I have gotten calls and emails asking why there have been no new posts since last month, so here is an update. It has been ridiculously cold here in Pennsylvania, with temperatures in my unheated hangar often in the teens. Add that motivation sapping factor to the Holidays and you get some slow progress. I have still been at it, under several inches of fleece. I'll post a few pictures of what I've been up to since the last post.
The picture above shows the stick grip. There were a number of issues to address here. First, the thing has 6 different switches which are not labeled. You will find that there are very few ( actually only one that I found) places that can engrave on a compound curve like the surface of this grip, which explains why you never see the control switches labeled. On my first plane, I was always uneasy about using the less frequently used switches because I would forget what they did. I wanted them clearly labeled this time.
Also, I tried to thread the cable bundle from all those switches in the Infinity grip through the stick and there was NO way to get the bundle past the pivot bolt. The fixes are set forth below.
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Here is the stick back from the engraver. I am very happy with the finished product. All the control labels are neatly engraved and painted.
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Here is a final shot showing the silver inlaid engraving on the com flip flop switch on the stick. Thanks to Erika Terosa at S.E. T. Graphics for the laser engraving. You can contact her at setgraphics.com. I highly recommend her work.
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The Infinity stick grip was just too high as you could see in previous pictures. Also, the inner diameter of the grip was much bigger than the Velocity stick. The solution was to cut 1 1/8 inch off the stick and drill a hole in the stick to match the mounting boss inside the grip, then add a spacer provided by Infinity. Here is the modified stick reprimed and reinstalled.
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Now I add the aluminum spacer from Infinity and I'm ready to install the stick.
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After modifying the stick and engraving the grip, here it is temporarily re-installed. It looks terrific. Unfortunately, I say temporarily because more mods are required. Remember, the wires won't fit down the inside of the stick. The factory recommended solution is to Dremel out a channel in the forward bottom side of the stick and bring the wires out on the outside front of the stick. They then travel down a groove in the aluminum spacer from Infinity and are tie wrapped to the stick down to the pivot point. I'll post pictures of the mods later.
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Of course, there is always more tweaking to be done. It turned out by sheer bad luck that the bottom two snaps lined up so as to meet between the stick and the keel every so many times the stick was pushed full forward, occasionally causing almost 1/2 inch loss in stick travel. The solution was to remove the bottom two snaps and hand sew that portion. It looked fine and hung below the top of the keel in any case.
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Here are a couple of shots of the bootie to show the general construction for anyone pondering how to fabricate one. The perimeter at the bottom is 1/16th inch Kydex to which the leather has been glued with Loctite high strength spray adhesive. The Kydex is then attached to the keel top with #6 sheet metal screws.
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Here is a shot of the overhead panel. I realized I hadn't posted a shot of the finished product. I am mostly very happy with it. The match paint almost perfectly mimics the leather trim. The custom engraved rocker switches look great. I have dimmable and steerable eyeball lights for pilot and copilot. The only thing I'd like to change is the placard behind the two dimmer switches. I decided to take them out and have a single black custom labeled placard made to match those in the panel. I removed the placards, laid out the custom one and sent it out to the engraver.
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I finish glassed the hard points and final mounted the Grand Rapids Aux battery. It turned out nice and neat.
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I trimmed and notched the keel cover to clear a wire bundle from the panel. Although this fits on top of the keel and behind the panel, I felt compelled to match paint it, since you can still see the sides when standing outside the plane looking in. As you can see, I tried to put on a second coat of the acrylic lacquer too soon and it crinkled on me. I brought it home to repaint it later this week. Might as well get that last spot and get it just so.
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I decided to match paint the seat rails. I know, "Mark, they're under the seat and no one will see them". Well, I've seen primer white rails under the seats in otherwise pristine interiors and it bugged me. Let's face it, the only one who will notice is me, but I'm really only doing this to my specs. As my friend Andy Millin and I recently agreed on this subject, "We have met the enemy and they are us". I even tried matching the rails to the carpet before repainting to match the seat leather. Oh well, I'm all about the overkill.
I am going to detach the doors and bring them home to my heated workshop in the basement. It has been in the teens in my hangar and my little space heater is not cutting it from a comfort standpoint, much less from a suitable temperature for spray painting. I need to touch up some scratches and scrapes, fill in some pinholes on the copilot door and respray, finesse the holes for the door lock tabs and add the "Experimental" vinyl graphics as well as the door seal.
This will keep me busy for a week, then vacation in sunny Mexico, the it's February. Unbelievable how time flies by.
More to come......
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