Wing Attachment

Section 44

The wings have actually been 'attached' for several weeks at this point.  I had also done substantial prep work in my garage working with making the wing root fairing supports and the upper wing root fairings.  I honestly thought the rest would fly by pretty fast, however that was not the case.

Being the first time to ever attach wings onto a plane I figured I would diligently follow the steps in order, and sticking to the plans... well that didn't last.  My major concern is once you put on the wings the plans have you pull them back off to do some attachments and what have you.  Then you push them back in for final bolting.  Given the importance of the wings I didn't like that idea, instead I decided to push the wings on and bolt them all down so all my match drilling and what not would be solid and not shift around.

The problem was that I made everything a bit harder going this route.  A lesson learned is I should of drilled the hole for my Pitot/AoA tubes before putting the wings on.  That made this a bit harder.  Also I should of gone ahead and riveted on the wing root fairing supports.  That also became a challenge with the wings attached.

The biggest time-sink by far on this section is all the drilling, match drilling, nut plates, putting on parts, taking them off, putting them back on ect.  You also spent quite a bit of time sanding.  You have to sand the inboard edges of the flaps so they fit, you also sand the top and bottom fairings so they fit.  It's not hard, just time consuming.

With the wings attached, and all related parts done I was able to finish wiring routing of the wings.  My conduit works out fantastically and was about perfect on size.  I had to get creative since I'm putting my OAT by the first access panel on the left wing.  This involved drilling a hole in the conduit and fishing the wire so it come from the cabin to that spot.  I did the same on the right wing for the trim and trim sensor wires.  This kept wires in the conduit and out of the ribs.  Below is a picture of the root after I dressed the wires.

Paperwork & Progress

Paperwork

I've really shied away from creating any sort of timeline pressure on this build.  I've always wanted to be able to work on the project, or if I felt like it, not touch it for weeks at a time.  However that is now over as I've submitting my initial paperwork to the FAA and the clock is ticking!

I dug out the 'Step-by-Step Certification Guide' that had been sitting in my office for the last 3 years and gave it a look through.  Not sure if EAA still offers these, but for the $12 or so it cost it's well worth it.  You can find similar information out just searching but the guide shows you examples and literally is a checklist for the process.  In short here is what I sent off the to FAA:

• AC Form 8050-1 Aircraft Registration Application: This came with the above mentioned EAA guide, however you can also go to your local FSDO and pick one up. If you've ever bought or sold an airplane it will look familiar.  Whatever information you put on this will need to match your airplane info; builder, serial, model.  For me I kept it pretty basic (Last Name, First Name, Builder Number, RV-10)
•  FAA Form 8050-2 Aircraft Bill of Sale: You request this through Vans ensuring you give them the same information you're using on the 8050.  It all has to match.
•  FAA Form 8050-88 Affidavit of Ownership for Amateur Built Aircraft: I downloaded and filled out this form.  It has to be notarized as well.
• $5 Check

Make copies of the above and mail to the FAA PO Box on the forms.  Being local I took it to the actual post office where the PO Box is.  I still had to pay for shipping but I assume it made it to the box safe and sound. It's suggested you give them around 90 days to process this through.  I'm aiming for a March/April first flight so my plan is to submit the next batch of paperwork (Special Airworthiness Certificate) in about a month.

Progress

With the weather getting near or below freezing I've not been going to the hangar on a daily basis as I did the first week.  That hasn't slowed me down because on top of doing paperwork, planning and ordering odds and ins I've been doing my 'Homework'.  In fact one of my homework items was to finish up lights for the wing tips and clean up the empennage fairing.

This, as with most fiberglass was a fairly tedious cycle of sanding, filling, sanding, ect.  Particular to the wing tip lights there was a lot of sanding to get the cutout hole the exact size without having it too large. This is done with 150 grit or so slide between the light and the side and just worked around until you have the spacing you want.  Because of the temps I had to move the project out of the garage and into the kitchen so everything cures correctly.

My only complaint is the CS pull rivets were not long enough to capture the inside mount.  This was mainly due to me building up the inside of the tips for strength.  So it's not as smooth as I would like, however once painted I doubt it will bother me at all. Will be taking these back to the hangar now for future wiring.

Onto hangar activity, I was able to take advantage of a few warm days to work on wing attachment items as well as final fitting the empennage fairing.  I am just about done with all wing attachment steps but will make a separate post with pictures once I'm complete.  I will however show my variation from the plans with a really good looking aftermarket vent from JD Air.

The problem I was trying to solve was around fuel vent freezing.  If the vent freezes it stops the air into the gas tank which restricts the tanks ability to feed fuel to your engine.  That's bad!  I was talking to Tom with TSFlightlines about this issue and was thinking of using a check valve or something.  He directed me over to JD Air who makes a vent that helps mitigates this problem by having two openings.  Not to mention it looks really slick.

Installation was extremely easy, you just install it to your wing root bottom piece and then bend some 1/4 tubing to connect it all.  I had tried to avoid ever making lines but Tom suggested instead of spending $45 on braided lines to connect this that a rigid line was best.  Having excluded this material from my kits I went to Ace Hardware and picked up two 12" sections of aluminium tubing for $1.80 a piece.  I then swung by Harbor Freight and picked up a $10 bending tool.  That along with my 30+ year old flare tool I was able to make some solid first time vent lines which fit perfectly.

Another item I've spent some time on is the empennage fairing.  I've become a bit obsessive compulsive on fiberglass work.  From the factory I was happy with the fitting of the fairing and there was a good 1/4 gap between the front of the horizontal stabilizer and the fairing piece.  I was able to essentially force it into place but it then required me to rebuild a few of the edges a bit. I also deviated from the plans in terms of attachments.  For example I tapped all the holes on the bottom for #6 screws which include the ones that tie into the vertical stabilizer.  I also didn't dimple or countersink any portion that was under the fiberglass.  For whatever reason there are several holes that the plans ask you to countersink but are covered with fiberglass, which is counters sinked so the piece behind it can be flat.  The picture on the above right shows the gap fairing which turned out well.

I am 31 nut plate installations away from completion of the empennage section.  I need to work on some rigging items, connecting the rudders and such but rigging I consider it's own little thing.  Here's a good picture of where it sits now.

Final Assembly Progress

I've been burning hot on the project since the hangar move last week.  Over the course of 7 days I've been able to rack up 32 hours of solid progress towards completion. The airport is a good 25 minutes drive which forces me to be more organized on my work session planning. Because the plane, tools and parts are no longer collocated in my garage, I've been taking things back and forth.  At this moment I have the wing tips, landing & nav lights as well as a trimmed, fitted empennage fairing all ready for some finalization.  I'm going to save that for later this week when the weather gets below 40. My garage is insulated, my hangar is not making the garage the preferred cold weather activity spot.

Over the last 7 days I've taken a ground zero approach and started moving through the plans per section ensuring items have been completed.  As mentioned last entry I had already noticed some things that I didn't do for whatever reason.  I worked all the way through the empennage section through attaching the fairing.  I wasn't happy with the fit and trimmed a bit too much off in some places so now I have some fiberglass work to do along with some nut plates and that section will be 100% complete.

With the wings everything checked out and the only pending items are around the AeroLED light installations. I had modified the wing tip just over two years ago.  So once I complete the homework of installing those, the wings will also be done.

Onto the fuselage there really wasn't anything that I hadn't already done in the garage for most the sections. In the second to last section the only outstanding item involves riveting the forward tail cone top skin.  This is still pending some Air Conditioning items so that's on the side burner and will more than likely be one of the last items completed. The last section however is also the most exciting item of this update involving attachment of the wings. I didn't struggle with this as much as I thought I would, having at least another set of helping hands is a huge benefit. It really deserves it's own log update so once I'm finished up I'll post more later.  I have just a handful of steps left, mostly around nut plate installations.

Once I wrap up the above, my plan is to go through both the finishing and firewall forward sections.  As with above it's to ensure completeness and that I hadn't inadvertently missed anything.  Just flipping through them though there's little if anything that I'll need to do.  Then the focus will be purely on finishing non-structural items in preparation for inspection.

Moving Day & Final Assembly

Hangar Move

After over 3 years of N10JW living in my garage it was time to do the big move. I had completed a majority of my Hangar Move punch list with only the Air Conditioning items outstanding.  I didn't want that to hold up progression so I made the call to go forward with the move.

The same friends that loaned me a truck last year and helped hang the engine also happen to own a Roll-Back which is a perfect method for moving the chassis. In preparation I pulled her out to my drive way for a couple photos.

Once Andy got here we talked a bit about it and figured out the best way to pull the plane onto the truck. The plane has an incredibly wide wheel base compared to your average car and we determined there was about 3/4" clearance available on each side.  We also decided it would be best to go ahead and remove the wheel pant mounts from the wheel nut to avoid any damage.  Once that was done I lined her up and actually laid under the fuselage with a tow bar attached to stear her while she was SLOWLY winched onto the truck.

Now Andy has some plane part moving experience.  He also helped me about a year ago when I moved the wings and the horizontal stabilizer to the hangar.  After looking things through decided it was best to do an additional strap on the nose gear, one on each main that would cross and another around the steps to hold it all down.

Moment of truth came and we pushed on the 20 mile or so journey to the airport.  It's a pretty funny sight and being the chase car I enjoyed watching people's reactions to what they were seeing.  We also drove no faster than 50 MPH on the highway.

Unloading was a lot easier than loading.  We had her off the truck and in the hangar in about 5 minutes.  It was a HUGE relief to have that safely done and quite a project milestone. 

Final Assembly

I would imagine its hard for any builder to do that move and then just lock up and go home.  I had come a bit prepared and brought a number of things from my garage with me so I could get a bit acclimated to everything. From a work prospective, still working off punch lists I now have it divided into 'Final Assembly' and 'Home Work'.  Some things like say the wing tips, I can finish up in my garage, while other things like the obvious wing attachment have to occur in the hangar.  My plan moving forward is before every work session I'll write out the things I want to get done, review those planned elements and ensure I have the tools and parts needed to do them and then head out to the airport.  Make notes, lists, ect. prior to coming home.  Rinse & Repeat and I'm expecting to make fast progress.

Not wanting to wait on progress I decided to started on the first task of removing tape and other protective coatings that I had left on.  After that started with reviewing each page of the plans, one by one and ensure the all steps had been done as I'm now able to go through the plans and complete things that I skipped previously.  Didn't take me too long to realize for whatever reason I left out two rows of AD470 rivets on the Vertical Stabilizer for whatever reason.  I assume I might have thought that it got rivets to the tail-cone skin seeing two rows pre-punched holes on the aft part, which I now know were used for other rivets.  So I had circled this step, put my VS up in my garage and forgot about it the next 3 years.  Given that I didn't bring my #30 bit I was quickly at a hard stop. Not to be beaten I used the time to remove the wingtips so I could bring those home and organize my hangar a bit better.

I did however take a picture of N10JW prettied up a bit!

Ram Air Servo

Sometimes it's fun to overly complicate things just to have cool buttons to press!  This was the case with the actuating function of the Ram Air.  The kit comes with a bowden cable you can run to your panel.  I'm sure that works great but I felt I really needed more buttons to push in flight so I pushed forward looking for a solution.

The switch requirements are the same as my cowl flaps as it requires just swapping of polarity to extend and retract the actuator. The actuator itself is a L12 Linear Actuator 30mm 50:1 12v. 30mm is the throw and the lowest it can be.  I did some measuring and it seemed to me that would work fine. 50:1 is the gear ratio that is essentially the force to open and close.  I'm going with this one first and if in flight I find it needs more force for whatever reason I can replace with a 100:1 or more.  wiring that swaps polarity between the two switch positions.  Since I resolved that with the cowl flaps that was the easiest component to this.

My dilemma was trying to figure out how to work the actuator arm on the canister in a somewhat cramped space, which running the arm the full throw of the servo. I tried various things such as replacement arms, changed brackets and even remotely mounting the servo somewhere else.  The only other person I talked to who had done this mounted his servo in the tunnel and ran the bowden cable there.  If I end up with heat issues I may have to go back and do that.  But for now I tried to do a self contained unit.  I won't bore you with my trail and tribulations so here's what I ended up with.

Canister prep was basically attaching a small piece of bowden cable and adel clip.  I expieremented on different holes and in different orientations.  What I found worked the best and didn't interfere with anything was to position the arm for a downward movement, run the bowden cable down and to the side to allow me to mount the servo on the bottom of the unit.  Far from the engine, exhaust and other heat elements.

Then I made a bracket to mount onto the canister that would allow the actuator enough space to move a very small piece of bowden cable.  It's about 3 inches wide and hand formed to the curve of the radius of the canister.  I then drilled 2 holes down the center, with the mounted point to match an existing canister hole.  Then I spaced to additional holes an equal amount apart.  Lastly I put some foil tape on the back to help as much as I could with heat.

 I did a test run and found the actuator pushed up vs pushing the cable.  The actuator came with two little clamps, having no idea what they were used for I just ignored.  Then it occurred to me that these are to mount the actuator so it wouldn't move. Fortunately me I happened to space the two hole out in just the right spot that these could be attached to the bracket screws.

I re-purposed some connecting hardware meant for the carb heat (Which I don't have) as well as safety wired everything up.  I mounted the unit fairly painlessly and used a molex connector for the wiring.  Checked the cowl spacing and gave it a quick test. As you can see in the video it works well.  It doesn't close as much as I would like, however I'm not overly concerned with anything getting through that space.  If it poses a problem I can upgrade the servo to a 100:1 or more to get something with a bit more pull/push strength.  I'm going to wait though to see if heat becomes an issue as well before I do anything like that.

  

Flaps Position Sensor

Lots of options when it comes to how you want to work your flaps.  The current 10 I'm flying just has a momentary switch on the panel for flap actuation.  My method in landing is I hold it down for 3-4 on each part of the pattern.  I am not a huge fan of this because that means during downwind, base and final I have my hand off the throttle and I'm counting in my head and looking out the window to verify.  I haven't crashed so it works, just not the most optimal.

To alleviate this I put the switch on my sticks which to me is a bit of a no brainier. However I also wanted the flaps to work similar to planes that have 'notches' that work like a Showtime Rotisserie and you can "Set it and forget it!".  Okay maybe not forget it, still need to make a visual check that the flaps are down but in reality you should feel it in the attitude of the plane. To accomplish this I choose to use a combination of a Ray Allen Position Sensor and the VPX.

I will note that PHAviation has taken an off the shelf actuator with a built in sensor which is a great idea.  I'm sure it works great but the stock system I had already installed and the tunnel is a bit cramped with AC lines and the like. I didn't know how the larger actuator would affect that so the path of least resistance was a stand alone sensor.

Even mounting the sensor you have various options.  My buddy Mike was able to install his in the tunnel similar to how the RV-14 is attached.  That's probably a better way but again I had the tunnel all close up and didn't want to try and manage in that area with drills and what not.  Others have mounted it on the tube itself using Adel clamps but to me that doesn't seem as solid of hard points.  It's probably not likely but in theory a clamp could slip over time.

What I ultimately ended up doing was mounting it outside of the fuselage, directly connected to the flap horn itself.  This is extremely easy to get to and solid enough that it's not going to slip around.  There seems to be a concern of water getting in there but I mitigated that a bit with the bracket I made and the way it's positioned.

The bracket I made used a scrap piece of carbon fiber from some of my interior pieces.  I had tried a few things with bending some metal into various shapes. I wasn't happy with any of those options then remember some of this scrap I had.  It's light, strong and had the clearance where I was able to mount the sensor outboard enough to attach on the outside of the flap horn.  I did want to strengthen it a bit so I used some adhesive and attached some skin aluminium to the mounting points.

  

Attaching everything together took a bit more work.  Using RC Plane parts (Thanks Mike and Julie!) I worked a bit to determine the best location to place this thing.  I found that if I mounted it off center on the horn then at the beginning of the horn movement it didn't register.  The connecting rod would just rotate down.  I also wasn't comfortable going between the root and first lighting hole.  It may be fine, but as I'm not an engineer I don't know the kind of load this thing takes.  Following another builders lead I decided to make a aluminium bracket and secure it onto the horn.  I chose to put it inside the horn and stagger the rivets where there was more material.  Took some time to shape it but then it was a matter of putting some adhesive onto the rivets and popping them in.  I added some adhesive just to ensure these don't move over time.

The rest is just drilling holes, and attaching things together.  I tried to get as close to a full 1.2 stroke of the position sensor as possible.  I probably could of moved the rod up just a bit, but figured the middle of my aluminium piece had the most strength so that's where it went.  Here is everything clecod for testing.

Placement of the bracket is fairly important.  In short it perpendicular to the arm being at it's halfway point.  The horn position in these pictures is with the flaps retracted or in the up position.  Therefore I wanted the sensor to be all the way in.  Then I rotated the bracket to that perpendicular angle did some testing with duct tape and the VPX and was happy with the movement and sensing which I'll talk about in a second.  When I was happy with the position it was just match drilling and riveting.

Back to water protection.  The only entry points into the sensor are on the bottom and where the actuator arm goes in and out.  Placing it upside down protects the bottom from any moisture and having it slanted a bit should protect the arm.  I suppose if you leave it on the ramp, with the flaps down in a heavy rain storm then water could get on the arm and then retracted into the unit.... I guess that's the chance I'm willing to take.  Back up plan is manual extension of the flaps through the EFIS.

Talking about the EFIS and flap position I found the setup within the VPX extremely easy.  You seem to be able to chose about 4 positions.  Full up, and full down take up two of those positions.  There's also a reflex option but I'm not sure what that does and haven't messed with it.  The range of sensor movement for mine seems to be 0 - 227.  So 0 is all the way up, so right now I have it stop at 1, then all the way down I have it stop at 226.  I then just made the middle two increments of 75 for now.  The way it works is I push down on the stick switch it goes one 'notch', down again the 2nd 'notch', 3rd time it's all the way down.  Hit it once up and the flaps will fully retract.  That's one thing I'm not a huge fan of, but there may be some way to change it.  For now I selected the 'slow retract' option so if I'm on final and I inadvertently hit retract hopefully it gives me enough time to correct. Because I don't have the wings on as of yet I can't finalize any of these settings.  My goal will most likely be 0, 10, 20, 30 degrees of flaps at each setting.

Brake Charging

About the middle of last week it occurred to me that for the last year I could have gone ahead and charged up my brakes.  I wish I would have done this prior to installing some panels and interior pieces.  Having some of these in place complicated the process a bit.  I didn't think about it at the time but there's a was a good chance, being my first plane and all that I didn't have all the connections as tight as I should have.  More about that in a bit.

Apparently there are several methods of filling the system with hydraulic fluid and bleeding the air out.  My previous experience was on motorcycles which was basically put the fluid in the reservoir and hammer on the brakes until they work.  I decided to watch several videos on the subject and the one from EAA I found the most informative.

I reviewed the Matco documentation for the type of fluid needed and went ahead and ordered everything.  Essentially it was $14 for a quart of Royco 782 Hydraulic fluid and another $10 for a pistol oiler off Amazon.  So for roughly $25 I was ready to go!

The video laid out how to fill it from bottom up, having someone watch the reservoir for when it overflows.  Seemed easy enough and I had some extra static line tubing which worked well to connect to the Matco fittings.  Attached it, loosened the nut and got to pumping.  I immediately noticed some fluid coming from one of the fittings so promptly tighten that up.  Should note that I had torqued this previously but apparently either I did it wrong or it wasn't enough.  I got back to pumping, after about a 1/3 of the quart was used I got a bit concerned and removed the seat panel.  Well there was the fluid, all over my foam insulation and starting to go all over the place.

Found the leak, tightened the fitting and went around and tightened a few more fittings and starting pumping again.  As I was pumping I was looking for leaks and found another one on the parking brake fitting.  Luckily I had the forethought to remove the forward carpeting so it was an easy fix and clean up.  I then double checked that I had the parking brake open, and pressed on.  After a bit there was more fluid coming out of the reservoir, down my firewall and all over the garage floor.  More clean up....

After that I got to the right one and went through the same steps.  It seemed to have taken a lot of fluid, so I spent a lot of time trying to look inside my tunnel through the side access panel so I didn't have to take off my throttle quadrant.  It's doable, just didn't want to do it if it wasn't needed.  Hence why if I did this when it was all open, it would have been easier.  Anyhow after awhile it started coming out the reservoir as well.

I made the decision at this point to go ahead and remove the foam insulation I had put under the seat.  It's a bit hard to find leaks with this stuff, it also probably absorbs liquids and I foresee going through a similar process once I connect the wings and fuel lines.  To be honest the RV-10 I'm flying now has zero insulation, just leather interior and I don't find it particularly noisy or anything.  Or at least nothing the ANR headset can't block out.  Anyhow it was a mess to get the foam out, there's still some sticky tape pieces I'll have to pick out later, but I was at least able to get a majority of the liquid out.

Testing is pretty simple.  I climbed in, had someone watch the reservoir and pumped the brakes on both sides.  Not having them rigged makes them push back a bit too far and expect some extra fluid to come out and you actuate them.  I did this several times to ensure later when I close these up that I'm not going to end up with hydraulic fluid all over my firewall.

Checklist Updates & Control Stick Wiring

Checklist Updates

Over the last month and a half I've made some solid progress on my pre-move checklist. Some of the items I've made specific posts on and some I've just worked through and didn't feel they needed their own build log entry.  Here's a list of these activities with some overall comments.

• Wire ACS Starter switch - This wasn't all that bad at first, I just followed the instructions.  However after reading about Mag wiring I decided to remove the ground from the ACS and instead utilize the grounding of the actual magnetos themselves.
• Wire Magnetos - Something so simple I actually struggled a bit with.  I ended up doing quite a bit of research and ordered some shielded cable making essentially my own p-lead.  Was strange I couldn't find any Bendix 1200 install pictures but  the Aeroelectric book had this diagram that I went with.
• Wire Cowl Flaps - Initially wasn't all that bad, I used Molex connectors and then shielded the wire runs on the inside of the cowl.  The pain point was with the switch.  Having worked on electrical the last 3 months I realized my original SPST switch was not going to cut it.  For these servos to work there has to be a polarity switch.  I ended up getting a DPDT switch and figured out the cross wiring to get it to work.  The lights don't work as I wanted to but it still lights up enough that I can see it and it functions as I need it to, so not overly worried.
• Wire Door Sensors - Greg Hale  had shot me a suggestion this spring on door sensor wiring.  Instead of using the relays and sensors that Vans sends with the kit, you can eliminate all that by using 'normally open' sensors instead.  This fit my set up perfectly since for the door alarms I'm using the discrete input on the EFIS vs lights on the panel.  So I ordered 540-MP201702 proximity sensors and wired them similar to the plans, however I just grounded one end to the bolt.  Then I ran and chained all four wires to a single input which I installed into my GEA 24.  How it works is if the doors are open the discrete input is constantly grounded therefore alerting me of that on the EFIS.  As I close the doors and latch them the magnets in the rod ends break that connection and in turn removes the ground.  If all 4 grounds are removed then there's no alert and that only happens if the doors are shut and latched.  Very simple.
• Wire Headset Jacks - As I was typing this out, it got very long so I decided to take a few pictures instead.  This jist is all connections are located in the center console which made wiring easy and hard all at the same time.  I had to watch several videos on wiring these up and then took the time to test each set of plugs and Lemos connections to ensure they all work.

• Wire USB Chargers - I had some issues with some cheap plug in USB charges in my old bird.  To ensure I had no issues I waited until the radios were up and going and then messed with the USB chargers.  Happy to say no issues even with four devices plugged in.  I mounted one on the panel and one on the back of the console for read seat passengers.  This is something you only get in first class on United, available on N10JW to all passengers!
• Refinish all plastic panels Interior - I have all my plastic interior panels painted and all nutplates installed for installation.  There are several things I need to do though prior to installing these.  I did however install some of the carpet, rear seats and such.  I'll do a larger write-up with lost of pictures of the interior once it's done.
• Air-condition - I'm working with Bill at AirFlow systems on a new installation method for the over-sized evaporator.  The idea is to have the return are on the top baggage bulkhead piece and having that flow directly into the unit, thus improving flow capacity.  Then we're working on the delivery air to have the least possible turns for both cabin flood and overhead delivery of air.  He sent me some templates to get some dimensions and with a few tweaks they should allow someone to easily mount the evaporator in the correct place and have top notch airflow.  The delivery air is going to require some new tooling but all I did was turn one of his same pieces up side down and used some tape to see how it would fit.  Maybe that's confusing to read so I tossed a picture of it below.

The Air Conditioning at this point is driving the critical path.  I don't want to lose the accessibility by closing out the empennage until Bill finishes the return air design. It's just easier to size and position things looking in from the side rather then being inside the baggage area and looking up.  In the meantime I'll keep knocking out stuff as I can.

Control Stick Wiring

The RV-10 I've been flying has about as basic of a control stick as you can get.  It has push to talk and pitch trim.  Works great and I'm sure was simple to wire but I just wanted a bit more out of a control setup.  I went with a set of INFINITY Aerospace grips, because they look great and are completely customization allowing you set up in accordance with your button philosophy.

My preferences are pretty straight forward.  If it's something I use during critical flight phases (take offs and landings) or if it's something I use all the time (Push to talk) I wanted it on the stick.  I also took this a step forward into some nerd territory and programmed my home flight sim joystick with various things and determined what I liked the best.  Here's a run down of my choices-

• Trigger - Push-to-talk, because I don't have weapons.
• Coolie Hat - Pitch and Roll trim is fairly standard on these.
• Top Left button - This is the TO/GA switch.  I debated a few different things but ultimately I didn't want to take my hand off the stick or the throttle if I find myself 500 AGL in some clouds and needed to go around.
• Top Right switch - I have a momentary two way switch in this location to control flaps up and down. This is out of the way enough that accidental hitting isn't going to be an issue but allows me to have my hand on the stick until I'm on the ground.
• Thumb Button - This is where I put Autopilot disconnect and Control Wheel Steering (CWS), seems the most natural place to have this function.
• Pinkie button - Very strange button that most people seem to use as a push to start function.  I didn't want something I would use once a flight, but to be honest I was running out of functions, thought about maybe radio fliping, but I have two radios and I'm somewhat used to doing this on the panel.  So because I needed a place for it, this is my Airhorn switch.

Knowing how you want everything is one thing, figuring out how to wire it all is totally something else.  It took me a bit to conceptualize my wiring plan for the control sticks.  In the end I ran a set of wires to the Pilot side and then behind the panel I solder sleeved additional runs for the Co-Pilot side.  The only item not shared is the PTT as there's a Pilot PTT and Co-Pilot PTT.  I also didn't want a mess of wires all over the place so I choice to encase the wires for each stick inside some sleeving with heat shrink on the ends.  This gave it a clean look and all the runs together. Here's a picture of where it all splits out.

There was some additional construction to the sticks as well that had to be done.  First off there's a bit of a clearance issue and what some have done is cut the back part of the control stick to bring it in tighter.  I did this, taking about an inch off the back and had to redrill the bolt holes.

Next I decided to go with Stick Grip Pivoting Spacer so I had to figure that out.  Now I almost didn't go with this option but when going over my order with JD he upsold me on it.  He had some very valid points and assured me that my fear of this thing wobbling around on landings was unfounded.  I should note that actually did a test on the RV-10 I'm flying. I made the universal okay symbol and flew around rotating my hand around the stick.  I did this on a landing and found I apparently can fly the plane regardless of my wrist position.

Once I had the spacers installed the grips went on easy enough.  In full disclosure through I actually had to install it twice.  My first go through I didn't want the spacer hanging out the bottom of the stick.  However that made the stick a bit too high.  Knowing there's a bit of a clearance issue I took it apparent and came down to about as far down as you could. The finishing touch was installing my Aerosport stick covers which conveniently just zip on, hiding both the cable and the bottom of the pivot spacer.

For the most part these sticks are going to be permanently installed in the plane.  However there may be some times I need to remove them for maintenance or convenience. In those cases I don't want to have to cut and re-splice wires so I went with the installation of DB15 connectors.  I ended up with 12 actual pins.  All the switch functions just use grounds, so I could have made it 11 but decided to merge all grounds from the stick to 2 DB pins, which then go to a single wire to the grounding tree. My reasoning is more from a troubleshooting rather than a redundancy perspective.  For example if a function isn't working on one stick, but works on the other then it's probably a ground issue.  If it doesn't work on either then it's probably a VPX or other issue.

I secured the connections to the gear weldment using silicone wrapped cable ties. Nothing too fancy about it, you just don't want it unplugging in flight or otherwise bouncing around in there.

Here's a picture I took prior to connecting the grounds, or the Co-Pilot stick for that matter.  Should also note it's important to test the connections when you can.  I tested all the Control Stick buttons/switches to the DB15 connection to ensure those work, then I tested up to the VPX on both sticks.  I'll have to wait until I can power the plane back up to ensure PTT, AP Disc, TO/GA, Airhorn and such work.

Control Cables

The control cables are a basic function of any engine really.  With a constant speed prop I have essentially three cables similar to whats depicted in the plans; throttle, prop, mixture.  What varies on my set up is the routing, mounting and lengths.  The main culprits are my tunnel mounted throttle quadrant, forward facing fuel servo and the air conditioning system. Each of these changes the cable lengths and in the case of the mixture the mounting bracket.

For the cables I went with California Push-Pull based on a number of referrals.  Here are some basic things I learned about control cables.  The point where the cable is hard mounted to a structure is called the 'bulkhead'.  Then there is the 'throw' which is the distance the threaded ends will move.  In my case and most other builders I picked a 2.25" throw.  Meaning the two working ends will essentially shift back and forth that much once connected to whatever you're connecting it to.  That throw will give you another measurement between the bulkhead and the swivel support tube to include the threaded end at mid-travel.... All clear??  Wasn't for me even after reviewing the measuring guide.

Some items I had to mentally digest was that whatever your cabin side bulkhead to mid-travel threaded end measurement was should be somewhat similar on the working side. So on a 2.25" throw cable you couldn't have the cabin side be 6" and the throttle side be 10".  Unless maybe if you start threading extensions on at one end.  Also not every item has the same move distance on the working end.  For me the throttle matched my lever movement, but prop and mixture were about half. From a working perspective pushing full forward on all three levers results in full throttle, full props and full rich on the mixture.  If I pulled everything back the throttle comes all the way back but the prop and mixture level stop just over halfway but they're at their limits.

Full Throttle, Props, Mixture

All Back

The last item deals with the measurements, after all my conversations with David at Push-Pull I thought the measurement for length was bulkhead to bulkhead, but it's from threaded tip to threaded tip.  I spend A LOT of time doing the measurements, double and triple checking so I was surprised that my cables were about 10" too short when trying to install them. Realizing the mistake I talked to David and ordered a new set.  The good news is I talked to my buddy Mike who's building an RV-10 and he's going to be able to use them, but they'll have to be shortened first.  My final 'new' cable lengths are-

176-vtt-2.25 93"

176-vtt-2.25 72"

176-vtt-2.25 74"

With my new cables they were able to be installed and were spot on for length. It takes some tweaking but I was able to get the new ones installed and routed fairly easy.  Given these are thicker diameter than stock Vans ones I had to do some drilling out on my pass-throughs, brackets and used bigger adel clips.

Speaking of brackets I did have to make a new bracket to mount the Mixture cable.  The stock would have had it something like 14" back and adding a bunch of threaded extensions doesn't sound like a good idea.  I had previously worked up a bracket that mounted on the bottom of the sump but that really didn't work out.  This bracket made the bulkhead within 2" of the rod end, which was an issue after learning the above.  I decided to wait until I got my new cables and then retroactively work through a bracket. Now if you're really good at steel work then you should try and do something like Larry did on his fantastic build shown here.  He came up with a steel bracket that replaces the stock bracket that mounts on the bottom of the sump and ends up moving throttle and mixture to a single side.  Given I had an issue with even understanding how these cables work I decided to utilize the stock bracket and fabricate something just for the mixture.

I ended up not fabricating anything but rather re-purposing an already powder coated steel hinge.  It's original intent was to be installed in the wing, which I had done, however replaced it with the servo bracket so had it just laying around. I went through several ideas but decided to just keep it as simple as possible and make some bigger holes in it and hang it off one of the elbow screws off the bottom of the sump. Hard to really see it in the picture but I had to slightly bend it to accommodate an upward angle.  The back of the piece also prevents any serious movement as well.  Maybe I'll do some safety wire just in case.

Here are several other pictures showing the Prop and Throttle runs and how I have them aligned.  Because of the AC the prop run has to go over the engine and with the forward mounted fuel servo had to reclock the throttle a bit.  All seems to work out though.

Last picture might be a hard to see, but the lines follow a fairly solid path to the per plans firewall breaks.  Like with all these firewall penetrations I used some 3M fire barrier to fill in the gaps.