Fuselage Wiring

Posted on by Neal

Today I worked on tidying up the wiring runs from the aft of the fuselage to the cockpit. I started by zip tying the antenna cables, and the baggage light, and inserting the C1036 and C1037 wires. I went back later and added some wrap-around cable protection in the areas where the wiring could run on rivet ship heads.

With the aft fuselage wrapped up, I worked on the wiring in the tunnel within the baggage compartment. Zip ties and spiral wrap were used liberally. Main concerns were ensuing nothing can contact the control rod, and protecting the wire bundles from chaffing on the lightening hole edges.

Some wiring done. Baggage compartment wiring hanging loose
Most of the wiring secured
Wiring secured with some chafe-resistant wrap
Left side looking aft.
Baggage area center tunnel

Flap position sensor

Posted on by Neal

Today I installed the flap position sensor. I tried a right angle drill bit to see if I could drill the torque tube without removing it. There’s just not enough room, so I reverted to unbolting it and moving it. I found by sliding it up in was able to get a clear enough line to drill the hole. I used a 12 inch drill bit and flexed it slightly to get square onto the torque tube.

After unbolting the flap torque tube, I was able to slide it up enough to drill the required #30 hole

With the hole drilled, I moved on to fabricating the connecting rod. This was easy enough.

Bending the sensor rod
The rod in it’s final shape, just needs to be trimmed

Instead of using a molex connector, I followed the SteinAir how-to video and used d-sub pins and sockets to form the connections. Each wire’s connector is then covered with heat-shrink to insulate it.

Sensor installed, and flap torque tube reinstalled and bolts torqued

With all that done, I installed the rod and then reinstalled the flap torque tube, which was the hardest part of the whole process. Then I mounted the sensor, and stopped for the day. I still need to tidy up the wiring, but will do that later this week.

Fuselage wiring harness

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I finished routing the wiring harness. I was able to connect the headset jacks, the control stick, and the flap motor. Still to-do is the flap position sensor, the baggage light, and then working out how to tension the wires to stop them moving around.

Most of the work was a repeat of the right hand side. The time was spent fishing wires through the various ribs, then installing bushings. Because the connectors are already installed on the harness, the routing needs some patience. It also means the the bushings all need to be sliced in one place so that they can be spread apart and installed over the wires, then inserted into their locations in the ribs.

The flap position sensor is on backorder from Vans, but installation looks simple enough. The baggage light needs some thought and research, as this is not in the plans. I need to decide where to route the wires, where to place the light(s), which light I need, and where to locate the switch.

Fuselage wiring harness

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I started on the left-hand side wiring harness, and was able to run the wiring through to the stick. Hopefully I can get close to finishing tomorrow, although it might take another day or so. In addition to the headset jacks, the flap motor and baggage compartment light wiring needs to be installed before it’s done.

Fuselage wiring harness

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I finished installing the right hand side harness. I drilled holes for the headset jacks, installed them, and then installed the 12v power socket and aux audio plug.

The headset jacks need to be isolated from the airframe, so I measured and enlarged one of the two holes to fit the spacer washer. Then I located and enlarged a new hole for the LEMO jack, and installed all of the jacks on the right hand side. I covered the ports with electrical tape to prevent debris from building up.

With that done, I moved to the 12v power port and headset jack. The 12v socket installed easily, and I had that installed quickly. The aux audio port was wired for a molex plug, but the small pins were very annoying to work with. I decided to use d-sub pins and sockets to connect the port, and that worked out much better. If the port ever needed to be replaced, the heatshrink can be carefully sliced open, and the pins separated.

The harness extending all the way aft and plugging into the tail cone harness. There’s a little bit of slack in this section, so once I have the other end hooked up to the panel, if the slack remains, I’ll secure with adel clamps.
The harness extends outboard to the wing root. Just before it passes outboard, the headset jacks branch off.
Headset jack holes. This is actually the left hand side, but it’s a mirror image of the right.
Headset jacks installed
12v power socket installed
D-sub pins connecting the aux audio port to the harness, instead of the molex connector

Fuselage Wiring Harness

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I started installing the WH-00125 fuselage wiring harness. Avionics Systems are building my panel, and shipped me the wiring harnesses. There are standard harnesses with a couple of modifications, one for the FlyELD lights, and the other for a baggage compartment light.

The install is straightforward. Because all of the connectors are already wired up, I can route the cables, then cut slots in the bushings so I can slip them over the wire bundle, and insert into the ribs and bulkheads.

I didn’t get a picture, but I was able to complete most of the right hand side wiring hardness install. I still need to locate and drill a hole for the LEMO headset port, and wire up the aux-audio and 12-volt power port.

WH-00125 hardness I’m the shipping box
Starting to route the right hand side wiring

Installing roll bar

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I finished the roll bar install by riveting the last few rivets between the roll bar brace and the bulkhead, and the few remaining side skin rivets. For the rollbar to bulkhead rivets, I rolled the fuselage upside down and worked inside the cockpit. It’s so great being able to rotate it around freely, it makes working in the cockpit so much easier.

Installing roll bar

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I installed the roll bar on the fuselage. The bar fit surprisingly well, it just slipped on like a perfectly-fitting shoe. I did have some alignment challenges on the right side, but after some fiddling around and using alignment tools, I was able to get it all to work. I riveted everything except a few rivets where the brace joins the bulkhead. I’ll get those with the rivet gun tomorrow when it’s not so late at night.

All was well until the very last river. It was getting late and I was hurrying to get to bed, and made a bad call. I was setting the last cherrymax rivet that held my fix in place, and the rivet was slightly misaligned. For some reason I thought it would straighten out, and I set the rivet on an angle. Instead of being flush with the top of the rollbar, the manufactured head was at an angle, with one edge protruding up. If it wasn’t a cherrymax, I would certainly drill it out and replace, but that’s so hard to do with a cherrymax. I decided to leave as-is and will use some filler to smooth out the surface. Super frustrating mistake after everything had gone so well.

Roll bar riveting

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I worked on my fix for the mistakenly countersunk roll bar flange. I finished the doubler, primed it, and glued it into position with clecos holding it in place. I needed to glue it so I could uncleco it without the doubler falling inside the rollbar.

I also made a test piece with exactly the same dimensions as the roll bar sandwich. I drilled two holes and tested the two different lengths of cherrymax rivets, because the thickness is almost exactly 1/4 inch, right between the two sizes. Based on this experiment, I chose the shorter length which gives a better looking shop head.