Lots and lots of progress on little things...

Progress is fast and furious.

Aileron bolts safety wired.  Boy, that was fun.  Had to make tabs for the outboard bolts to tie to.

Had another park brake valve leak.  5606 all down the belly (well, one long stream).  One fitting was not quite tight.  Tested extensively and no leak, and fluid level holding steady.

Compass swung and magnetometer received back from repair and calibrated.  Initially the magnetometer would not calibrate as I had used standard AN3 bolts to mount it.  Switched to brass, and all good now.

Full power run for 3 minutes.  Ran great.  Have downloaded engine logs and need to review.  Oil temps creaped up into the yellow.  Temp spread on intercooler was 26 degrees.  Prop spun up to 2680, but then came down to 2600.  Need to check prop settings.

Autopilot bridals for capstans installed.  Had to fine tune the forward elevator bracket, but got it.  Initial autopilot calibration complete.

Shims installed on main gear.  Looks good now.

All cotter pins, etc verified in aileron and flap systems.  All turnbuckles safetied.

Left wing servo tab pushrod fabricated and installed.  Perfect.

Aileron rigging complete and dead on.

Wing tips attached with screws and not clecos :-)

What remains...

• Logbooks and paperwork pre final inspection
• Paint touch up and polishing
• Header tank sensors... figure out a new plan.
• Fuel tank calibration.  I have a sticky sensor, or a bad wire in the left aux tank
• Exterior placards (door open, fuel tanks, etc).
• Install all inspection panels after final inspection

Control Sticks

I am at that point in the build where progress is frustrating because I have overcomplicated a lot of things.  I decided to go with the Infinity Stick grips, and load up on functions on the grip itself.  They are a really good grip it a lot of ways.  Easy of installation and wiring is not one of them.

Well, thats not fair I guess.  The installation is fairly straight forward... but you have to trim 1" off the stick to get it to fit under the panel, drill a big hole for a plastic bushing, and a slot for the wiring to pass through.  But it nicely clamps onto the stick...

First things first... you need to set the fore / aft position of the stick.  That means you need uphostery (which I ordered) first, then the sticks have to be drilled to the yoke.  This is the part I have been avoiding because I was unsure how to tackle the issue.  Since I have the fuel lines installed, you have to work around them.

So today after (what seems like months) of indecision (and talking to other builders), I tore into it.  The holes have to be drilled through the yoke and stick, but I couldnt get my alignement jig on the yoke, so that means freehand drilling, which is prone to errors, plus you have to line up the sticks and I dont have the wings attached to center the ailerons.  But, there is some adustment on the yoke, and turnbuckles.  So I decided to just center the yoke with some wood blocks, center the sticks with a board (per the manual), and carry on bravely.

After marking 3/8" in from the yoke weldments, I drilled 3/32" pilot holes through the top only (yoke and stick) and clecoed them in.  That should hold everything in place.

I dont have the right length drill bit for the forward hole, but did for the aft (again, working around the fuel lines).  So both aft holes were drilled and a AN3-14 bolt dropped in replacing the cleco.

With the right length bolts I can proceed.

To the wiring.  UGH.

The infinity grip the following options:

• 4 way hat switch
• Trigger switch
• Left and right thumb switches
• Middle thumb switch
• Pinky switch

After thinking a lot, and consulting the forum I decided on the following:

1. 4 way hat switch:  Pitch and roll trim
2. Trigger switch - Push to talk
3. Left and right thumb switches - Left(a):  Autopilot disconnect / CWS.  Right(b):  Momentary toggle - forward, COM1 flip flop.  Aft - COM2 flip flop.
4. Middle thumb switch - Audio panel swap from COM1 to COM2 and vice verse.
5. Pinky switch - Transponder IDENT

That equates to a whole bunch of wires.  Items 1, 2, 3a are handled by the ACM wiring to the 'control stick' port.  Items 3b, 4, and 5 need to be wired directly.  The transponder IDENT will be handled through the ACM using a general purpose input.

Here is the wiring diagram for just the sticks.

This is not going to be fun.  10 lbs of poop in a 2 oz bag.

Grips mounted to the sticks after drilling.

Sticks fully drilled, ends cut and filed, grips mounted and wires fed through.

The Infinity Stick Grips are very nicely made, as assembled really well on top of the stick.  After about 15 disassembles / reassemblies I am reasonable good at it.  The issue is the wires... there are so many wires, and if they get caught in the channel for the stick, or against one of the bosses that the screws go through it wont go together.  If any little thing is wrong, you are taking it all apart again. If you want a grip that you just mount on the top of a stick, this is not the one for you.

Next is to connectorize the cables from the sticks and integrate in the ACM, Dynon Radio, Audio Panel, etc.  I thought I had enough connectors, pins and housings, but apparently not.  Ordered from Digikey today.

Connectorizing was not fun (I have an aversion to connectors anyway, specifically getting pins out of shells - never goes well).  There is a colour code for the wires, but there are duplicates.  For the most part, black is ground (but not always), and there are multiple red and blue wires.

1. Sorted through all the wires and found the ground (using an ohm meter), and separated them from the pack
2. Tied all the ground together on the stick side using solder sleeves.  There are 6 ground - so 3 into 1, then 2 into 1, then that wire went to the connector.  Sleeves are hidden under head shrink.
3. Checked functionality of every switch at all points in the process.  Would really suck to get everything done and have a busted wire or bad ground.
4. Connectorized the end using a d-sub 15.
5. The connector will fit through, but without the shell, and it has to go through sideways.  I left enough bare wire to get it through.

Onto final wiring.  I have the ACM harness for each stick, but it doesnt come with IDENT, COM flip flops (x2) and Audio Panel swap.  These all have to be added to the harness.

So I cut open the pilot side harness, and added the 3 wires.  Oh what fun...

These 4 wires need to go to various places:

• IDENT:  Goes to a PFD input on the AC Rear Connector
• COM 1 SWAP:  Goes to the Dynon radio
• COM 2 SWAP:  Will go to the yet to be purchased GARMIN NAV/COM
• Audio Panel SWAP:  Goes directly to the Audio Panel.

I put everything together to test, and it all worked - except the Audio Panel COM SWAP.  It seemed like it would work every once in a while, but not like I expected.  I checked with both PS Engineering, and Advanced - but at the end of the day I just miswired it.  I had it connected to pin 21 on J2, when it should have been pin 20.  The issue was getting the connector apart on the audio panel without losing any hardware in the fuselage or panel.

To finally everything is done.  Sticks are wired, connectors attached, everything tested good.  Sticks are bolted in place.

Starting on the cleanup now.  It sure needs it.

Instrument Panel Redo (Carbon Shroud Only)

 It's a long and sad tale, but I had to replace my carbon panel with a new one.  Which meant cutting and fasteners all over again.  Carbon fiber is itchy... do not recommend cutting it and then going to bed.

The good news is everything is faster 2nd time around.  In 2 evenings I had everything cut and most of the fasteners installed.  I have to make new brackets for the nutplates on the switch plates, because of the switch plate dimensions, standard nutplates will show the rivets in the carbon.  Hopefully this too goes faster 2nd time around.

I am finally (almost) back to where I was in April (its now August).  Still missing a few fasteners that will need to be riveted in later.

I have been wiring like a madman for the past 2 days.  The aircraft front and aircraft rear ACM connectors are done.  The trim and flap connector is done on the ACM end, plus the aileron trim wing bulkhead connector.  There is still a ton of wiring to do.  Like days and days more.  Plus the engine wiring integration (which should be relatively easy... famous last words).

Everything is working as before, except I have added some wiring.

• Autopilot servos:  Not working.  The ACM says they are drawing power, but the Skyview network cant see them.  Troubleshooting with Advanced. Fixed and working.  Factory harness was wired incorrectly, and I missed it.
• Recognition light.  Working.
• Wing wiring to bulkhead connectors.  Working
• Glareshield fans.  
• Overhead cabin light
• Compass light
• Aileron trim.  Not tested
• Elevator trim.  Not tested
• Flap position sensor.  Not tested (potentiometer not yet installed)

The last piece to mount is the magnetometer.  I dont know why, but I have been dreading this.  Used some foam / glass test pieces I had and just chopped them up.  Simple and light.  The below picture is bonded to the fuselage.  The aluminum bracket is just for placement and will be removed.

Autopilot / Servo Wiring and Avionics Trays

 As part of my avionics package from Advanced, I purchased their pitch and roll servos.  All the servos come from the same manufacturer... also purchased the servo mounting tray from Glasair.

All of the brackets have been fit, fasteners drilled, and I added a few lightening holes in the tray itself.  While I was at it, I finished the left and right avionics trays that mount to the cage.  Lots of drilling and fitting nutplates.

All these were put through aluimiprep, alodyne, primed and painted.  The paint is PPG, and matches the grey of the cage.

Remote radio unit repositioned slightly due to cable length.

Everything dry fit.

Installed and wired.  I was SOOO careful to not mix up the wiring for the pitch and roll servos, and guess what - I cut them the wrong lengths.  So I de-pinned the connector and switched everything around.  

Left and right avionics trays are finished and nut plates installed.

The top picture is the left side tray (the IBBS is mounted under the tray). The next two pics are the right side tray.  I have not mounted the audio panel or Hall effect sensor yet... waiting for hardware.

I am going to need to raise the EMS and Audio Panel to clear nut plates underneath (they overlap each other slightly).

Handful of things to do before they are mounted - and actually will not be fully mounted until the firewall comes out.  2 holes need to be drilled in the forward tabs for the trays.

Next is the big tray that will hold the ACM, Skyview Network Hub, ECU, Boost Controller, Aux Box, and ADHRS.  I very quickly put it together to see if it was going to do what I wanted, with stuff I had in the shop.

Now that I think this is going to work, have gone back and finished drilling it, and making a few modifications, plus adding lightening holes.  Oh, and drilling for fasteners.... ugh.

After finishing, ready to mount.

Installed with most components present.

Lots of wiring still to do, but progress is definitely being made.