bbs428 Build

[alexM]

Jim,
I see now. You made a set of legs to support the panel while you're working on it. Very clever.

Also, I notice that you put your throttle and mixture below the panel. I was going to do the same thing until Eric and I flew Nate's plane eastward. With enough time to stare at it while flying I thought the ergonomics might be bad. Are you happy with that location? It would sure make it easier to work on the panel if I didn't have to deal with those cables.

[jiott]

Yes, my throttle and choke cables are mounted on a little subpanel that can easily be unscrewed from the main panel with two bolts.
The ergonomics of the cables are just fine now for 10 years. My tilt panel is one of the reasons I mounted the cables separately, although I have seen many others do the same without the tilt panel. Actually, I believe the comfort is better having the throttle down lower.

[Eric Page]

Very enlightening thread, gents; thanks. Jim, is your sub-panel simply a piece of aluminum angle?

[jiott]

Eric, yes it is.

[bbs428]

Windscreen turned out nice. The 10 back bolts by the turtleback are a pita. Skybolt fasteners are sweet. They are nice to work with and look sharp. The fastener with the bail on it is for the turtleback.

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Worked through an issue that bit me in the posterior. Had to massage the Alt. bracket to gain clearance, as it's higher than the pulley and off to the side where there is little to no clearance. The top cowling hit the forward end of the Alt. right at the big lug. Some of geometry, and a carbide cutter and we are back in business.
Luckily there is a lot of material to work with and the "new and improved" Alt. bracket gains the necessary clearance. 1st pic is before. 2nd is after surgery. This rotates the big lug to the 11 o'clock position looking from the front and brings it in towards the center of the cowl. We gain more clearance the further we come inboard due to the spinner fairing.
Nothing ruins your day like realizing your top cowl doesn't fit and having to re-engineer a part that should have been right to begin with. I'll post an update in "Product Reviews."
To be fair, it was still advantageous for me to buy the Rotec unit as it was very cost effective compared to the Rotax unit. Not so much for someone without access to the proper tools or comfortable doing this sort of stuff.

I guess that's why it's called "EXPERIMENTAL" Lol.

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[bbs428]

Turtledeck is a pita but going together.

A high-speed carbide cutter made short work of the complex cuts up forward. Lot's of on, off, cut and check till the fit is right. This acrylic is different than the windscreen. During the big cuts for the hinge, I found that this material likes to melt when using a Dremel cutoff wheel! Had to dial down the rpm, spray the cut area with the water/dawn solution, and make several passes to make the cuts. Definatly not a fun part of the build. You need nerves of steel.
I did use a new hacksaw blade to make the vertical cut through the side hole area to keep the cut as nice/thin as possible. Starting the cut was the worst of it. Helped it out with a small initial cut from the Dremel and a thin diamond wheel. Slow going but feasible. The same spray solution helped coax the hinge into position... that and a rubber mallet! The end of the hinge is hollow so I might add some clear silicone to seal it.

I have not installed any camlocks/Skybolt's or do any hole cutting, that's for tomorrow. I'll double check the placement and make sure it all works correctly.
The flaperon assembly was a big help with an exact placement of the hole in the turtledeck.

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[Geek]

For a man who just got done riveting directly to his windscreen, if this cut took 'nerves of steel' then I need to go buy more bourbon!! Nice work Brett!

Gary

[bbs428]

For a man who just got done riveting directly to his windscreen, if this cut took 'nerves of steel' then I need to go buy more bourbon!! Nice work Brett!

Gary

Thanks Gary.

As they say - "It's all in the "squeeze"!

IMG_1746.jpg

[jrevens]

Turtledeck is a pita but going together.

A high-speed carbide cutter made short work of the complex cuts up forward. Lot's of on, off, cut and check till the fit is right. This acrylic is different than the windscreen. During the big cuts for the hinge, I found that this material likes to melt when using a Dremel cutoff wheel! …

That’s because it’s not acrylic, it’s polycarbonate (Lexan). Tougher & not as easy to crack, but also softer & scratches more easily.

[bbs428]

That’s because it’s not acrylic, it’s polycarbonate (Lexan). Tougher & not as easy to crack, but also softer & scratches more easily.

Sure enough. Nice catch. I thought it was the same, lol, not sure why I didn't catch on.

Just to let you know - This flip top turtledeck idea of yours John has to be one of the best upgrades ever for the Kitfox! It's appreciated!