Small victories
Some days, checking off little tasks can give a good feeling…today was one of those days. Not much got done, really, but it was nice to call a couple things finished.
The major victory for today was the installation of the secondary canopy latch with spring modification. I’ve mentioned a bit about this before; today I headed to the hardware store to dig around and come up with some springs that would work. A found a 5/8″ by 1 9/16″ compression spring that was a perfect slip fit on the 1/2″ shaft of the latch, and had a good strong spring force. To accommodate the length of the spring (it needs to be long enough to allow the latch to pull down far enough to clear the canopy frame), I chose not to cut the UHMW block down to capture only 2 of the mounting bolts, but rather to counterbore the block for the spring. Since the 1/2″ hole is already drilled, I used a Unibit to enlarge it to the 5/8″ step, followed by a 5/8″ forstner bit in the drill press to bore the hole to the required depth (I went almost 3/4″ here). Cleaned up the hole so the shaft slid freely, installed the spring into the hole, and capped with washer and cotter pin. Pretty slick, I think. I bolted the latch to the canopy frame, with the latch block spaced out from the frame by placing an AN960 washer on each mounting bolt, between block and frame. This provided just enough space that the washer and cotter pin have clearance from the frame. I did find a smaller diameter piece that could be used in place of the washer (sold as a 1/2″ ID x 1/8″ spacer), but the head of the cotter pin still needed clearance. It’s easy enough to change if needed, but I don’t forsee a need to replace it; the latch arm has plenty of reach to the aft side of the canopy frame, to engage the rear window bow.
Number two: installed a newly-purchased screw to complete the installation of the pitot-static manifolds.
Number three: riveted in the magnetometer mount, and mounted the EFIS 1 magnetometer. Also slid the elevator pushrod into the tailcone.
And, finally cleaned up the shop, including the massive nest of short wire bits that had collected on the bench…
Hours: 2.5 | Posted in Canopy & Frame, Electrical, Plumbing | Comments Off
