Today we had Greg in the Garaggio. It’s probably our last opportunity to work together in 2013. When Greg got here we reviewed the progress since he was last here and got to work.
Greg started by working on seams for the gear doors and the landing brake. The seams, to this point have been tight enough as to cause minor binding while actuating. Greg opened up the seams slightly and beveled some edges to create the clearances needed for an interference free actuation.
While Greg was working on that I decided to start on the gear brake line conduit replacement and relief tube. I already installed a brake line conduit, but I made a mistake. I didn’t prevent the tube from collapsing when it was installed. This meant that while there was a conduit in the gear legs, the braided stainless steel brake lines wouldn’t fit through the conduits. This meant the conduits needed to be replaced. The key to doing this is to put the stainless steel lines in the plastic conduit before bonding it in place to prevent collapse.
While making this repair, I decided to add a relief tube. James Redmon recently made a comment about how he cannot believe that he has flown so long without one. I agree with his feelings on the issue. I love my morning coffee and don’t really want to have to dehydrate myself before a cross country flight. Plus having to land every hour and a half is counter productive. With my barometrically sensitive bladder, this will be a great creature comfort.
So this repair and mod started with cutting a trough out of the main gear leg. I have one leg trough cut, trial fit, and ready to bond the conduits/tubes in. I still need to start the other one. Then a quick glass repair and we will be ready for finishing the gear leg.
the Garaggio 