One Lucky Fox

[yocum137]

Ah, the dreaded rudder pedal binding/freeness issue everyone has had. Read these threads:

https://teamkitfox.com/Forums/thread...Pedal-question
https://teamkitfox.com/Forums/thread...pedal-freeness

The brake pedals are free (after sanding on the drill press), the center T's are free. The outer T's that rotate on the black bearings... not so much. I'm taking the black bearings out, pulling them on the drill press and sanding them down a few mil.

[yocum137]

Progress has been slow but steady. Just about everything is in the fuse and I'm finally about to start covering with Oratex.

Overzealous and over estimating how close I was to being done, I bought my Oratex last year right before Oshkosh. As some of you know, Oratex claims their adhesive has a strict shelf life of 90 days from manufacture. Well, it's been 14 months with the adhesive on the shelf and I decided to do a little experiment to see how "strict" their recommendation is. The executive summary is that if it's stored at 72F in a pitch black room it's still effective after all this time. I'm going to reach out to Better Aircraft Fabric to verify my findings.

Their test procedure is straight forward and described in the manual. 15x2.5cm strip attached to a representative sample of material (capstrip) pulled straight off at 90 degrees with a static force of no less than 3.9 lbs (3lbs 14.4oz), apply more force until it starts to separate, ease back off to 3.9lbs and it must hold. I nearly tripled the static force - 12lbs 6oz - and it held.

Here's the photo evidence:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KAUCZQtaxseNhQcG7

[yocum137]

Another pretty good day. Working on installing the center console.

Pro tip: An 8" benchtop drill press is an excellent investment. ~$80 from a big box home goods store. So far I've used mine for drilling, filing bearings, and sanding. Today I used it to countersink. I set the depth gauge, used a #1 bit, and it'll countersink the 1/8x1/4 flush pop rivet holes all day long:

IMG_7087.jpg

[yocum137]

Thanks guys for the sage advice and resetting my expectations correctly. It certainly ain't a space shuttle, that's for sure.

[efwd]

Congrats Dan! Sounds like your going to have quite a ride.

[yocum137]

Congrats Dan! Sounds like your going to have quite a ride.

Thanks, Eddie! I'm looking forward to it - kinda bored just doing the same thing every day in quarantine: sleep, walk, eat, work, repeat. In the meantime I've been slowly building a Piet (I sold N8031 in '12). Ribs are almost done. I'm ordering spar material from AC Spruce, this weekend. I figure I can get the wings done by the time Debra calls me to pick up the kit. In the meantime, I just keep watching my own old videos: https://youtu.be/ddUgZzWq0js

[bbs428]

Welcome and congratz!

All the best

[yocum137]

I glued up the rib stiffeners before installing on the plane. Laid flat, no need to use flox in the epoxy. Also, I used sandwich baggies with an itty-bitty hole cut in the corner (1/16”) to apply it like cake frosting. You can mix up about 2/3 oz. at a time before the epoxy sets up too thick to squeeze.

30135F79-BF39-46DC-9ED9-EB890295C3FB.jpgF5AC343C-995E-4408-B948-E03B63D30EBB.jpg

[yocum137]

To press the bushings into the horizontal and elevator fittings, use a long course thread bolt with extra nuts and tighten. Slow and steady and no need to use Locktite.

6E1A25F9-A930-4D47-BDEB-CAA2FF37E559.jpg

[yocum137]

Control sticks are assembled and I just installed them, but dang! the control in pitch is really tight after I torqued to the recommended 20-25 in-lbs (2 ft-lbs). Is it ok to back this off to get free movement?

The block deformed so much it was pinching the column. I backed off 4 turns before it freed up enough that I was satisfied, and I've still got 1 thread showing past the nut so it meets the minimum, so sayeth AC 43.13 Chapter 7, page 11, section 7.63(f) (After the nut has been tightened, makesure the bolt or stud has at least one threadshowing past the nut.) but is this good enough?

IMG_7069.jpg