J160 Kit#14 various with Photos

Ross · June 7, 2007

At least the RH wing aileron anchor mounting seems good so far while it is upside down. I will check it more carefully later.

I did actually check it with the templates while it was upside down and it appears be OK.

Ran the RH wing aileron cable into the wing and then prefitted the cable anchor and the cable swivel and attached it to the aileron arm.

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One problem with putting text on the pic is spelling error on 2nd last pic which is a fair bit of work to fix without mucking up the pic or just starting again.

I could select some new text from another file, copy it into memory, then insert it into a selected area on another file (where the bad text currently is located). The trouble is all this has to be done outside the forum and the file name and size has to be different before I can copy it back into the forum. This is an exercise I have already been through a couple of times so I don't want to do it again for a pretty bad pic that has one letter missing from the text (that I know of).

Regards

Ross · June 9, 2007

8-06-2007 Prepare Flap Hinge attach points for LH wing by cutting off lengths of bundy tube and filing to square them up.

Clean out the SS bushes so that bundy tube fits with ends protruding.

9-07-2007 Prefit flap hinge support points to flap levers with an AN3-6A bolt through the bundy tube.

Set up the LH Wing flap in position for fitting the flap hinge brackets - see photos for detail of position.

Mix epoxy and epoxy flock & paint inner side of wing flap hinge brackets & wing position with epoxy after roughing with emery paper and cleaning with acetone.

Fill U shaped brackets with flock and set in position on wing underside & maintain alignment with flap position.

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Note the outer flap hinge position with peel cloth to stop sticking the wing to the flaps and some felt cloth behind it to keep it tight & prevent epoxy running down between the peel cloth and the wing like it did on the RH wing.

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Keeping up the log book. Have to remember to put in the hours & keep a running total. Just had a look at the temperature - it had dropped to 18.9 C at 22:00 so turned up a fan heater - I do not like it - the cable gets hot :confused: - I shall have to modify it. The other fan heater is not a problem!;)

Ross · June 14, 2007

14-06-2007 Applied reo cloth to LH wing flap brackets. It took a lot of heat to warm the garage up this morning with a starting temp of around 9 C and -1 C outside.

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I kept the temp just above 20 C for about 8 hours & turned off the heaters once it dropped below 20 C. I think that I'll build a crude sheet tent over the aileron area of the wing for the next epoxying job. I will have to buy a couple of heavy duty extension cords so I can move the fan heaters around more.

Ross · June 18, 2007

18-06-2007 Bought the heavy duty extension chords and used a sheet hanging over the work area as a tent and was able to keep the temp in the mid 20's Centigrade using a fan heater on half heat 1,000 Watts. Cheaper than trying to keep the whole garage at 25 C or so. Need to put the temp & RH sensor in a representative spot under the sheet. Got caught out by the sample though as it had not cured as it was not under the sheet!

Photo with aileron sitting on top of the wing near the aileron plate.

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LH aileron position with plate flocked in to make the aileron slot.

Aileron hinge positions reinforced with preshaped glass flocked in.

Two layers of glass over the three reinforements for the hinge positions.

The complete slot reinforced with a layer of glass over the whole length and width of the slot.

It is now ready to trim the glass and trim the aileron plate so that the aileron will match the aileron cable in the wing and the trailing edge of the flap and the trailing edge of the wing tip.

June 18, 2007

Looking good Ross.

The weather has been a bit ordinary especially for any glasswork, but its coming on nicely and things will really start to take shape quickly!

I flew over Brobenah a few days ago but not much happening there. Should come over to Narrandera on the weekend and do an hour in Wally's new J230.

Ross · June 18, 2007

Hi Roger

I have had to use a lot of heat to get satisfactory glass work & a tent made up with a sheet over the top is a big help in keeping the hot air in!

I thought that Wally was a "dyed in the wool" Tecnam man!

I thought I was seeing a lot more Jabs flying over the top of my place from Narrandera direction.

One day there someone must have flown right over the top at least four times which is usually the case as I live on the Northern edge of town on the corner across the road down the side of the Assumption Villa.

Regards

Ross · June 19, 2007

19-06-2007 Trimmed reo cloth on aileron plate

Trimmed aileron to fit available slot between flap & wing tip.

Mark position for three hinges on the aileron & drill 5/32"

Pre-fit three hinges on the aileron using 5/32" clecoes with a 5/32" washer behind the hinge as the hinge holes are 3/16".

Using the aileron with clecoed hinges complete attached as a template mark & drill 5/32" the the wing hinge positions

Pull the hinge pins and clecoe the wing half of the aileron hinges into positon on the wing.

Mark & cut slots for the hinge pins.

Drill starter holes through the wing in the marked position for the aileron cable push pull rod end.

Cut the aileron cable slot out useing slotting drill in a drill or a Dremel Tool. The Dremel has a guide with depth control to make a better job of it. Use flat & round coarse files to dress the slot.

Dress the top edge of the wing in the aileron slot to get full up movement of the aileron.

Ensure a hinge pin thickness clearance between the aileron plate and the aileron bottom leading edge to allow full down movement of the aileron.

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1. Check aileron down limit OK using Jabiru template. 2. Check up limit OK using Jabiru template.

3. Clecoes & aileron full up 4. Aileron full down 5. Aileron horn & slot for cable access

Ross · June 21, 2007

21-06-2007 Decided to remount RH wing aileron for better alignment with flap & wing tip.

Used heat gun to soften the epoxy under and around the hinge halves on the aileron plate after drilling out the rivets in the aileron hinges.

The heat makes it very easy to remove the hinges by prising them out easily using the blade of a screwdriver underneath the bottom edge and also makes it easy to remove unwanted epoxy/flock from around the hinge mounting site.

Trimmed aileron plate for better fit and alignment.

Both LH & RH aileron sites are prepared for epoxy/flock of the hinges by sanding and cleaning with acetone.

Prefitted plate hinges using 5/32" clecoes in 3/16" hinge holes requires a 5/32" washer to retain the clecoe.

The effect of the heat gun on reducing the stiffness of composite fibreglass horns & plate is a stark reminder of the Jabiru owners manual instruction not to fly when the temperature is over 40 degrees Centigrade

20-06-2007 Used a paint heat gun on LOW to soften the aileron plate to improve alignment between aileron LH wing to align aileron plate & wing more accurately. A high setting on the heat gun can result in burning the surface before the heat has a chance to conduct through a thick section.

At this stage hinges only prefitted with 5/32" clecoes.

Ross · June 22, 2007

21-06-2007 "Flocked" (epoxy/flock) the aileron hinges back onto the aileron plate for the RH wing. The hinges on the aileron for RH wing were are still OK.

The RH aileron was tried for ease of attachment before removing aileron and allowing RH aileron plate hinges to set.

Flocked the LH aileron hinges and clamped with clecoes.

Prefitted aileron onto the LH wing to check alignment of hinges on assembly. LH wing aileron plate hinges are only clamped in place with clecoes.

Removed aileron from LH wing to allow flock under aileron hinges to cure.

Erected tent over items to be cured. See effect on temperature and Relative Humidity.

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Ross · June 23, 2007

23-06-2007 Remove 5/32" clecoes from LH aileron hinges - drill aileron holes out to 3/16".

Countersink 3/16" holes using microstop - clean up with acetone

Prime holes with epoxy & fill with flock.

Fit 3/16" rivets & flock into LH aileron & set rivets with rivet gun.

Remove 5/32" clecoes from RH aileron plate hinges - drill plate holes out to 3/16".

Countersink 3/16" holes using microstop - clean up with acetone

Prime holes with epoxy & fill with flock.

Fit 3/16" rivets & flock into RH aileron plate & set rivets with rivet gun.

Prefit retained nuts for hinge safeties into RH wing aileron plate.

Flock & rivet retained nuts in place.

Setup LH wing aileron & RH wing aileron plate area for curing.

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Ross · June 24, 2007

24-06-2007 Drilled the holes in the LH wing aileron plate to 3/16" after adjusting alignment with 5/32" clecoes.

Inserted 3/16" clecoes.

Checked alignment along aileron with flap & wing tip.

Checked full & free movement of ailerons prone to have interference on ends which needs filing and sandpapering.

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After that I drove to Narrandera and had my first dose of J230C courtesy of Wally Rudin.

The after effects, and I can still feel them, are a broad smile after an initial reaction of where is .... and where is ..? Made my day!

Next step (will be another day), remove aileron sand hinge & hinge attachment point, clean hinge and hinge attachment points with acetone.

Prime hinges & hinge positions with epoxy

Apply flock & assemble using 3/16" clecoes

Check and adjust alignment

Cure and remove clecoes after curing, check alignment again etc.

I remove & replace clecoes periodically during curing to remove epoxy/flock from the clecoe otherwise I may have to fly the aeroplane with clecoes fitted.

Regards

June 24, 2007

Yep Ross you seemed to be fizzing when I got back to Narrandera this arvo!

Hope you enjoyed your afternoon - I certainly had a great day flying down to Wangaratta for lunch and across to Yarrawonga for arvo tea. Just glorious!

Giddy up Ross and get your little girl into the air - There are many trips to do!

Ross · June 24, 2007

Thanks Roger

Wally is very good for the ego when flying with him and really knows how to get the most out of a person when flying an unfamiliar aircraft.

The J230 seemed such an easy aircraft to fly today anyway when we had about a 45 degree cross wind probably about 8 knots or so. When doing steep turns (I only did two or three each way) it was fairly easy to hold it in a steady steep turn although I did gain 500 feet while trying to figure out where one of the radio calls was coming from and watching the Sportstar below us as his shadow got very close to the aeroplane. He was simulating picking a paddock for a forced landing!

One of the problems (my problem) was the faster speed in the circuit than what I am used to and getting the checks done at the right time and flying the aircraft - but I think I was getting reasonable (for a first time) by the end of the exercise.

At least in this particular aircraft J230 you have a set of flight instruments all together right in front of you (when I learn to read all the items on the glass panel). The big wide circuits I was doing gave me a bit of leeway in catching up and eventually getting in front of the aeroplane.

Regards

Ross · June 25, 2007

25-06-2007 Set the house airconditioner to take the chill off the garage this morning by leaving the connecting doors open. OAT was 1 C here this morning on the East side of the house.

The 12 attached photos explain the days two lots of epoxying or flocking sessions with the last session about cured enough to turn it off now.

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End of first epoxy & curing session

Start new epoxy session to bed in 3/16" rivets in aileron plate hinges.

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System would not let me insert the last curing picture - slightly different from the previous one but a different photograph- note the different fan heater set on low setting in picture 4.

Found that for tight hinges (slightly misaligned) applying heat with hot air gun on low relieves stress but was not needed on todays sessions.

23:30 Curing finished - checked hinge alignment again OK.

Building Log Book 1 full - start new log book.

Ross · June 26, 2007

26-06-2007 Not a lot done today a few other jobs to do.

Checked aileron hinge alignment after flocking & riveting yesterday - pins easy to slide in OK.

Pulled the aileron cable for the LH wing and not yet anchored as I will need a longer set of long nosed pliers to manipulate a shorter set of bolts into the cable anchor point at the LH wing tip.

Will need to file the cable slot a bit to remove interference with the cable end.

Reinstalled the RH aileron on the RH wing and connected the aileron cable to the aileron - cable previously anchored at the wing tip.

I have installed four rubber tyred caster wheels to support the wing box and make it easy for one person to move it around the garage or outside - an easily moveable work bench.

Wheeled the wing box over near the fuselage and stood the wing on it's edge with the trailing edge uppermost.

Connected the RH wing cable through the rear window opening to the aileron anchor point on the back of the RH seat and added the cable end to the cable and connected it to the control behind the seat.

Operated the control stick full left and right and the aileron moved accordingly and appears to have enough adjustment to get it in the right working range as indicated in a note on the Jab site.

Disconnected the aileron cable from the control stick and the anchor point behind the passenger seat.

Lay the wing down flat on top of the wing box.

Wheeled the wing box back away from the fuselage.

Ross · June 28, 2007

27 and 28 -06-2007 Needed the right angle drill to finish off the aileron anchor plate bolt holes that were already half drilled by the factory. I had done this earlier some days ago.

Installed appropriate length AN3 bolts in both LH & RH aileron cable anchors so needed long bent nosed pliers to facilitate that job.

The bolt length varies depending on the thickness of the fibreglass where each end of the cable anchor is installed to achieve at least three exposed threads above the tightened nut.

I put two washers under the nuts and one under the head so that I could get a grip on the nuts with a thin walled ring spanner or socket spanner and the long ratchet socket on the bolt head end because it is the only kind of spanner I can get on the bolt head aside from using the long nosed pliers.

Because the bolt heads are in a recess, I needed a tube ratchet spanner to get the right length for access through the wing skin hole that had been cut with the hole saw.

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Needed the long bent nosed pliers to insert the bolts and cannot see the top bolt hole unless some material is shaved off or filed off near it.

Installed the six aileron hinge pin retainers in place for the LH & RH wings ensuring that retained nut were free of epoxy.

Ross · June 29, 2007

29-07-2007 Because of the AC position in the garage it is not convenient to try the LH wing on the AC at this stage. I thought about doing the Stall warning fitting in the leading edge of the LH wing at 1.215 m outboard from the wing root but the leading edge joint is fairly irregular so it needs tidying up before first.

So removed the flap and aileron from the LH wing and stood the wing on its trailing edge with some padding to protect that edge.

Used a scraper to clean up the top edge of the LH wing as the material to be removed varies from cured composite fibreglass, epoxy, wax, paint and some kind of filler.

Will also do the wing tip edge which is pretty rough. After dressing up with the scraper it will be washed/rubbed down with wax remover and acetone followed by sanding and filling. Rang Jabiru to see if I could get a template for the wing leading edge. They will let me know on Monday July 2.

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Ross · July 2, 2007

2-07-2007 Finally rang Jamie at Jabiru at 12:15 today who said they did not have an available wing leading edge template but could send an Autocad file of the wing profile. I did not have a current Autocad program to handle it so he is trying another strategy.

Meanwhile I have discovered from Jamie that the wing profile & therefore the leading edge, as well, is uniform for the whole length of the wing.

So I have started to make a plywood template to fit the leading edge wing profile very close to the inboard end of the wing. This is the most uniform part of my RH wing and actually looks like a wing leading edge. It also looks very like the not to scale sketch in the construction manual for the installation of the stall warning sensor.

Making the leading edge template is obviously the first thing I should have done.

A local LAME's response to finding out that I was putting a kit together was to "make sure that whatever you do on one side of the aircraft you do on the other". Luckily we don't have to cope with passengers doing laps up and down the aisles.

Ross · July 3, 2007

3-07-2007 No word from Jamie yet re the profile.

Made up a batch of epoxy supplied by Jabiru.

As usual mix 1 part by weight of epoxy hardener with 3 parts by weight of epoxy resin. Mix it until the colour changes slightly.

Temp in the garage with heaters going is over 20 degrees Centigrade.

Applied a thin coat of the epoxy to the leading edge to prime it.

Mix in micro-balls with the remainder of the mixed epoxy until it is still pliable and sticky.

I actually used a fairly stiff narrow glue brush about 2 cm wide to apply the microball mix along the leading edge. It may need more after scraping and sanding or complete the filling using the bog paint with the spray gun.

The micro-ball epoxy sets harder than other fillers and does not continue to shrink after the initial cure. It is far lighter than using a flock epoxy mix and is far easier to scrape, sand and work. The micro balls are so light that if you put your fingers in a bag of the micro-balls before they are mixed with the epoxy it is difficult to feel them.

So be very careful while mixing as they float in the air like an extremely fine dust.

I put extra photos in because the camera seemed to have trouble auto focussing on the wing section.

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Ross · July 4, 2007

4-07-2007 The RH wing leading edge was scraped then sanded and the profile checked against the newly made template that I dreamed up & cut out. See photo below.

There were quite a number of low spots so another batch of epoxy microball filler was made up fairly liquid and applied with a paint brush (better than the stiffer gglue brush) over the leading edge length of the wing.

It it is now curing before dressing up with scraper & sander and checking against the template.

The other wing will be easier and quicker with this experience & template.

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Ross · July 5, 2007

5-07-2007 This afternoon Jabiru sent a PDF file drawing of the first 103 mm of the leading edge of the wing.

After some hours of experimentation I opened the PDF file with the "Paint Shop Pro X" picture program and saved it as a JPG file.

Cropped the file drawing back to the dimensions of a rectangle that the drawing's maximum dimensions would fit which was nominally 107.5 mm thick by 103 mm back to the leading edge.

Then dimensioned the drawing with the dimensions inside that box instead of outside as was the original.

Set up a "print layout" with a horizontal grid spacing of 53.75 mm.

Dragged the drawing onto that grid and stretched it until the thickness section of 107.5 mm fitted across two of those grids 2 x 53.75 = 107.5 mm.

Saved the template and printed it on glossy paper.

The result so far agrees with the supplied dimensions within about 1.5 mm.

Now I am going to bed after I compare the drawing with the template that I have already made!

It is very close and will only require about a 2 mm fill on the template I have made for about 50 mm length on part of the underside profile.

Later on 5-07-2007 Scraped the micro-ball filler and then used the orbital sander on it then the hand sander which is longer to provide a smoother finish. A couple of photos here taken on 6th July but named as 5th July.

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July 5, 2007

It is quite unfortunate Ross that the wing halves as they come out of the mould are nowhere near perfect. I spent many an hour getting mine right and in the end got someone else to do it. He made a template of what I had and then proceeded to cut off the entire leading edge with the angle grinder! Needless to say I was a little concerned when I saw this, but sure enough, the wings came back a few days later with an immaculately crafted and solid leading edge that I could have never achieved. Getting it perfect might make the aircraft fly a bit better.

Geoff · July 6, 2007

Hay Ross this is how our wings looked when we started work on them, sent photos to jab Jamie said we had got into them with angle grinder (not true) had to re fiber glass the leading edge with strips?

Ross · July 6, 2007

Hi Geoff & Brentc

If I had access to somebody that knew what they were doing I probably would have done the same as you Brentc. It's a steep learning curve for first timers. I was aware of the care that glider pilots took of "profiling" their wings from my previous life although I had no experience of it so I needed that drawing!

I was not very impressed with mine either as there seemed to be a bit of abrasion due to movement while being freighted I presume but not nearly as bad as yours was Geoff. It must have been pretty disappointing. On mine the foam packing dividers protecting the wings had moved substantially. Mine came from Brisbane as road freight on a semi-trailer with a Leeton carrier having been already sent to a Brisbane depot by Jabiru.

My wings apparently had a bead of epoxy projecting from the leading edge which had been dressed off with an angle grinder by the factory.

But the join is actually stepped instead of being lined up and according to the drawing this is right near the middle of the leading edge (or some kind of tangent to it) at the point where the air going over and under the wing splits!

I have just set up the LH wing to discover that it is pretty good I think and in better condition than the RH wing was. There seems to hardly any chipped gel coat aside from the ground off epoxy joining bead area. There is a negligible step at the leading edge join making profiling the leading edge much easier. I will see much better once I clean up the wax.

Therefore I needed to know what the shape of the leading edge was supposed to be. So I am filling it with epoxy micro-balls and trying to dress it back to the "right shape".

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The 107.5 mm dimension refers to the width of the bottom of the section - not where it is on the drawing.

This is the JPG drawing that I ended up deriving from the Jabiru PDF file for the leading edge. Because of the cropping that was necessary I did not have to reduce the file size to upload it to the forum.

Ross · July 6, 2007

6-07-2007 Stood up LH wing and checking out the leading edge with the almost refined template. The wing is generally thinner than the template by some two to three mm.

I can probably dress a bit more of the epoxy bead off the leading edge join which will help but the section varies from one end to the other making adjusting it more difficult.

So far have scraped off the wax and polyester filler and then rubbed it down with acetone to remove any residual filler or wax and grease. Will repeat that exercise tomorrow.

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Condition of wing tip much better than RH wing tip.

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After initial scrape of edge and rubbing with acetone