Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Anderson
Justin,
You are about a week ahead of me. I received my panels on Tuesday of last week. Is the seat all the way aft and to the pilot? I’ve only just split the tub and so maybe I will soon face the same frustration as you. But when placing the seat I did notice a lot of flexibility in its lateral placement. Since the seat is everything, I’d at least initially assume that the panels are correct and maneuver the seat for fit.
|
Eric,
I'm almost done with the aft lower panels at this point. It's taken quite a bit of advice and patience but the end, of what I call "the cursing stage," is in sight. Having only limited recent experience in my own project, I do want to share what worked for me but please do your own homework of course.
TUB FITTING
1. The tub placement has been the key to the remaining panels so far. Understanding that everything attaches to the seatback is important but the resulting position of the tub is the initial goal that makes the rest of the work fall into place.
2. As I'm sure you know, there's no empirical frame of reference for anything. In fact, I found most panels to be unsymetrical in many ways but luckily not all. I did a ton of measuring, and attempted a number of fits before settling on the need to create my own reference points. Probably a bit OCD but I tried a sort of wag math method and it just wasn't working to my satisfaction so here's what I did.
3. The seat has two sets of notches to reference. On the outer sides, there's an indentation where the tub will meet the upper panel. I clamped a level across that (the airframe was level). Just below that is another notch that fits the tubs door tab. I squared that point by measuring to the front of the airframe on each side. I also dropped a bob weight from those corners to measure equal left/right distance from the airframe. Then I cleco"d the seat in place.
4. I put a mark on the centerline front and aft airframe tubes. I then marked the aft center of the tub to later compare. This was a bit ambiguous but the NACA scoop is what I referenced to find that point.
5. Assuming you have prepared the floor pan to fit the seat (this took a bunch of fiberglass work for me), I inserted the pan and temporarily clamped it on one side as a pivot point. I then measured for square to the seat from the lower seat "notch" to a corner in the front of the pan. I clamped into place (note that you need to have adjusted the front pads).
6. Assuming you have already joined the split tub around the gear, I essentially 'floated' the tub into position without attaching it. I used an adjustable stool on wheels to move and raise the tub into a close position.
7. I tightly stretched a bungee between the aft gear. I clamped the aft part of the tub to the bungee relatively centered using the previous marks. This allowed all other tub movement while staying relatively centered.
8. I put a level across the upper flat part of the tub (This proved important for attaching the other panels) and used about 6 clamps to hold things in place as I made adjustments. I massaged the tub until it was essentially centered while keeping level. I drilled and cleco'd the tub to the seat in the two recommend places.
9. Next, I drilled a hole for a single cleco through the front center of the tub into the front of the floor pan. Any gap doesn't matter since the pan can be adjusted forward later. For now, it's a matter of locking in the tub center.
10. I unclamped the floor pan to allow some movement forward and aft. Starting at the nose cleco and working alternatly aft, I drilled and cleco'd the pan to the tub until I reached "the split."
So far, I'm super happy with that process but again, I'm almost like a blind person giving directions so please make sure you do your own homework and don't hesitate to call me out if you find an error.
Justin