Flight Controls part 10

Dropped back to install the nuts and washers on the bolts that I have installed so far on the flight controls.

The control sticks get castle nuts and cotter pins where they connect to the control column fork.  I guess they could have used regular nylon locknuts here because the bolt and bushing do not rotate.  I don't know why they went this route but I don't ask questions.

The aileron rod end at the control stick gets a nylon locknut and washer because the bolt does not rotate when torqued down.

The elevator control cable attach points get castle nuts and cotter pins because these are only finger tight so the spade end of the cable can freely pivot on the bolt in between the steel forks.

Bottom cable.

The inboard aileron control pushrod ends get nylon locknuts on the studs because the studs do not rotate after torquing.

Side shot to check that there are enough threads sticking out past the locknut.

The carnage to get all of these fasteners installed.  The DNA left on this airplane will definitely prove that I built it.

Flight Controls part 9

Got these bolts and other hardware installed with the aileron pushrods.  This is a total pain in the rear!  Those little spacer washers are the devil.  Access to the area is very tight for someone with big hands and forearms!  Washer wrenches were a life saver here as well as a mirror underneath to be able to see what is going on.  Took a couple hours to get the bolts and washers installed on these two rod ends!

Flight Controls part 8

Not much time to work on the plane today but I did manage to get the control sticks mostly installed.  Just had to remove the powder coat from the steel tube that the bushing slides into.  Had to hone the tube out a little bit to get the bushing to rotate freely and then finally only had to fine tune the length of one of the bushings to get it to go into the control column forks.

Flight Controls part 7

After the primer cured, I was off to installing these nutplates.

Then riveting these seat pan extensions in for good.

All done!

Then I riveted the brackets that end up holding the throttle control later.

Then I fabricated these aileron pushrod tubes and their associated rod end bearings.  Drilling and tapping these was a pain in the rear but I got it done.  Also make sure the bearing with the stud instead of a hole is inserted into the rod by the body NOT the stud!  There is a service bulleting about this because someone crashed and died because these were incorrectly installed the other way around!

Flight Controls part 6

Prepped these seat pan extensions for nuplates and priming.  Nothing new, just follow the directions.

Flight controls part 5

It is my birthday today.  Hard to compete with Jesus your entire life but it is what it is.  LOL :)

Sometime over the Christmas holiday days, I cut out these flaperon mixer brackets and prepped them for priming.

Also did the same for the flap control weldment.  For some reason this did not come powder coated.  I prepped, primed and painted the weldment.

  

Next Van's has you mark and clip the corners off of this flap weldment mount blocks.

Used the band saw to get the job done.  Might have saved a few grams of weight.

I then bolted in the flap weldment and the mixer brackets.

It was a circus act getting that bolt down thru the mixer arm, top mixer bracket, flap pushrod, bottom mixer bracket and then finally thru a washer before the bolt threaded into the bottom mixer arm's nutplate.  I used double sided scotch tape to hold the thin washer on top of the bottom mixer arm while I juggled the rest of the stackup.  Be careful as the top and bottom mixer bracket plates are different and the orientation is critical.

Flight controls part 4

Next I installed the rudder cables per the KAI's.

Then I installed these 6 adel clamps.  I hate installing these but they sure look great when the job is done!  

Then I installed this cable retention bushing.  It ends up riding really close to the elevator control cable pulley groves to help keep the cables in the groove.

The rudder end of the cables gets the plastic sleeve safety wired to it.

Then the rudder cables are stored for the future.

I then installed the elevator control cables and bolted in the elevator control cable pulleys.  Be aware that there are two different length cables.  Make sure to get the correct one on the top and bottom.  Also make sure that the lines do not cross each other or the rudder cables.  This is a royal pain in the rear as you can't see most of them without a flashlight and a mirror and to install them with big hands and forearms is a real treat.  I hung clamps off the aft end of the cables to serve as weights to pull them taught while I was inspecting.  Made it easier.