Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Good News To Report

The cable swivels arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon.  I went out to the hangar this morning and installed them.  The control arm on the oil shutter was thin enough that the swivel installed with only drilling a hole.  I cut the control wire to the right length and installed the swivel.  I have the controls arranged so with the control knobs pushed all of the way in the oil shutter and duct damper door are open.  
Pulling the 'OIL' control knob less than an inch closes the shutter.  I then installed the swivel on the air duct damper.  It took a little more work.  The material I used for the control arm was too thick to allow the swivel to turn.  I removed the arm and put it in my bench vise.  I used my Vixon file to reduce the tickness of a section of the control arm.  I deburred the arm with my Scotch Brite wheel and drilled a hole.   I reinstalled the arm and installed the swivel.  By pulling the 'AIR' control knob about 1-3/4” it closes the damper door.  I reinstalled the top cowling and finished installing the screws on the lower cowling.  I then pulled the  airplane out of the hangar and went up for a test flight.  To my joy and satisfaction as soon as I started the engine and closed the oil shutter the oil temp began to rise.  I finished buckling in and started to taxi to the end of the runway.  To my amazement, by the time I arrived at the end of runway 34 the oil temp was at 124o.  It started at 40o.  About half way to the runway I closed the air duct damper door.  I think that also helped to raise the oil temperature.  I took off and flew for 0.8 hours.  With minor adjustments to the shutter and damper door the oil and head temperatures were right where they should be.  The OAT was -2o C.  I am pleased with the results.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Oil Shutter and Radiator Damper

This morning I went to the hangar and worked on the oil shutter and radiator damper modification.  I started by shortening the top pivot shaft on the damper door.  I also reduced the length of the arm on the damper control.  I then fabricated a mounting angle for the controls.  I painted the angle black and mounted it below the master switch module under the instrument shelf.  
I also drilled two holes in the firewall next to the brake fluid resivour and installed some grommets for the control cables to pass through.  I installed the lower cowl and determined a path for a section of 3/8” tubing to pass through in the cooling duct.  I installed the duct with Adel clamps.  I also installed a section of tubing through the firewall for the radiator shutter control to pass through.  I installed the tubing and the control cables. 

I also labeled the control knobs.  With the controls pushed in the oil shutter and radiator damper and both open.  By pulling the control knobs the shutter and damper close.  I put some high temp red RVT over the grommets and controls cables where they penetrate the firewall.  I will install the control wire swivel connections tomorrow if they come in the mail today.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Work on Radiator Shutter

I continued to work on the radiator shutter.  Using the pattern I cut out the shutter.  I also made the pivots out of some 3/8” aluminum rod.  I made the actuator arm for the top pivot from some flat aluminum.  I marked where the pivots are to go on the top and bottom of the shutter.  I also drilled for the screws on the lower pivot.

I marked and drilled the location of the holes on the top and bottom of the duct.  I fabricated some aluminum washers using a hole saw and drilled the center to 7/16” then riveted the bottom washer to the floor of the duct.  I installed the upper washer to the top of the duct and installed the shutter.  I am satisfied with the way it fits and turns in the duct.
I broke the actuator arm so I fabricated a new arm from a piece of aluminum angle and a piece of aluminum flat bar.  I drilled the angle and bar and riveted them together.  I drilled a hole in the angle and bolted it to the upper pivot.  I will cut the actuator arm to length and drill the hole for the cable swivel after the swivels arrive from Wicks Aircraft Supply.  With the arm in place the shutter opens and closes just fine.

I also took the shutter to 3D Sheet Metal and had them put a break from the top to the bottom pivot points.  The shutter is now much stronger.  Before breaking the shutter I was afraid the air blowing through the duct would bend and deform the shutter.  I also installed stops (angle) to control the open and closed positions of the shutter. I will work on the control cables next week.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Oil Cooler and Radiator Dampers

Yesterday and today I have been working on the design and fabrication of a shutter type device for the oil cooler and radiator.  With the cold weather it takes a much longer time to heat the engine.  The engine oil temperature has to be 122o before I can run the engine above 2400 RPMs.  During the warmer months I could start the engine and taxi out to the runway while it was warming up.  It would be warm enough to operate by the time I got to the run-up area.  Now if I taxi out to the run-up area I have to sit and wait for 10-15 minutes before I can run-up the engine to check the ignition.  In the form several builders have done these mods and they say it makes a whole lot of difference in cold weather.  
I started yesterday by removing the upper and lower cowlings.  I then began fabricating a shutter for the oil cooler.  It consists of an aluminum plate with guides riveted to the top and bottom edges.  I have drilled holes for the cooler attachment bolts and holes for the oil cooler bolts that remain in place on the lower cowling. 
I cut a door to fit in the guides and then laid out lines for cutting the openings.  When the shutter is pushed to one side there are 7-slots that allow air to pass through the oil cooler.  When it is pulled the other way it closes the openings.  It is not airtight so there will always be some air going through the oil cooler, but very little so the oil will warm more quickly.  I laid out the lines last night and today I drilled and cut the openings.
Next I filled and deburred the openings.  I cut out a ‘T’ shaped  actuator  and a connection arm.  I made modifications to the shutter door so I can mount the actuator to the base plate.  I drilled holes in the arm and a the actuator and connected them to the shutter door.  I then assembled the mechanism.  
By putting a rivet in the edge of the base plate and installing the actuator arm the shutter door is limited in how far it can slide in both directions.  I will connect it to a push pull cable the will be attached under the instrument shelf in the cockpit. 
I tried putting it in place in the front of the cowling over the opening for the oil cooler.  It appears to work great.  I will need to determine where and how I will run the control cable.  I think I will attach a section of tubing inside of the cowl duct to run the control cable through.  That way when I remove and reinstall the lower cowling I can push and/or pull the cable through the tubing and then connect the end to the actuator arm.  I ordered some control cable swivels from Wicks Aircraft Supply.  They should be here the first of next week.  However, with Christmas, who knows when they will get here.

I then turned my attention to the radiator shutter.  It will be an aluminum door inside of the duct in front of the radiator.  I cut a piece of mat board the shape of the door.  I will need to get some hardware, tubing, angles, etc. so I can continue with the installation.

I will continue to work on the radiator damper tomorrow.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Tach and Transponder

This morning I went to Standard Electronics in Salt Lake City and purchased a 30K Ohm resistor.  I went to the airport and installed the resistor in the tach input line from the Rotax.  It took about 30 minutes to remove the top cowling, install the resistor and replace the top cowling over the engine.  I loaded my 5-gallon gas cans and purchased 10 gals of fuel.  I fueled the airplane then went up flying to check out the transponder and the tach.  I stayed in the pattern and made 4 touch-and-goes and one full stop landing.  The transponder switches between GND and ALT just like it is supposed to.  I also get a traffic warning on the PFD and targets with vector arrows are displayed on the moving map.  This is very cool.  The tach is no longer jumpy.  It is rock solid when the RPMs are above 4800.  It has been a good day.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

AOA Calibration

I discovered as I landed on my last flight that the AOA widget was no on the instrument screen.  It was located next to the speed tape but is no longer there.  I have determined that when I uploaded the file from Van’s it removed the AOA readout.  I went up today to recalibrate the AOA.  To do so you must do at least 1-stall (preferably more than one).  I flew out over the evaporation ponds and turned south.  I climbed to 7200’ and set up for a fast cruse.  After oscillation the airplane per the instructions on the calibration screen I performed a ‘clean’ stall.  I then proceeded to perform a ½ flap stall and then a full flap stall.  I saved the data and the AOA is once again visible and calibrated.  I also discovered my transponder was not transmitting.  A guard helicopter pilot told me I was not showing up on his instruments or on the Salt Lake tower instruments.  I realized that the transponder still had STBY in the display.  It was on standby.  I went into the transponder menu and hit ALT.  The transponder came to life and began transmitting my altitude and also began receiving information from other aircraft transponders.  When I got back on the ground and to the hangar I did some research.  It turned out that my transponder software needed to be upgraded.  I proceeded to do so and then went into the setup menu and selected AUTO GND/ALT.  It is now supposed to automatically switch between ground and altitude. I will check that out tomorrow.  Also, for the past couple of flights the tach is jumping around at 4800 RPMs and higher.  I keep getting a yellow warning and the RPMs are over 5500.  I did some research and have found this problem is not new.  Others have installed a 30K Ohm resister in the line from the engine and it has solved the problem.  I will get a resistor and install it tomorrow and see what happens.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Another AP Checkout Flight

I went up again today for a short flight to check out a couple of things in regards to the AP.  I made one small adjustment to the VSI gain and I am now satisfied with the way the AP captures and holds the altitude input.  The weather was a little strange.  When I took off the winds were calm and visibility was 10 miles.  I flew out to the evaporation ponds north of Grantsville to check out the AP.  As I neared the water towers south of ATK the air got really rough.  There was lots of turbulence.  I climbed to 6200’ and continued flying towards Magna.  When I got past Magna, but not quite to Saltair a low lying cloud cluster was right in my flight path.  I entered the cloud and was through the other side in a matter of seconds.  It was an interesting experience.  After flying for a short time I returned to the airport.  The wind was now 160 at 14 knots , gusting to 19 knots.  I was happy to put it down for the day. I also noticed when I landed that my AOA widget is missing from the PFD.  It appears that when I updated the SkyView with the Vans download the AOA was deleted.  I will need to go up again and recalibrate the AOA.