Monthly Archives: June 2018

Quit flapping around

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One of the last projects before the cabin top section is the flap torque tubes and motor.  Switching gears back into progressively drilling holes in steel is a bit tough and time consuming.  Lots of oil, lots of shaving, and patience is needed.  I had to open up the holes with a deburr tool through the side panels which the tubes pass through.  All fairly straight forward, however, and everything lined up very well in the end.  The motor was an easy mount and at the end, I had to hook up a 9 volt battery to test it all out.  Pretty cool seeing systems start working in the airplane!

This was several evenings in the shop getting it all fabricated and I quickly realized that there is nothing left to do than put the cabin top on!  I also realized that while the cabin top is a massive amount of work, it’s also a good time to order the finish kit since having the doors is key to getting all the big work done on the fuselage.  I’m looking forward to getting the big pink thing down from the ceiling and on the fuselage!

Sit back and relax

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After spending three months away from home and the build, I am happy to be back from my TDY and immediately got back to work on the project.  The time wasn’t completely wasted build-wise though, as I spent a lot of time researching, studying, and designing the remaining aspects of the build.  The biggest accomplishment was the finalization of my electrical schematic, specifically the power distribution.  I haven’t quite finished the final touches on the Visio product, however, the design is now on paper (digitally) and vetted through several external sets of eyes.  I’ll detail it more in a later post.

I also spent a lot of time talking with engine shops and builders.  I narrowed down all of my requirements to get quotes and solicited those out to several shops.  After lots of discussion, emails, and phone calls, I am really excited about what Aerosport Engines out of Canada has to offer.  They are one of only a few who can still get a new “kit” engine from Lycoming so all parts are brand new but not assembled.  That’s important to me since we’ll be adding SDS EFI and some other tid bits that would differ from a stock IO-540 without wasting money.  They also offer a build class that allows you to spend a weekend helping assemble your engine and learn a lot through the process.  I plan on turning it into a little vacation with my dad to build up our engine.

That’s plan A for the power plant.  Plan B is much more exciting but I’m keeping that one under wraps for a bit longer.

Back in the shop, a big morale booster is getting the rear seat back panels installed.  These were super simple to make with the panel and L angle.  The piano hinges were already cut as part of the floor / bulkhead and the backs fitting were a nice confirmation that I did it correctly way back when.  The seat backs show how roomy the 10 really is, not only in the passenger area but also behind them in the baggage area.  We are very excited about filling it all up with people, puppies, and packs for the adventures that lay ahead.

Staying in the lines

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Throughout this progress, I’ve been finishing up the brake lines.  I ordered extra line for the run from the firewall to the gear legs and got them all fabricated.  The lines weren’t hard to make, but it was a bit tedious.  I am happy with the end result, however, and think that it will provide many years of great performance without having to worry about replacing tubes.  I do need to get some spiral line wrap to prevent chafing and that will allow the lines to be a bit better secured.  Mark Ciglia put his parking break valve in place of the firewall connections, which I’m mad I didn’t think about.  It makes it a bit cleaner and eliminates one extra set of lines, but oh well.  It’d cost more now to redo it.  Note to other builders!

I also knocked out a few little projects, one being making new elevator trim bracket panels.  I had the beefed up fittings sitting in the parts bin and finally ordered the new access panels.  After countersinking and priming, the parts are ready to roll and comply with a SB from Van’s from many years ago.  This is a common upgrade and an easy one at that.

Another little project wasn’t so little.  I saved up a few tasks that needed to be completed inside the tail cone for one evening so I would only be crawling back there once (this time).  The first was to support the tail better.  I used two 1×4’s to bolt to the horizontal stabilizer mounts and put a caster on the bottom.  While the fuselage cradle has been great, the rear support isn’t far enough back to support my weight so far aft without something heavy like an engine hanging off the front.  So this was an easy fix and doesn’t take any room up in the shop.  It’s still very easy to roll around and reposition as needed.

Inside the tail cone, I mounted the new static ports with pro-seal (no rivets this time) and hooked up static line that runs to where the ADAHRS will be mounted just behind the baggage bulkhead.  The new static ports look way better than the original ones and I’m happy I made the change.  The Safe Air 1 line kit makes it easy to run the tubing and create a leak free system.  I also ran the rudder cables through the bulkheads and snap bushings.  Ironically, the heads of the cables wouldn’t fit through the bushings without removing them and squeezing a bit.  So basically, the cables were a pain to run instead of a quick two minute job.  Lots of those in the build, I guess.   I got them hooked to the arms on the rudder pedals which are inside the tunnel with the Control Approach pedals.   With the A/C in there, it’s a tight fit for me!

Lastly, I installed the doublers along the center of the fuselage for the transponder and ADS-B antennas to mount to.  These will be Delta Pop blades and mount with two studs, so I need access from the tunnel / fuselage.  Easy enough with a second set of hands to man the gun and me bucking.