Project: Greg's_RV-10   -  
            Listing for Category : lighting
    (Please mouse-over any icon to get a description of that function).


  
Builder Name:Greg Kochersperger   -  
Project:   Vans - RV-10
Total Hours:1306.9
Total Flight Time:1.1
Start/Last Date:Jan 15, 2021 - No Finish Date
Engine:IO-540
Propeller:TBD
Panel:Garmin G3X
 
Friendly URL: https://eaabuilderslog.org?s=Greg's_RV-10

Home or Last Project Picture

Oct 08, 2022     Landing light install - (3.0 hours)       Category: Lighting
Decided to tackle the landing lights while wrapping up the other wiring. Hadn't quite figured yet how I would run the wires through the mounting plate; the FlyLed power connections are in the front of the light. I also wanted Toni corporate an adel clamp somewhere to provide some strain relief.

Decide to put the adel clamp on the back side of the bracket, very close to where the outboard molex connection would be. Then I drilled a hole through the face of the bracket to run the wire through with a rubber grommet.

Planning is easy; execution was challenging. Just getting both the mount and light into the bay requires a little bit of a dance. You do have access to the backside through the outboard wing rib, but everything has to come in from the hole in the leading edge. I wanted to use hex head #8 screws to mount the light but the nut plates were #10s. Drilled those out and replaced the nutplates with K1000-08s. Even with the hex head screws getting the light installed in the bracket it's everything inside the wing was difficult, but got it done.

Very patiently worked to get the brackets installed and wires routed, stripped and inserted into the friction connections on the Flyleds. Left enough room for a service loop behind the light and tied it up well to keep it clear if the heat sink. Much of the work was done laying on the floor looking up at the lights with the leading edge pointing down in the cradle.

The most difficult part was installing the lense now that the light is in place. I finally got the technique which I'm sure I will forget by the next time I have to touch these. I can only describe it as squeezing the lense like a taco and getting the whole lense above the light. Once inserted in the top, the bottom of lense just barely clears the light but it does.


 
Aug 15, 2022     Flyled Landing lights - (1.0 hour)       Category: Lighting
My Seven Star lights I picked up in Oshkosh were missing a few parts, but Paul at Flyleds got them quickly shipped from Australia. They arrived today and I was able to assemble the lights quite easily. Tested them with a 9V battery and thought they were not working, but when I looked again with less ambient light I could see they were faintly lit. I guess that is expected since that little battery can't put out the amperage needed. I'll check it with a bigger battery later. I think they work for now.

8/27L finally got them hooked up to a car battery and tested. They work, and they're bright.


 
May 13, 2022     Duckworks done for now - (1.5 hours)       Category: Lighting
Got the left wing lense trimmed to fit. Was a little easier than the first one, but still I find the instructions a little misleading. The fit is good enough, but there are some gaps in the front. Maybe one day I'll meet someone that knows how to do these better and get them to redo my lenses. They're a pain.

Went ahead and installed the brackets in both wings and put the lenses in place. Only thing not done is the foam tape, but I probably won't do that until the wings are installed and the protective tape is removed.


 
May 02, 2022     Duckworks - acceptable brackets finally - (1.5 hours) Category: Lighting
Stripped all of the paint off the brackets down to bare metal in most places. Reshot with self-etch and then top coat with enamel. They're not perfect, but I'm not touching them again.
 
Apr 28, 2022     Ductwork's redo - (4.5 hours)       Category: Lighting
New Duckworks brackets arrived. Drilled out the rivets for the rails and sanded down all the existing paint. Reprimed with self etch.

Drilled new brackets using existing rails as guide. Forgot to bend the tab at edge of bracket prior to drilling so ended up with nothing to stiffen the edge. Used a piece of scrap j channel - worked well.

Primed and assembled everything together. Painted completed assembly with enamel.

Again, some debris and splatter in the paint. Waited a full 48 hrs the lightly sand the surface with 600 grit. Shot a second coat and same thing - crackling. This time I'll just strip it off and start over rather than power sanding it down.

Frustrated with paint I moved on to trying to fit the right lense in the leading edge. Had a very difficult time getting it to fit. After a lot of sanding, I got something I think was acceptable.


 
Apr 19, 2022     Duckworks - painting and assembly - (2.5 hours)       Category: Lighting
Debating about what color to paint the brackets and inside of the LE. Black or white? Decided to just go with white. The white enamel paint from autozone actually turned out really nice.

4/20: Of course looking back at the brackets I noticed some dust and debris in the paint. Good enough, or redo? Well I tried to redo and don't even want to talk about it. Needless to say 220 grit sanding marks show through the 2nd coat of enamel, and then the high build primer I shot over the enamel crackled because I probably didn't let the enamel cure. What a mess! Now I need to take it down to bare metal and start over.

4/21: after trying to sand down the enamel, I'm doing more damage to the metal than I feel like fixing. For the effort it's just not worth it. Ordering new brackets from Ductworks. What a terrible fail and waste of a lot of effort to fix.

Purchases: Ductworks- replacement brackets


 
Apr 18, 2022     Duckworks LE cuts and mounting strips - (5.0 hours)       Category: Lighting
Got up early this morning and made the first cut. Start by drilling #30 holes around the curved portions, then used a Dremel cut-off wheel to cut the straight parts. Then used a small sanding drum on the Dremel to clean up the curves and remove excess from the straight cuts - probably could have cut a lot closer to the line with the cut-off wheel. Then a combination of straight file and sandpaper wrapped around a kid's drinking cup that happens to be about the radius.

Not too bad. I did get a gouge in the top skin from a cutoff wheel that jumped. I sanded that out and scotchbrited it out - might need a little more.

Proceeding with the upper lower mounting strips for the left wing. Pretty straightforward, just follow the instructions. There is one point when they say to put slight bend in the retainer plate. Was sure if they meant to bend it outward for more space or bend it inward to compensate for the tendency of a single row of rivets to bend it outward. I went with the latter - hopefully it's not too tight.

Got the lower strips done which are similar except they use #6 screw to hold everything in place.

Repeat everything for right side.

Left side - 3.5 hrs
Right side - 1.5


 
Apr 17, 2022     Duckworks landing light mount - (4.0 hours)       Category: Lighting
As I was close to the end of the Leading Edges, my Duckworks landing light bracket showed up. Good timing. My hands need a little break from riveting too so I'm going to progress these a bit.

I was on the fence between the Duckworks kit, which has been the mainstay for RV builders forever , and the newer Van's landing light that comes with the RV-14. The Vans kit has a little larger opening, but I doubt it is necessary. Deciding factor - Van's was out of stock. So Duckworks it is. Kit is pretty simple. Instructions aren't great but I found better photos on the internet that helped me figure it out.

Got the nutplates installed in the two ribs. So glad I'm doing this now and not after the LE is on the spar. Squeezed solid rivets on the outboard rib and used the pull rivets in the in board rib.

They don't give a lot of guidance on the extension angles. I clamped it all together very roughly just so I could confirm edge distances and plan out the rivets. Once I established I would have five rivets on the main body and two on the ends I was able to drill and cleco the main body. I was trying to keep everything square and found that if I clamped a piece of scrap balsa between the angle and the frame it would keep them a constant distance off the bend line and keep them relatively square. Then I clamped the end piece at roughly 15 1/2” total length and fit it into the wing. Then squeezed it a bit to fit snug. There seems to be a lot of slop with the oversized holes so I think it is about as good as it needs to be.

Prepped and primed a small batch of parts and then assembled the brackets.

I think I'll stop there. Time to make the big cut in the leading edges.

Got up the nerve to at least cut the paper templates for the cutouts.

4/16 0.8 - Did just a little cutting and fabrication of the bracket and support angles.
4/17 3.2 - got the holes drilled and fitted for the brackets, drilled the nut plates for ribs, primed and assembled brackets.


 


NOTE: This information is strictly used for the EAA Builders Log project within the EAA organization.     -     Policy     -     © Copyright 2024 Brevard Web Pro, Inc.