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Tips & Tricks & Ideas
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Rear seat heat
for an RV8A by ME |
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I have been working on a way of getting heat to the pax in my -8A and
think I know how I am going to do it...
I am going to cut 2" holes in each of the F-802R bulkheads and install
Van's flanged ducts in the holes for scat tube to attach. Then run the
scat along the sides of the fuse just under the F-864 left console, and
F-8101 right console. I will make some .032 covers that will attach
to each console to cover the scat. I will have to make some vents
that the scat will attach to that will sort of wrap around, and attach to,
the F-804C center section uprights. The vents need to be high enough
to not interfere with the rear seat rudder pedals. I want these
vents to extend back far enough so that a hole on the bottom of the vent
will blow heat on the pax's feet. The rest of the heat will be blown
directly down the sides of the fuse to the back seat...
I talked to Ken Kruger at Van's about putting the holes in the F-802R
bulkheads and he said on the -8A, those were basically glorified skin
stiffeners, and it wouldn't be a problem, especially if I rivet the
flanged ducts in them... He also told me that he knew of a guy
that put holes in his landing gear boxes for scat tube, the plane had an
engine-out and pancaked in causing the gear legs to bend up about 90
degrees from original, and there was no damage to the landing gear
boxes. That said, you my consider this installation for your -8 as
well...
It should be a pretty simple installation, except for making the
vents, but maybe we have a master metal worker in our midst that could
come up with an easy way to make them... Any and all comments
gladly welcomed... |
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-8A Rear Tie-down Mod by
ME |
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I decided I didn't want to waste a perfectly good hole and drill
another for the rear tie-down, so I decided to move it from the F-812 to
the F-811... I made the tie-down mount as per the plans except that
the threaded AL block is flush with the aft side of the bracket (away from
the -811), and mounted it to the -811 instead of the -812. I will mount it
using 470AD4 rivets... |
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I will probably make a doubler for the -812 where the VS mounts at
the bottom where the bolts go through because normally you would have
either the tail wheel weldment or the tie-down brackets there to act as a
doubler... |
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Bent Control Sticks |
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Pioneer 300S and though they just might fit the bill for a bent control
stick in an RV that everybody has been talking about... This one is
made from 6061-T6 Aluminum... I kind of like the stick grips too...
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Even Larger Version |
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Landing light installation
by Ray Lynn |
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The lights were purchased from a local auto parts store. They have
55 watt Halogen bulbs. You have to remove the wing tip to change the
bulbs, but hey, their Halogen, so how often will you have to do that? |
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On this installation, bob made an aluminum mount for the bottom inside
of the wing tip that the light's original mounting brackets attach to. |
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Once the lights are mounted and aimed, they are glassed into the tip.
Ray also designed his own wig-wag flasher that I will post when I get
more info... |
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| Rudder horn /
cables fairing by Dick Martin |
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Another mod that Dick made recently was to the rudder cable area.
He built some fairings that not only cover the rudder cable exits from the
fuselage but also the rudder control horn. Notice how the fairings go all
the way back and protect the rudder horn. They look pretty easy to
make and I'll be using this idea on my plane. He has also
removed the tail wheel steering springs. |
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| Tail spring
fairings & stream lined rudder horns by Butch Malani |
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I won't have tail springs on my -8A, but I like the stream lined rudder
horns... |
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| Navaid installation
by Ray Lynn |
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In my opinion the "only" place to install the Navaid is on the right
side in front of the spar carry through. (At least in the RV-8).
Don't know if this can be utilized on the RV-8A with modifications as the
gear attachment points occupy some of this area. Wherever the unit is
installed, the principals of the linkage should be adhered to. I was
very impressed with the Navaid unit itself but think they did not do their
homework on installation. The suggestions offered by Navaid allowed
the servo arm to work in a non-linear relationship with the arm on the
control tube. This installation solves that problem as well as makes
the unit assessable.
First off, I used a piece of 3/4 x 3/4 .063 angle pop riveted to the floor
(since I had already closed the floor by then). The hard support box
was made from some pieces of scrap .050 Al I had. Size is 5-3/4"
across by 2-3/4" high in the rear tapered to 2-1/4" in the front so that the
top surface of the unit is level. Dimension front to rear is 3-3/4".
This three sided box is attached to the angle with 8-32 screws and plate
nuts. I drilled and tapped the right side mounting points with 8-32
tapped holes in the lower longeron. Position of the box is not super
critical but the push/pull rod should be roughly parallel with the spar
carry through and low enough to clear the front cabin brace.
The lever arm on the control tube is offset forward and bolted through by
the control tube pivot bolt. It is offset forward by 15/16 ".
The arm is made from 1/8" Al and is shaped to fit tightly inside the channel
on the pivot bracket. Additionally, I back drilled (after bolting up
the assembly) with a #19 drill and installed a 8-32 socket head cap screw
and stop nut (it's close quarters in there) to further fix the
assembly. The holes for attaching the push/pull rod from the servo
were drilled at 1.4", 1.6", 1.8" above the pivot point bolt centerline.
The 1.4" hole should be used with the 1.0" hole on the servo arm of the
Navaid. The 1.6" with the 1.2", and the 1.8" with either the 1.2 or
1.4" servo hole. This allows full travel of the ailerons which is
about +/- 2-7/8" of travel. Anything different than this will
cause the servo unit to hit it's stop before the ailerons hit their stop.
Navaid normally ships the servo unit with the output arm positioned
"down". If not yet shipped, they will position the arm "up".
It's a pain to do this reversing so better to let them do it.
I have not flown this arrangement yet but it is engineered so that the
driver arm on the servo is always parallel to the driven arm on the
control tube and the ailerons hit their stops just before the servo hits
it's smaller and less strong stops. As a result, it has to work
better than the proposal they made.
I am also installing a switch on my stick which is connected to a relay
(Bosch automotive) in the power wiring from the Navaid panel unit to the
servo so that I can engage/disengage the autopilot using the stick switch. |
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Rudder trim by
Ray Lynn
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First off, the design is very "clean and simple". My plane is an
RV 8 with ground adjustable rudder pedals so my exact scheme would
have to be adapted to the standard pedals as well as to the 8A, 6, 6A,
4. My plane is not flying yet but one of the fellows in the local
group adapted it to his RV 4 and is very happy with the system.
The left side rudder pedal is spring loaded from an anchor point on the
left gear box. The spring is connected to the anchor. The other
end of the spring is attached to a 1/16" cable that runs through a nylon
pulley (bought at the hardware store -- patio door wheels with roller
bearings) then the cable is attached to the rudder pedal arm 3" above the
pivot point of the pedal arm. The pulley center is attached to the
firewall angle 3" above the floor. This allows the cable to pay off
directly in line horizontally with the connection on the arm. I made
the pulley mount brackets by cutting a circular hole (about 1/16" greater in
diameter than the pulleys) in a piece of 3/8" thick aluminum and cutting off
a portion of the plate/hole. This was mounted to 1/8" Al plate.
This serves to mount the assembly and to keep the cable contained.
The right side was identical except I had to space the pulley away from
the firewall angle to the left since the right side cable/spring must go
inside the pedal arm. No clearance to the outside since the front
baggage vertical closure sheet gets very close to the pedal assembly.
At this point the right side is different from the left. The
adjustment device was made by drilling a 1/4" dia. hole as close to one edge
of a 5/8 H x3/4 W x1L block of aluminum as possible. Then grind off
about 1/8" from the 5/8 dim., enough to make a small "flat side of the
hole". Mount this on a piece of 3/4 x3/4 .063 angle with a hole in the
vertical to bolt through using the attachment bolt that the rudder cable
pivot bracket is mounted with. The angle was riveted to the block with
a couple of 470 rivets. Now, take a piece of 1/4-20 all thread (
I used brass) about 6" long, turn or grind the threads off one end and drill
a hole for the spring. Then carefully grind down one side of the rod
so as to provide a flat that fits your previously build "flat hole".
Any kind of knurled or other wheel can be used. Simply drill and tap
the wheel with 1/4-20. Install stop nuts to prevent backing the
adjustment wheel off or jamming the spring.
The spring I used was 7/16 x 10-1/4 x .041. Century Spring Corp.
#C-311. Available in most hardware stores. Will have to
experiment to see if this spring is strong enough. Make sure that
the spring is not shorter than this as it will not be consistent with
extensions much over 1/3 of its length. With the respective pedals
fully relaxed I allowed about one inch of tension remaining on the spring.
Hope this is clear enough. If not let me know.
Ray
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Carl Froehlich's Tow-Bar |
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This is made from a single 10' piece of the
1/2" copper pipe (not the thin wall stuff, the standard wall), and
assorted fittings.
Carl Froehlich, RV-8A (flying), Vienna, VA |
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Dremel Tool
Angle Attachment |
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I got this Dermal Right Angle attachment for X-mass. You can get
them at Wal-Mart for about $25 I think... I used it to today to do
some drilling and it worked great! I even used it to drill out a
couple rivets, no problems. I recommend this tool to any Dermal
user...
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Mechanix Wear
Gloves |
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Here is a pair of Mechanix Wear gloves I also got for X-mass...
They are great! They were designed by, and for, motorcycle
mechanics, so you still have very good dexterity while wearing
them. These were purchased at a local auto parts store for
about $20.
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| Dimpling
Table |
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This is the set-up I used to dimple skins up until the last (right)
elevator. |
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It worked, but was awkward, and difficult to manage. |
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I finally broke down and built a dimpling table. I have an Avery
dimpling tool, I do not know if this table would fit all dimpling tools. |
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It works great! I saw a picture of one of these on the web once,
but could not find it again, so I made it from memory. It was easy,
and I wish I would have made it a long time ago. |
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Materials List: 2ea. 2"x2"x8' pine, 2ea. 1"x2"x8' pine, and 1 2'x4'x1/4"
hard board. It cost me about $12 to make this one. You have to cut
the 2x2's to the proper lengths to frame the hardboard, and make a notch for
the dimpler, then cut matching 1x2's that will be attached to the 2x2's with
glue and screws to give the proper height, and then attach the hardboard
with glue and screws.
Then I slid the dimpler in under table, put the male dimple die in the
rod of the dimpler, and poked a hole in the hardboard. Then I just
drilled the hole out so the dimple die will fit through it. The die
sits about 1/16 of an inch above the hardboard. |
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Rod-end Bearing Tool |
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I made this rod end bearing installation tool from the example I saw
on Sam
Buchanan's RV-6 web page. It is made from 1/2" PVC. |
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I notched one end of the PVC to fit over the end of the rod end bearing.
Then cut a straight coupler in half and glued it over the notched end.
Then I glued a T on the other end for a handle. |
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Bucking Bar for Flaps |
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Here is my custom bucking bar. I got the idea from Jerry
Calvert, RV-6A builder... |
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Ii is actually the no-hole yoke for my Tatco hand squeezer, I just used
the side as a bucking bar to buck the rivets holding the top and bottom
skins together. |
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New pins for my Tatco Squeezer |
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I went down to the local hardware store and bought three 1/4" hitch
pins to replace the roll pins that came with my Tatco squeezer...
Worked Great! I highly recommend this modification... |
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| Rib
positioning tool |
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Simple tool for moving ribs around behind skins while drilling.
I used a 2x2 piece of wood about 2' long with a notch cut in it so I can
grab the rib... |
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