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Landing light installation
The bracket is attached to the most outboard rib (the one with no leading
lightening hole). As shown on the picture, the inboard rib is not
a full one. Installation was quite tricky and unfortunately, I cannot
give any good advise.... try, try and get it right! |
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Wow! Impressive for someone who can't draw a straight line!
Try to imagine cutting a perfectly assembled wing which required over
a hundred of hours of work. I was scared! I first drilled the
corners with a Unibit (a little bit away from the cut line). Then, I used
a Dremel to cut the opening. The finishing was achieved with a file.For the
lens, I made a form bloc using scrap plywood pieces and a 0.016"
sheet of aluminum (nailed to the plywood ribs). This is covered
with a fleece. My first attempt at forming my Lexan was not very
good... I cooked it to fast and the Lexan bubbled (as you can see on the
picture). I tried again by using only the bottom element in our oven
(my wife, btw, did not mind too much as this operation did not smell).
This time, after about 10 minutes at 220F, I had a perfectly formed lens (see Bingelis's book for a more detailed explanation). In fact, while
you probably cannot see it, it is put in place on the picture.
Another landing light picture available here:  |
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Ha HA! Destruction... destruction!!!
This time, I had a good moment! After drilling the four corner
holes, I used a knife to cut the lines for the opening (with a flexible
straight edge---an aluminium ruler---as a guide). Then, I had some
fun with my big scissors (as you can see on the picture). When a
triangle was opened, I just had to work the sheet a bit for it to cut at
my line. Finishing was done with a file. |
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And... There it is...
This is quite simple to achieve. You will notice the addition
of L stiffeners (as compared with the plans) and also the addition of DZus
fasteners (I have 8 per door). What is less obvious on the picture
is the i |
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Dzus
Not talking about a Greek God here, but rather the fastener that keeps the
baggage door closed. Small pieces of L angles are installed to reinforce each of the
DZus openings on the wing (they are 45mm long). The rivets for the
DZus springs are dimpled and are attaching the Spring and L angle to the
skin. |
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Oups!... forgot to take pictures for a while.
After installing the wing tip, I finished the wiring and I installed
the tip light. I did not use the Whelen connectors (I did not have
them and I can find good Molex connectors here for nearly nothing), so
I installed locally found connectors on my wiring and on the Whelen lights. |
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Small details may make some difference
To make sure that no rivet will go through the fiberglass, I installed
a strip of aluminium under the rivet row and I also glued washers in each
and every nose skin holes. I also made a bracket which will allow
to disassemble the Whelen light. (I installed nutplates on a piece
of aluminium which is riveted to the fiberglass tip. |
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Mmmmmmm
All lights installed and turned on. |
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Pitot-pitot par ci, pitot-pitot par la....
The Pitot/Static is the one sold by ACS for about 16$(US, of course).
I installed it ahead of the spar, outboard of the LE fuel tank. The
ribs in that area are spaced only 12 inches apart and the skin is thicker
than the rear skin (0.025" vs. 0.016"). For there reasons, I felt
that this was the ideal location.
00.06.11 update: An advisor from Transport Canada called me last week to
answer a question I had about minimum equipment list for Night VFR...
apparently, I'll need to change my pitot for a heated one.
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Taking a ride in wing support...
I built two supports like this one for my wings. |
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