Dave – Page 4 – Above it All

Oil Change Trick

I was changing the oil in 2884L the other day, and I was looking for a way to minimize oil spilling while I remove the oil filter. The O-320 in the Warrior has a horizontally mounted oil filter on the top rear of the engine. Removing the filter usually results in a cascade of hot, dirty oil down the back of the engine, all over the fuel pump, and the inside of the cowling. The clean-up is no fun.

I had tried a few methods in the past, but all resulted in spills and pain-in-the-ass cleanups. I tried something new this time. I cut the top off an old oil bottle and then made a relief cut in one long side of the bottle. This allowed me to position the bottle below the filter at an angle.

I don’t have a picture of the oil catcher in use, but I didn’t spill a drop.

Future mods may include a strap to hold the bottle in place but it works just fine by hand.

Watch “Final Approach to Haneda Int’l Runway 34L” on YouTube

Something is Gained in Translation

I stopped at a convenience store this morning to get some snacks. I wondered what the marketing folks were trying to tell me about their product. Since I don’t read Japanese, I turned to Google Translate’s handy photo translation capability.

First Product, Chocolate covered puffed wheat:

Google Translate:

Wheat chocolate It is fragrant and nostalgic taste. It is a snack that stops when you eat.

Uh huh.
Second product, Squid Jerky:

Google Translate:

I baked about Kanamekara firmly. The taste spreads in the garbage mouth 16 g

You don’t say!

LW Top Skin Dimpling

Today I deburred the top wing skin parts and dimpled the appropriate parts per plans page 16-2 Step 6. Test reassembled and everything fits pretty nicely. I had set up the DRDT-2 dimpler a while back for prior work and it was still set up well. It didn’t need any adjustment, and the dimples came out looking crisp and flat.

Left Wing Top Skin Work

Today I finished Page 16-2 Steps 1-4 for the left wing. Countersinking the wing walk area went more smoothly than I expected. Afterward, I prepared for dimpling the top skin holes by removing the blue vinyl from the top surfaces of the W-1003 and W-1002 skins.

Time Lapse Videos:

Countersinking Large Screw Holes

Countersinking large screw holes for nutplates in thin sections of sheet is no fun. The countersink bit tends to wander and make a hash of the hole. I thought about how to minimize chatter and keep the bit centered for a few minutes and came up with this:

First, I cut a piece of wood to fit a small area along the line where the nutplates are. In this case, the nutplates will eventually hold the wing root fairing on the left wing. I clamped the piece of wood in place and drilled #40 holes in the wood to correspond with the nutplate rivet holes. Then I clecoed a nutplate through the top of the skin into the wood.

Then I used the nutplate as a drill guide to drill a #30 hole in the wood below, centered on the screw hole in the nutplate.

Next, I used my 90 degree drill and a #30 piloted countersink bit to carefully make the appropriate countersink (in this case, to accept a sheet above dimpled for a #8 screw.

Finished product is a well centered countersink with minimal chatter. I used pine wood here but in the future I will use oak or another hardwood because the pine is so soft, and allows a bit of movement to the countersink pilot.

Fitting Top Wing Skins – Part 1

Today, I got the top wing skin parts out of the crate and began fitting them to the left wing. Way back in the beginning of the wing construction process, I had made a mistake in drilling the J channel wing stiffeners in the wrong position. I had contacted Van’s Aircraft about this and they confirmed it was not a big deal to simply extend the length using a short piece of J channel at the wing tip, so I fit and drilled this piece today as well.

I used up every silver cleco I could find and still didn’t have quite enough for the whole wing. I guess I’ll have to order some more eventually.

Time Lapse Video:

Also, today I worked on drilling out and re-setting some rivets on the rear spar on the left wing that I didn’t like.

Assembling the Left Wing Rear Spar

Time lapse video of yesterday’s activity–riveting the left wing rear spar and associated parts. Total a bit over 4 hours of real work spread out throughout the day.

Aquarium

I got this beautiful 75 gallon aquarium from Larry, who did not have room for it anymore. I got it set up and hope to add more fish to it soon. Right now there is a single Labidochromis caeruleus in there, but I don’t think it’s visible. Reading up on optimum cichlid population density, it looks like I’ll be able to fit about 25-28 average size fish in there. Because of the African Cichlids’ behavior patterns, it is better to have a high population density to minimize aggressiveness. I intend to go with Lake Malawi cichlids. In the past I had mostly Mbuna type fish from that lake but I may go with a different sort this time. The Mbuna tend to be a bit more aggressive and root up plants and such.

First Snow

Update: Still snowing