Twisted: Week 95 - Trim and Battery cover

Hours to date: 965.75

I finally got the battery box cover done.

6 layers of carbon with 8 layers on the flanges (where they will be bolted).

It's more than strong enough. I did a load test on the lower battery tray too - putting most of my weight on it so it's well strong enough.

I found that using Twill weave carbon was much easier to fit into the tight corners and curves of the battery box. I tried using some Bid I had lying around and it was almost impossible to get it to fit in the shape. So Twill is the stuff to go for if you are working a complex shape.

I got the elevator control rod guide fitted at the rear too - see photo. At the bottom you will note two holes - these are to let any small stones or grit fall out and not get in the guide bearings. Pete says he had this happen once (before he drilled the holes) and thought he had lost the elevator as it jammed solid, scary stuff!

As you can probably tell I am trying to get everything done in the cockpit section. Once that happens then I can paint the cockpit and install everything back in for real.

With that in mind I built up the Trim assembly.

The manual is somewhat out of date with the parts supplied so a bit of head scratching is required to figure out what to do.

A few extra jobs need to be done to make this work. The small bracket at the end needs the two holes countersinking, easy enough.

You have to drill a hole in the 'latch' lever.

No parts seem to be included for the Trim indicator. My kit did not have any wire for it and only one larger wire end - which I will use for the Trim itself. There is one very small wire end which I will use as the indicator itself.

So I followed what Pete did and drilled a hole in a 6mm bolt (for the wire) and fitted two Nylon washers and two nuts that will hold the indicator wire in place. (see photo below)

I also had to make up a base plate for the whole Trim assembly. This is to mount the Trim securely to the cell. I used 8 layers of glass for this and the now familiar (to regular readers) duct tape over a block of wood method.

Also to lock the spring holders on the elevator control rod I drilled out and then cut a thread in the top so a 4mm nut (with the end sharpened to a point) would screw down into the hole in the top of the rivet. This is the same method as described in the manual but the parts supplied do not have a lock nut or thread in them.

The control stick grip is now finished and attached to the control column. I put heat shrink around the wire bundle to protect it and will 'pot' the wire around the hole where it comes out with silicone later to eliminate any chaffing.

Also I now have a spinner and cowling. Matthias has very generously sent me the cowling free of charge - thanks Matthias! The spinner I bought from Hercules Propellors here in the UK.

The cowling is for a Jabiru so it won't fit the UL, but it will make an excellent starting point for the final cowling and should save a lot of time on this job.