Hi Dan, As I recall there are marks on the center of the TP holes to be
cut. I drilled the center with a 1/4 " drill to accept a long length of
all-thread. You can measure from the cowl joggle to the all-thread to see if
you are off to a good start for the hole saw. The all-thread idea came from
Kim Prout when I attended a workshop. It was put in place before the rear
bulkhead and helped that operation go smoothly.
The measurement you refered to on 18-2 is important. I cut a 3/4 x 3" piece
of wood to fit inside and measured with calipers on the outside of the
molding just like the drawing shows. I bondoed that wood spacer in and left
it there till after the top was bonded on.
I think its important to get the tube level with the spar pins. And also
square to the fuse center (sweep). Level it up like Steve says.
Good to hear you are going well. Ralph is making great progress up in Reno.
I have the airframe complete minus the windshield and wing root fairings.
Working forward of the firewall lately.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of Steve Hagar
Subject: RE: Europa-List: RE: Stupid Questions
Dan:
It has been a long time since I have done that. Alot sounds foreign, but as
I can remember there were some prescribed circles where the torque tube
holes are to be cut. What I did to ensure that they were in the right
position is as follows: I did the best I possibly could to determine the
center of the scribed holes. I then drilled a small hole in the center of
each around a 1/4 or 3/8. I then took a dowel or piece of round bar stock
around the same length of the torque tube and fit it snugly in the hole and
measured from each tip of it to a fixed position on the left and right
side of the firewall. I then measured from each tip to the floor (assuming
you have meticulously leveled the plane, when I leveled the plane I marked
the position on the floor of the garage so it would always be in the same
spot. Part of what I found out when I leveled the plane was that my garage
floor was not level.) Make sure your dowel or rod is straight. If your
measurements make you feel good you can cut your holes. If they don't
start looking around to take other measurements or look for some fuselage
twist.
After cutting the big holes there was a small amount of annular slop around
the brass bushings.
This was a good thing however. I made some small shims out of cardboard.
One for each side. I positioned each shim at a point on the outside of the
brass bushing in the hole that was cut out against the inside face of the
cutout hole. You now basically have a "bump" on the outside of the bushing
inside the hole. This causes the bushing to act like a cam now. The shim
is attached to the bushing with double sided carpet tape so when you turn
the bushing the shim travels around for the ride. Now when you have your
torque tube in and are getting ready to bond it you have a way to micro
adjust the position of the left and right tips of the torque tube by
rotating the bushings like cams for forward and aft and up and down. Once
your measurements are to your likeing leave the cardboard in place (they
are small pieces) and pump up the annular area up with Redux and make some
good fillets over the whole mess being careful not to get any on the torque
tube. Its probably a good idea to put some wax or a light coat of grease
on it to act as a release agent just in case. I found this exercise to be
very tedius, taking the better part of the weekend. But I am happy with
the positioning of the tube.
Steve Hagar
A143
Mesa, Az
> [Original Message]
> From: Dan Bish <danbish@norwalktucson.com>
> To: <europa-list@matronics.com>
> Date: 11/16/03 9:16:09 PM
> Subject: Europa-List: RE: Stupid Questions
>
>
> Well, as this thread seems to fit my questions here goes:
>
> First, just starting a partially completed kit and working on the
tailplane torque-tube. In the manual it says "to verify that the pilot
holes previously drilled in the tailplane fairings are correctly
positioned, then drill through with a 2" diameter hole saw." (Chap. 18-
Page 3).
>
> Well, since it says that the measurement should be FS169.5 I went looking
for what that meant. Seems that measurement is from the front face of the
cowl (1-12). Now I'm sure I'm not the only one without the cowl on at this
stage of building so how do I go about verifying this measurement. Yes,
there are markings there and I should probably just trust them. Just
looking for where to drill the holes.
>
> Next, in measuring the dimension of the spot forward of the rear
bulkhead, just in front of the t/p fairings, the manual says (18-2) that it
should measure 5 3/16" but mine's at 4". Is this something that gets worked
out later down the road, say when the fuselage top goes on? Or should I
insert a spacer and try to get it to expand?
>
> Any help you can send my way is greatly appreciated. Glad to be building
but just getting started and a bit tentative about it at this stage. Thanks!
>
> Dan Bish
> A144 - N914RB
> Tucson, AZ
>
>
--- Steve Hagar
--- hagargs@earthlink.net
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