Then I removed the panel rib. The angles I drilled were lying directly on the lines I had drawn last night...perfect.
Next I cut the rib along the contour line (it's just one slight angle where the sub-panel bends forward).
I deburred the edges and reassembled the sub-panel. Here you can see the "ribless" configuration on the left.
I deburred and riveted the angles to the aft rib half.
And voila...here's the new rib clamped in place, just kind of arbitrarily about 2" to the left of where it originally was. I'm going to work out the instrument placement, and then I'll determine the rib's exact lateral location.
I gathered exact dimensions of all the avionics and instruments...I was able to find 99% of the info I needed on the web. Again I measured the sub-panel forward support structure and traced out "obstruction" borders on the face of the instrument panel. The location of the avionics stack was pretty self-evident given the constraints. I also measured out and marked the locations of the top row of instruments (yes, I know instrument holes are round...I just marked square boundaries and center points). I might play with the lateral positioning just a bit...originally I was going to have the vertical card compass and the G-meter on the far left, but I realized that the horizontal canopy deck ribs along the sides taper inward and limit the depth behind there (see the arrow below, and you can see the rib, the green primed thing in the picture above). So I might just have the compass over there...no G-meter. Thing is, the Dynon EFIS-D10 has a built-in G-meter, but I figured I would have a dedicated analog gauge to make it a bit more easily visible when doing acro. We'll see if I end up having one, where it ends up, etc.
So here's the latest panel layout. How's that for traditional? Now that I have a taller panel and a modified left rib, I have complete control over the setup...mission accomplished. I might put that Hobbs meter on the left there where I wanted the G-meter, since it basically has no depth. Plenty of room for annunciators and warning lights along the top, and tons of room for power controls and switches along the bottom. I was originally going to have the CDI below the Dynon, but since I have the room I figure I may as well go traditional there as well...have the CDI on the right. Below the Dynon and below the CDI will be standard 3 1/8" hole covers. I can always jam some toys in there later, such as an autopilot. Another thing I was thinking about was putting the compass and G-meter in 2 1/4" adapter covers in those spots, at least for now. I might look funky with the smaller gauges in there, but it's something to play around with. I could also split the single combo GPS/Nav CDI into two dedicated CDIs if I wanted to. I'll probably still stick with the MD200-306 single CDI switchable via the Apollo ACU. Cheaper and simpler that way. How often will I need both displays anyway, since the GPS has a moving map and built-in CDI, and the SL-30 has its own built-in CDI/OBS as well.
Man, the larger panel really opens things up, huh?! The beauty of the Dynon is that even though the face is rectangular (just over 4" across), the body fits into a standard 3 1/8" diameter round cutout. What that means is that the left panel rib attach point can be partly "buried" behind the Dynon face. I was planning on using flush countersunk screws on the attach points anyway (I think they'll look much cleaner), so it should work out nicely. I'm not ready to drill the panel rib holes yet...I think I'll probably wait until I have all of the instruments on-hand and the actual instrument holes cut before doing that.
I'm a glutton for punishment...later tonight I went out to the garage for some more tinkering. I've got the fabrication bug, so I figured I'd work on the rudder cable fairings. The rudder cables exit the tail end of the fuselage through the side skins...there's a nylon "bushing tube" that gets clamped in place and sticks out of the side of the fuselage. It's not the prettiest looking thing, but I doubt there's much drag there either. Nonetheless, I'm caving in, since a couple of people gave me a hard time about some previous comments I made about not bothering with fairings, that the gain would be minimal. Whatever, I'm in the mood now.
I had seen several different designs, including GBI's and Avery's...neither of which impressed me very much. I had also seen a handful of homemade designs, and the one that seemed simplest was Sam Buchanan's setup. Granted, he used round-head rivets instead of flush rivets, but I liked his general approach. But before I caved in and did the V-bend thing, I tried my hand at hammering out a fairing. This was just a test strip of .020 that I tried hammering over a section of 3/8" OD tubing clamped at an angle in the vise. I think if the radius were bigger, and if I had the right hammering tools, I could probably do a decent job. But with a rubber mallet it wasn't going to be as smooth as I wanted it to be.
So I went with the V-bend design. I scribbled some lines on a sheet of .020 and cut and seamed it a bit.
Here's the first one. It turned out very nicely!
What is this, mass production? I impressed myself with being able to replicate the first one almost exactly.
I drilled 3/32" pilot holes in the fairings' corners, then drilled 'em to the fuselage side. I added two holes in the middle so that the thin fairing can't peel up (it's very thin). I wasn't about to use bulging round head rivets on these suckers, so I countersunk the holes and put MSC-32 flush rivets in there. Looks great if I do say so myself. By the way, the axis I used to align the fairings is parallel with the longerons (you can't see 'em in this shot), which is supposedly the longitudinal axis in the cruise config. That way they're aligned with the slipstream.
Here's the right side. Same deal. These things weigh next to nothing, and even if it doesn't reduce drag measurably, they sure look pretty. Glad I spent all of 45 minutes on 'em!
