Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[IBob]

The consensis about the failures is the vibration from the engine. Danny Leach opened his broken one up and you can see where the resistor wire had worn through where the wiper was on it. I think he posted some pictures on the forum somewhere

Good you've been able to identify the problem.

Back to my own, then.

 

 

[Guy s]

Thanks for posting Mark, My 5 way fuel splitter has been leaking and I'm going to loctite plus new aluminum washers I got made up hoping it will solve the leaking problem otherwise those Brass fittings look the go or get something made up out of better quality Aluminum.

 

 

[dan3111]

Mark will not mind me hi jacking his page :) any one have one only savannah Vg wing rib (front D rib and main rib ) i could get a loan of for a week or too . WIL pay postage either way to me and also was chasing a few photos of inside the wings as well . Just scatch building a set of wings for a project .

 

cheers daniel

 

 

[IBob]

Hi Mark. I see you closed in your fuel tank lower skins with rivnuts. I am considering doing the same. Has that proved to be a good option since your build, and are there any downsides that you are aware of?

 

Thanks. Bob

 

 

[rankamateur]

Don't use rivnuts on the front edge of the tank cover that is riveted into the main wing spar with A5 rivets. If you drill them out to take rivnuts you will compromise the wing spar strength.

 

 

[IBob]

I wondered about that. So I'm better off to make smaller inspection hatches?

 

 

[IBob]

I see pics where others have put in hatches which look to be identical to the one at the main strut attachment. I guess that would get the tank side fittings....

 

 

[rankamateur]

I wondered about that. So I'm better off to make smaller inspection hatches?

No!

 

Rivnut the other three sides with 3mm rivnuts and then even if you need to completely remove a tank at a later date you can just flex the cover skin away and tie it out of the way while you service the tanks and lines.

 

 

[IBob]

No!Rivnut the other three sides with 3mm rivnuts and then even if you need to completely remove a tank at a later date you can just flex the cover skin away and tie it out of the way while you service the tanks and lines.

Thank you, Steve. I bought rivnuts for all round, then belatedly realised they wouldn't fit at the spar. So I was part way there!

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

yes make sure you rivet the tank skins at the front and only rivnut the other 3 sides. If you need to get to the tanks like I did when there was a leak it was easy to open the hatches and I just attached a wire to the rear edge and pulled/rolled them back to get access inside.

 

 

[IBob]

Thank you both.

 

I'm in the middle of the tank adventure; or coming to the end of it, I hope. I think I've worked out what grommets I need where for the newer SS fuel lines. Are there any issues with those at all???

 

 

[mcrowley]

Everything works great as long as you line up the holes in the tank :-)

 

 

[IBob]

Hi Mark, I'm doing the rivnuts for the tank covers (as per your post #138).

 

It's going well, and the rivnut positions for the long tank supports are all logical until I get to the far outboard end.

 

Here, I want to tuck the tongue of the support between the skin and the rib, but that means getting the rivnuts directly into the rib. To do this I would have to drill a clearance hole for the rivnut head in the skin (or put them in before putting on the skin, but too late for that).

 

The result would be the screws would go through 3mm cover hole, then through 5.5mm clearance hole in skin, then through 3mm hole in tank support, then into rivnut.

 

I'm thinking you had the same situation. Looking at your pics, the tongue appears on top of the skin when the covers are off, but once the covers are on, it looks as though you have put it under the skin.

 

I'm interested to know what you did, if you can recall?

 

Thanks. Bob

 

 

[Blueadventures]

Would one of the anchor nut / nut plate styles be suitable / practical??

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

 

[IBob]

Would one of the anchor nut / nut plate styles be suitable / practical??Cheers

 

Mike

Thanks, blue. Excellent suggestion, though could be a little difficult to get in place at this point. I suspect the trick is to anticipate this and set these particular rivnuts much earlier in the assembly. Sadly, my own psychic powers are yet to evolve!

My guess is there must be a lot of aircraft flying around with a left wing built cleaner and in a fraction of the time of the right.

 

No matter: onward...and, eventually, upward!

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Bob

 

Sorry for the delay.

 

Ok the outer ends of the support panels went between the skin and the ribs. At the outer ends the rivnut went into the rib. At the middle where you can see the support plates overlap. The inner side one goes on the internal side of the rib and the rivnuts are put into that support plate. Then the outer support panel goes on top of the rib and the skin over the top. So basically you need a clearance hole in the tank cover panel the outer support and the rib for those 2 holes. Basically the support plates where they overlap clamp themselves to the rib...I hope I explained that ok

 

 

[IBob]

Thanks Mark.

 

I have all the rivnuts in place now.

 

Since the bottom skin was already in place before the rivnuts, and I wanted to fit the outer end of the tank support between skin and rib (as you said) I had to drill a clearance hole in the bottom skin to allow fitting of the rivnut. I couldn't see any way round this (if using a rivnut).

 

When I do the other wing i will set these 2 rivnuts before putting on the bottom skin.

 

Otherwise, i think the wing has gone together well, although the tanks are certainly a bit of a challenge first time round!

 

Blue skies.

 

Bob

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Yes the tanks are a challenge...I put 4 sight gauges in mine..glad I did too as I think it is so much better to see exactly what I have in all 4 tanks, but it was a bit of extra work. And yes the second wing is built much better than the first....now you know why this happens

 

 

[IBob]

Yes the tanks are a challenge...I put 4 sight gauges in mine..glad I did too as I think it is so much better to see exactly what I have in all 4 tanks, but it was a bit of extra work. And yes the second wing is built much better than the first....now you know why this happens

Does this mean all home builds fly to the right????

 

 

[IBob]

FYI the newer SS fuel lines are (almost certainly) easier to fit. Although they do still require bits of hose to transition to the fittings.

 

It occurs to me that if ICP came up with a right angle tank fitting, it would simplify a great deal of this...

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

No not at all. Mine flew hands off straight and level. The reason is I spent so much time getting the cabin frame and attachments perfect for alignment. Its in the blog. I cant stress enough how important it is. This is where most builders fail and it is the inattention to how critical it is. My cross measurement was less than 0.5mm I am sure I posted a lot on this. Mine does have a small left turn now. My sav a slight accident when a mate was flying her. The right wing tip hit the ground so there is a small twist now introduced..it must be small because it is just a slight pressure on the stick now. I havent bothered to trim it out as it really hasnt been a issue

 

 

[IBob]

Thanks, I'll look hard at that when the time comes...though I'm a way off that yet!

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Post #222 is the post on the cabin frame

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

The next projects....once I finish getting the new cowl done and the Rotax exhaust I made fitted is I am looking at building a new set of wings. They are the Pegastol wings. They have automatically deploying slats depending on the speed you are at. The wing section is a lot different so it gives you about 5 knots more cruise at a lower RPM and even better slow speed performance. Check this out

 

Pegastol are no longer around but there is a aircraft made in Canada called a Pegazair..developed from the CH701 and Pegastol.

[IBob]

That looks amazing.

 

Little steps are big ones here: for now I need to get moving and get into the air...and just learn to fly what I'm building.