Jan 24, 2022     Brake Update - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Summarizing a few work sessions.

I had the last of the welding work done and cleaned up. Painted the rudder pedals and assembled with the brake pedals and fittings. I will need to modify the master cylinder mounts slightly with some sections of tubing from AC Spruce, to be ordered.
Fabricated an additional travel stop for each rudder pedal to maintain clearance for the gear retract torque tubes. This travel stop reduces the pedal travel by 7/16 inch. And this reduces the rudder travel slightly. The rudder originally swung close to 40 degrees per side, which seems much more than necessary. With the new travel stop added, the rudder swings 30 degrees per side which should be sufficient. As a reference, the RV7 is designed for 30-35 degrees travel per side and that's more than adequate. The rudder on the Dalotel is huge in comparison to most aircraft so I'm comfortable with that travel.

  Jan 08, 2022     Brakes - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Fabricated a new lower bracket for the RH brake pedal. Trimmed it to fit tightly against the existing rudder pedal assembly when welded into place.

The aluminum sleeve from original heel brake assembly needed to be removed. The inner sleeve on the LH rudder pedal had melted when the lower bracket was welded to the outer tube. The inner sleeve was loose in the tube but was hung up. I didn't want it to loosen with time and fall out at an inopportune time so I drilled out and fully removed the aluminum inner sleeve. I did the same with the sleeve on the RH pedal as it would melt when the bracket was welded to its corresponding tube. Photo to follow.

  Jan 06, 2022     Brake Pedals - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Fabricated the last parts for the brake pedals. Cleaned up all the parts, deburring, countersinking, etc. Riveted parts together to complete each pedal.

  Jan 04, 2022     Brakes assemblies - (4.5 hours)       Category: Controls

Created final layout of brake pedal assembly. Took a few attempts and adjustments to get sufficient clearance, for example, pedal needed to be shortened by 1/4" to clear the wing bolt, see second picture. Almost there. Some additional modification might be done to master cylinder housing.

See pictures below to see the tight clearances. Keep in mind that landing gear torque tube will be coming towards the viewer from the hole in the frame in the back ground of the photo. Rudder bar, brake pedal, master cylinder and brake fluid reservoir all need to be in specific position to provide clearance for the torque tube. Brake fluid reservoir needs to be tilted forward to clear brake pedal and some of the rudder pedal needed to be ground away to provide clearance there too.

Once I had enough confidence in the assembly for the LH pedal, made mirror image duplicates for RH pedal.

  Jan 03, 2022     Brake progress - (1.5 hours)       Category: Controls

With both rudder cables connected, I was able to check full travel of the rudder and rudder pedals. It appears that I don't need to provide clearance for full pedal travel to provide sufficient rudder travel. This reduction in pedal travel means less issue with the pedals and brake assemblies impinging on the retract torque tubes. The reduction isn't a large amount but it does help.

Having checked master cylinder travel on a couple of other completed airplanes, I don't think I'll need full travel on these master cylinders. Following that theory, means that I can shorten the master cylinder pistons slightly. I shortened the master cylinder pistons by 5/16". This reduces the overall relaxed length of the master cylinder by that same amount, providing more room for fitment.

  Dec 23, 2021     Remaining rudder cable arrived and installed - (1 hour) Category: Controls

The second rudder cable arrived from Aircraft Spruce. Installed and fitted with the necessary components. It's the first time the rudder's been connected to the rudder pedals in approximately 40 years.

  Dec 10, 2021     Brakes. They're the Achilles heel of this project - (2 hours) Category: Controls

Spent another couple of hours trying to fit these brake assemblies into the tight confines between the seat, the floor, the rudder pedals, and the retract torque tube. Fitting the master cylinder and brake fluid reservoir is challenging enough, but there also needs to be room for brake travel and proper geometry to get sufficient brake force with reasonable and predictable brake feel. Getting closer. Fabricated some more pieces to trial fit things together and test. Not done yet, but getting closer. Got distracted and reviewed the retract torque tube assemblies again.

  Nov 17, 2021     Aircraft Spruce order arrived Category: Controls

Shipment of rudder cable. Yep. One rudder cable. I had to work with Aircraft Spruce to get a quote for a special combination of cable and end fittings. Through the process, the quantity that I'd asked for somehow got changed from two to one. I didn't notice it on the order. Had to place another one on order and I'll have to wait another month or so...

  Oct 21, 2021     Heel brakes - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Spent a lot of time building up some toe brakes and cutting the pedals to provide sufficient clearance and proper operation of the brakes. In the end, I don't think effective toe brakes can be made to work on this plane. There are just too many conflicting issues. Between limited space, insufficient travel, and the challenge to get the proper geometry throughout the entire travel of the rudder pedals and the brake pedals, it's back to the drawing board.

I think I'll have to go with heel brakes. Heel brakes aren't conventional but they look like they can be made to work. And since they were originally on the plane, maybe they aren't that unconventional. Then again, if Dalotel chose them, maybe they are.

  Oct 13, 2021     Going forwards by going backwards. - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

It felt like I accomplished nothing today. I suppose it had to be done but it didn't feel like progress.

While reviewing some of the photos Ray had taken when he disassembled the airplane, I recognized the bolts to mount the elevator horn. They are approx 3/16" diameter and a few inches long. What made them recognizable was the unique head on them. It is much thicker than a typical bolt head. I found these bolts in my collection of parts and discovered some rust on them. I was hopeful that it was simply surface rust so I put the bolts in a bath of rust remover. The rust remover is wonderful stuff available from the aviation section of Canadian Tire. It's called Krud Kutter by Rustoleum and it doesn't take long for the rust to be removed. A few minutes bath and a light scrubbing with an old toothbrush got most of the rust off. Some rust was a little more tenacious, so I dipped them in again. In the end it was a couple of baths and some light scrubbing to discover that there was some deeper pitting on the bolts. Maybe they're good enough to mount a handle on a BBQ or something non-critical like that, but not good for aviation purposes. Good-bye bolts.

While I was at it, I considered I'd better install the rod ends which hold the spar pins into the fuselage. I've mentioned them before, but they are a Dalotel solution, that is, they are an overly complex solution to a simple problem. They are beautifully machined pieces but I should have installed them before I put the aluminum fuselage cross plates in place. To get room to install the rod ends meant I had to remove many of the interior pieces I'd already installed. Fortunately I didn't have to remove the control sticks and associated assembly but just about everything else. It would have been so much easier had I installed them right after painting the frame. I'll know better for next time. Wait! What?

  Oct 12, 2021     Put the brakes on the brakes - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

With the empennage removed, it was back to the brakes. I temporarily assembled things again and was looking at the locations of everything and the clearances. While looking at the potential routing of the brake lines in the wings, I had an "Aha" moment. Well maybe it wasn't an "Aha" moment, it was more of an "Oh s$%t" moment.

Thinking about the brake line routing made me have a closer look at the brake assembly. With the rudder pedal pushed full travel, I realized the brake master cylinder will be in the way of the landing gear retract torque tube. See attached picture. The torque tube comes out of the hole indicated by the yellow arrow.

I was so busy considering the fitment of the master cylinder to the rudder pedal and its clearances to the seat and the floor, the leverage and travel required to provide sufficient braking power with acceptable foot pressure that I had completely forgotten about the torque tube.

Hmmm. More head scratching required.

  Oct 07, 2021     Rudder pedals - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Started work on the brake pedals. I had created some rough versions out of cheap aluminum earlier in the summer and used them as a template for the new pieces. Installed bushings for brake pedals.

  Oct 02, 2021     New rudder cables - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

After a long break on the project I started back on it by installing the recently ordered new, custom made, rudder cables. It should have been easy but I ran into some frustrations. For some reason I ordered 5/32" diameter cable. I should have ordered the cables as 1/8". I was tempted to use the 5/32" cable except that it doesn't fit into the original pulleys that are mounted in the rear of the fuselage. The pulleys are truly unnecessary since it's on a straight run of the cables. However, they were there, so I want to use them. I installed the 5/32" cable anyway to get a feel of the layout and reinstalled the bakelite bushings from the original cable run.

One of the interesting Dalotel features was that some of the bushings were screwed and then safety wired in place. The safety wire ran through the edge of the bakelite bushing. See attached picture.

I'm now working with A/C Spruce to get the correct sized rudder cables.

  Aug 02, 2021     Brake Pedals Category: Controls

Brake master cylinders and second axle arrived from Matco. Had to pay taxes and duties.

  Jul 21, 2021     Rudder pedal and Brake work - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

Removed toe strap and associated mounting from RH rudder pedal. Much simpler now, having learnt how the pieces were assembled with the LH pedal. Sandblasted both pedals to remove any loose paint/grime. Painted pedals to prep for reassembly.

  Jul 14, 2021     Rudder pedal and Brake work - (1 hour) Category: Controls

Did some further exploratory work on the pivot for the brake pedal. Since there aren't any drawings of the pedals and their internals, I wasn't sure what was inside originally holding the toe straps in place. As I worked up to a progressively larger hole on either side, I learnt that the straps were held in place by an aluminum shaft that ran through the centre of the rudder pedal tubing. Once this was confirmed the obvious solution would be to enlarge the hole to fit a oilite bushing that a long AN4 bolt can pass through and the brake pedal can pivot on.

  Jun 16, 2021     Brake Pedals - (1.5 hours)       Category: Controls

Did some more conceptualizing of the toe brakes. Manufactured a mock up of one using some non-aviation aluminum. Checking clearances and operation in the tight confines of the fuselage.

Ordered the master cylinders from Matco today.

  Jun 15, 2021     Brake Pedals - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

Removed the over-the-foot strap from the rear rudder pedals. Drilled out the aluminum shaft that the straps were mounted to. Going to use this as the pivot point for the toe brakes.

  Jun 06, 2021     Installed pedals and engine controls - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Assembled the newly painted forward rudder pedals and controls. Installed the brass bushings that the rudder controls pass over. I had recently polished them since they had become dark and burnished. Couldn't get all the staining off of them but they look pretty good now.

Started sorting out and installing engine controls. Throttle lever, mixture control, fuel selector control. Of course, without an engine, it's just to understand the layout and operation of the controls for now.

Got to see the recently painted cockpit floor panels. Most notably the panel that covers over the yoke controls and manual retract controls behind the rear seat.

  May 26, 2021     Rudder pedal and Brake work - (4 hours)       Category: Controls

Spent a lot of time cleaning up the brake assemblies. I was able to undo the awkwardly located brake reservoir caps. It's no surprise that they were custom made for the plane. They have a tiny breather hole down the centre and a ball within the shank of the cap itself. When the caps are inverted, the ball drops into the way of the breather hole, preventing the brake fluid from leaking out. In normal orientation the vent is open allowing the reservoir to breath.

I also spent some time removing the paint and surface rust from the front rudder pedal assemblies. I'll paint them next.

While I was at it, I couldn't resist polishing the brass fittings that connect the rudder pedals to the bar. They had 50 years of oxidation and grime on them but they just begged to be polished up.

  May 25, 2021     Rudder pedals - (1.5 hours)       Category: Controls

Spent some time reviewing the unique arrangement and operation of the rudder pedals and brakes. The front pedals are supported by a floor mounted bar that pivots at the centreline of the fuselage. The front pedals thread into each end of this bar and each side has a tube that extends back, parallel to the lower longeron. Each tube passes through the main spar support, where the rear rudder pedals mount to the tube. The rudder cables simply connect to the rear rudder pedals. The brakes are heel operated and the master cylinder of each brake is mounted inside the previously mentioned tubes.

Of course, each of these pieces is unique and custom built for this plane. For example, the front rudder pedals are connected to the bar through beautifully machined brass fittings. Each side is threaded in opposite direction. That is, the LH side has LH thread and the RH side has RH threads. The brass fittings have been machined out of the centre so they aren't too heavy. The brake master cylinders are custom built as are the heel pads for the brakes. I'm going to see if I can rebuild these cylinders and reuse them. I'm hopeful they are operational and provide a suitable pressure and fluid displacement to operate the Matco brake callipers properly. We shall see.

A couple of interesting points. The rudder pedals have heavy rubber straps to secure your feet to the pedals. These straps are one of the few items, besides the engine and the instruments that were obviously outsourced. They were provided by Habasit in Switzerland. Habasit is a belting company that still exists.
Another interesting point is the design of the brake master cylinder. The tubing that makes up the rear pedal assembly appears to also act as the brake fluid reservoir. Brilliant! Except that the fitting to fill the reservoir is on the inside of the rudder pedal frame and making it difficult to access, and it's on a vertical section of tubing. So to fill the reservoir one has to either use a syringe with a flexible piece of tubing and some rags to collect the inevitable spillage, or one will have to orient the plane on each wingtip while one fills each side.

  May 22, 2021     Further reassembly - (2.5 hours)       Category: Controls

Installed control sticks. Rear (primary) stick is installed permanently. Front stick is installed temporarily for now.

Fabricated some missing pieces for later use.

Started identifying and assembling other cockpit pieces. Namely seat rails, gear retract motor and hand crank, brackets and screws to mount motor and other misc. pieces. Just like the gear retract mechanisms in the wings, the hand crank assembly is beautifully made and turns as smooth as silk.

There's an interesting label on the retract motor.

Entretien du moteur.
Balais. Doivent etre remplaces avant leur usure complete. s'assurer que les balais neufs coulissent librement avec un faible jeu dans les porte-balais. Leur qualite doit etre la meme que celle balais d'origine.

Which translates to:

Motor maintenance.
Brushes. Must be replaced before they are completely worn out. Make sure that the new brushes slide freely with little play in the brush holders. Their quality should be the same as the original brushes.

Basically, don't let the motor wear out and replace worn parts with good ones.

The label is not much use since it's on the underside of the motor which is mounted underneath the front seat. Not too likely to be seen.

I'd checked the motor when I first got the project and it's going to need work. It's not working right now.

  May 20, 2021     Refinished Control Sticks - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Scraped paint from control sticks. There were some areas that were exposed and showed some surface rust. Removing the paint showed that the sticks had some surface rust over almost the entire area. I wonder if the sticks were properly prepared prior to original painting or if they even had a slight bit of rust on them when they were painted.

Removed the paint, removed the rust, fully prepped and painted them.

The upper section of the forward stick is spun anodized aluminum and didn't need any painting. It looks like the stick was made to be removable by removing a bolt and pulling the upper section out. Unfortunately the previously mentioned rust has seized the aluminum upper in the steel lower and I couldn't remove it for anything. It wouldn't budge. So, it's staying in.

  May 16, 2021     Control sticks and bearings - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Spent some time checking the electrical output of the rear control stick. There's a nice military grade connector with 6 terminals coming out the bottom of the stick. The stick has switch at the top of the grip for elevator trim and a PTT switch on the side of the grip. All terminals seem to work but the logic of the switches suggest that the trim control went into a relay before going to the trim servo. More inspection and discovery to come on that.

Installed one of the outer bearings that supports the control rod. Temporarily installed the forward control stick. I have to get some bushings machined up to fit into the mainspar support. Once they are in, the mainspar connector plate can be installed fully, which will then allow the control stick to install.

Installed the bushings for the rear spar into the rear spar connector plate. They were removed prior to the fuselage being sandblasted and painted.

  May 13, 2021     Pushrod reassembly - (1 hour)       Category: Controls

Put the newly refurbished pushrods into the plane. Pulled the rearmost pushrod down from storage. Unlike the pushrods in the cockpit which are made of steel and painted black, this beauty is aluminum and still has its factory paint. Interestingly, it's the only piece in the plane painted with this green paint.
The pushrod is made of a single tube and is tapered on both ends. It's surprisingly heavy for its size. It must have been made from a fairly heavy walled tube.
Cleaned and relubed the rod end bearings on either end. Again, with the old grease and grime removed and newly greased, they are smooth as silk.

  May 11, 2021     Pushrod refurb - (2 hours)       Category: Controls

Stripped the peeling paint from the two of the three elevator pushrods. These are the pushrods that run between the control sticks and the rear of the cockpit. In some areas the original paint was peeling in large flakes, in other areas the paint was adhering beautifully. I spent some time scraping and sanding these pushrods to remove the paint and some surface rust that had developed. Prepped and painted the pushrods and control housing. I didn't take any pictures of how they looked before but here are some after shots.
Rebuilt some bearings and ball joints. Fortunately all could be reused. With a thorough cleaning and relubing, they are smooth as silk.