Van's RV-9A in Aurora

The Big Picture

The Big Picture
Flying! 8/28/2011

Friday, December 26, 2008

4 hrs today
Spent today fabbing reinforcement angles for the spar. Won't go into any details, but these were prescribed by Van's technical support.

Got about 6 hours over the previous three days. Finished edge deburring all wing skins. Didn't take very many pictures, because the subject is kinda boring. And there's plently of pictures of dimpling and edge finishing from the empennage. Still need to edge deburr the flaps, ailerons, and right leading edge skins. But assembly of the left wing is imminent.

Almost forgot. Simplified the fuel tank leak check setup. Used a simple string, wound tight to secure a balloon to the fuel pickup line. Then a piece of Safe-Air tubing flared and cinched down to the vent line made a good fill up tube. Used a 3/16 bike wheel bearing to seal the tube. A little spit, and it's a perfect seal. The balloon still was deflating so sprayed some soapy water, starting on the inboard rib since that's where the high probability areas are. Instantly, bubbles formed from the BNC connector. Put a small balloon over that to seal it up and no more leaks! Now I just have to figure out why the BNC is leaking and what to do about it. That will wait until the right tank is under construction, which should be about the end of January.