My Savannah S model rebuild Blog

[bexrbetter]

The aircraft is 2011 build and its all 6061-T6

 

The corrosion is on the ribs too around the rivets where they went through the skin into all the internal supports.

 

Thanks.

 

I presume a little galvinic corrosion from the steel ball still in the rivets.

 

I wonder if a sacrificial anode bolted to the plane somewhere is worthwhile?

 

 

[Thruster88]

Thanks.

 

I presume a little galvinic corrosion from the steel ball still in the rivets.

 

I wonder if a sacrificial anode bolted to the plane somewhere is worthwhile?

 

I believe this only works on boats. An electrolyte?  Solution is required to complete the circuit. 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Yes thats right Thruster...no the issue was no deburring was done on the holes or edges and no black stuff applied on the fin...and it was not applied properly on the stab so water gets in easily and its just straight our corrosion

 

 

[Marty_d]

If the Sav is anything like the 701, water is going to get in anyway.  There's gaps all over the place - at the tips, back of the fuse, rudder/fin etc.  

 

I don't know what I'll be doing with mine when it's finished, but it's not going to sit outside uncovered, that's for sure.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Mine is always hangared..they leave the openings as drains anyway..well thats what Reg Brost told me. I have been caught having to fly through some showers...and yes it leaks like a siev hahahah.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

...and yes it leaks like a siev hahahah.

 

"Leaks like a Sav"!

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

The tailplane was a mess internally also the skins were a bit how's your father as well as you can see by the previous pictures. So pulled it all apart to its individual parts and spent hours stripping and cleaning them up then acid and alodining the lot. This had small skin tensioners fitted to the outer panels but they were still quite weak so I made better ones and have got them ready to be installed when the skins go on. The top and bottom skins were well damaged/bent around in the centre due to the tailplane must have flexed a bit during the accident also the internal and rear spar. The strengtheners strips on the top and bottom of both spars were also deformed a bit so I made new ones from the 0.032 sheet and redrilled them all also straightened the actual spar edges and refitted these to the spars.

 

I decided to keep the tip attachments on the tailplanes using the factory strips they supply in the kit as these are probably the only things I have found on this whole rebuild that are actually done well. When I rivet the skins on I will have to change the centre rivets over the spars on the skins and redrill them for 5/32 as the holes in the skins have been butchered quite a bit I wouldnt like to fit the 1/8 rivets into it as they wont have the gripping power to the skin

 

I have though made up the strips for the top tip of the rudder cap my usual way I just have to mark the holes from the tip and put in the nutserts. These strips have been alodined and I have sanded the base of the tip so it is actually square now

 

There has been a lot of discussion about rivets of the centre hinge support working loose and some have put a bolt in to make sure so I have had a good look and decided to add a few more stainless bolts and nylocks to there. You can see them in the pictures also left and right altenating rivets holding the bearing plates together.

 

I have had to do a bit of panel beating on the nose skin as well which I did last night and I will alodine that skin this afternoon so then I can get the tailplane back together tonight so then I can get onto the elevator. I have partially paint stripped the elevator but I do have to replace the centre bearing angle strip holder as it is shockingly drilled out so I will replace it with a new one and redrill the bearing hole correctly.

 

The cabin frame is now back from the powder coater so later this week I can reinstall it back in and get te boot cowl on and then can get the controls in the front in. The undercarriage will then go on and I can put the tailfeathers back on and the engine can go on for balance then I can get the fuselage outside the shed into the carport

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Got the elevator pulled apart late last week and worked on cleaning all the parts up this weekend. I have to make a couple of support brackets to repair the damaged bits but not a lot of drama. Spent quite a long time cleaning and tapping out the dents and bends in them. All the parts are ready to be alodined now. The tailplane has bee finished ready for the brackets to put on the elevator. The original centre pivot bush for the elevator was stuffed as you can see and I have replaced that angle alu piece and will redrill it correctly

 

Thought I had finished the rudder but when I had a good look at it the bugger had a slight twist so I deriveted one side and used the steel tubes I got the wings and made a jig up to align it correctly and re-riveted the rudder...now its nice and straight. Always consider than anything that is NOT parallel you can do on a benchtop you will ned to jig and hold to make sure it is prefectly symetrical and straight

 

Thought I would throw in a picture of my 2 faithful woofers..keeping guard while I work on Mabel......well maybe they were there because of the big fan I have keeping me cool in the hot shed ?

 

 

 

[Paul davenport]

Very interesting following your progress, and the question you get sick of answering when does it fly?.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

When I get it finished ?

 

I am trying to get it done as fast as I can but still do a nice job. Every time I go into the shed I have my Rans S21 Outbound kit sitting there looking at me...calling out to me to start on her ? . This rebuild is the one I will be flying while I put the S21 together. Mabel should have been finished by now but as usual life got in the way and so did the time so even after a 1 year wait since I ordered my S21 that 1 year snuck up on me quite fast. The other thing of course was that this rebuild was not supposed to be a rekit either. if you go through the earlier parts of this thread you will see why it has been totally pulled apart literally to every single part and most of those parts have been remade so it has taken me somewhat a bit longer than I expected. 

 

 

[bexrbetter]

When I get it finished ?

 

I am trying to get it done as fast as I can but still do a nice job. Every time I go into the shed I have my Rans S21 Outbound kit sitting there looking at me...calling out to me to start on her ? . 

 

Reward yourself with say 4 hours on Mabel, allows you one hour on the Rans.

 

No, no, 4 ON MABEL, and one on Rans.

 

That is literally how I control myself in the same situation.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

If my shed was big enough I would do it that way ?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Mark, the first time I clekoed up my elevator, the skins didn't go on cleanly. The problem was the following:

 

Page 3/10 of the instructions says "Rivet the angulars SE023 on the rear longeron SD011-2 (pictures no 2 & 3): NOTE the angulars must be riveted in such a way that the long side of the angular is riveted on the longeron and the short side is free."

 

That NOTE is correct.

 

However, when you go to Page 4/10, the assembly sketch there shows those angulars, the other way round, with the long side free, and that is what I had done. Evidently this is incorrect: I turned them round to match the Page 3/10 description, the skins went on easily.

 

[ATTACH]42091[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]42092[/ATTACH]

 

I just did mine on this and the skins fitted fine BOB...I did it like in the later picture but it was previously done like the 3/10 picture. Doing it the other way allowed me to repair the split in the rib and the skins fitted fine

 

 

[IBob]

That's curious, Mark: I remember it the other way round.

 

What I do clearly recall was the difference it made: done one way I was levering with the podger etc to get the clekos into that area, while done the other way the holes all lined up with no tension in the assembly at all.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

dont forget mine was a 2010 kit when it was made..yours was much later...they could have made a change

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Elevator bits all cleaned. The rib that had the split has been reinforced and as you see by the above conversation I put the angled ribs in as shown in the later pics in the assembly manual. I alodined all the smaller bits on the weekend and did the top and bottom and nose skins this arvo in my makeshift tank. Started putting it all back together tonight. But have to make more CDI modules this week so back in the workshop wiring them up. Also worked on the new Rotax test rig powered with the AC servo motor this weekend. Got the belt working better and also rebuilt the main rotary section and shaft to make it run trurer. The generator runs max now at 5200 rpm on this one so I can totally control the speed from zero to anywhere in between with a analogue controller pcb so I can automate the testing speeds now and also read back the results for timing and start rpm also softstart and kill functions. Just have to write the software for it all.  Still have a long way to go with it yet but at least its on proper feet now. Its scary with that flywheel running at 5200 rpm on the bench I can tell you. We have been working on a new regulator as well for the Rotax generator so now we can fully test them as well. We have been using this new generator in its earlier configuration which was a bit iffy to hold on the bench but now it will be much better. The development of this new regulator is going well so lithium batteries will be able to be used as all the crap the rotax generator puts out is sorted in this regulator... a couple of pics of the waveform as we load it up with current I think it was 12 amps load at the time for the most loaded waveform...not there is almost 50volts at no load

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

More progress this last weekend and this week. The elevator is now back together and all new brass bushes made for the 3 pivot points Just have to attach the antibalance tab but will do that this weekend after a bit more cleanup as I am not pulling it apart

 

Painted the rear section of the cabin around the baggage area ( got a run on the pilot side too... ?  ) so I could fit the powder coated cabin frame and then also the boot cowl. While I had access to the floor easily I cut the carpet to shape for the main floor and the cut outs for the rudder pedals predrilled the small support brackets for the bottom legs of the cabin frame as they need to be paint stripped and painted..sort of forgot about them when I did the painting. So Mabel is finally taking some shape

 

This weekend I will make up the 2 ends of the rotisseri so I can easily paint the fuselage and make the brackets to suit the wings so I can rotate them as well when painting  although I still have another wing I have to pull apart and replace the spar that I have already pre done and alodine all the fibs etc. The skins are all made and drilled so wont take long to get the last wing together then they can be painted. Then its time to get Mabel on its wheels and the tail feathers on and I can start the internal finishing. Danny has to work on the new dash frame yet. We are changing the angle of the dash to push the top back a little more so your not looking down so much on the instruments. It will most likely be GRP or carbon fibre..not sure yet but it will have removable panels to make it easier to get to the avionics and wiring.

 

Danny has also made some molds for the front wing tip sections. Thank god as the new ones are crap the all fibreglass tip everyone whinges about and they are bad quality the latest ones are all metal but cost a motza. So it easier to go back to the earlier versions like Mabel and my XL have...at least they fit the front Dskin properly and are easy to fix or replace

 

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Could you use camloks for the instrument panel.  I used 4 on my Nynja for access to the panel and it's great to have instant access without have to unscrew things.  Your getting close now, when on wheels will be nice to see. Cheers.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Mike I was thinking of maybe making the panel hinge down but havent got that far yet. I like the camlocks I have them on my cowls on the girlfriend

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Mike I was thinking of maybe making the panel hinge down but havent got that far yet. I like the camlocks I have them on my cowls on the girlfriend

 

Hinged is good and camloks to retain. When ever I need to have a look behind the panel its so esay to just turn two and its opened and other way its closed.  Very convenient.  Cheers

 

 

[Marty_d]

Hey Mark,

 

Excellent work, you're really powering ahead.

 

How are you planning to attach the rotisserie to the tail end?  I'll be interested to see that.  (So I can copy it!)

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I was thinking about that today....The 2 plates that come up that hold the tailplane I was thinking of making a bracket that attaches to each one and it has a bar across it so that it ties the 2 together then have another bar welded to it in the middle that heads to the back of the aircraft then does like a Z so it sits low near the bottom of the fuse at the back and that will then attach to the rotisseri. I may need another attachment to the bottom hinge that is on the fuse for the rudder. The steel Z will be made from 19x19 steel tube that will be strong enough and then I will make mounts for the wing root and tip so it can be connected to the rotisseri.  The front will attach to the engine mount 4 bolts so thats easy then just have a pipe in the centre that connects to the hub on the other rotisserie. I was thinking of making the rotisseri out of 70 x 35 stud wood and have a bearing setup of say a stub axel on each..just get them from the wreckers they are a dime a dozen. Wood frames will be easy to make and then easy to store after ready for the Rans

 

 

 

[IBob]

Mark, I was going to rotisserie, but ended up with a simple rope loop from two points in the roof, down and round the rear of the ring mount.

 

This allowed me to roll the fuselage to various angles, but not while painting as it took a fair bit of muscle: I painted the four 'sides' of the fuse in separate stages.

 

What I found with this setup is that if you want to rotisserie, the centre of rotation at the front needs to be lower than the engine mount, since much of the weight of the empty fuse is in the belly.

 

For the wings I ended up with a simple arrangement that allowed me to set the wing up level for final work, then tilt the trailing edge down for painting.

 

These setups were a bit clumsy, but they made it possible for the very amateur painter (me) to work at an easier angle and see and control what I was doing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Bob

 

Yes if you paint the item flat you dont get any runs :)....I will make a set as I will need them for the S21 its a bit bigger and the wings are wider as well. I will be closing in the big carport shed outside with plastic to make a spray booth..I dont want to hang anything from the roof as it brings dust down from the top. 

 

I have attached the Rans ones...they are easy to make and with a little mod they can be easily used for the fuselage as well

 

S-20 WING STANDS - 16-0523.pdf

 

 

[horsefeathers]

Mike I was thinking of maybe making the panel hinge down but havent got that far yet. I like the camlocks I have them on my cowls on the girlfriend

 

A builder at Gympie built his panel with drawer slides, so he simply undid 2 screws, and the whole panel slid out just like a drawer. He had to extend his wiring looms, but it was the best setup, and so easy to work on