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Some technology at work
This device sends a laser beam in five directions simultaneously. It
sends a beam in front, one upward, one downward, one leftward and one on the
right side. Everything is exactly squared and the device is
self-leveling (the forward and side beams are always horizontal; the upward
and downward beams are vertical).
My friend that installs ceramic tiles brought this and helped me joining my
rear fuse to the center wing. |
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Checking the center line of the center wing...
I had a straight line all along my work table and I had previously (before my
friend arrive) did my best to install the center wing straight on the
table. We verified everything using the laser. We confirmed that
the center wing was installed straight. Then, we joined the cabin floor
and firewall (clecoing directly in the work table).
As seen on this picture, the red dot is right on the firewall center
line. The bottom beam points on the table's center line. |
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...and the fuselage position
Actually, this picture was taken once everything was done (the process went
quite quickly and we forgot to take pictures during the actual
installation---this is why there is no dot on the device that Ghislain is
looking at).
The laser device is installed in front, above the firewall. The
downward beam points on the center line and we confirmed the orientation with
the back of the center wing (using a plywood with a vertical line on it so we
could see the red dot in proper location).
Once satisfied with the position of the laser toy, we positioned a pendulum
on top of the center line of the fuselage rear box. The beam pointed
right on the center line of the pendulum and we clecoed the fuselage in
place. Simple! |
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Quite happy with the work!
For the first time, I am not working on a sub-assembly, but rather on an
"airplane"! This section is called "forward
fuselage" because this is what the sequence manual says, but really, I
feel I work on an entire plane from now on.
One thing I did not mention is that I checked the rear fuselage box for
squareness with the laser gizmo. There is a little twist (about
1-16" or 3/32"). My mentor said this is quite common and
this is why we don't drill the two hinges for the rudder now (we do it once we
fit everything together). |
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Setting the firewall at 80 degrees
I made large "squares" (in fact, false squares as they are 80
degrees, not 90!). To determine the cut of the template (square), I used
trigonometry... remember? x=dCOS(teta), y=dSIN(teta)... |
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And keeping it there
To make sure the firewall won't move up from the table, I secured it using a
steel band. |
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First test for comfort
My son Mathieu volunteered to test my aircraft for comfort... he enjoyed the
ride!
Soon, I may bring a computer on board and run flight sim (there is a Zodiac
available for MS Flight Simulator). |
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