Lindy
11/17/2007
I had no plan of action when I started this morning. Had no plan for the day, really. I decided to not worry about wiring right now. There's plenty of time for that, and I need to do some serious reading to learn about it. So, today I removed everything that was in the panel, then I brought the A210 out to check the fit. Slight filing on the bottom of the hole, and it slid in. I marked the location on the sub-panel where the radio will protrude thru, then removed everything to cut that hole. The Dremel made quick work of that.
I smoothed that out, and then riveted the sub-panel to the fuselage.
After lunch, I wanted to get the vent scoops installed. The plans have you use RTV and rivets to install these. I don't want rivets showing on the outside, so I installed them with tank sealant. First, I clamped them in place.
Then I marked the location with an outline inside the skin so I could scuff the paint down to the aluminum.
Then I gooped sealant on with an acid brush.
And clamped the scoops back in place.
It's a bit chilly here, so these will take a couple of days to cure.
I figured out a way to safety the threads on the forward elevator push tube. This has been bugging me because it is noted in several write ups, that the threads on a push tube MUST either have more than half of the threads on both sides engaged, OR there must be a way to ensure the threads will not back out of one end. Well, I cut the tube to the length called out on the plans, and any longer would've proved impossible to get the tube installed (it was REALLY tight as it is). In order to get the control sticks and bellcrank in the neutral position, the rod end bearings had to be moved out quite a ways. This means that I have just over a quarter of an inch of threads engaged on either end. Not good. Now, the jam nuts are nice and tight, and I smothered the nuts in torque seal, but I still didn't like it.
My solution is pretty sweet, if I do say so myself! I cut a piece of AL tubing in half (that had an inner diameter that matched the width of the threads), and then used two tie wraps on each end to secure it to the threads.
I will torque seal over that as well, but this will assure me that the threads cannot move in either direction.
The tie wraps are tight enough, that the half tube can't move, but torque seal will provide an easy method of inspection to make sure nothing has moved.
3.75 hours