracket I made a lateral brace to simply go between stringers. On the sides, I used the stringer material to create extra stand-offs which were glued with JB weld to a patch of fabric wrapped around the fuselage tube. While this isn't anything close to a welded support, my testing revealed this is a very strong approach. If the glue joint were to fail, the stand-off is not likely to move and will still provide support against the fuselage tube which is protected by the fabric. When glued to the fabric in this manner, my testing revealed the joint failed by pulling the finish off the fabric, not by failure of the glue or aluminum. Would I do it again? Maybe. The factory stringers are awfully nice.

In my application, factory stringers would have weighted 10.2 lbs. Mine (including all the extra support material I used and rounded up for JB weld and fabric) weighed 4.6 lbs.

  Sep 29, 2020     Engine mount painting - (1 hour)       Category: FWF

I painted the engine mount with my new favorite spray paint. It was already primed and painted, but after years of storage and after using it as a jig to weld in mount points on the fuselage, the primer was looking sad. I scuffed and cleaned the mount and painted it with VHT epoxy spray paint which, in other applications I have used it on, seems to be nearly indestructible. Unfortunately, it only comes in black and white.

  Sep 24, 2020     Fuselage Stringers - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

Finished up the fuselage stringers by riveting them all in using CCP-41 pull rivets and also riveting on the various support structures which were attached to fuselage stations (where I had wrapped a strip of fabric around a steel tube) with JB weld.

  Jun 02, 2020     Aileron Oratex from start to finish - (3 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I intended for this post to be a sort of pictorial process description of how I'm covering the ailerons. But as it turns out, I just put my head down and did nearly all the covering without updating my build log. I will slowly update those as I go.

Other than seat frames, these are the first parts I'm covering. While they recommend that you begin with small pieces like trim tabs, I chose the ailerons for no good reason. The process will describe covering one aileron and the times recorded are for the second aileron after having ""practiced"" the task on the first.

20 min: cutting out fabric, clamping, and tracing structure onto fabric
55 min: cleaning fabric and ailerons, applying glue
85 min: initial fabric attachment and glue application to overlaps
25 min: shrinking with heat gun and iron


Notes:
- Heavy sharpie marks on structure or pencil marks on fabric will show through finished product. very light pencil marks are ok. Yellow marker is better.
- About 80 inches of rib stitching thread is required on each aileron rib
- Recommend curved needle, such as Osborne 5018 from ACS

  May 28, 2020     Filled gusset overlaps on flaps - (2 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I cut out the fabric piece to cover one aileron. The width of the fabric roll is more than advertised and was the perfect width for the ailerons with a comfortable amount of extra on the ends.

I spent some time on the phone with Lars recently, and his instruction was to glue the fabric to everything it touched. This way, there was really no padding required underneath except where there was an unusually sharp edge. But he also warned that EVERYTHING on the surface would be visible through the fabric. So I decided to at least apply some filler forward of the gussets on the ailerons.

  May 25, 2020     Prepping for Oratex work - (3 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

This work included days of research while distilling the Oratex manual to a short document that I can reference. Also included a draft layout to determined be what part of my 30 yd roll or Oratex I should cut different parts from. Finally, a complete cleaning of the basement and organizing of workspace was in order.

  Mar 27, 2020     Seat fabric supports - (1 hour)       Category: Fabric Cover

I glued in the aluminum supports that hold fabric edges which are not attached to the tubular structure.

Of course, no later did I glue them in did I realize the ones on the bottom seat frame are on the wrong side. I attempted to remove them with a lot of heat but the effort was futile, so I made new ones. This mistake will mostly be covered up when the second layer of fabric is applied over the seat frames.

  Mar 26, 2020     Covering Seats - (10 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

The last month has been quite busy with work and life, so I've snuck down to the basement a handful of times to play with the Oratex. After feeling comfortable with it, I started covering the front seats using samples that I collected at Oshkosh. The bottom seat will be covered in two layers, so I used up some random color samples that I had first and will follow with yellow. I'm glad I started on these as they will not be fully visible in the finished cabin.

  Feb 26, 2020     Oratex glue test - (2 hours)       Category: Fabric Cover

I conducted the Oratex glue test as specified in the manual to ensure my covering practices were up to snuff. To begin with, I glued a 1"" wide strip of Oratex to a piece of aluminum over a span of 6"" or so. Once it is dry, you take the loose end of the Oratex strip and hang a 1.3Kg mass on it and ensure the glue can hold it when the resulting force is perpendicular to the surface, as shown in one of the photos below. It held this mass just fine, and when I filled the bag with all the bolts (over 2 Kg) it still held just fine.

Next, you are supposed to increase the force until it begins to tear away the glue joint, then reduce the force back to 1.3 Kg and see if it still holds. Repeat this several times. It held perfectly well with my 2 Kg mass. I tried all orientations and the glue joint still held. I chalk this up to a resounding success.

While not a prescribed procedure, I wanted to test the strength in the tangential direction. I clamped the end of the fabric strip in my giant bench vise and lifted it off the ground! The glue joint was 1"" by 1.8"" at this point, That 1.8"" is about how far around a 3/4"" tube the glue joint would wrap, so is representative of real-world application. I don't know how heavy the vise is, but I couldn't lift it off the ground with one hand. I put a foot on the vise and pulled to failure, which occured in the Oratex and not the glue joint. Overall, this was a very encouraging test to show the strength of the process and the validity of my techniques.

  Feb 13, 2020     Oratex research and prep. - (.7 hour) Category: Fabric Cover

I organized the basement to create a workspace for fabric covering. I also read through the 62 page manual that Lars sent me. It still leaves me with questions, but I know enough to get started on some practice.

  Feb 12, 2020     Trim cables - (1.7 hours)       Category: Controls

Having received the extra #25 chain link I needed, I fabricated the trim cables from the crank to the arm in the aft fuselage. I was able to make them taught without a turnbuckle but am open to installing one down the line if they loosen up over time. From full up to full down deflection on the trim tab, the crank only moves 3/4 of a whole turn. Not really what I was aiming for, but I'll try it out before making further changes. Should have seen that coming.

  Feb 11, 2020     Interrior planning - (1 hour) Category: Interior Finish

No work done, but spent lots of time with the fuselage planning the application of the interrior fabric. This is intimidating since this fabric will show all seams and imperfections. I basically arrived at the conclusion that I will work from back to front. I will also cover the lower right and left triangular areas on the rear bulkhead of the baggage compartment to save some weight and since i don't see a need to stick an arm through there for any reason.

  Feb 11, 2020     Trim cables - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

I positioned the left trim push-pull cable on the rear fuselage as it will be in service. I realized that when I originally welded the attach points I left very little extra slack in the cable, but that's not a bad thing as it will likely keep them from interfering with the elevator cables. What I didn't think about before was accessing this area after fabric is on. Still deliberating on that one.

  Feb 09, 2020     Shrink wrap and trim cables - (1.2 hours) Category: Controls

I applied a bit of electrical tape around the cut ends of the rudder and elevator cables before slipping the shrink tube around it and using a soldering iron to shrink it tight.

I also started on the new trim cables but have lost the trim chain links that I ordered from McMaster-Carr.

  Feb 02, 2020     Elevator cables - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Started by connecting the pushrod between the stick and the elevator bellcrank. I had to widen the horns on the control sticks slightly as I measured the plans to be 0.4"" and the actual bearing was 0.42"" wide. I also didn't have any drilled bolts of appropriate length so I will have to go back and install those.

I aligned the sticks and bellcrank so that they were centered according to plans.

Finally, I fabricated the cables.

  Feb 01, 2020     Rudder cables complete - (1.3 hours)       Category: Controls

Rudder cables exit the fuselage on the right side between the red lines on the vertical tube (3.25 -3.5"" up from the bottom of the bottom longeron) and 1.125-2.125"" on front of the centerline of the vertical tub. On the left side, those measurements are the same vertically but 2.25 - 3.25 in front of the vertical tube. That is with a straight edge held parallel with the vertical tube. Note that this vertical tube my my addition for a specific purpose and not present on the plans or in kits.

I then removed the rudder and repositioned the Fuselage so I could mount one horizontal stab and elevator. This should be sufficient to run the elevator control cables.

  Jan 31, 2020     Rudder steering horn - (1.5 hours) Category: Controls

  Jan 29, 2020     Rudder cables continued - (1.9 hours)       Category: Controls

  Jan 28, 2020     Rudder cables - (2.2 hours)       Category: Controls

  Jan 27, 2020     Rudder hookups and Cleaning shop - (2.1 hours)       Category: Fuselage

  Jan 26, 2020     Rear heat, cowl tunnel, shop cleaning - (2.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

I started by riveting angles in the rear heat box to support the stainless mesh against the weight of feet, cargo, etc. I then cut the hole in the floor for the heat box.

I contemplated how to attach the cowl tunnel. The rear edge is already screwed to the aluminum bulkhead with #8 screws and nutplates. I decided the sides will have clip nuts installed to attach the boot cowl with #8 screws. The front is tricky because I didn't allow much space between the firewall tunnel flange and the fuselage tube above. At a later date, I would like to screw a curved aluminum sheet here to help the airflow in that area. I decided to try #6 screws with low profile nuts on top. We'll see how that goes.

Finally, after tightening a leaking flare but on the fuel selector, I started cleaning shop. The fuselage will have to be reoriented diagonally to fit with the engine on. But still a lot to do before hanging it.

  Jan 25, 2020     Bottom skin and rear heat - (2.2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Today was lots of little things and at the end it didn't feel like much. I removed the Fuselage bottom skin and rubber seal, trimmed the rubber and uses a hole punch to make holes where the screws would pass. I also found out the gascolator sticks through the hole I cut for it by about 1/4"" so I'll need to fabricate a domed cover out of fiberglass.

I used the same rubber and glued it on the angles that go behind the windscreen.to protect the acrylic. Then I cleaned up a few things and practices making control cables. Very happy with the results this time.

  Jan 24, 2020     Gear strut rubber seal - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

  Jan 23, 2020     Gear strut seal - (1.4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

  Jan 22, 2020     Bottom fuselage skin - (1.4 hours) Category: Fuselage

The bottom fuselage skin which the struts pass through needed some final fitting. I drilled the mounting holes out to 3/16 and started work on the small skin aft of the struts. Some split this skin longitudinally but mine is one piece with another skin aft of the struts. Pics tomorrow.

  Jan 21, 2020     Fresh air vent tabs - (1 hour)       Category: Interior Finish

This was the lightest method I could think of to actuate the boot cowl vents. I just riveted tabs on the vent arms. An easy target for fingers, but too high and outside to interfere with knees.

  Jan 20, 2020     Fresh air vents - (1.6 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

I cut the holes in the boot cowl for the fresh air vents. Of course the first one took over an hour to get just right and the next one took 15 minutes. The vents are in an area with very little bend, but I still had to bend the top and bottom corners of the vent door in a bit to sit flush with the cowling when closed. The door frame will be riveted in place but I might screw the brackets that hold the door friction screw as they are the easiest way of getting the door off should that ever be necessary. Last thing required here is a knob or tab of some kind to open and close the doors with.

  Jan 20, 2020     Electrical planning - (1 hour) Category: Electrical

Using the electrical diagrams in the Tony Bingilis FWF book, I'm drawing out my own diagram complete with part numbers where applicable. Last night I got as far as choosing an alternator and voltage regulator and drawing out most connections forward of the firewall.

  Jan 19, 2020     Fresh air and cabin heat vents - (2.5 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

Last night in front of a movie Amber worked on clay crafts and I deburred, sealed, and riveted the rear cabin heat box and then installed nutplates on it.

This morning I marked the boot cowl for fresh air vents (kit sold by Vans) and drilled the frame to the boot cowl and riveted the door together.

  Jan 18, 2020     Trim cable - (1.5 hours)       Category: Controls

With an order in the mail and nothing else to do, I started on the trim cable. Had an issue with the shackle clamp being misaligned which meant the shackle wasn't clamped perfectly symmetrically and will ask the forum about the acceptability of that.

Edit: After consulting with the forum, I decided to contact the manufacturer and ask for a new one.

  Jan 17, 2020     Rear heat box - (1.9 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

Mostly while watching Asa throw food on the floor, I traced, cut, deburred, bent and drilled this heat box that will be under the floor near the middle seat to direct heat back there. The scat will attach to the side, this open top will be screwed to the floor, and holes will be drilled in the floor for the heat to pass through.

  Jan 16, 2020     Windscreen - (1.9 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I followed the advice in the AviPro manual and cut/bent three 3"" angles with 1"" legs out of .032 aluminum. I had to bend them to match the angle of the windscreen using the seaming pliers. With the windscreen clecod in place, I placed the angles where I wanted them and traced them onto the boot cowl. Then I removed the windscreen and drilled the angles in the correct place using a #30 followed by a #21 bit to ultimately accept a #8 machine screw and self-locking nut. During final install, I'll glue a strip of rubber to the face of the angles against the windscreen.

Then I removed the windscreen and drilled/deburred all the holes in it and in the fuselage tabs to 3/16th (ultimately I need to drill the windscreen to 1/4"" when I get a larget bit) and went around the edges with a sanding drum in the angle grinder followed by sandpaper. Minus drilling out the 1/4"" holes, the windscreen is ready to install. I'll start the fiberglass fairing when the material arrives in the mail.

  Jan 15, 2020     Windscreen - (1.6 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

Happy birthday Amber!

I went into the windscreen fitting thinking that as long as the side profile of the windscreen was smaller than the wing root I would be good and the fairing would cover it. Now I realize the fairing will still cover it, but it would be a lot easier if the leading edge of the wing was exactly aligned with the associated location on the windscreen. Unfortunately, I trimmed just over an inch off the top of the windscreen because there was a ripple there that I didn't want in the finished product.

Once this was trimmed, I trimmed slivers of material off the center bottom of the windscreen until it mostly contacted the boot cowel, except for the outboard foot or so...maybe more.

Once I was satisfied with that fit, I trimmed the sides to the center of the vertical fuselage member and drilled them to the tabs. They needed to be squeezed in a bit at the bottom so there is a small amount of residual internal street which I hope will not cause problems down the road.

  Jan 13, 2020     Windscreen - (.5 hour)       Category: Doors/Window

After the boot cowl was on, I tucked the windscreen in place. I had to trim about 1.5"" off the top and there may be more trimming required. I am also worried the forward fuel lines will interfere as i routed them outside the fuselage. Time will tell.

  Jan 13, 2020     Boot cowl assembly - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

Now that the boot cowl had all the necessary nutplates installed, I assembled it to ensure a good fit. Everything was not perfectly aligned, but I managed to get a screw started in every hole and then tightened, and everything appears fine.

  Jan 05, 2020     Skylight structure - (1 hour) Category: Fuselage

Before boarding and plane to Vegas, I finished deburring and dumpling/countersinking the structural members of the skylight. I also covered the Fuselage in plastic to keep the dust at bay.

  Jan 04, 2020     Boot cowl - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

Today I also trimmed the edges of the boot cowel tunnel with the band saw and riveted nutplates onto the boot cowel skins. Now everything can be screwed together except the instrument panel (no nutplates yet) and firewall (still undecided on fastening scheme)

  Jan 04, 2020     Side window painting - (1.7 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

Using sandpaper and the angle grinder with the steel brush attachment, I cleaned up the left side window area and primed it with a self etching primer followed by the white top coat.

  Jan 03, 2020     Tailpost paint - (2 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

  Dec 31, 2019     Wing storage - (1.4 hours)       Category: Wings Misc

As I have been meaning to do for a while, I wrapped the wings in plastic and stapled it around the base. I will also stick a large dessicant pack inside when it gets out of the oven. Since I have been catching a discouraging number of mice, I hope my plastic job will make it obvious if a mouse entered.

I also primed and painted the rear left wing attach fittings and associates wing spar end as I had to file away some material on wing mounting day.

  Dec 27, 2019     Fuselage bottom skin - (1.1 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I riveted the nutplates on the aluminum former at the aft end of the exhaust tunnel and fit the bottom skin just aft of it. It will need some trimming but looks good so far.

  Dec 26, 2019     Cleaning and misc things - (2 hours) Category: Fuselage

I mostly cleaned shop, but also added some screws to the baggage doors and trimmed, filed, and sanded a door edge that was too long.

Next, I used valve grinding paste to loosen up the movement of the front seats. After painting the fuselage, the seats took some fist pounding to move, but now they move as freely as can be expected from the mechanism. In the future though, I would have allowed more gap in the Fuselage bracket that the seat rail slides in.

  Dec 24, 2019     Unpacking brake calipers - (1.5 hours) Category: Landing Gear

I spent some time unpacking, inspecting, and cleaning the Cleveland brake calipers (30-52) also during the Hallmark movie. These came to me used but appear to work well and still have plenty of life left in the linings.

  Dec 23, 2019     Boot cowel vents - (1.5 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

While we watched a Hallmark movie, i unpacked, cut, filed, sanded, drilled, and deburred the parts that came in the Vans sidewall vent kit. I plan on installing them in the boot cowel. Even though there is a slight bend to that area, I think these kits will work nicely.

  Dec 23, 2019     Baggage door skin finishing - (1.5 hours) Category: Doors/Window

I tapped the holes in the baggage door frame for 6-32 screws, then drilled out the holes in the skins and deburred them. I also mostly deburred the outer edges and inside window edge.

  Dec 22, 2019     Main wheel assembly - (1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Justice and I pulled the wheels, tires, and tubes out of the basement while the ladies sculpted with clay. It didn't take long to assemble them, though Amber told me recent discoveries about Talcum Powder are unnerving.

Notably, when we bolted the wheel halves back together we stuck the bolts in from the outside so a listened bolt would not interfere with the brake caliper.

  Dec 22, 2019     Forward baggage door pin - (1.5 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

This morning was spent on a variety of jobs that you don't typically figure into a program management chart. First off was the forward baggage door pin. I had been scratching my head for a while thinking that both washers on the pin were welded in place which is not how it was supposed to be. Then upon closer inspection, I realized the pin closest to the T handle was not welded, only being held in place by paint. I removed the paint on some of the shaft with a file and sandpaper until the washer could slide freely. Then I checked my spring drawer and found a spring that was the perfect diameter for the pin assembly. I trimmed it to length and installed it (which was it's own story). After lubing the spring and shaft with silicone, I installed it in the door and bent the tabs down for permanent installation.

The tab bending process removed more paint than I was expecting so the end result was not particularly pretty. I started by crimping opposing tabs down a little with Vise Grips, then used a screwdriver and hammer to tap them down the rest of the way. I started by doing every other tab, since they cannot lay perfectly flat if all are bent down at once.

I then did some experimentation on how to fasten the baggage door skins. I started by drilling and tapping a 6-32 screw into a steel tube and also tried a #6 sheet metal screw. Though it didn't take a huge amount of force to strip the threads on the machine screw, it seemed like it held it's strength for several turns before stripping out. For the sheet metal screw, I tried incrementally larger drill sizes until it threaded with a #32 bit. Even so, it didn't hold nearly as well as the machine screw. So after all that experimentation, I am going to build the doors according to plans. Fancy that.

  Dec 21, 2019     Forward baggage door - (1.3 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I cut out the window on the front baggage door and filed down the edges. There were a few areas that needed a little tweaking, including cutting the slot for the door pin, but everything lined up nicely on the final product. Now I just need to decide how to fasten the skins to the door frame.

  Dec 20, 2019     Forward baggage door - (2.2 hours) Category: Doors/Window

I marked and drilled the forward baggage door skin and then drilled it to the door frame. I then trimmed the forward edge to align with the hinge line but it may require a bit more trimming. The aft edge was trimmed to be just shy of the pan heads of the 6-32 screws that will be in the forward post of the rear door.

I then trimmed the top and bottom of both door skins for a 3/8"" overlap. I know the plans call for 1/4"", but I have a big radius on the door sill and frame aluminum edges, so 3/8"" ensures adequate overlap in all areas.

  Dec 19, 2019     Forward baggage door - (1.4 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I did the initial cut and fit of the forward baggage door. The following sequence seems to work well: rough cut the door, clamp in place, drill top and bottom holes in the part of the frame in the middle of the door opening, cut out hinge slots, bend to match stringer profile, trace frame onto back side of door skin, then mark centerlines and cut lines, drill the skin, then drill to the frame.

The one gotcha is the 3"" spacing laid a screw right through the part of the center post that the spring pin passes through, so that hole will have to be offset slightly.

  Dec 18, 2019     Baggage doors - (2.1 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I was in the basement for other reasons and saw the baggage door latch parts so I took them to the garage and drilled out the door sills for the latch. To do this, I positioned the door where it should be and found a drill bit that was snug in the door latch guides on the top and bottom door frame. I pushed the but through the guide on top and bottom and twisted it to make a mark on the paint. I then removed the door, center punched the mark, and drilled it to 1/8"". Note the door latch does not travel perpendicular to the door sill. I slowly drilled it out to an H size bit, ensuring after each size that the holes were still where they needed to be.

Next I went to install the front baggage door, but for reasons beyond me it is now too close the the rear door and won't close. The latch pin was also slightly misaligned. The quickest solution is to weld the hinge holes shut and re drill them while the door is properly places. I got as far as welding the old holes shut this morning.

I also cut the window hole in the door frame and deburred the inside.

  Dec 17, 2019     Rear baggage dooor - (2.2 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

After another unsuccessful attempt to bubble the round window over the kerosene heater, I turned my attention to the rear baggage door skin. To fit the skin, I aligned the straight edge of the aluminum with the leading edge of the door. Once alignment was satisfactory, I clamped and drilled the top and bottom hole through the skin and door frame. As best I could, I traced the hinge cutouts on the outside and cut the initial slots. I widened them a little at a time until the skin laid flat on the frame around the welds. There is only a small bit of daylight through the bottom cutout, but the final product will be sealed. Then I marked where the bends should be in the skin to match the fuselage contours and bend the skin slightly with the homemade brake.

I marked the centerlines of the door frame and took the skin off to trim the outside and drill the screw holes. Not all the centerlines followed a straight line, FYI. Finally, I laid the skin back on the frame and drilled with a #40 bit to start with. I marked for the round window cutout so it would be exactly opposite the left window.

  Dec 16, 2019     Left window and baggage doors - (2.2 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I made a form to bake the left rear window in the oven using the actual aluminum frame as the guide. I baked it at 310. The small test piece I made started drooping in 3 minutes. This was in the oven for 15 minutes before the outside corners started bending down.

I started on cutting out skins for the baggage doors. After I got the rear door skin cut and clamped in place, I realized I was using the wrong thickness: .032 instead of .025. Thats a 3 lb difference overall so back to the basement for .025.

  Dec 15, 2019     Left rear window - (2 hours) Category: Doors/Window

I cut out the aluminum frame for the window and smoothed down the edges and drilled it to the fuselage. I plan to fasten it with 1/8"" stainless pop rivets. I also drilled the left middle row window to the aluminum part of the frame but not yet to the steel. It is quite floppy so I will attempt to bubble it out for stiffness before moving to thicker acrylic.

I lost track of time so got no photos before running off to wake the family up for church.

  Dec 14, 2019     Left side rear window welding - (3.5 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I had some extra time yesterday so I cut and welded the circle closed and bent the top part to match the contour of the fuselage side with the top stringer. I also pop riveted the fuel selector guard in place.

This morning I clamped the circle in place and welded it. I also traced it onto .032 aluminum for the frame. I calculate the total weight of this window (extra steel, aluminum, acrylic, screws) to be 1.5 lbs.

  Dec 13, 2019     Left side rear window - (2.2 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I notched the J channel for the fuel selector guard and drilled it to the floor. At the end of the day, I painted it white and will rivet it in tomorrow.

Next was the left rear window frame. I was aiming at 12-13 inch diameter, and the air compressor proved to be a nice die to bend around. The final bend was much larger than I desired, so I wrapped the compressor in aluminum scrap and heated the tube with the welding torch as I tightened the bend around the compressor. The final product was almost perfectly sized. A little tweaking tomorrow and welding the circle shut and it will be ready for the fuselage.

  Dec 12, 2019     Fuel system fishing touches - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel System

I cut out the area for the fuel lines to pass through the floor boards on each side.

The fuel selector valve needs to be protected from stray feet, so I will make a guard around it out of a home-made J channel riveted to the floor board. I at least got the channel bent today. It still needs to be shaped, cut to final size, drilled, scuffed, primed, and riveted to the floorboard.

  Dec 11, 2019     Left window frame - (2 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I started by filling the fuel lines with gas up to the top of the tube forward of the firewall. Two hours later, the fluid level had dropped about 1/4"" with no detectable leak on any joint. I topped it off, capped the lines, and left it for the day to see if evaporation was a factor.

After, I squeezed the rivets of the left window frame to the door and window flange, then pulled the stainless rivets to permanently attach all left-side door and window flanges to the fuselage. I also pre-drilled the holes in the window frame through which the machine screws will hold the acrylic in place. I left this piece bare aluminum as I would rather the fabric adhere to scuffed aluminum than primer in this area. I have no science to back up that preference.

  Dec 10, 2019     Left window frame continued - (1.5 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

Finished trimming, drilling, bending, deburring, and dimpling of left window frame aluminum parts.

Questions for Bob:
1) use of .062 acrylic for windows and doors
2) Sufficient fuel flow using system as designed
3) Cargo pod design concept
4) Adequacy of .025 on cargo doors
5) Lightweight stringers
6) Shoulder harness attach options
7) tail wire size/type

  Dec 09, 2019     Left window frame - (1.7 hours) Category: Doors/Window

Started fabricating the final aluminum frame for the left middle row window. I'm using .032 aluminum riveted to the window flange on the bottom side and the door flange on the front side. The back end will be pop riveted to the steel structure underneath.

  Dec 08, 2019     Fuel system leak check - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuel System

All the fittings were completely assembled, lubed, and torqued. I jammed rubber stoppers into the top ends of the four fuselage lines and the line on the firewall union. Then I used the 1/8"" NPT fitting on the bottom of the gascolator to attach my leak check apparatus which was just a plastic line with a tee and a valve with the bottom end sitting in the kerosene I use to fuel the heater. The first check revealed a substantial leak which I determined was in my test apparatus. There still seems to be a very slow leak and it could still be in the test apparatus, so my next step will be to fill all the tubing with gas and see if it leaks anywhere.

  Dec 07, 2019     Fuel line final hookups - (2 hours) Category: Fuel System

I mostly disassembled the fuel lines and mounting hardware, inserting some longer screws where needed and installing newly-arrived nuts on the lower bulkhead tee fittings. I also trimmed the gascolator-to-firewall tube to length on the firewall side so I could install the new bulkhead union fitting. I'm now reassembling the system using fuel lube on the NPT fittings and around the mouth of the AN fittings (only where it butts the tube, not on the threads) and using a torque wrench for final tightening.

Notes to my future self: left tee fitting complete, all NPT fittings complete. All under-floor AN fittings lubed, just need torque. Need to final install right tee with lube, then torque all under-floor and firewall AN fittings, then tighten lower Adel clamps.

  Dec 06, 2019     Rear window planning - (2.2 hours)       Category: Doors/Window

I literally spent two hours on the rear windows without lifting a tool: thinking, measuring, planning, thinking, measuring, planning, and finally cutting a piece of .032 for the finalized rear window frame. The third row windows are still up in the air. I'm oscillating between round and triangular design.

Update: The family has voted for round! This could be one of the most distinctive Bearhawks flying thanks to a very cool round ""Helio style"" rear window.

  Dec 05, 2019     From Gascolator to Firewall - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuel System

I lowered the gascolator 1/8"" by inserting two washers between the fuselage and gascolator mounting bracket, then drilled a hole in the firewall where the bulkhead union fitting will go when it comes in the mail. Then I fabricated the 1/2"" fuel line from the gascolator to the firewall and used a rubber grommet on the bulkhead below the floor.

After that, I clecoed the fairing things that allow the fabric to attach around the gear leg fittings and tweaked them slightly to get the best curvature.

  Dec 04, 2019     Door flanges and left forward fuel line - (2 hours)       Category: Fuel System

I fabricated the left forward fuel line and riveted the nutplates to the boot cowel flange on that side. The I test fit the left boot cowel and trimmed for the fuel line.

I also test fit the bottom skin below the fuel selector as I will probably need to lower the gascolator 1/8"" to avoid interference on the exiting line.

  Dec 03, 2019     Left side rear fuel line and brake planning - (1.8 hours)       Category: Fuel System

I fabricated the left rear fuel line to the tee by copying the damaged right side line. It fit perfectly.

Then, I visualized the brake system and noted the fittings I needed. Unfortunately the flexible lines will have to be a separate order.

  Dec 02, 2019     Right door flange and fuel lines continued - (2.5 hours) Category: Fuel System

I countersunk and riveted the right door flanges after enduring the fuel lines were completed. I then ran the fuel line from the right tee to the fuel selector and gascolator.

While most fuel lines in the system are 3/8"", I am using 1/2"" after the fuel selector in hopes of having adequate fuel supplied by gravity. The fuel selector and gascolator currently are choke points bringing the internal diameter down to the same as a 3/8"" line, but I can change out those components if necessary. The last thing I want is to install a boost pump. I don't need 1/2"" lines prior to the selector because I will placard the airplane to use the ""both"" position on takeoff and landing, and two 3/8"" lines should not be the limiting factor compared to the single 1/2"" line they flow into.

I started work on the left side door sill before time was up.

  Nov 27, 2019     Door flange riveting - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I started the day by remaking the right rear fuel line as I accidentally took a chunk out of the original while drilling through the door flange.

Then I installed but plates on the right door sill in case I ever lay a thin sheet of stainless or aluminum over the sill.

Lastly, I riveted the junction fittings of the entire right side door flanges which resulted in an awkward and rickedy assembly until it was clecod to the fuselage. I had to slide it all on at once, including the forward fuel line owing to my configuration.

  Nov 26, 2019     Fuel valve Modification take 2 - (1 hour)       Category: Fuel System

On the new fuel valve, I used a 1/8"" drill bit to drill through without disassembling the valve. Then I followed with a 7/32"" bit. Only a pressure test and fuel flow check will determine whether or not I'm happy with this valve.

After drilling, I disassembled and filed down the new edges and cleaned out all the debris really well.

  Nov 26, 2019     Baggage door flange - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

I'm still working on the baggage door flange bracket that secures it to the other flanges at the forward end. The first one I made was unsat, so we're on take 2.

  Nov 25, 2019     Door flange riveting - (1.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

At the junctions of the aluminum door flanges are fittings that attach them together. I assembled those fittings with solid aluminum rivets I'm preparation for permanent attachment to the fuselage with stainless pop rivets.

  Nov 24, 2019     Forward right fuel line and flange penetrations - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuel System

The forward right fuel line is complete with a lot more bends then expected, primarily to minimize the cut-out required to penetrate the boot cowel. I also trimmed material from the door flanges for the fuel lines to penetrate on the right side.

All flanges on the right side are now ready to rivet. I ordered a 120 degree countersink to prepare the holes for the Cherry CCC-42 rivets.

Lastly, I fabricated the bracket to hold the tee fitting on the left side.

  Nov 23, 2019     Lower Fuselage fuel lines - (2 hours)       Category: Fuel System

I fabricated a fitting to hold the lower fuel line tee. Unfortunately I had no -6 fuel line nuts so I had to temporarily improvise.

  Nov 22, 2019     Fuel Line Installation - (2.3 hours)       Category: Fuel System

I started by attempting to modify the fuel.valve as described in a Cubcrafters document I found. The intent is to turn a Left-Right-Off valve into a Left-Both-Right-Off valve. Unfortunately my very sharp drill bit caught on the plastic and broke it. Even so, I'm not sure my valve was the right part number from ACS so I'll order another and try again.

I started bending the right aft fuel line, installing Adel clamps along the way. Hopefully the left one goes a lot faster.

  Nov 21, 2019     Control stick install - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

I bolted in the control stick assembly and inserted the lower connecting rod. Turns out I had some interference between the rod and the bottom inside of the tube on one end so I ground down that area slightly until the sticks move with no noise.

At this point, the total travel of the lower stick pin is 3+5/16"" and I would like some verification from the forum that this is adequate.

  Nov 20, 2019     Shop Organization and Strut work - (5 hours) Category: Wings Misc

Over the last three days, I cleaned and organized the garage for the next phase of the build process. I also filed the freshly cut ends of the wing struts and deburred all the new holes, then bolted in the strut ends and torqued them so the struts are complete pending a final paint job.

I also deburred the mounting holes on the wing spars and fuselage using a large drill bit. The inside of the fuselage fitting was deburred with a small round file.

  Nov 13, 2019     Wing mounting day! - (10 hours)       Category: Wings Misc

It all started at 0400. Temperature was 10F and snow was on the ground. I lit the heaters in the garage, and mixed up some saltwater to saturation so it would not freeze in the water level. I put the finishing touches on the wing storage cradle and stands that I made on Sunday and pre-positioned them in the back yard, along with some sawhorses and all the tooling I expected we would need for the day.

I rolled the fuselage out of the garage, and onto sheets of plywood I had on the ground to minimize movement after it was leveled. Amber's dad (Popi) arrived around 7AM and started by leveling the fuselage with the water level. We then carried the first wing out into position. Right off the bat, we had an interference issue where the rear spar attach plate touched the top piece of the fuselage fitting. I filed a little off the spar plate but mainly used the Dremel to remove just enough steel on that fitting for a snug fit of the rear spar bolt.

After positioning the other wing and approximating the 1 degree dihedral, we measured the distance from the same point on each wing tip to the tail post and they matched to within 1/4"" (spec is +/- 2""). We ran the string across the leading edges of both wings and they were perfectly straight. It was thrilling to see how maintaining disciplined precision throughout the wing assembly process yielded a straight airframe on wing mounting day. The incidence was different by 0.3 degrees (spec is 0.2"") but this was easily reduced to about 0.1 degree or less (difficult to tell by the level) when drilling the main and rear spar mounting bolts.

When setting incidence, we had a confounding confrontation with physics. The water level, being filled with a salt solution, did not freeze in the early morning temperature. After setting the incidence of the first wing, Popi walked home to eat some breakfast while I did some odds and ends. Shortly after he got back, one end of the water level fell to the ground and some of the water leaked out, so I refilled it with water from the faucet since we were no longer concerned about freezing. After setting the incidence on the second wing, we stepped back and realized the dihedral was very wrong--the wing was clearly sloping down toward the tip, not up (anhedral). We checked the water level again and the bugger was reading exactly as it should. We then brought both ends of the level side-by-side and the water on one side was several inches higher than the water on the other. No bubbles were in the line. Baffled, I decided to set the dihedral with the digital level so we could at least get the spar bolts drilled while we pondered the issue.

We drilled the rear spar bolts first. From 1/4"", I drilled them to 19/64"" making a very slight adjustment to correct incidence angle on one side, and finally reamed them to 5/16"". On the main spar holes, I used the drill extensions I made previously and they worked beautifully except that I kept stripping hose clamps. We eventually got them drilled from 1/4"" to 5/16"", then to 23/64"", and finishing with a 3/8"" reamer. Inserting thin shims into the fitting and clamping with big vise grips held the assembly securely during drilling.

Photos and level-checking occurred throughout.

I did the struts a little differently than suggested. Earlier, I had already drilled and mounted the bottom strut fitting. I did this by drilling one of the holes on one side of the strut, inserting the fitting into the strut, and drilling through to the other side. I then pulled the strut out and set it on top, inserting a 1/4"" tube through the fitting and all the way through the strut to keep it straight while drilling the other holes. Once the other holes were drilled through the top of the strut, I stuck the fitting back inside and drilled through. This seemed to work pretty well and went relatively quickly.

When it came time to set the dihedral and drill the struts to the airplane, I suddenly realized why our water level malfunctioned. Most likely, the fresh water I poured into one end did not adequately mix with the existing salt water in the other. As saltwater is more dense (and mine was near saturation), the water level on the salt side would naturally be lower than the one on the fresh side. We emptied all the water and filled it with fresh. Once the bubbles were cleared from the line, the water level on each end matched perfectly. LESSON LEARNED: Before every measurement with a water level, hold each end together to check that the levels match.

Once the dihedral was set, we loosely bolted the strut to the lower fuselage fitting and swing it in line with the upper strut fitting. I traced the upper fitting onto the strut, and we took it all off the airplane, cut it to length, and drilled the fitting to the strut using the same method as outlined previously. In the end, everything aligned nicely.

After the struts were set, I checked the clearance of the main doors (2.6"" from the door tubing to top of strut at closest point) and also checked aileron and flap cable routing. I may have to play with the hole where the aileron cable exits the wing. We will definitely need bigger flap pulleys and that may take additional adjustment too. I also checked the contour of the former on top of the fuselage to match with the top of the wing. It matched nicely, which is exciting since I had to make that contour without the wing attached. Then we got more photos (including one with the family in the airplane) and put everything away.

All in all, a great day. Amber even made me lots of coffee and tea which was kept nice and hot by my new Bearhawk travel mug!

  Nov 12, 2019     Wing mounting prep - (2 hours)       Category: Wings Misc

I installed the boot cowel, firewall, tunnel, and doors and placed the windshield in place. Looks like I will have to trim quite a bit, but overall it was worth getting the Bearhawk specific windscreen.

  Nov 10, 2019     Wing strut assembly and carpentry day - (7 hours)       Category: Wings Misc

I assembled the lower strut fittings and oiled the inside of the struts with tubeseal. Later in the day, I built stands and a wing cradle for wing mounting day. There will be more pictures of that on Wednesday.

  Nov 08, 2019     Wing mounting day prep - (1.5 hours) Category: Wings Misc

I had the wing strut attach fittings machined to the correct size and bolted them to the wing, and checked that I had all necessary bolts for wing mounting day. Turns out the lower strut fitting uses a 7/16"" bolt. I wasn't expecting that and will have to order some quickly.

  Nov 07, 2019     Cleaning up - (1.5 hours) Category: Paint / Decals

Today I finally took down the paint booth which felt great. I also deburred the holes in the wing straps drilled yesterday.

I made some measurements to begin designing a cargo pod. The forward part will be clamped to the cross tube that the gear struts attach to (34"" apart). The rear will bolt to the fuselage float fittings, 53"" aft of the front tube and also 34"" apart.

  Nov 06, 2019     Finish painting fuselage, drill wing strap fittings - (2 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

I finished spray painting the fuselage but expect to find touch-up areas down the road, which is the beauty of rattle can top coat.

I also contrived a drill bit extension that will work both for reamers and their slightly undersized bits. I tested it on the wing strap fittings and it works great so long as there are two hose clamps and they are tight. I will need to have extra clamps on wing fitting day just in case I strip one.

  Nov 05, 2019     Top coat fuselage - (2 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

I cleaned the fuselage frame with C-2210 and started spraying a top coat of rattle can paint. I decided on this produce because 1) I have used it elsewhere with very good results, 2) it's relatively cheap, and 3) it's very quick and easy to do touch ups with rattle can paint.

  Nov 04, 2019     Fuselage scuff and paint prep - (2 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

I completed scuffing the fuselage in preparation for painting. I also turned the fan around so it will blow filtered air into the paint booth (where the wings are) from outside. Hopefully this will pressurize the paint booth enough to keep the fuselage overspray from getting in there.

  Nov 03, 2019     Prep for fuselage paint - (1.5 hours) Category: Paint / Decals

Continued organizing shop and scuffing fuse for top coat. Today I realized the flap cable coming off the lever touches the gear strut fitting in the full up and full down position. I'll have to figure that one out.

  Nov 02, 2019     Prep for fuselage paint - (2 hours) Category: Paint / Decals

I cleaned up shop and moved things I side the paint booth. Now, the outside of the paint booth is the new paint booth and everything inside is going to be protected from overspray.

  Oct 31, 2019     Second color coat - (4 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

I decided to apply a second top coat to the wings for a couple of reasons. First, there were a couple flaws that I wanted to fix and paint over. Second, I could still see some discontinuity through the top coat from the uneven primer beneath. Yesterday's coats were not tacky, but they were very soft so based on my conversation with the rep the new coat should chemically bond to the old. After I mixed a new batch of paint, I went around with a tack cloth and wiped down some places were dust had settled into the first coat and another place where I bumped into it with my rear end yesterday. I was able to make everything very smooth so today's coat went down beautifully.

I really like Polyfiber Mark II. It can go down reasonably heavy without runs, and it becomes very smooth as it dries. Places where I saw the paint go down a bit rough yesterday were like glass today. I used a relatively cheap paint gun (Husky brand HVLP from Home Depot.

After I finished, my wife made me burn my clothes.

  Oct 30, 2019     Color coat on wings - (5 hours)       Category: Paint / Decals

Used Polyfibers Mark II top coat over the primed wings. Color was matched to Oratex yellow. Very easy to apply. Also sprayed it on inspection hole covers, fuel tank covers, and aileron hinge covers.

  Nov 17, 2011     Spacer bars - (5 hours)       Category: Wing Spars

Finished the spacer bars and got to cleaning. Between deburring the edges of all main capstrips, ripping the strut attach bars out of .190 steel, and cutting all the spacer bars, there was plenty of dust to go around and EVERYTHING in the shop had to be cleaned.

This is my setup for cutting the spacer bars. The chop saw cut them, the belt sander made them the correct length (if required) and the bench grinder with the deburring wheel made them look pretty. This operation covered everything in the garage with a very noticeable layer of aluminum dust. In some places, the dust was so thick you couldn't see what was beneath it! There is such a layer underneath the table in the upper right corner of this picture.

  Nov 16, 2011     Spar spacer bars - (3 hours) Category: Wing Spars

Amber and I started dating 9 years ago today! Nov 16, 2002. Today was spar spacer bar day. I cut all spacers for the main and rear spar using the mini chop saw. I was able to cut them fairly precisely, just needed to fine trim a few and do a couple over because they were too short. I also marked the spar capstrips for cutting and they're ready to be cut to proper length after I double and triple check the measurements. Also sanded the edges of the strut attach bars, drilled them, and finished the ends.

  Nov 14, 2011     Spar plates and web blanks - (9 hours)       Category: Wing Spars

14 - 15 Nov
Last night and this morning, I deburred the plate pieces that Frank cut out, and rough cut the strut attach bars from the .190 4130. That is some thick stuff and the bandsaw had to munch on it a while to make all those rips out of the 9""x18"" plate! I also studied the plans in preparation for cutting out all the spacer bars. I think I ordered a lot more material that required but it will work out best that way. Oh, and I cut out the splice plates for the rear spars out of the .032 material.

In front of a western movie, I cut the spar blanks to final size using duckbill snips and drew a centerline down each one for measuring while bending. I got that sick feeling when I realized that one of the shorter main spar blanks was originally cut 1/2"" too thin, and both of the spar blanks were cut too thin on one end, but in the long run it works out ok since I needed material to do the practice bends on anyway. The folks at Middle Georgia Tech told me I could use their brake so thats exciting. I think it can have a built in bend radius of 3/32 so I'll have to see if that is sufficient. The contact there is Randy Rynders at extension 4070.

  Nov 09, 2011     Spar plates - (4 hours) Category: Wing Spars

9 - 13 Nov
Reunion in Bryson. During this time, Frank cut out some of the small spacer pieces from the .125 material using his scroll saw. I think we're going to hire him to do all the plates! Hopefully, he will teach Amber and Amber will do them.

  Nov 08, 2011     Capstrip deburring - (6 hours) Category: Wing Spars

Yesterday and today were mainly spent deburring the edges of the main capstrips. At 30 minutes per capstrip times 12 capstrips (remember, #13 was ordered as a bar, not cut from the sheet) it must have taken a total of 6 hours just to do that! Now, everything in the garage has a fresh layer of aluminum dust on it and my deburring wheel lost some radius.

  Nov 07, 2011     Flying to pickup spar web blanks and capstrip deburring - (6 hours)       Category: Wing Spars

Deburring capstrips, and also I cut out the spacer plates that go underneath the strut attach bars.
I flew the kitfox to Aircraft Spruce today and got the sheetmetal for the spar webs. They were kind enough to let me rough-cut it in their facility so that I could fit it in the airplane (barely) for the return trip! Even so, it stuck out the back of the turtle deck and went all the way to the rudder pedals. The cutting process took longer than I expected and I ended up landing uncomfortably late.

  Nov 06, 2011     Spar plates and capstrip deburring - (5 hours) Category: Wing Spars

I started cutting spar plates out of the .125 sheet but quickly realized that the throat of the bandsaw was hardly enough to be useful. I think I'm going to have to use the router to freehand some rough cuts, then clean them up with the bandsaw. I also realized that my sander is very slow on this material. Oh, and did you know it takes half an hour to deburr the edges of a single capstrip for the main spar? I got 2 of them done and called it a night.

  Nov 03, 2011     Spar capstrips - (3 hours)       Category: Wing Spars

Happy Birthday Ella! Got the capstrip material in the mail, looks to be ok. It came from Wicks, the main spar cap strips were sheared from a 4x12 sheet and the rest of the 6061 material was just cheap bar stock. I noticed that the main spar cap strips that were sheared from the sheet were not perfectly straight, but it didn't take much effort to bend them straight so I am not concerned about it. It will only make it a little trickier to line them up properly on the spar.

Examined capstrips, planned on how to cut out the spar plates, and just had fun imagining the spar building process

  Oct 31, 2011     Stiffener angle sanding - (5.5 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Stiffener angle sanding, deburring.

  Oct 26, 2011     Aileron and flap rib flanging - (7 hours) Category: Flap/Aileron

26 - 30 Oct
Today through the 30th, Amber and I will be on vacation at a marriage conference and I will be taking all the aileron and flap ribs to flange the lightening holes. How's that for a faithful husband��br>

  Oct 25, 2011     Flint River sandbar       Category: Flying

I just wanted to throw this pic in because it's my first landing on a sandbar in the kitfox! This was on the Flint river.

  Oct 17, 2011     Stiffener angles - (9 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

17 - 25 Oct
Made length templates for all rib attach angles and made jigs for hole flanging the aileron, flap, and rear ribs.

Cut out stiffner angles and made jig for the flap/rear/aileron rib hole flanging

Working on sanding and shaping the stiffner angles and attach angles. Finished the flap nose rib attach angles today, but I got the process down pat so it won't take long to finish the rest.

Sanded attach angles for the nose and center rib, and stiffner angles of the center rib. It's a slow process that's taking some getting used to.

Sanding stiffner angles

I realized today that my idea for an 8 ft brake wouldn't work. I tried with a 30 inch version and it was pathetic. But it will still bend the stiffner angles so all is not lost.

  Oct 14, 2011     Center rib flanging and end rib flanging - (5.5 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

14 - 16 Oct
Fluted and finish flanging of the first of the center ribs.
Started working on the end ribs. These guys are so long it's hard to get them straight.

  Oct 02, 2011     Rib flanging - (10 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

2 - 13 Oct
Started hammering out the rest of the ribs. By the way, 3/4"" MDF will not hold up on the trailing edge. I've had to re-glue it several times! This is what I will be doing for the rest of the next couple of weeks: Hammering out the ribs over the form block, finishing the flanging using a 2x4 clamped to the table, fluted to make straight.

  Sep 25, 2011     Rib lightening hole flanging - (9 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

25 Sept - 1 Oct
Flanged the holes on the nose ribs while on TDY to Fredericksburg, MD, 25 September through 1 October

  Sep 13, 2011     Ribs misc - (11 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

13 - 24 Sept
I'm sure some great stuff happened during this date range, but I didn't put it in and now when I'm trying to update this spreadsheet (on 14 Nov) I can't remember what was done. I'm sure it had something to do with hammering, bending, flanging, and cursing the ribs.

Plenty of scrap to go around. If you look hard in the photo below, you will see a rafting square sticing out from above the scrap center rib. This pic was taken on 17 Oct but I couldn't find the rafting square until 17 November!

  Sep 10, 2011     Ribs and stiffener angles - (8 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

10 - 12 Sept
Cut out stiffner angles and hammered on more nose ribs.

Hammered more nose ribs, flanged one.

Spent more time on the aileron and flap nose ribs, and the pocket ribs. My dimensioning wasn't perfect on these so some of the relief holes weren't deep enough

  Sep 09, 2011     Hammering nose and center ribs - (3 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Hammered nose ribs and a main rib. It was on this night at midnight that the illuminating method of successfully flanging and straightening a rib was finally bestowed upon me. Then I went to bed

  Sep 04, 2011     Hammering Nose Ribs - (8 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

4 - 8 Sept
Hammered nose ribs and fluted. Also fixed the flap nose ribs, as one of the relief holes wasn't deep enough for the bend. Looks like the other small ribs are going to take a little extra work too

  Aug 25, 2011     Kitfox Annual - (16 hours) Category: Inspection

25 Aug - 3 Sept
Deburred aileron nose ribs, also made a practice center rib and flap rib to show the mechanic for verification of my processes. Cleaned Kitfox engine.

Thoroughly inspected Kitfox with Bradley Webb, learned a lot about what needs to be done with these things
Began fixing the squawks. A spark plug cap was too loose, and the disc on the left wheel brake was missing bolts because the threads were ripped.

Decided to try and but a lock nut on to replace the ripped threads. I had to make a special tool to accomplish this, but it didn't work very well.
Decided to use a 1/4"" tapped steel back plate for the bolts. Broke off my tap trying to cut the threads, may need a better tap set. Got new tap and tapped the steel. It will be held on by a single 8-32 countersunk machine screw. Kind of like a heavy duty nut plate. Seems to work ok

Cut out the steel and drilled for the machine screw. The hole in the wheel needs to be countersunk because the brake disc bolts right up against the top. May need to do this even for the good bolt of the three just to keep the wheel balanced��br>
Continued working on brakes. Decided to leave off a piece of steel on the third bolt, just hoping it's not significant enough to cause any vibration. Doing some deburring in between.

Finally fixed the brakes just to have to take the wheel back off and removed a broken part. Looks like she's good now��br>
Got annual signed off, prepared for a flying day

Cleaned Kitfox, fixed tailwheel. It had a missing part that allowed it to free-wheel in only one direction, but I made a replacement that would allow both directions. It's an old maule tailwheel

Flew kitfox, actually ground looped it without any damage. That's what I get for trying to land and stop on a 400 ft strip with a passenger (Luke). Also deburred some more and hammered out some practice pieces

  Aug 21, 2011     Nose rib relief notches, deburring - (6 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Aug 21 - 24
Began deburring center rib lightening holes

Making relief notches in nose ribs. Should have done this the first time around!

Finished relief notches, now just deburring the outer edge of every single one of the 170 ribs on the aircraft. Also continued deburring of center rib lightening holes. Then, it's on to punding!

Started deburring flap and aileron nose ribs. At this point, all the rear ribs for aileron, flaps, and wings are done, and the false ribs are done, and they're all ready to be pounded into 3D. Also, I started washing the Kitfox engine getting ready for the annual tomorrow.

  Aug 12, 2011     Rib trimming, relief notches - (5 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

12 - 20 Aug
Final cut 4 root center ribs to length, and 2 rear ribs. They needed an extra 1/8 cut off the trailing edge. Also removed seats and interior of KF to begin Annual. Drained Gas

Cut relief notches in all flap and aileron ribs while vacationing in Orlando (13-20 Aug 2011)

  Aug 10, 2011     Rib cutting, routing - (4 hours) Category: Wings Misc

10 - 11 Aug
Did I mention that I cut an .032 rib as if it were a .025 rib? SO after making another tib, I routed everything to its final length, so we are officially done with the router and flycutter! (for now). The only thing I have to do with the ribs before deburring and hammering is trim a few to final length with the electric shears (2 rear ribs and the 4 center root ribs, because it didn't seem necessary to modify the router guide just for those)

Cleaned up the shop from floor to ceiling, preparing for all the hammering that is to come!

  Aug 05, 2011     Rib drilling, routing, deburring - (9.5 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

5 - 9 Aug
Drilled lightening holes in the end ribs and rear ribs. Things are looking a lot better with the right sized hole.

Lots of drilling, routing, deburring, scratching my head, etc.

More drilling, routing, deburring, crying, re-doing, and stuff

Drilled oval lightening hole in center rib router guide with the flycutter, then filed the edges down to make it a perfect-ish oblong circle. Ready to route the center ribs!

Routed all oblong lightening holes in the .025 ribs. Also spent time making sure that my rib length calcs were correct so I can start trimming material off the ends of the ribs.

In the photo, Mom is stress testing one of the rear ribs that I rejected because of the oversized lightening holes.

  Aug 01, 2011     Rib drilling, deburring - (7 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

1 - 4 Aug.
Deburred Nose rib lightening holes

Drilled and routed new Aileron Pocket Ribs and traced out new rear ribs for Amber to cut. I also fixed the flycutter to cut smaller circles so I can re-do the rear ribs. Remember to do things right the first time and not to cut corners!!!

Routing, drilling, and deburring. After modifying the flycutter, it didn't work just right. I had to wrap some electrical tape around the arm to get it to fit tighter in the mandrel thing.

Finished deburring the lightening holes of the nose ribs! I worked while watching movies, TV, while walking, talking, and visiting. And Amber did nearly all the bolt-sized holes. Cant wait until I get to do the center ribs��

  Jul 29, 2011     Routing, cutting, drilling, sanding - (11 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

29 - 31 July

Routed Pocket ribs, flap ribs. Just realized that I didn't allow for the 1/2"" flange on the bottom of the pocket ribs! Guess I'll be cutting out some new ones��br>
Lots of routing, cutting, drilling, sanding, deburring, and everything. I brought a rear rib through construction from start to finish but I didn't have the right type of flycutter bit so I oversized some fo the lightening holes. It looks great with the holes flanged and everything, but I decided I would re-do the rear ribs and do them according to plan. Note from the future: I'm using extended flaps instead of rear ribs and modified two of the rear ribs to be the inboard flap rib.

  Jul 11, 2011     Cutting, drilling, routing - (18.5 hours) Category: Wing Ribs

Date range 11 Jul through28 July
I cut the aluminum blanks, drilled the necessary jig holes, and routed them 4 at a time.

  Jul 10, 2011     Cutting aluminum blanks - (3 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

Started cutting aluminum! Amber loves to use the electric shears. I have the only wife in the world that would let me build an airplane in her laundry room AND would help with the construction! The tub on the sheet is used to collect all aluminum shards. The Harbor Freight shears are certainly worth the investment!

  Jun 29, 2011     Finished form blocks and started cutting blanks - (12 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

29 June - 8 July
Drilled jig holes and sanded form blocks from yesterday.
Traced form blocks onto .025 2024-T3! Getting ready to cut the first aluminum
Spend copious amount of time studying plans and determining requirements for the various lengths of ribs, and spar material.

  Jun 22, 2011     More form block work - (19 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

This is for date range 22 - 28 June.
Sanded form block and traced onto more MDF to create cutting templates and back form block
Used grinder and scotch brite wheel to practice on aluminum scrap
Studied plans for required rib location and size, more sanding and finishing of router jig templates.
Cut out router jigs and back plates for nose, center, and back ribs and sanded. Amber helped sanding!
Traced aileron, flap, aileron pocket, and false ribs onto MDF
Drilled jig holes, sanded main rib form block.
Cut out router jigs and back plates and form blocks for flap and aileron nose rib and pocket ribs, flap and aileron ribs, back ribs, center and nose ribs. Lots of cutting and sanding. Thank you Amber for your help!

  Jun 21, 2011     Cutting wing form block with band saw - (1.5 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

Cut out wing form block MDF using band saw. Slow work because I was using metal blade on saw. Sanded form block down to line, still some sanding left to do

  Jun 20, 2011     Wing form block and garage setup - (2 hours)       Category: Wing Ribs

Thus it begins. Bearhawk 4-place plans number 1217 will temporarily share garage space with a Kitfox Model 2. I cut out the wing form block plans sheet and traced it onto 3/4"" MDF and rough cut it with a circular saw.