Captain Avgas
Well Known Member
In the end I opted to use Tony Tromp's concept (with a mod) which works great. Easy to open and close from the panel. All with 1/8" set rivets.
My big change to Tony's design is that I used a full sheet of 0.032" aluminium inside the Fab as a backing plate. Therefore no chance of small sections fatiguing and breaking off inside the FAB. I extended the sheet to just beyond the filter to prevent the filter from wearing into the bottom of the fibreglass FAB (as has been often reported). Therefore it serves a dual function. I've attached a couple of pix. You can left click on them to enlarge.
Note that I've orientated the sliding mechanism off at an angle to the FAB so that the cable does not conflict with the nose gear (RV7A).
Incidentally, Van's alternate air apparatus is a very poor design (to put it mildly).
My big change to Tony's design is that I used a full sheet of 0.032" aluminium inside the Fab as a backing plate. Therefore no chance of small sections fatiguing and breaking off inside the FAB. I extended the sheet to just beyond the filter to prevent the filter from wearing into the bottom of the fibreglass FAB (as has been often reported). Therefore it serves a dual function. I've attached a couple of pix. You can left click on them to enlarge.
Note that I've orientated the sliding mechanism off at an angle to the FAB so that the cable does not conflict with the nose gear (RV7A).
Incidentally, Van's alternate air apparatus is a very poor design (to put it mildly).
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