Lindy
3/18/2009
Right after work today, two of our mechanics, and friends of mine-Doug and Ray, worked on giving my magneto a 500 hour inspection. I didn't count any of this as build time since I didn't do any of the work...I just watched, and took pictures. My mag came with the engine that I bought (had two, sold one), and has 252 hours on it since new. I just felt better about it by having a 500 hour inspection done on it since it has not been used for several years. LOTS of pictures...
Here's the overall workbench, special mag holder (silver ring-looking thing in front of the mag), plenty of tools, and the book to make sure we didn't miss anything on the inspection checklist. We have already removed the impulse coupling when this pic was taken, seen on the paper towel.
Here the cap and cover have been removed to expose the spark distributor and gears. The mag sits in that ring to keep it from spinning.
Here Ray has taken out a few parts to expose the capacitor. You can see where the brush on the large gear rubs the silver tab where the black dot is.
Here's the large gear that goes under the distributor-the brush is on the bottom of the gear in this pic, opposite the shaft the arrow is pointing to. The cam grease is used to lube the shaft and the gears.
Here we are checking to make sure the tab is level. This is really important for the brush to wear evenly when spinning on the tab.
We didn't find anything wrong or out of tolerance, but did clean up some minor rusting on the steel parts. They are well within tolerance, and was most likely caused from sitting.
With everything checked out and cleaned up, it was time to start putting it back together. The small gear does go on before the large one, but I wanted a pic to show how the big one with the cap over it slides in to place, and the screws that hold it down.
Here the small gear is back on, and we are timing the mag with that little half moon tool sticking out near the terminal clip. It fits in there on one side for a left mag (in my case), and the other side for a right mag. The red arrow is pointing to the timing box, and is shown in time with the right mag light off. It was spot on...that's what I wanted to hear!
The main cover is being screwed back on...
The impulse coupling going back on...
And finally, testing the spark while manually turning the shaft. Got a good spark, and a 500 hour inspection sign off! I will be doing another one at the 250 hour mark (airframe time) after it's on the airplane because the mag will be at 500 hours at that time, and I want the rusting to be checked on again, as well as the brushes.
A fully serviced, ready to fly mag!
Okay, on to building!
When I got home tonight, I spent a short while in the garage hooking up miscellaneous wires...
Here the starter wire is installed on the starter contactor.
I grabbed a couple of Adel clamps at work today so I could secure the alternator power wire to the engine mount.
I made the main power cable at work today...this is the cable off the positive terminal from the battery. I bent the terminal lug 90 degrees down to make the connection to the battery contactor easy.
Then I ran the 14awg power wire to the battery buss. This is also run right off the positive terminal on the battery. This buss is always hot.
Next I marked out the holes for the piano hinge for the fuse block plate that will fold down to access in flight if needed.
Here's the aft side of the sub-panel where the hinge will go.
That's all I had time for tonight...in other related news today...I have a hangar at the airport! I can't move in until April 15th, and probably won't move the project out there until early summer, but it's nice to know that I have a place to keep this thing when it's done now! We're still looking at a private airport to possibly hangar it at some point in time, but this will be VERY convenient for me to work on the airplane right after work once it's out there. If you're ever at Bloomington (KBMI), I'll be at Image Air during the weekdays and in E20 most evenings and weekends...
1.25 hours