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Drill for trim cable... 09/20/03 - No work last weekend (only the second or third since I started this project late last December, so I don't feel too bad) but I did manage to make it out to the EAA Chapter 21 Fly-In at Skylane Airport (3EV) for a bit of chow and to look at a few very nice airplanes! Here are a few of my favorites on the field last Saturday:
Week before last, I determined that I had forgotten to locate holes BC (BEFORE COVERING) in the right horizontal stabilizer and elevator for the trim cable installation, so that was my task for today. I reinstalled the hinges and hung the two items back on the fuse in order to give myself a clear image of the cable route:
Then brought them back into the shop, clamped and step-drilled to 5/16":
I used my shop vac (Christmas present from last year from my mother in law - Thanks Delores, it really comes in handy!) to keep debris from falling into the interior of the items while drilling. At this point I was ready to run the rib rivets and edge tapes, but it was 1:00 PM and the Cardinals are nearing the end of the season (mired in third place, I might add behind the CUBS of all teams) so I broke for lunch (leftover Chinese from last night...yummy!) in order to watch a bit of the game. Unfortunately, today's game ran to 13 innings and I never made it back to the shop today, although the Cards DID win one! I'll get back at it soon enough... I now have EVERYTHING purchased for my panel after ordering the eGyro3 Electronic AI from PC FlightSystems a week or two ago. I'm very glad I had contacted the company owner a month earlier and locked-in the price, because a couple of days before I placed my order I saw on their website that the price on the device had increased 30%!!! I hurriedly emailed Craig Sellers again (including his last message indicating no price increases on the immediate horizon) and asked if he was still holding my quoted price. He said, yes, I said SOLD and I should receive the unit the week of 10/27 or so (7 week delivery). The only things I have yet to purchase are antennas for the COM and Transponder and I can pick those up from the local avionics shop as I need them. I did purchase a new KA-92 (Active GPS antenna) with installation kit last week for my KLX-135A GPS/COM however, as this is a pretty pricey antenna and I found a bargain too good to pass on. Here we are in late September and I'm just now covering, so I've resigned myself to not finishing before the end of the year. I pushed delivery of the engine back to mid November and when the avionics shop told me a week and a half ago that it might be another two to four weeks before they finish my panel stuff, I wasn't really bothered. I guess Part 135 operators (think King Air) wanting a full panel refurbish have JUST A BIT more pull than a homebuilder pinching pennies. Oh well... As is sometimes the case, things are NOT going as planned in relation to timing, although I DO seem to be taking it well, don't you think? ;^) More updates soon... |
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Last Update: 09/20/2003 |
