Rudder Pedals and Sound Panels

Dates and Times
Sun 13 -4.0hrs- made template for close out panels, made attach tabs, worked on rudder pedal install

Mon 14 -7.25hrs- Day off work, thank you Columbus
Deburr, dimple, rivet tabs in place using blind rivets
Cut sound panels out
Match drilled panels
Pick up holes in firewall...drill using unibit backed with wood
Paint panels black
Mask and paint fitting in airplane
While drying. Run rudder cables.
Glue foam to back of panels using 3m Fire Sealant
Install close out panels
Tues 15 -1.5hrs- installed sound panels, insulation, rudder pedals
After a little hiccup in building the rudder pedals they are now complete and painted...yay! I just left the doubler plate a brushed aluminum and they turned out really nice.

Installed the rudder cables.

I am installing soundproofing throughout the airplane and one of the noisiest areas, of course, is the firewall. Although I did not want the soundproofing touching the firewall directly, due to heat issues (also if you can have a dead air space between the aircraft and soundproofing it works just that much better), so I created some mounting clips that sound deadening panels will attach to . If you look really close at the picture below there are four clips on each side, highlighted with torque stripe orange to assist in my match drilling, that are attached to the firewall stiffening angles. These clips hold the sound panels off the firewall about 1.0in. I should mention that I am also installing a fire barrier on the forward side of the firewall to reduce heat exposure during normal operation and engine fire. So the total stack up starting from the front will be: stainless steel foil, 0.25" fiberfrax batting, firewall, dead air space, soundproofing foam, 0.020" aluminum sheet.

Everything installed! Just imagine the instrument panel, center console, carpet, and side panels in place....

A close up of the panel shows the cut out for the brake lines and how the sound panel is made of the 0.020" aluminum and 0.5" thick soundproofing foam all held off the firewall by the attach clips. Note one of the screws located adjacent to the brake lines.

Now that the rudder cables are installed I was able to install a few floor close out panels.

Control System Complete

The control system has been fun to work on, but it does take a lot of adjusting to get everything correct. Once everything is together you make a measuring jig for the front of the system and with all the linkages connected the back bell crank should be positioned at 91.4°, I was a few degrees off. So then you take everything out or slide the tube forward or aft and adjust the bearings until the bell crank lines up. It all took way longer than I thought, but it's finished now and the bell crank is at 91.8° and I'm calling it good.

I also worked on the rudder pedals...these have been my Achilles' heel. For some reason I have been really stuck on these. Assembly of the parts is really easy, although what I thought was the front of the pedal is actually the back and put the rivets in backwards, so now the tails are looking at you. Well, I figured it's not a big deal just paint them and move on. I had a bright idea to coat them with vehicle under coating. Why not it's black, has texture to it, and should be durable. Prepping the parts and two coats later the stuff just chips right off......mistake. Ok now what. I decided to just drill them apart and strip the coating off and start over. The stripping (not the entertaining kind) and rebuilding will happen this weekend. Hopefully I can finish these and move on.

 

Dates and Times

Sat 28 -3.25hrs- Control System work
Sun 29 -3.5hrs- Control System work and screwing up rudder pedals
Mon 30 -1.5hrs- Control System adjustments, drilled apart rudder pedals
October
Tues 1 -1.0hr- Drilled control sticks
Wed 2 -1.25hrs- Finished Control System

The forward push pull tube that attaches to the control column needs extra clearance around the bearing. A longer bearing unscrewed more than half way is used to accomplish this. Unscrewing a bearing more than half way causes concern that it could come off and must be safety wired. The plans call for one side to be wired, but I thought two would be better. I then tie wrapped the two wires to the bolt to help clear the control column tabs.

Push pull rod installed.


I wanted to remove any slack in the system but I didn't want the control stick base continually rubbing against the control column flanges. So to resolve the issue I added two washers over the bushing.

Another view of the added washers.

All the parts assembled and torqued.