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Landing Light Lens

E. D. Eliot

Well Known Member
I write this thread after spending a large part of Friday replacing my not so well installed landing light lens. My RV-12 is still under construction.

My goal with this thread is to help those who is either facing installing a landing light assembly and lens during construction of the right wing or who are considering putting a second landing light into the left wing post certification.

First off, let me say that I did a poor job of installing the original lens. Just not up to my standards. So, I removed the original lens this AM and began replacement of the old lens.

The lens that Van's sends to RV-12 builders is marked 00014 - RV-10 lens. No problem, I thought but I was really wrong. The shape of the 00014 lens doesn't fit the leading edge of the RV-12. This fact and my lack of skill are likely what caused me to foul up my first lens installation a few months ago. So, I decided to try and match the shape of my RV-12 leading edge - out came my heat gun. First, I cut the RV-10 lens down to a size that was about 1" wider and longer than the landing light cut out of the leading edge. I taped a piece of towel to my RV-12 leading edge and then taped the top of the lens to the wing - used the low heat setting of my heat gun and 'carefully' applied heat to the plastic - making sure that I held the heat gun at least 12" or so from the plastic. Worked the curve of the plastic lens for about 1-1/2 minutes 'carefully' and after it seemed to relax a little, I left it alone until it was cold. This resulted is a lens shape that was a better fit to the leading edge. It was 'close but no cigar' and I was aftaid to apply more heat so I settled for what I had.

Used the Van's method of fitting the lens but first match drilled, counter sunk, and deburred the bottom screw holes only. As my first lens wasn't tight enough to the wing skin, I wanted to make sure that this replacement lens was tight. I installed the lens the bottom of the lens and pulled as top to the skin as well as I could.

I couldn't get the tight to the wing skin fit that I was after so, I marked thru the four lens bracket holes that I had drilled in the wing skin previously. I then removed the lens and added 1/8" more 'height' to the marked holes and drilled the holes (no match drilling). This forced the lens to better fit the opening in the wing skins. Removed the lens, countersunk, deburred and installed the new lens. It looks good but time will tell if it will crack or not!

I want to say that if you are replacing a lens as I did then I recommend that you drill out the landing light bracket before you begin this operation. Also, if you are building 'new' and are going to install a landing light, then I recommend that you install the landing light assembly and lens before you close up the wing tip. These tips will save you time, extra work and possibly $$$ as you won't have to do it twice as I did.

Maybe others will chime in here and add of supplement these instructions with better ideas. If there is a better way to do this operation then I'm all ears - I will install a landing light into the left wing post certification. Best to you all.
 
Thanks

I,m 1/2 way thru install. Stopped due to same problems. Will try the heat and see if that will solve my problems
Rich "The Redbaron"
 
Be careful

Rich - I chickened out on trying to get a perfect fit because I had no way of knowing exactly when the lens would turn into junk. While using the heat gun, I touched my lens occasionally and it was too hot to touch. I kept the heat gun of low heat and swung it back and forth about 12" away from the lens for maybe 1-1/2 minutes or so. May have done this several times but due the haze of a 20hr day, I am not sure. The process went well last night so I just kept working until it was finished. All builders can relate to that!

Still, my lens did not take the shape of the RV-12 leading edge perfectly. It was still 1/8" or so 'inside' of a really good fit until I forced it into position by mounting the top four screw firmly into place and then final drilling my second set of mounting holes 1/8" 'long'.

I try to make my process used clear. Hope that is is clear enough for others to understand. I don't have any real knowledge about processing plastic but my results were ok when I finished. I had to force the lens against the inside of my wing cut out. The fit is now 'ok' as at least the plastic if firmly seated against the inside of the wing skin. Time will tell if it will crack or not.

If I have to replace this lens or the landing light assembly someday, I'll likely cut an access hole into the bottom surface of the wing so that I can get my hands inside. I'd like to see Van's offer an inspection plate assembly cutout option for both wings at this position. And Van's could help builders a lot if they would offer a landing light lens that fit - and while I'm dreaming, how about pre sizing and pre drilling those eight holes?. That would have saved me maybe 8-10 hours and the cost of replacing my first lousy fit lens. I'd be happy to pay $50 for such a lens. Wonder how Synergy does it?
 
Inspection cover

I agree with the sentiment about wanting an inspection port. I built my landing lights in while doing the wings without much issue, but if I ever have to replace the lense, if I'm not able to do it through the lens opening, I'll duplicate the stall actuator inspection cover and just cut it in at that time; it's pretty easy to do after the fact.

When I did my lenses, I held it in place using the tape method they describe, except I used duct tape so that I could pull harder and really seat the lens. Then I drilled one hole at the top, cleco'd it, then drilled the other three and cleco'd them. Then I did the bottom holes. I don't know if this helps, but I can say my fit is snug all the way around the lense. The other thing I did was put a bead of Dow-Corning #4 silicone around the lense where it seats against the inside of the wing to provide a good seal. I suppose you could use caulk or some other sealant, but I just wanted a water resistant joint that I could easily take apart if needed someday.
 
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More Info - Experience!

Ron, I totally agree with you on the need to try to waterproof this lens opening. Very expensive electronics behind the lens!

So, today I decided to try and form the lens that will eventually be installed on the left wing of my RV-12. This time I decided to try to make the plastic lens fit my leading edge as well as possible even if it meant that I overheated the lens.

Here is what I did in order to achieve a really good fit - first, I taped a piece of toweling to the area that would be covered by the lens and taped the top of the lens to the leading edge of the wing. I used a lot of tape. Then, I pushed the lens onto the the leading edge. This required pushing it tightly to the leading edge - the gap before pushing was maybe 1/4 - 3/8 inches. With the lens firmly pushed against the leading edge, I taped the bottom of the lens to the wing skin. This operation made the lens tight against the leading edge.

With my heat gun on the 'low' setting, I slowly heated the lens from a gap of about 3-4 inches. I determined that this was ok when I trial heated a few of the pieces of lens that were cut of. As heat guns vary in output, I suggest that you trial heat your scraps before you heat your lens.

I heated the lens four times - each time, letting the lens cool off until cold. Duration of each heating cycle was 3 minutes. Removed the tape after final cool down and the lens is now shaped to the curvature of the wing leading edge. Beautiful. I expect to have an easier time of it when I install the landing light assembly on he left wing.

Addendum - be sure to head Van's advice on deburring/sanding the final edges. And if you want to see if you have any micro cracks on the edge of the lens, then use your blue Sharpie to mark the edges - I discovered this by accident and found that I needed to remove a small section of the bottom edge which had a few micro cracks. These were not evident before I used the Sharpie!

Once again, I must say that I am only a beginner when using/forming plastic. Anyone with better or easier methods is encouraged to chime in here. best to you all.:cool:
 
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Is this a common problem? I don't think I've seen it mentioned before. Were most of you able to get the lens to fit without heating and reshaping it? I'd hate to accidentally melt it. :eek:
 
The first one I put in according to plans on my RV12 and it fit the wing perfectly. I just added one the the other wing a couple of weeks ago, and it was a different shape. At the time I suspected Vans had given me one for some other plane. I still am not happy with the fit.
 
I believe there was a change in the lens. My early plans (circa 2009) show the lens as a LL DW 10. The latest plans show the lens as a W-00014.

My experience with the LL DW 10 was that it was a good fit without modifying it. I don't see this one on the factory list any longer.

The LL DW 10 was a little on the flimsy side, I thought, and I broke one of them quite easily. I imply from the posts on this that the W-00014 is more robust?
 
I actually broke the second one trying to pull it up to the wing contour; I have two more new ones on hand, am thinking of some heating as was described earlier, to make it fit better. It appears that whatever they used to form it was not an RV12 wing shape.
 
'New' lense

As the wings are for the most part 'finished' and I had already put the landing light assembly and lens into place in the right wing, replacing the first lens wasn't a high priority job - just something that had to be replaced before my plane flew. A now working on the fuselage and every time I looked at that less than OK installation, I wanted to replace it.

So I ordered two new lenses from Van's about 25 days ago. At that time I ordered by number LL DW-10. Lady said that that item had been replaced by the 00014 lens.

The new lens is quite strong and requires a fair amount of strength to bend it. It definitely did not fit the leading edge profile of my 12 wing. So I taped and heated as described. I'm happy with the result as described in my after-post.

By the way, if you are replacing an already installed lens as I was or putting in a second landing light assembly in an already flying airplane, I highly recommend that you first drill out the landing light assembly - ten rivets. That will make it far easier andwill save many hours. It is next to impossible to fit a new lens into the hole with the landing light assembly already installed. This I learned the hard way.

Hope that this helps.
 
I would like a tighter fit for the landing light lens

I have read the responses. Unless anyone has any better advice then I'll tape the lens well to the fiberglass and heat it to form fit.
 
Check this

Tal, I recommend that you take the 'raw' lens and cut it down - say, 1/2 to 3/4 Inches larger on top, bottom, and each side. That is your starting point. Eventually, after you have heated the lens, it will need to be cut down a bit more as Van's commands..

Take your heat gun and try it on a piece of the lens material that you cut off - you will learn how much heat to apply before the material re-forms and you will learn how much heat is too much. Be careful and apply your heat gun as I described and you will be ok and you will have good results. Don't rush it. I described exactly how I did mine - don't cut corners and be patient. Best of skill, Ed
 
I was building a -12 years ago, but sold it halfway through. Now I'm building a kit from a different manufacturer that has a very similar install. Problem is that their instructions are severely lacking. How can I get a copy of the installation instructions for the landing light on a -12?
 
The dual landing light is a factory option, why would you have to wait until after certification to install it?
 
Dual LL

Dual landing light is not an option for the 'first generation' 12s and if you want two LLs, you can install them after certification. Not easy but doable.
 
The ULS RV-12 doesn't have the power generation capability to support 2 landing lights.

For those considering adding a second landing light in the left wing after phase one is completed on their E-LSA RV-12 so they can have the benefits of wig-wag ... it is doable. Running the wires should not present a problem so long as a pull string was installed in the left wing's wiring grommets as instructed in the plans during the build.

As Scott has mentioned, the electrical system on the 912ULS is anemic. Due to the limited current available, one option to consider when adding a second landing light (as I did) for wig-wag operation on a 912ULS powered RV-12 is ... install a separate landing light switch for the left landing light "steady on". The advantage of using a separate landing light switch is that wig-wag operation can be implemented without any additional current draw above that of the right landing light "steady on" ... because in the wig-wag mode, one landing light is always off.

For those who do fly their RV-12 at night, having the "steady on" for the left landing light wired to a separate panel switch allows the pilot to illuminate the left landing light on very short final then turn the light off when on the runway ... thus only taxing the battery for a minute or two at most.
 
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