Wire Harness Mod for Fuel Pumps
(March 4, 2023) Just sharing a quick blurb about an easy change to the Rotax wire harness that makes it easier to connect the fuel pumps. The as-built wire harness on the engine isn’t quite long enough to reach one of the two fuel pumps, due to the orientation...
Aileron Trim and Wing Electronics Module
This past weekend I finished up most of the aileron trim servo installation. My remaining tasks were to glue down the doubler, and to install the connectors for the wire harness. Before gluing down the doubler, I decided to increase the number of screws holding the plate from 8...
Aileron Trim Servo
It’s been a little bit since my last logbook entry, but have some great news to share. I recently made an exciting career change — I accepted an offer to work for a startup company called Merlin Labs and I’m helping create an autonomous flight system for retrofitting into...
Canopy Wiring
Last week I finished the electronics design for the overhead console and sent off the PCB design for manufacture. I’ve already received the parts to stuff the boards, but the boards themselves will take another week. In the meantime, I decided to set up the canopy in my lab...
Prepping Second Side Skin
Over the weekend I started preparing the port-side outer fuselage skin for installation. There are a few steps to do before installing it: Lightly abrade the skin near rivet locations (for better paint adhesion under the countersunk rivet head) Dimple the forward rivet locations Attach NACA duct Roll edges...
Rear Fuselage Close-out
For the past week I’ve been preparing to install the upper skins of the rear fuselage, which will close out most access to this section. Although there is an inspection panel mid-belly, I decided it would be easier to install the GMU 11 magnetometer before closing out, so earlier...
Preparing Fuselage Join
Build Manual Reference: TSi Fuselage KAI Page D3, D4, D6.5, D11 I’m doing things a little bit out of order compared to the fuselage KAI as far as the center and rear fuselages go. There are two factors that drove this: (1) all of the wiring & plumbing work...
ELT Install
I ordered an Artex 345 ELT in December and received it in January, so I figured it was time to install it. It’s a pretty straightforward install, attached with just 4 bolts to a floor rib. For the electrical, I ran a shielded 3-conductor wire out to the ELT...
Center Console Audio Jack Modifications
After getting the main wiring harness squared away, I turned my attention to the audio wiring harness, which carries the headset audio out to the center console. I had a general idea in mind of how I wanted to wire the jacks, but since I’m trying to finish off...
Wires and Pneumatic Lines
I haven’t posted in a while, but it’s not for lack of progress. I’ve been slowly working my way with wiring – more specifically, routing and securing the wiring. It’s a major pain, with areas that are hard to reach or have limited clearance. I can’t imagine doing this...