Left and Right sides of the reinforcement rib.
Close-up of the "mount of pins"
2 Hours, Friday, December 6, 2002
I cut the reinforcement rib for the left side and did a little fitting.
2 Hours, Saturday December 7, 2002
I finished fitting both sides of the rib reinforcement, and then vacuumed and cleaned the area. I sealed the two halves of the rib reinforcement with a thin Q-Cell mix. I stood the halves up on needles stuck into foam blocks
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Left and Right sides of the reinforcement rib. |
Close-up of the "mount of pins" |
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Both sides after sealing with Q-Cell mix. |
Front Belly Pan prior to reinforcement rib installation. |
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Reinforcement rib ready for bonding in place. |
Reinforcement rib detail on the pilots side as seem from the front |
1 Hour December 13, 2002
The fuselage and belly pan surfaces adjoining the reinforcement rib were sanded and washed with acetone.
2 Hours December 14, 2002
I fitted and hot glued the left side of the reinforcement rib into place. The right side was fitted, but not glued.
2 Hours December 15, 2002
I finished hot gluing the reinforcement rib pieces into place. I then ran a bead of Q-Cell mix around the periphery of the reinforcement rib and gave it a radius of 3/8ths inch. Excess Q-Cell mix was wiped up
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There was a slight mishap. Normally any rough edges are trimmed while the lay-up is in the "green" state, but due to me finishing up the work rather late (3:00 or 4:00 AM) I'm usually sleeping soundly by the time the lay-up is ready to trim. This means I end up sanding down the edges instead of cutting them with a sharp knife. It also means some very sharp edges. While doing the above work, I shifted in the chair which also shifted. I leaned forward and raised up to stay out of the wet resin. I should have taken the resin. I hit the top of my head against the edge of the windshield opening. The untrimmed edge is/was just like a razor. It was soon block sanded down smooth to match the opening. The photo to the right shows the edge of the windshield opening. |
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3 Hours December 16, 2002
I trimmed off the cured, excess Q-Cell mix using both a half inch and a quarter inch wood chisel. I also used the chisels to shape the cured mix in several areas.
3 Hours December 17, 2002
I added a second layer of Q-Cell Mix to fill in some low spots and to fix a gouge in the reinforcement rib. Later in the day I did the first lay-up on the pilots side. The center line of each piece is marked I started with the narrow end about two inches past the center of the rib. I spread out the cloth and worked it into place with the center line right down the top of the rib. Resin was applied to the cloth on top of the rib for about six to eight inches. The cloth we set with resin at the end and a couple spots at the bottom next to the rib. Then I started at the end of the cloth at the top edge of the rb and worked toward the outside of the fuselage. The resin was applied to the top and brushed down and toward the outside. This kept the cloth tight against the rib and minimized large air bubbles. I was troubled with a smattering of the tiny air bubbles that would just fit into the junctions of the crossing threads in the cloth.
| The image at the right shows the application of the resin started at the center and worked out toward the end. The cloth, which is cut on the 45 degree bias is carefully stretched to fit around the reinforcement rib and against the side wall as well. (What you see was a flat piece of cloth) The next step is to wet the cloth at the top all the way across. This holds it in place. Then I wet the top edge of the rib and work out toward the wall. You use stippling to remove wrinkles and air bubbles. There is about a 4 inch overlap at the center of the rib where the lay-ups for the right and left sides overlap. This was the last lay-up required and gave 5 layers on each side. |
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2 Hours December 18, 2002
Started out the day (around noon) by again sanding down the areas adjacent to the reinforcement rib and washing them with Acetone. Then did the lay-up on the right side followed by the left side around 6 PM. That makes two layers on the left and one on the right.
2 hours December 19, 2002
I did the second layer on the right and then cut the next 5 pieces of cloth.
3 Hours December 20, 2002
I did the last 4 lay-ups doing two at at time...The one side was done immediately after the other. Then I waited until they were cured enough to put the next layer down without "sticking" to the previous layer so it could easily be positioned. (about 2 hours at 73 degrees F). That finishes up the reinforcement rib. Now it's on to the Nose gear wheel well installation.
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The finished reinforcement rib at left. Note the exhaust fan with the filters in front of the fuselage. |
Next comes the nose gear wheel well
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Side view of the Wheel Well |
Bottom view of the Wheel Well |
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The front edge of the wheel well is not straight as shown by the square, BUT due to the curve in the belly pan it lines up fine with the firewall. |
This back lip of the bottom flange must be removed. The back of the wheel well fits right against the front side of the reinforcement rib. Note the bottom surface at the rear is raised to fit over the reinforcement rib flange. |
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The front edge of the Exhaust tunnel is not straight and it appears that I will need to fill in the gap on the outside |
The wheel well with the rear flange remove and the surface sanded down. The bottom edge is radiused to fit the curve of the lay-ups at the bottom of the reinforcement rib. |
The front edges of the wheel well and the exhaust tunnels are supposed to fit through the back of the firewall and rest against the back side of the front surface. The curve in the belly pan allows the wheel well to align with the firewall, but it appears the exhaust tunnels not being straight will require a bit of extra work. I have yet to figure out how to handle that, other than filling the gap with foam and a Cabosil mix.. They didn't mention this in the manual.
3 Hours Monday, December 23, 2002
I worked at leveling the fuselage and also cut the rear flange off the nose gear wheel well. The rest of the time was spent fitting the wheel well into position.
3 Hours Wednesday, December 25, 2002 (Christmas Day)
I temporarily fitted the bottom cowl into place and checked the alignment with the exhaust tunnels and the joggle for the nose gear wheel well doors. Then I used a liquid level to adjust the fuselage fore and aft and side to side. This is still a temporary stand so the leveling is going to have to be redone. Probably several times as I progress.
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The bottom cowl is propped in place to check the exhaust tunnel and nose gear wheel well joggle alignment which look good. The only question is why the front edges of the exhaust tunnels are at an angle to the front of the fuselage, as shown above left, when they need to be square with the firewall. |
| The side view of the cowl propped into place. It's just sitting on a box with 1 inch thick Styrofoam (TM) pieces used as spacers |
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I think my next step is going to be building some good solid form fitting supports for the front and back of the airplane. I need to get one under the front so I can remove the current frame to allow cutting out the openings for the exhaust stacks and the nose gear wheel well. Then I can move on to installing the nose gear wheel well, fire wall and engine mount.
I have screwed a 2 X 4 across the legs on one side of the saw horse supporting the front of the fuselage. I then draped an old throw rug over the top of the saw horse to protect the fuselage. Now the frame only serves to hold the shape of the fuselage, rather than supporting it. Actually the 2 X 4s were warped so badly that I couldn't put one on each side or the darn thing would stand there with one leg in the air.
3 Hours, December 26, 2002
The wheel well mating surfaces were sanded and the fuselage was leveled laterally based on the waterline 100 marks as show in the photos
3 Hours, December 27, 2002
The center line was drawn on the front belly pan using the plumb bob after the fuselage had been leveled. The belly pan surfaces were sanded as was the front of the reinforcement rib. The wheel well was again checked for proper fit and the tools laid out to install the wheel well.
4 hours, December 28th, 2002
The mating surfaces were thoroughly cleaned with acetone on a wash cloth. A thick 50 gram Cabosil mix was prepared and spread in a mound along the bottom of the wheel well flanges. The mound is shaped to distribute the mix to completely fill the space between the flange and matching surfaces when pressure is applied. It required another 30 gram mix to completely cover the back surface of the wheel well where is fits against the reinforcement rib. Two weights were put on top of the wheel well and then the two clamps tightened to press the wheel well against the reinforcement rib. Two more weights were placed on top of the wheel well and the clamps were then removed. Excess mix was wiped off and the area cleaned with acetone. The shop temperature was raised to a bit above 75 degrees F to speed the curing process.
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Prepping the nose gear wheel well required sanding the bottom (mating) surfaces and removing the rear flange. |
| The sides were also sanded to prepare the surface for bonding the wheel well reinforcement layers which also are used to bond it to the firewall |
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A view of the rear surface of the wheel well. This surface mates up against the reinforcement rib that was installed earlier. This surface is thouroughly bonded to the front surface of the reinforcement rib. |
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A close up view of the wheel well bottom surface. Note the right end is not yet sanded. There is a step in the mating surface to clear the laminates on the front of the reinforcement rib. |
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The fuselage was leveled laterally using the waterline 100 marks for reference. Then a plumb bob was hung from the center of the top of the cowl flange. A straight edge was also run between the waterline 100 marks. It measured 9 inches from the top surface to the straight edge which is the proper figure. The plumb bob was used to mark the centerline on the bottom of the fuselage. The center mark was used to align the wheel well from side to side. |
| Here the wheel well is set into place. |
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A close up of the mounting flange. |
| A thick "Cabosil" mix was used to fasten the wheel well into
place. When properly mixed the *stuff* has the consistency of a
general purpose grease that is used in a "Grease Gun". It stays in
what ever position it is put. Contrary to appearances the mix on the
right is harder than a rock.
I understand that the newer kits call for a mill fiber mix at this point instead of the Cabosil mix. |
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An overall view of the lateral leveling. |
| A close up of a support block and the waterline 100 mark. |
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The wheel well was temporarily clamped into position and pulled back against the reinforcement rib. All of the space between the back of the wheel well and the reinforcement rib is filled with the Cabosil mix. |
| A look at the Cabosil mix showing both the bottom against the belly pan and the back against the reinforcement rib. This was prior to the cleanup of the excess mix. |
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The whole works with weights while the resin cures over
night. Once the weights were in place the clamps were no longer needed as
the weight forced the wheel well back against the reinforcement rib. The room temperature was brought up to about 75 degrees once the wheel well was properly positioned. In the morning...OK, afternoon the resin was hard and smooth. |
| Photo of finished wheel well goes here | |
| Firewall blank | |
| Checking shape of cowl flange against the blueprint |
3 Hours, January 1, 2003
The area was thoroughly cleaned a bit more work was done on the base for the wing fixture, the blue prints were laid out for the wing fixture supports, and the resin materials were moved from the shop to the basement so I can work on the horizontal stabilizer. Some trimming was done on the horizontal stabilizer shear web. A new gallon of Vinyl Ester Resin was promoted with 4 CC of Cobalt (co-nap)
Not a lot of progress was made in January. I was too busy redoing the basement ceiling tile, fixing the furnace, repairing a crashed computer, taking care of The Three Cats, and doing housework while Joyce was on a bike tour. However, I figure I can get her to hold stuff in place while I mark out the fire wall and check the cowl flange for proper shape. Oh yah...It's time to take the Deb in for its annual.
It's actually more comfortable to work on the plane out in the shop than in the basement.
It looks like time to start another page for the diary.
411 Hours to date
The
says you are caller
If you have comments, suggestions, or corrections email me at EAA Chapter 1093
