Van's RV-9A in Aurora

The Big Picture

The Big Picture
Flying! 8/28/2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Install comm antennas on wings and coax connectors. Will have to redo the connectors for the antennas. They will reqire 90 degree connectors to avoid interfering with the aileron pushrods. Tested both antennas.

Measured current draw on ebus. The bus takes 200 mA , I guess that's the LED. Seems like a lot. (edit, it was mostly the transponder). The GMA 240 takes 200mA, and the SL-40 takes 300mA in receive. So the buss draws 800mA with the radio on, monitoring.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sunday, Feb 27 6 hrs
Tested landing light circuits.
Preliminary install of right wing landing light. It's just too hard to work with in the cradle. Will wait till it's on the bench to do more.
Test nav/strobe circuits. All of these are working perfectly. I checked for any noise emanating from the strobes. There is a tiny amount, but it's hardly noticable, and I think it will be a non factor with a charging electrical system. There is no interference with the radios.
Started installing the comm antennas on the wings.


Saturday, Feb 26, 5 hrs
This is the second time trying this post. Thanks google. The first rev was more detailed but now I'm too irritated to try to reconstruct it.
Trial fit of heater and parking brake cables.
Trial fit of fresh air ducting.
Remove leads from panel leds and reinstall with protective shrink wrap.

Got an email yesterday from Aircraft Engravers. They sent a first pass of the panel labels. Just a couple of minor tweaks and we should be good to go.


(edit - Mar 12) Google saved a draft of the original post. Here it is:
Had things to do every night this week, including working late. Activity at AMD is reaching a frenzy. That's good as long as it keeps paying for the flying habit, even though it is interfering with flying time.
Finally got back into the garage to make forward progress. At this point, I'm finding every little thing I can to put off riveting the top skin.

Trial fit of heater and parking brake cables. This included making a new heater cable using a positive stop cable. Got as much done as I can without crawling into the cabin.
Trial fit of fresh air ducting. This involved moving around some of the wiring and adjusting the ducting to avoid the heater cable.
Removed leads from panel leds and reinstall with protective shrink wrap. These are ready to install once the panel labels are done.

Got an email yesterday from Aircraft Engravers with a first pass of the panel labelling. Just a few minor tweaks, and they should print the labels and ship 'em.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tech Counselor Visit

Deene and Seth paid another visit. They stopped first to look at William Bennett's 7 kit. I invited William over to look at my project when we were done at his place.

I ended up with a few items to address, but they liked most of what I did.

Last night I got the 430 and the Skyview talking to each other so that the HSI is working right. I need to check the VOR and Glide Slope to make sure they are connected correctly.

Now it's just piddling around until I rivet on the top skin and start on the windscreen.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Radios Installed!

6 hrs
Wired up co-pilot PTT circuit. Test for correct operation.
Reinstall trim circuit from pilot stick, reinstall trim servo.
Clean up center section wiring.

Installed 430W. Start initial testing. It's a bit nerve wracking to power up a very expensive piece of certified avionics.
Working well so far, GPS antenna is working, Comm antenna, transmit and receive working.

Install autopilot and route pitot and static lines.

Need to spend a bunch of time configuring the 430, the Skyviews, and the autopilot.

I haven't been taking very many pictures, but I haven't been working every day for that last couple of months. I did a little catching up.
How's this panel looking?

Saturday, February 19, 2011

6 hrs
Debugged and resolve mic problem. Tip and ring wires were swapped. This was the way the harness was built. I think I would have made the same mistake.
Continue testing SL40 and 240. Everything working properly.



Final install of headset jacks, including enlarging holes in side panels for proper fit of jack isolation washers.

Continue securing wiring. The front is coming together. I see how I would do it differently, but this will work and be reliable.

Secure wiring for GPS antennas and temp install of 430 GPS antenna. Will have to redo the 430 puck to provide better weather proofing.

Make and install Nav coax and Glide slope Coax. Getting ready to install and test the 430.

Make inserts for proper installation of aft 12V power jacks. Wayne and I figured out how those "cigarette lighter" jacks are supposed to work. Basically just made two small squares of .032 with 3/4" holes. The outside of the power jack threads off the inside, and the inside just fits the 3/4" hole. When used properly, they fit very nicely. Happy to have that issue resolved. Do final install and labeling of aft power jacks.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

1 hr
Finally installed the VOR/ILS ARINC cables. Found someone with the pins and and tools to finish the 430 end, which has a high density connector. It was nice to get a few loose ends tied up. Now I switch to test mode for the panel and electrical system.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

5 hrs
Another week of nasty cold weather, but it did warm up nicely for the weekend.
Got in an hour yesterday, just adding more spiral wrap. Discovered I need 4 miniDIN connectors for the VOR ARINC circuit, and I don't have the pins or the $400 crimper.

Today helped Wayne rivet his panel substructure together. It seems so simple, but is a serious challenge. We only had to drill out one rivet.

Back at home, just about done with spiral wrap. Reinstalled the pilot stick, maybe for the last time. Hooked up the PTT circuit. Then started putting switches back together on the panel. After cleaning up the switch wire runs, I'll start powering everything back up to test.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

7 hrs, 33 rivets
Fab GPS antenna doublers. Drill to fuselage and rivet.









Drill aft ribs for GPS antenna routing anchors.
Drill holes for baggage compartment lighting.
Finish aux 12V wiring in flap motor housing.
Install ground leads for nav/strobe and landing light circuits.

For Saturday, 1 hr
Got a little done, pulled 430W GPS coax through center section, planned cable routing and layed out location of GPS antennas.
Finally decided to put the GPS pucks on the top aft skin. They'll be under the canopy when it's open, but otherwise they'll have an unobstructed view of the sky.