Ron's RV7 Aircraft Factory


Welcome to my personal blog. This site was created as an informal description of my build progress in the construction of a Van's RV7 aircraft. A place where family/friends/builders/curiosity seekers can follow along. It is not intended to be a detailed description of every step in the building process as that would be much too time consuming. There are plenty of sites that do a great job in that arena, that is not my intention with this site. My intention is for this to be a philisophical/motivational/inspirational account of the emotional ups and downs of the life changing journey...and it will change your life. I hope this will give you an idea, through my eyes, of what its like to make this transformation. A note to other builders, I am not an expert so do not put your safety at risk by attempting anything you see on this site until you have done your own research, or send me an email so we can discuss it. Any deviations from the plans are not approved, nor endorsed by Van's Aircraft or myself. Thanks for visiting.



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

30,000 Pageviews!! HOBBS 952.5 hrs


Real quick...I noticed I just went over 30,000 pageviews since I started this blogsite...wow! I never would've guessed when I started this. Thanks for reading along, I hope it is halfway entertaining for you. :)

Canopy Frame HOBBS 952.5 hrs

Last weekend I spent a fair chunk of time working on the canopy frame. Its quite a little bit of a time consuming project but I really enjoyed this task. It was exciting to see the canopy shape start to take hold. I also did some custom mods that I am learning I personally really get a kick out of. Putting my 'fingerprints' on the build is very gratifying to me. As much as I enjoy it however...it does add time to the build so choose your mods carefully.


Lots of match drilling in this sub-assembly...which is the time consuming part. There are two 0.063" strips that attach the two halves and Van's originally sent me the lower one cut too short from the factory (at least I think it was their mistake?...I don't remember cutting that piece). They were very gracious to send me another one and even picked up the shipping cost--no questions asked. Great customer service that Van's is known for.


So...I wanted to strengthen the canopy frame as part of my custom mods. My friend Sean Blair told me about a flipped RV where the canopy frame was a mangled mess. Luckily the pilot survived but it got me thinking. This canopy frame is intended to protect the occupants in the event of an accident. Of course I realize this can't protect you from everything but stronger is certainly better....within reason, low cost and low weight are also important.

In this pic, you can see...because of the mistake by Van's mentioned above, I now had some extra 0.063" material laying around. Hmmm, how about using that to double up on the lower ends of the frame?? Voila...nice idea, I think....


Here you can see them cleco-ed in place.


Since those added pieces only covered the lower end of the frame I want to add some strength to the radii as well. Here I added (again with scrap) some stiffeners to the corners, which I riveted in later. I think this was only 0.025" so it wasn't very significant...something thicker would be stronger of course, but this is what I had so I used it.


Here I am carefully doing layout work, squaring things up before match drilling to the fuse...you don't want to mess up when you get this late in the build. I cant just throw away an entire fuselage now can I??! ;)


Attach angle brackets getting ready for match drilling...man, these buggers were a pain to cut to size, they are beefy at 0.1875" thick, glad to have it behind me.


Test fitting on the fuse...looking pretty cool eh?!


And another one of my mods. I didn't like the way the attach brackets were exposed (click on pic above to see what I mean)...just didn't look finished to me, too utilitarian for me. So I fab-ed up a couple of cover plates (I'm getting pretty good at this) that will not only cover up the attach brackets but also add a little extra strength to the attach point structure in the process. Again...low cost (scrap) and lightweight. It remains to be seen if this mod causes me issues with the canopy install, I scoured the canopy plans to check and I think I'm ok...but I can always remove them later if they do. I do like the look of them, they turned out nice....


Here it is riveted in place...as you can see, my canopy frame is finish painted flat black (more on this later). I later painted over the rivets to cover them...even though I think they look kinda cool contrasted with the black.


If you have a three legged stool and strengthen two of the legs...you darn sure better not ignore the third or you aren't doing much good! So...my 'third leg' on the canopy structure was the connecting piece back to the aft fuse. As you can see, I added two angle pieces to stiffen this puppy up. Here you can see them riveted in place and tied into the aft fuse connecting plate.

These parts have been sprayed with self-etching wash primer since I would be finish painting them. That wash primer is really thin, watery stuff...it doesn't spray well for me, comes out splotchy as you can see.



Let me add, just because I made these mods doesnt mean that the design is flawed. In aircraft design, adding strength always comes at a premium of either weight or cost (exotic materials). Van's designed this plane exactly as he saw fit, to compromise between cost and weight so I understand the thinking. I'm ok with a little added weight, some guys arent and thats ok too...its your call, neither is wrong.

Andair Throttle Quadrant HOBBS 932.5 hrs

Trying to get caught up on my posts...been real busy building an airplane lately, making great progress. Much more on that later....

[02/06/13: This quadrant is for sale to anyone who is interested. Nothing wrong with it, just wouldnt fit in my RV7...I would recommend it for an RV10. Contact me if interested.]

I ordered and received my throttle quadrant from Andair. I'm just going to come right out with it...I wasn't too impressed and am thinking this was a mistake for several reasons. If you're thinking of going this route...hopefully my input will help you make a much more informed decision than I.

Why did I choose this quadrant?....mainly two reasons, I like having the flap control on the throttle, with the idea that my VP-X system will disable them when operating above flap speed in case I accidentally bump them in cruise flight. Second, I want my mixture to be vernier style on the panel. I don't see any valid reason it needs to be co-located with the throttle and prop control. Mainly because a vernier control adds more precise adjustment for fine mixture tuning. Lastly, most competition aerobatic planes have this configuration so its not unprecedented...go peek your head in an Extra sometime and you'll see what I mean.

Ok, now what I don't like and am slightly aggravated about.

1. Andair claims they use this in an RV6...not sure how they manage it with such tight quarters and the movement of the stick. My first look at it and I see interference with my stick. I need to explore this further but it doesn't look promising.
2. The quality of the product is not up to my standards. The aluminum face has surface blemishes all over it. Not what I expect for the price of the product they are shipping.
3. I ordered directly from Andair, then realized that Aircraft Spruce is a US distributor. I emailed Andair about returning it and they said, "sure, but there is a 30% restocking fee." Sorry, but that is total BS! On a $265 quadrant...that's approx. $85...plus shipping back to England...for nothing, money flushed down the toilet. Very aggravating. That's their way of saying, we'll take it back but we really want to discourage you from taking your money back. Horrible customer service in my opinion, they should stand behind their product much better than that. They wont get my future business, I can promise you that.
4. Because the throttle handle is so short, the flap buttons arent easily accessible by your thumb. I can work around this since I wont be accessing those buttons very often. Being a design Engineer by day, this, in my opinion is not a well thought out ergonomic design.

Let me add, I dont bash vendors lightly. As someone that aspires to one day start my own business...I know how careless remarks can hurt a business so I make darn sure I dont do it recklessly. I thoroughly thought this through before committing it to my blog for all the world to see and stand behind my comments.

So, bottom line...we'll see if I can make it work or need to ship it back and get whacked with the steep fees, stay tuned....I'll know more as I start doing layout work for my center console design.




Monday, November 21, 2011

Rudder Pedals HOBBS 932.5 hrs

I'm way behind in my blog posts...I've been more focused on actually working on the project lately rather than writing about it. Sometimes I get in that mood, I'm sure you can understand that sentiment. ;) There have been previous builders that have issues with the rudder pedal design binding/sticking when the brakes are pressed. Some think it is the Matco master cylinders that cause the problem and just add a return spring to them. The other thought is that the design, as is, might also be contributing. The plans call for two separate bolts to attach the rudder pedal to the bracket. Since you cant tighten them down (they act as pivot points) and they are independent of each other, you can easily get binding if its not done just right. One of the workarounds is to buy extra long bolts to span all the way across...definitely a more fundamentally sound design but those bolts run about $28 EACH, so almost $60 per set...plus shipping. So, I thought I can do this cheaper. Anyhow, here are some pics of my rudder pedal solution. Let me add, this is not my design idea--someone clever did this long before me.


First step, make a run to McGuckins hardware store in Boulder...absolutely LOVE this place, they are an old school hardware store...they have everything. Home Depot...not so much. I find these stainless steel rods, 3/16" for the rudder pedals and a 7/16" version that I will use to make homemade drift pins for my wing mating (more on that later). The 3/16" versions were $1.99 each...nice.


Getting the Grove master cylinders mounted in place.


I use a steel rule to set the brake pedals slightly biased forward for mounting. Not too big a deal to be exact because the Grove master cylinders are adjustable.


Here you can see the MC's in place and also my stainless steel rod design, looking good.


And here is a closeup of my solution, cotter pins have not been set yet as I still need to take this apart for anodizing and final riveting. You can see I used 1/8" nylon washers, regular washer and cotter pins on each side. I really like the way this came out...and it cost me around five dollars per brake pedal.



Moving on to the front deck, you have to add a slight bend to this part....several brackets to fabricate...some match drilling through the skin to some support brackets, etc. I will probably add access holes/covers (right about where my blue cleco bucket is sitting) for access to the area behind the panel later. Its a common modification for many builders these days.



If you're going to cleco the panel in place...you just GOTTA play a little bit! haha! Here you can see an idea of a panel (unlikely I'll go this route). It was just kind of neat to 'see' what things might look like down the road.


And, as you can see, I am jumping around quite a bit on several sub-projects...revisiting the flap motor assembly. I bolted this puppy in place, installed my cotter pin (don't forget that).

 

Finalized the lock nut....safety wire per Van's AD will also be added during final assembly.


And a parting shot...although I have been crawling in and out of the cockpit for a while now, here is my first actual picture of me sitting in the pilot's seat, kind of a builders tradition...having a beer admiring my handy work after a productive day.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

AWOL..... HOBBS 923.0 hrs

Its been awhile, sorry about that. I was out of town on a week long business trip to Wichita, KS and I've been working hard on my final project for my Project Management class. The good news, is I'm almost done with my school project (Nov. 14th) and holidays are coming...which means, you guessed it...more time to work on the plane.

Since my last post, I have received quite a few goodies as I start procuring the detailed equipment for my plane.



Bonaco brake line upgrade in "electric" red...sweet looking huh?! And beyond the looks, nicely fabricated, good quality stuff, this upgrade was an easy one for me. Well worth the $235 I paid. Good people to deal with too...customer service was excellent.



Received my 5 point Crow harnesses with the rotary 'Kam' buckle. I ordered these without pads and am in the planning stages of having custom ones made to match my interior. More on this later. I was quite impressed with the quality of these and the action of the Kam buckle...now, keep in mind, I haven't seen a pair of Hookers up close but there is no way they are twice as nice as these...and that's what Hookers cost. My two sets from Crow were $290...Hookers are about $750 for a set I believe? I mentioned the brake line upgrade as being money well spent...these also were money well spent. (Get your mind out of the gutter..not actual 'hookers' but Hooker brand harnesses! :)) I usually complain about not getting my money's worth with aircraft parts but I absolutely feel like these are worth every penny I paid for them. Also had good service from Fred Crow himself, always appreciate that.






Grove wheels, brakes, master cylinders and reservoir....arrived well packaged as you can see.


Reservoir...definitely an upgrade over the stock version...needed? Probably not...


Brake caliper..nice looking piece of hardware.


Master cylinder...these are also impressive looking, and adjustable which is a nice feature.



Wheels...these puppies are the deluxe, dual piston versions, this setup will give me extra braking power on the order of 205,000 ft-lbs of Kinetic Energy. I wanted this extra 'oomph' for the added takeoff fuel weight of my ER tanks. In the event of an aborted takeoff, I will have added stopping power...the trick will be keeping the tail down when I'm standing on the brakes! ;) And again, give a shout out to the friendly folks over at Grove...customer service was top notch.

www.groveaircraft.com