Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

[ianwells]

Hi eightyknots and towering Cu

 

Thanks for the encouragement, its much appreciated.

 

The savannah kit is just brilliant, despite the poor instructions and fustrations they bring, it is really fun building as every sesion produces results. I thought it would be a chore the 400 hours+ to build but the time no longer matters as it is enjoyable work. Even the deburing of the parts, and lots is required despite the advertising, is enjoyable as it is a time for reflection on what youve just finished or are about to start or of what you have to De rivet. All in all a very satisfying project, so far!!!!

 

Stay tuned for further instalments

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

 

[eightyknots]

I will have a fuel switch system so that I can switch each tank in each side individually basically its 2 switches each one will switch the outer tank and inner tank on each sideMark

Just wondering why you would not have four switches for four tanks? (or did I read -or interpret what you wrote- wrong?)

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi 80K

 

all the tanks feed into the "reserve" tank the one with the indicator on the dash its behind the seats. You can add an extra switch to totally control then each side. The 2 tanks in each wing will have 1 switch on it to switch between each outer and inner tank on each wing so then they will come to a tee which feeds into the reserve so that at all times both sides feed into the reserve. In one side you could then have a switch which will of course then separate the sides so you can control the fuel flow 1 tank at a time. Not sure if I will go to that extent yet as it can be added later anyway. I just like to be able to separate each tank and decide which one flows and when. It would mainly be used if you ever get a leak in one tank or a issue with a tank

 

Mark

 

 

[ianwells]

Hi Mark. I've had a good few days on the Savannah. Fitted the engine mount, tempoarily and the cabin frame, and all controls. I do have a problem with the elevator control rod contacting the front top of the main gear cover. Anyone out there encounted this and how do I fix it please, see photo. I'm sure a large file or bit of brute force would fix it but whats the right way? or what have I done wrong?

 

[ATTACH]12553.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]12554.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]12555.vB[/ATTACH]

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Ian

 

You havent done anything wrong. Steve the LAME who is building one down the road tells me this is normal as he has struck this as well, you have to bend the elevator control rod so it doesnt hit. Ring Reg Brost if thats who you got the kit through. I am told this is "normal" and this is what you do. You are really powering along I wish I could devote more time to mine at the moment but work has been ballistic this last couple of weeks....got to take it when its around at the moment. Everyone seems to be the same one week work is overflowing the next its a famine

 

'

 

Mark

 

Mark

 

 

[ianwells]

Thanks for that Mark, I was contemplating bending it but just wanted to check and couldn't gat hold of Reg last night. I work in tourism in the whitsundays so its famine for me at the moment with the weather and time of year so only 2 days work each week at the moment, which leaves lots of time for building the Savannah!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks again

 

Ian

 

 

[ianwells]

Here's the latest[ATTACH]12587.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]12588.vB[/ATTACH] I'm still progressing but there seems to be lots of fidly bits now and I'm tyring to finish lots of half finished jobs. We did manage a bit of a fly-in on sunday with six aircraft and good weather for a change, but the rain is back now. Three days work now this week, I'd rather be Savannah building!

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[Guest gazzawh]

Fuel Return

 

Hi Mark, the fuel return in my Savvy goes to a T in the feed line from the right tank just above the reserve tank and not into the right wing tank, I have had no problems with this although i did notice when i flew up from Kyabram that i seemed to use more fuel from the left tank than the right Not sure if this was because of the return setup. this would be common to the standard install anyway where the return goes directly to the tank. John reckons the amount of fuel that comes back to the tank is fairly small, perhaps soemone with a fuel flow system could shed some light on this.

 

Garry

 

 

[Flyingphot]

Hi Garry

 

I have just had a chance to catch up with the forums after a few weeks gap. I have been busy teaching people to fly Savannahs.

 

I have a mate, Lawrie Strickland, who has a fuel flow meter in his XL, and this meant that he could not run the fuel return back to his tank or he would read the same fuel twice and so get a false reading. to get around this he fed his fuel return into a tee just before the boost pump, as is done in a number of other types. This seems to work well for him and is the method I will use in future.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Bill

 

 

[eightyknots]

I have a mate, Lawrie Strickland, who has a fuel flow meter in his XL, and this meant that he could not run the fuel return back to his tank or he would read the same fuel twice and so get a false reading. to get around this he fed his fuel return into a tee just before the boost pump, as is done in a number of other types. This seems to work well for him and is the method I will use in future.Hope this helps

Cheers

 

Bill

A very interesting idea. I hope that doesn't cause any petrol 'back-up' problems but, if this has worked successfully for your mate it seems like a good solution to avoiding double counting the fuel.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Finally got to do some work on the Sav yesterday...suffering withdrawal symptoms lately its been almost 3 weeks since I was able to get to do some work on it. Cant wait until I transfer all the bits here then I can do bits and pieces at any time.

 

I wanted to get the tanks all finished on the right wing but I managed to snap off the rivnut mandril for the rivnuts so I will have to get another one to finish that off but at least all the plumbing is now finished and I just have to do them next time and I can start the fuel tanks on the left wing. I was told the tanks take a lot of work and they sure do but of course its a critical part so time and care needs to be taken.

 

I had the outer tank plumbed and the tubes to the root ready it was the inner tank I finished off yesterday. As I have said before when you fit the gauge fittings into the tank using the measurements in the manual the holes don't line up so to make a nice straight entry through the rib you need to redrill the holes. This then leaves a pretty big hole so I elected to make up a support plate. The pics show the plate and how I marked it up I cut it out to make it fit then redrilled the hole in the support plate to make it a nice fit. I have used the electrical conduit fitting through the inner ribs where the fuel hose goes to make sure it wont rub through and it supports everything nicely. The inner tank I used the 1/4 alu tube as the outlet so I can fit better sight gauges. The outer tank tubes are closest to the main spar and the inner tank tubes are further to the trailing edge at the root rib. The rubber grommets for the outer tank are larger because that hole is already in the rib and I made the extra 2 holes for the inner tank tubes smaller so you can see the smaller grommet used. These grommets are all from Clark Rubber. I just have to put on the clamps for the inner tank tubes on and I just bent those tubes to make then fit nicely and come out of the root nice and straight. I have run Sikaflex at the rear edge corners of both tanks and to the top skin this should hold the rear of the tanks nicely as there crossbars that hold the tanks quite firmly anyway and I also put a little on the forward tank holding brackets as well. When I have done the final fixing of those crossbars I will run a bead from the edges of them to the tanks as well. I will order another mandrill for the rivnut gun but in the mean time I think I can modify the original so it will work

 

As there is no instructions on how to fit the extra tanks I am very happy with the way I have done it and it should all work nicely when I have sorted out the sight gauges I will post all the details on those as well

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ianwells]

Hi Mark

 

Its good to see you back on the job. My Savannah went for its fist roll today on its own 2 wheels[ATTACH]12632.vB[/ATTACH]. I spent today going through the parts that are left and there arn't that many. I did find a windscreen demister box, but there are no holes for it in the dash cover pannel, do you know if this has been superseeded now with the cabin heat. I also made a start on the right wing so I'm now going back through all youre old posts to see how its done.

 

I've put the doors together but not fitted them yet, that was arll quite straight forward so far and I thinck i've sussed out the hinge system so I will try to fit the doors next week.

 

It's good working on the plane outside as its not rained for at least 4 days now. Aircraft arn't meant to be left chained up inside![ATTACH]12633.vB[/ATTACH]

 

regards

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi All

 

Was up at the farm again on thursday for the final inspection on Friday..and yes we are now finally passed so now the work can begin :)

 

Got back on saturday morning here so managed to get there today to do some more work on the fuel tank install. Its finally pretty much finished except for the sight gauges which I will chase up this week. If you are riveting the tank skins then there isn't any real issue but if you rivnut them like I have so I can always have easy access to the fuel tanks if there is any leaks etc just be careful on using the rivnut pliers. I managed to break the mandrill the last time I used it the 3mm rivnuts are quite small and it doesn't take too much of a hamfist to break the thread off the mandril. I didn't chase another up but managed to stick it in the lathe and claw back the 7mm or so of shaft I broke off and it works fine. Well enough to do all the rivnuts for the wing so far so be warned do not put too much pressure on the pliers after you feel the nut collapse. Once it collapes just leave it at that. All the rivnuts also had a drop of loctite on them to make sure they stay solid.

 

The main issue to work out was the arrangement of the support crossbars and how they would be held with rivets and rivnuts. The bar over the inner tank is under the rib edge so the rivnuts are placed into the crossbar so that the bolts go through the skin then through the wing skin then through the top of the rib edge then they screw into the rivnut mounted into the crossbar. The centre of the 2 tanks on that rib is similar except the bolt goes through the tank skin then the inner tanks crossbar then the wing skin then the rib top edge then into the second out tank crossbar with rivnuts placed on it so it becomes a nice sandwich. The outer part of the outer crossbar just gets clamped between the tank skin and the wing skin hopefully all the pics will help to explain it.

 

I have put a few of the screws into place to hold the bars and some of the skin as I will come back to these for a final check once I have finished the rest of the wing off well to how far I will go with it until the final bits. I will need to get someone to give me a hand to roll the wing around to dislodge any small metal filings and cast offs that I may have missed during construction then i can vacuum and blow it all out so the wing will be squeaky clean inside. So after this I will then place the last of the wingtip skins in place and also seal around the tank filler caps so any spilt fuel does not get into the tank area. Then its onto the tank install into the left wing.

 

The tank install certainly has been a mission...I was told that but of course until you have done it you think its easy. There is not much information at all around on how to fit the extra tanks. I have done it the way I thought best and easiest also to be maintenence friendly and functional. I am sure it could be done other ways but after the first try failed I think this way is easier using the conduit guides and the alu tube.

 

Ian you are motoring along with the fuselage I think once its on its wheels thats a big event :). I have no idea about that extra box you found yet as I haven't really done much reading on the fuselage construction yet as that is a major effort just by itself...by the way if that is you in the photo you are the spitting image of JG :)

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ianwells]

Hi Mark. Good to see one wing done, I.m sure the next one will be much quicker. I put the first rivets in the wing today.

 

I notice your bench is solid wood, I carpeted mine with quite a deep pile carpet, as there was lots getting thrown out after cyclone Ului last year. This made it easy to slide components around without fear of scratching them, and, especially with the fuselage, when putting clecos into the lower surface you can just push the cleco through the skins into position and into the carpet without having to lift the fuselage up. That seemed to make it a lot easier for me.

 

Thats not me in the photo, this is me in the left seat!!! [ATTACH]12651.vB[/ATTACH]

 

How many rivnuts for the tank inspection plates? I may do the same as you.

 

regards

 

Ian

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi ian

 

I can just imagine you both sitting there making vroom vroom sounds and leaning into the turns :)

 

Reg Brost seems to be the only one who can get the rivnuts that size I chased around and no one had them. Reg sent me 150 of the nuts and 150 of the 10mm ss philips head screws. I think he said it was about 70 per side and its about right. You will need a set of rivnut pliers too i got them from Reg as well its a nice set you will need them for the wing strut attachment covers as well. The other wing is almost done just have to fit the tanks and wing tips to that you can see it in some of the pics sitting in a rack I made so it wouldn't get damaged. I thought of carpeting the table but opted not to as metal filings can get into the carpet and scratch when you move stuff. In the wing build you never need to slide anything its mainly just blocked up off the bench as you assemble it and turn it over a few times as you will have clecos underneath and on top at the same time also the strut mounts need to be kept off the bench. You also need to make sure your bench is flat and level otherwise you can get a warp in the wing also adhere to the sequence of riveting the skins...its a bit cryptic but basically you start in the middle and work out to the edges in a equal method row by row. I went to Bunnings and spent an hour trying to get straight pieces of timber to use as the blocks....they cut everything so green now its a struggle to find straight pieces of timber

 

Mark

 

 

[eightyknots]

...by the way if that is you in the photo you are the spitting image of JG :)Mark

Yes Mark, I agree, there is a close resemblence.

 

It seems like the tanks are a real mission. It's so good that you share your experiences on here so that, when others get around to building their XL, they will be spared some of the agony of working this all out. It's also great for Sav builders who are remote from others to get ideas from.

 

Keep up the nice photos! I hope the rest of the project will be smoother sailing.

 

Hank

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi 80Kts

 

yes I did a lot of searching around and there is really very little in the way of savannah blogs especially on this later version. Also the dual tanks is really only a aussie thing apparently and it makes sense of course because of the tyranny of distance in this country. The first set of tanks did take quite a while especially losing a day on the first attempt then re thinking what I was doing. I am pretty happy with the way it has finished up although I am hunting around for the sight gauge stuff but really thats just my own preference. Also having a lathe and milling machine and a CNC mill here I can also make any special bits I want. The other thing was there was no second set of sheet strengthener strips for the second tanks I looked everywhere but I had the spare skin tensioners left over from the second tank space so I have just used one of them for the back edge of the tank hole for the skin you just cut off the tabs that went over the ribs and re drill all the holes.

 

The sight gauges I will head off tomorrow down to the local festo shop here and get some 1/4 inch festos to fit and seal over the alu tubes coming out of the wing and get the same thing in 8mm for the glass borasilicate tube and machine a small coupling block to mate the two at right angles this will give me a nice fitting unit at the right distances and also they are great connectors if you have never used them because they seal so well. We use them on our model jet aircraft for all the fuel and air systems in the jet aircraft they never leak and last for years

 

Mark

 

 

 

[ianwells]

Hi Mark

 

Long time no posts, perhaps christmas or flying have got in the way of building. I've been plodding along and now have all components built, just need to put them together.

 

Youre tips for the tips were invaluable, the plywood former worked a treat. I just could have done with a few extra pairs of hands to hold it all together when riveting.

 

I put the instrument pannel together and its HEAVY, 3,5 kg!! How heavy is youre brauinger pannel? A few extra bucks to save 3,5 kg may be money well spent.

 

Work is going quiet now so back to building, though my engine is stuck in Brisbane at the moment. Hopefully not too low down!!!![ATTACH]12887.vB[/ATTACH]

 

cheers

 

Ian

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Hi Everyone

 

Well its been just over a month since my last post and I can tell you I have had withdrawl symptoms. I got a chance finally to get back to the sav today. Work and family commitments and a heap of other stuff before xmas and then we went up to the farm for a week on new years day and got a heap of work done up there including rescuing my dam from breaking its wall but thats another story and of course the rain here last week saw me digging trenches and other stuff to stop water going into my sheds..never seen so much water flowing over in and down our place here at Burpengary..but we got off very lightly compared to most others around the river and those poor souls in Toowoomba and the Lockyer valley.

 

I have to say installing the extra tanks is a bugger of a job it takes a lot of time and a lot of fiddling around. I hate to have counted how many times I have had all 4 tanks in and out of the wings...but the light is at the end of the tunnel finally after today. I got the alu tubes hooked to the outer tank and then proceeded to put the fittings into the inner tank for the fuel gauge. Now because I am using 4 sight gauges I was 1 fitting short so I made one up on my lathe came out pretty good really and it was just like the supplied ones just it had a round nut instead of a hex one. The main thing I wanted to show was I moaned before about the sight gauge fittings not in the right place when you go by the measurements in the manual. You have to open the holes out in the ribs and then I have been plating the holes so the internal strength is still in the rib. On the tank picture you can see the black niko marks which are the manual measurements but the blue marks are where the original holes in the ribs are you can see how far out they are and why you need to extend out the holes the conduit exit guides really do make the hose transition through the rib excellent. So I fitted and sealed the 2 gauge fittings into the tank and left them to dry tonight then I will fit the tank and that wing is pretty much complete. Then it onto making the flaperons and elevator then its onto the really big job of the fuselage. I should be able to make that here at my house so will be able to work on it regularly pretty much a few hours each day or night so progress should be much quicker.

 

Ian...the brauniger weighs 1 kg. I see you have made a new carbon dash plate I got some 1mm alu sheet and have cut it out to shape but have not fitted any gear into it yet. The 3 Belite gauges have arrived I am going to fit and I am seriously considering a flat gyro compass in the dash as well. My dash will also have a angled downwards "glovebox" in it so I can have maps and other essentials in it and so they wont fall out on takeoff its angled down it will just be a open front but will have to think about some sort of flip or sliding cover so prevent all this falling out when practising stalls etc as the sav nose angle is unbelievable when doing stalls.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

It wouldnt let me post any more than 5 pics so here are the rest..also a pic of a speader bar I made for my tractor up at the farm..that also took some time up before xmas..its 75mm angle x 10mm thick and 2.25mtrs wide by 1.3mtrs and weighs around 200kgs..its now up at the farm and works great..as well as other jobs I have long chains for my tractor and I will tow behind it with weight on it to keep the airstrips reasonably smooth

 

The last 2 pics wont upload for some reason I will try agin in another window

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

try again

 

 

 

 

[ianwells]

I'm going to call it a "carbon Savannah" !!!! (Cab Sav)?

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Did some more work on the sav today didnt really take any pics but basically the inner tanks is in and mounted and all the fittings are in. I will just check the sikaflex that I put on the tanks to hold them in place then it will be put the tank cover skins on and I can then get into the flaperons and elevator. Up at my mother in laws place I have to do some work around there is 5 acres so I do all the slashing and some of the mowing etc and it can be a pretty big job so anyway the upshot of the story is today while doing some slashing before I went to work on the tanks I came across this little fellow in the back about 20mtrs from the shed the sav is being built in...didn't have to worry about him today as he had already had a big feed as you can see

 

Mark

 

PS the joe blake was a good 3 metres

 

 

 

 

 

[dazza 38]

Its OK mark its a Carpet Snake.He/she wont kill you by the bite, but will try a strangulate you. lol

 

 

[ianwells]

Hi Mark

 

I've managed to hoist the drifter into the roof of the hangar so I can now move tha cab sav into the hangar for final assembly and painting. The hard bit now is deciding which bits to asseble prior to painting, and which to do later. The horizontal tail is on for good now and i even tried a wing on for size, fits perfectly. The weather is even cooperating at the moment, as long as cyclone Anthony stays away we may get the paint on this week.