Fiberglass, and a new toy on the way!

It feels like we're almost at a standstill on the fiberglassing front. Just working on the general shape and layout of the overhead console and the center console throttle quadrant/armrest/storage compartment. It's hard to take pictures of stuff when your hands are covered in epoxy and making a giant mess!

I'm getting "better" at fiberglassing techniques. I wouldn't say I'm "good" yet by any means... but with lots of practice and time spent, it's getting there. I'll try and post some pictures of the parts as they are coming together soon.

I also broke out the sewing machine (an old hand-me-down Husqvarna Viking 6000-series) and started to sew some practice seat covers from some cheap vinyl I had bought at the local fabric store. The stuff costs like $5/yd on clearance, so it's perfect to mess up on and make all the mistakes before we get our $65/yd Ultraleather. I made some simple patterns for the backseat and got to work, and the results turned out better than I had imagined-- comfy and nice-looking, at least for a total beginner!

Unfortunately, the sewing machine itself isn't going to cut it. The reverse drive is broken, and the needle doesn't sew on center; in fact it wanders back and forth a bit as you sew. Looking online, this is a common issue for this model of machine, and opening it up, I noticed a number of cams and gears that were shedding plastic and binding in ways they shouldn't be. It's pretty hard to complain though, since we got the machine for free from a friend, but this isn't going to be acceptable for the seats. So, after a brief discussion Sarah and I decided to splurge for a new Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1 machine. Here's a promo video of it:

Hopefully, with that machine we can really get started making some interior pieces. Excited for that!

Stay tuned for more fiberglass and interior work!

Odds & Ends

So it's been a while since the last update. Things are going well, but slowly. We've been working on sanding the inside of the cabin cover, installing conduit along the front "A-pillars" and "B-pillars", and filling in the voids with spray foam to then cover with fiberglass. I'm also trying to come up with the desired shape for the overhead switch panel, which will contain all my lights and dimming controls. I received my switch and terminal order from Digikey the other day, so I took a piece of scrap aluminum and quickly made a (very) rough mockup of what I had envisioned for the switch panel:

Overhead switch panel, v0.0.1

It came out "okay"... I think there needs to be a bit more room vertically between the dimmers and the switches, and also maybe just a smidge more space between each toggle, although I can live with it as-is. The idea will also be to have both the upper and lower edges of the panel curved, to better fit in the given space and give it kind of a more elegant look. At least that's what I'm going for-- it may very well end up looking like some kind of super-cheesy clown smile instead. We'll see.

I need to figure out how to illuminate these too. Right now the thought is to make a piece of clear acrylic that is painted a solid opaque color, and is then etched to allow light to pass through for all the legends and graphics. Another option would be to get a panel made from a place like engravers.net and backlight them with LED's. Although I like that idea (and I've seen some really sweet-looking panels made this way), I'd like to first try the acrylic method and see how far I can get. This will be on a growing list of back-burner projects that I'll get to, eventually.

Continuing on the electrical side of things, I also received my order for 12V accessory plugs. I kind of "splurged" on this and went with the VW/Audi parts that I've seen discussed on the forums. They're pretty slick-looking-- they have a spring-loaded door with "12V" marked on the front, and should provide a nice finishing touch to the interior when it all comes together. I'd take a picture, but one of the parts I received was incorrect and I'll need to exchange that out before I can move forward on this. There will be a total of three outlets in the plane: one for each of the two front passengers, and a third in the middle for the back seat.

I'm also working on preparations for the avionics. Specifically, I'm drafting all of my own wiring diagrams for the plane using the program Kicad, an open-source schematic capture and PCB layout program I've used for quite some time on a number of different projects. This is of course BY FAR the biggest of those projects, and it's going to take many weeks (if not months) to finalize a wiring diagram before I can actually cut, strip and crimp my first wire. The diagram will be comprehensive in nature and cover all of the avionics interconnects (of which there are many hundreds) as well as ship's wiring for things like lights, trim, flaps, etc etc. It's a fun task (yes, I actually enjoy this stuff) but it's also very tedious and does take a long time. It also has a tendency to make me cross-eyed after a few hours of reading through the thousands of PDF pages of install manuals and datasheets, trying to figure everything out. I'm getting there, slowly but surely!

Alright, I've talked enough. Here's a few pictures of many of the other accomplishments made this last week:

Rigged up the GSA28 pitch servo, and installed the optional Van's RV-10 ADAHRS tray to hold another GSA28 servo for the yaw damper. Fabricated a bracket to hold the yaw damper bellcrank, centered behind the elevator bellcrank. I'll probably re-make the ADAHRS tray itself out of thicker material and extend it forward slightly so I can also mount my GDL39R ADSB box. I also re-made the yaw damper arm into a more "boomerang" shape that has slightly different geometry that will work better with the movement of the rudder cables. I'll make a full post about the yaw damper and all the parts used to construct it once it's finalized.

Installed the Tosten stick grips... yay! I may cut another bit off the sticks to bring them down just a tad more. I started with them in a little high because... well... you can always cut more off but it's real hard to make them taller again!

Lastly, a quick montage of cutting out the rear NACA vent holes. Thanks to my friend Derek for stopping over and taking some of the action shots :-)

Traced the front NACA hole onto a piece of Lean Pockets cardboard, cut it out, and then traced it on this location in the aft fuselage skin. The vertical line shown is 10" back from (and parallel to) the seam between the mid fuse side skin and the tailcone, with a centerline drawn between the two rivet lines.

Me getting started with the cut using a Dremel tool

Cut almost done...

After a bit of filing, it looks great! Just the same as the holes in the front... woo!

That's it for now... until next time!

Overhead Console - Panel

Quick update today... got some decent work in over the weekend but really doesn't feel like much has changed. I guess a lot has been accomplished, but nothing can really be checked off yet, and it feels like everything is in a half-completed state (I'm finding this seems to happen periodically). Also, I'm really finding out what a specialized skill fiberglassing is. People who are good at it make it look so darn easy, and there are plenty of beautiful examples that can be found online of parts people made for their airplanes from fiberglass... I wouldn't say mine fall into that category yet. The good news, though, is I feel like I'm learning a lot, and eventually I'll be able to make the parts I need for this project.

I was able to re-make the ducting system for the overhead console, using a slightly modified design and an improved method of actually laying the glass. It came out much better this time, but it certainly still has its flaws. The good news is, of course, these parts aren't structural in any way, so as long as they don't fall off the ceiling in flight or something, I think we're ok from a safety standpoint.

Version 2.0 of the overhead ducting system

It's pretty similar in theory to the first one-- the duct on the left side brings air to the front two vents, and the duct on the right side brings air to the rear two vents. There will be a pair of servos in the tailcone controlling flow to each of these two ducts, and in this way we can control the amount of fresh air going to the front and back.

Now, the idea is to cover these ducts with the actual console itself. Since these ducts will be mostly hidden beneath the console, I'm not too terribly worried about how perfect they look, as long as they are airtight and have a good bond to the cabin cover. If all works out like what's in my mind, the final product will be a seamless-looking console that has four vents, four spotlights, some access panels, and some recessed accent lights to serve as dome and cargo lighting. Oh yeah, and the switch pod. Still at square one for that... also need to build a center console for the armrest and throttle quadrant. Sheesh! Lots more fiberglass to do.

In between epoxy curing sessions, I also started work on the panel. I had previously purchased a 24" x 48" sheet of 0.070" aluminum from Aircraft Spruce and intended to cut out my own (slightly larger) version of the instrument panel Van's gives you. I began by tracing out the original instrument panel and marking all the attach holes that go along the upper edge. Then, I drew a straight line across the bottom that is about a half inch below where the standard switch bar ends, thus making the panel about a half inch taller than stock, and all in one sheet. Lastly, I drew in lines for the center console and side vents and began cutting everything out. I used a combination of a jigsaw, dremel, belt sander, and an array of files:

New instrument panel after initial cut

Looks good! I sat down in the left seat and discovered there was still plenty of room for my knees too. The extra half inch of height really isn't noticeable at all from a comfort side of things, but it totally gives the appearance of having WAY more panel space...cool!

So now comes the fun part: laying out where all the instruments are going to go. I've agonized over this for months now... so many options, each with their advantage and disadvantage. It's time to make my mind up and just go for it. If I end up hating the layout, I guess I can always try again. Hopefully that won't happen.

The basic idea for the panel layout is to have the 10" G3X touch screens centered for each pilot/copilot, and the Mini-X backup EFIS in the center. The GTN750 and GMA350c audio panel will be mounted into the console (a bit low compared to many other configurations, more on this later), and the GMC307 flight control panel will be mounted high and center. This layout seemed to work the best so that the aircraft can be piloted just as easily form the left seat as the right seat-- one of our main requirements. So, I did some more measuring, tracing, and cutting, and ended up with this for a panel:

Instrument panel after cutouts for avionics

Good stuff! I found it wasn't nearly as hard to cut it out as I was thinking it might be. The hardest part was drawing all the lines to be perfectly straight and square. If you look super close there are a few cut lines that aren't perfect, but the mounting of all the instruments covers it all up nicely. So far so good... now it's on to switches!

I'm struggling a bit with the layout of the switches, but I think I have a general idea of where things are going to go. I'll post a diagram at some point when I finalize the layout, but right now I'm at the point of figuring out exactly what model I need for every single switch, indicator, and potentiometer. Kind of a fun task, but very tedious too. Also, turns out quality switches aren't the cheapest thing in the world. I'll be placing a pretty hefty order with Digikey in the coming days that should cover most of our immediate needs for switches and the like, then we will go from there.

That's it for now! Next up, more work on the overhead and panel...

Air Trip!!!

Well, I've been waiting for some decent weather to fly up to Farmington, MN (on the outskirts of Minneapolis) to pay a visit to Stein Air to pick up my avionics order in person. Of course, visiting in person wasn't explicitly required for any reason, but it actually worked out to be the same--or even slightly lesser--cost to fly up there myself instead of having all the stuff shipped to me. Plus, it was a great excuse to fly, and I wanted to meet and shake hands with the folks I'd been dealing with!

The only problem we had was that it seemed as though the weather was continually conspiring against us for the last 2-3 weeks in a row, keeping us from making it up there. Although I do have an instrument rating, the Archer we currently fly isn't really cut out for it. Plus, most days the weather wasn't even good enough to fly IFR in a small plane... freezing fog, ice, snow, gusty winds... all the stuff we pilots have nightmares about. Better to be on the ground wishing we were up in the sky rather than the other way around, right?

Anyway, today we FINALLY got some good weather to make the relatively short ~1hr trip up there. Unfortunately Sarah was stuck at work, but I was able to enlist my friend Derek to tag along and keep me company on the journey. So, we hopped in "Julie" the Archer and blasted off to the north!

Negotiating through the outermost rings of the Minneapolis Class B airspace and landing at Airlake Airport (KLVN) proved to be very straightforward and made for an easy flight. Upon landing, I gave Stein a call and Jed picked us up in Stein's really nice BMW SUV... I'm not used to fancy vehicles like that! We had a great visit, but like a doofus I forgot to take any pics while we were there. We got the "nickel tour" and met most of the employees, who were all hard at work wiring up avionics, making harnesses, cutting panels on the CNC mill, and drafting schematic diagrams on a giant computer monitor. Jed even showed us their new laser etching machine that they apparently just started using within the last month or two. Neat! It was definitely a clean, well-organized facility, and everyone was clearly hard at work doing "real stuff" putting something together for an assuredly happy customer somewhere around the world. They were all happy to take a minute out of their day though to say hello and show us what they were up to. It was really cool... I felt fortunate that we live close enough to have been able to make the trip up feasible... if you ever have the opportunity to visit, I definitely recommend it!

!!!Thanks again to Jed, Stein, and all the other employees at Stein Air for a great visit!!!

With that, and a short ride in the Beemer back to the airport, we carefully packed up our mother load of boxes into the Archer and blasted off to the south. As the sun started to set, I had to snap a couple photos:

Southbound from the Minneapolis area

Crossing from Minnesota into Iowa - pretty rural, but still a very serene beauty.

Passing over New Hampton, IA... this town looked almost "fake" from the air because it was so pretty with the sunset!

Touching down at KIIB, we drove back to Marion, dropped Derek off and finally got home. Sarah was eagerly awaiting my return with "the goods," and after a quick unloading and sorting session we had an intimidating pile of avionics to go through!

N165MJ avionics (with a few goodies from Stein) after unloading and sorting... love the red "We're not happy 'til you're broke" keychains in the middle! A dose of reality... ouch.

Had to unbox the GTN-750 and one of the G3X Touch displays to have a look... it's like Christmas :-)

Anyway, with all that it's time to finish up some things at work and then call it a night... coming soon, more work on the overhead console!

Happy 2016!

Man, it feels like I haven't posted an update since LAST YEAR. <groan>

Well, we've made some forward progress, but not really anything too terribly note- or photo-worthy. Additionally, I've been working on a side-project in the garage, swapping a transmission out of my old '77 Impala for one that has an overdrive in it (TH200 for a TH200-4R for all you gearheads). It's kind of tough doing a tranny swap working around all the airplane parts that are in the way, but hey that's life I suppose. It's almost done now, just have to figure out the necessary modifications to the crossmember. Anyway, as for work on the plane itself, the doors and cabin cover have come back off, and this allowed us to tie off a number of loose ends that remained on the fuselage itself. Namely:

• Completed securing, attaching, and tightening all of the fuel system components. Now the only part of the fuel system that remains are the connections to/from the tanks and of course FWF.
• Completed assembly of the control system, including measuring the pushrod lengths for the elevator controls and safety-wiring the appropriate rod ends. Fabricated a small "washer joust" out of 0.032" aluminum, drilling a 7/16" hole at the end, and then sanding the end off until only half the hole remains. This way you can push washers in between the different control system components as necessary without fumbling around with your hands.
• Attached nutplates along the mid fuse longerons by the rear seat area. This was a leftover task from the "access covers" section because I had experienced significant difficulty setting rivets in this area. They are at kind of a funny angle and I didn't have anything that seemed to work to buck these. Ultimately, I was able to succeed using a swivel flush set and an array of different bucking bars.
• Swapped out all the hardware attaching the rear seat belt anchors in the tailcone with stainless bolts and custom stainless cables. This is a recommended procedure for any ferrous metal located within about 3 feet of the magnetometer, per Garmin's instructions. I had previously attempted to do this, but had a terrible experience with galling and broke a number of bolts. I was able to succeed this time by lubricating the bolts first.
• Installed a few of the access covers and began test-fitting some of the Aerosport interior panels that I have. It's cool to get a glimpse of what the interior is going to look like!

So basically, the fuselage is getting pretty darn close to "done" status. Items still on the "to-do" list include rudder pedals (still holding out for some Control Approach pedals... it's not the funnest waiting game in the world but I figure as long as I have other stuff to work on we'll keep dragging it out) and dimpling/riveting the upper forward fuselage, which I'm going to lump in with work on the panel. Hopefully, we'll be able to get started on the panel sometime soon too! Still need to make it up to the Minneapolis area to pick up my avionics from Stein. Of course we can have them ship all the stuff but I thought it would be fun to get up there in person and pick it up (cost would be about the same or even a little cheaper than shipping with insurance). It seems like the weather has been conspiring against us making a flight up there for literally weeks now! We may have to just break down and drive up there. Maybe as a test drive in the Impala once the tranny swap is done... hmmmm.

Other than that, the work that remains now is to finish up the cabin cover, which mostly involves fabricating the overhead console, and get it final-installed on the fuselage. After that happens, we can finish with the doors, and then we can proceed with the rest of the finish kit items. Stay tuned for all that!