Section: 23
Hours: 4

I'm working on finishing up the odds and ends for the wings. First up today, I added an Adel clamp to secure the wiring for the roll servo.

Then I installed the aileron connecting rod for the other wing.

And finished up by pressing the bushings into the flap struts. Looks like I will need to touch up with some primer around the bushing where the socket pressed into the metal.

Section: 23
Hours: 5

I worked on the aileron actuator today. The belcrank rides on a brass bushing which is captured between 2 brackets that bolt to the main spar. I had installed the belcrank some time ago but not torqued it to final values. Today I measured 15 inch pounds of drag on the lock nut and the specs call for 85 inch pounds of torque combined for 100 inch pounds. When I applied that much torque, the belcrank no longer rotated freely. I spent much of the day adjusting, pulling the belcrank and bushing apart and trying to figure out what was wrong. I determined that with that much torque applied, the bushing had deformed on the ends which caused it to bind inside the belcrank tube. I tried to file down the bushing with out any luck. I wish I had a lathe about now...

I ordered a new bushing from Van's and moved on to the second wing. In reading the blogs about installing the belcrank several builders had commented about the lack of a washer between the bushing and the bracket, potentially causing wear between the bracket and the bushing end. This time I added a washer between the bushing and the bracket and lowered the torque to 90 inch pounds. The second belcrank freely moves. I think the combination of the washer and lower torque helped.

I'll have to wait for the replacement bushing before completing the other wing.

Section: OP-38
Hours: 2

I purchased the optional aileron trim kit OP-38 from vans. It includes hardware and a few aluminum parts and a Ray Allen trim servo. When I ordered it I didn't realize the kit also included an LED indicator and an on/off switch for the panel. I will be controlling the trim using the hat switch on the top of the control stick and the G3X display will show the trim status so the included LED indicator and on/off switch will go unused. I would have been $$ cheaper to order the trim servo without the switch and LED.

Section: OP-52A
Hours: 1

I also purchased 2 of the Aero LEDS Sunspot LX landing light kits which include the LED lights, mounting brackets and assorted hardware. Unfortunately I could not find the 2 baggies that have the hardware so I will have to contact Van's tomorrow after the holiday.

Section: 62
Hours: 1

Van's recently introduced a mounting kit for the Garmin GMU-22 Magnetometer. It includes a mounting bracket that replaces the Dynon ADAHRS mount in the left wing. The wing wiring for the Dynon ADAHRS can be repurposed to attach the GMU-22 so it seems like a good deal. Some builders have reported interference from the wing tip strobes causing the GMU-22 to fail, but I'm running an extra pair of shielded wires to my strobes so hopefully that won't be an issue.

Note: The mounting ring for the GMU-22 is not included in the kit from Van's. I ordered all my avionics from SteinAir and they provided the GMU-22, but it did not include the mounting ring either. I'll have to talk to SteinAir about providing the ring.

Section: 23
Hours: 5

I continued work on the aileron actuator. Here is the jig I used for setting the length and angles before drilling the bolt holes in the center tube. I marked the dimensions on my table and clamped a couple squared off blocks at either end of the width. It was easy to insert the parts and expand them to the proper width. I then used another wood block cut on my table saw to be 1 1/32 inch wide to set the angle per the drawing in the manual. Make sure you build the second one as a mirror image of the first.

I deburred, sanded, cleaned and primed the components with Rust-oleum clean metal primer.

Section: 23
Hours: 6

We are having more unseasonable warm weather (70 degrees in the afternoon) so I decided to prep and prime some parts. Here are the aileron push rods and end caps, the GMU-22 magnetometer mounting bracket, wing tip ribs and the elevator gap closure fairings. I also spent some time cleaning up the garage some.

I also spent some time working out more details for the wing wiring. I will be using the Van's provided wiring harnesses since I already have them on hand. From my initial research it looks like I will have to provide additional wiring for several items:

1) The FlyLEDS wingtip LED strobe lights may be electrically noisy so it is recommended that they be wired using a shielded pair of 18-22 ga. wire.

2) I will be installing a GAP-26 regulated pitot heater that requires additional wiring runs for power and the sense line that attaches to a G3X annunciator.

3) I think I'll be mounting the outside air temperature (OAT) in the left wing and it will require extra wiring.

4) I am going to use an Archer nav antenna embedded in the right wing tip and it will require a coax cable run.

Section: 12
Hours: 4

This morning I got out the rivet gun, bucking bar and drove some rivets. It's been a while but it all came back to me - like riding a bicycle at this point in the project.

Section: 23
Hours: 3

This afternoon I started work on the aileron linkage. Here I've installed the aileron bellcrank. The first time I started tightening the end nut the bell crank got tight, so I removed it and lightly sanded the inside of the pivot tube. It now moves freely without any slop.

I had previously started the fabrication of pushrods. Today I cleaned out the inside of the tubes with sandpaper wrapped around a broom stick and then taped off the ends and poured epoxy primer into the tubes. Tomorrow I'll prime the outsides.

Next I fabricated the push rods. I had previously primed the inside of the tubes. The threaded ends are held in with (long) AN470AD4-11 rivets. The manual advises using a hand squeezer on these because it is easy to lean them over. I don't have a hand squeezer so I decided to back rivet them, which worked really well. I placed the back rivet plate on the table, inserted the rivet and then held the rod in one hand so the rivet was vertical to the rivet plate and the rod was parallel to the plate. Then I aligned the rivet gun vertically on the end of the rivet and gently tapped the rivet into the back plate to get the initial set. It was easy to control the rivet using this setup.

I finished up this afternoon by inserting threaded rod ends into the torque tube sub assemblies with pull rivets.

Section: 23
Hours: 4

I started work on the aileron actuation system. You cut the push rod tubing to length and then drill 6 equally spaced holes in both ends for riveting in the end connectors. I wrapped a piece of masking tape around the tube end with a little overlap. Then I cleanly sliced the tape and peeled it off and laid it out on a flat surface. I drew a line .25" from the end and divided it into 6 even spaces using my micrometer. Then I wrapped the tape back onto the tubing and center punched on the marks on the tape to layout the hole pattern for drilling. It helped to butt the tube up to a back board at 90 degrees and then align the tape parallel to the back board as you lay it on the tubing.

The threaded rod ends were slightly loose so I had to temporarily put a small length of electrical tape on the rod end and then jam it into the tube to hold it in place for drilling the first hole. After the first hole was drilled I was able to insert a cleco to hold the assembly in place.

Woody inspected the drilled tube ends.