More tips
Hours: 9.1 | Posted in Electrical, Endgame, WingtipsYup, another day working on the wingtips. I’m not at all convinced that this hinge method is easier, as some said, than doing all the nutplates. I’m reserving judgement on the outcome until I see it all done, though. One upside that I do see is the ability to get the tips “done for now,” and then with relative ease, remove them for additional fiberglass finishing later on. That’s a good thing.
Drilled, mounted, and wired the AeroLEDS wingtip lights. I lined the wingtip cutouts with strips of aluminum tape to give it a pseudo-mirrored look; the glasswork underneath isn’t perfectly smooth, though, so there are some visible seams and lumps. I expect this will be somewhat temporary, and will be redone later with tape over smoother glass, or perhaps a thin sheet of mirrored plexi.
Discovered that the right (green) light assembly seems to have a problem with the strobe sync; while the left and tail strobes flash together, the right one drifts in and out of sync. Swapping left & right, the problem stays with the unit, which indicates a fault with the unit, and not with the wiring. (Update 6/25: AeroLEDS agrees it sounds like an internal problem, and is sending an advance replacement for the suspected defective one. Defects happen, that’s expected, and it’s good to see a company handle it this way.)
Attempted to start fitting the tip lenses, and promptly put a big crack in the right one with the bandsaw. Dang. New lens on order, and we’ll start over with that.
On to the tip hinges…did all the necessary deburring and countersinking (yawn), and was able to get the hinges riveted to the wings and wingtips, by staying at the airport way too late for a “school night.”
