What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

7/9 Lights and riveting the F-704K side bulkhead covers

A

alpinelakespilot2000

Well Known Member
Any suggestions on when to rivet the F-704K side bulkhead covers? (They are the ones that are pop-riveted and cover the space between the anodized side bulkheads at the center section.) I can't see when the instructions say to do so, and am wondering if I need to wait until the wings are on for good to make access (at least visually) to the spar bolts easier. I would just wait until then but the manner in which I'm reinforcing my arm rests prevents riveting the arm rests until those covers are on for good.

Also, I'm planning to put an eyeball light on each cover aimed at the instrument panel. Any suggestions on how high and/or whether this is a good place to put them on a slider? Also, I'm planning to drill a hole and then just leave some string in there to pull the lighting wire through later. Good plan?

Thanks.
 
eyeball lights

Steve,
I put the eyeball lights on the side plate you are talking about on my -6. I am going to put them on the -7 when I get there. I use them to flood the panel, and also to rotate down to read a map or plate. I wired them to a dimmer switch on the panel.

I think you will enjoy them. No hassle or failure after 700+ hrs.

FWIW, the best advise anybody ever gave me when building my -6. "Don't rivet anything together permanently until you can't go any further with out nailing it down." It really saved a few heartaches and avoided a few mousetraps.


Wes Hays
N844WB
700+ hrs
 
I waited quite a while to rivet those in place as well, but it wasn't really necessary. I haven't had to get to anything behind there. There's enough finger room to route the static tube over the F-704 flanges with the cover in place.

I'm doing the lights in the covers as well. Haven't tried it yet, but looks like a really good spot. I have the swivel eyes, so they should be able to point down to my kneeboard as well. Also easy to route the wire over the top later. I'm not sure how I'm going to provide chafe protection, though. Probably just some heat shrink and some edging along the top of the F-704 flanges.
 
I waited a little longer to rivet those pieces on just to keep them from getting banged on. Wait till you get the interior wiring and such all finished, then rivet them on.

I too put the eyeball lights but I mounted mine INSIDE. I think it makes for a much nicer looking installation. One could point out the fact that you are stuck if they ever burn out but LED's are good for thousands of hours and you really don't use them that often. I mounted the dimmer knob for the light on the triangular shaped piece on the longeron. (Tip-up)

P8140072-736435.jpg

(The knob isn't on the dimmer pot in this picture.)
 
Thanks guys. I guess I'll wait as long as I can, but will install them before I paint the interior b/c I'd like the rivet heads to be painted as well. (Though, as I think about it, I'm going to be using a textured paint so I could probably get away with spraying over the rivet heads later without it being a problem.)

Re: the chafe protection, Dave, I've been thinking about that too and am thinking that I will either use shrink wrap or proseal a little piece of left-over static line tube on top of the bulkheads for the wire to slip through.

Matthew, you gave me another thing to think about. They do look nice behind the cover. Do you still have the same ability to rotate them fully? (I don't have them yet to know).

Further question on the lighting--are the eyeball vents the only lighting you all are using for the panel or do you have other light as well? I definitely don't want post lights so I've been planning on using a luminescent strip under the glareshield for the primary panel lighting. Kind of wondering whether that will require it's own dimmer switch or if I can (or want to) combine it on the same dimmer circuit as the eyeball vents.

Anyway, thanks for the ideas.
 
Steve,
I can't remember if you're building a slider or a tip. If its a slider do not rivet the side covers until after the roll bar and the slider tracks have been bolted to the fuse. Then wait some more until the static line and/or wiring has been routed.

Steve in Utah
 
N523RV said:
...I mounted the dimmer knob for the light on the triangular shaped piece on the longeron.
Click to expand...
Triangular longeron?? It's obviously been too long since you've been building Matthew. I think that's called the forward canopy deck. Time to start the next plane. :)

Steve,
I have a couple of Nulites for the back-up altimeter and airspeed. I'm not sure yet how the eyeballs will work. I don't have them hooked up yet. You should be pretty good with the light strip.
 
Steve, we played with this just recently on a friend's -7A (tipup).. He's got the strip just above the panel mounted to the bottom of the skin and 2 eyeball lights in spar caps.. it works great.. they're all on same dimmer and there's plenty of light. the strip lights up top row of instruments great (airspeed, altimeter etc)... He doesn't have post lights and I don't think they are needed after seeing his setup in "action."
 
I also mounted my Vans eyeball lights, LC ECL-01 on the side bulkhead covers however I mounted them on the outside rather than inside. Unless something has changed, the units Van sells are incandesent, not LED and you should probably plan on having to replace burnt out units in your installation.

J.C.
 
647jc said:
Unless something has changed, the units Van sells are incandesent, not LED and you should probably plan on having to replace burnt out units in your installation.

J.C.
Click to expand...

Correct J.C. You can also order the led version direct from Vans supplier, but I can't remember the guys name. Do an internet search is how I found him and then ordered two from him.

Kent
 
kentb said:
Correct J.C. You can also order the led version direct from Vans supplier, but I can't remember the guys name. Do an internet search is how I found him and then ordered two from him.

Kent
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up, Kent. Being LED, are they bright enough?
Does anyone know the source for the LED equivalent of Van's (linked below), either those that Kent found or from another source?
http://www.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin...53532-128-714&browse=lighting&product=eyeball
Thanks
 
Radomir said:
Steve, we played with this just recently on a friend's -7A (tipup).. He's got the strip just above the panel mounted to the bottom of the skin and 2 eyeball lights in spar caps.. it works great.. they're all on same dimmer and there's plenty of light. the strip lights up top row of instruments great (airspeed, altimeter etc)... He doesn't have post lights and I don't think they are needed after seeing his setup in "action."
Click to expand...

Radomir--Thanks for the firsthand confirmation. I'm assuming those eyeball lights are the the incandescent variety?
 
I really don't know.. I honestly didn't even realize there were two versions.. I thought they were all LED...

PS.. I'd mount them on the outside of the spar cap.. regardles of version.. just IMHO..
 
alpinelakespilot2000 said:
Does anyone know the source for the LED equivalent of Van's (linked below), either those that Kent found or from another source?
http://www.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin...53532-128-714&browse=lighting&product=eyeball
Thanks
Click to expand...
Just answering my own question...

I found the LED in red from steinair... http://www.steinair.com/lights.htm (at the bottom of the page). Since I plan on using the red for night anyway,this maybe all I need assuming the LED version is bright enough along with the strip on the glareshield.

For some reason the white only come (from stein) in the incandescent variety--these seem to be exactly the same model as Van's for the same price.
 
You can wait to rivet the covers until just before take-off.

About those eyeball lights...

They're awful as panel illuminators. In my -7's covers I put two on the left side, one on the right (they're incandescent, BTW). They produce flares, hot spots, cool spots, and the right one can't be pointed anywhere at the panel because it reflects into my eyes. The left ones can't be rotated down enough to illuminate my lap.

I retrofitted an EL strip under the glare shield. It works great. The eyeballs are just along for the ride now, and their contribution is nill compared to the EL strip.

The current -7 project (~4 weeks from flying - that's airplane weeks, folks) has just the EL strip and a spot light from Stein hanging from the roll bar/brace intersection on a slider. In a dark shop, it seems a very good combination.

John Siebold
 
Van's Incandescent Eyeballs and WHITE LED's...

Steve,

I found out I could put in both types of lights and run them off the same dimmer circuit. When I first tested the eyeballs by themselves, I realized I needed more lighting on the panel. The eyeballs were assigned to map reading only, and the LED's mounted on the roll bar became the panel lights.

It helps to have the airplane in a garage where you can turn out the lights for these kind of tests. http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a076.htm That page shows the LED lights. I also used the LED's in the baggage area. That came in handy on more that one occasion. http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a081.htm You can see them installed above the baggage area on my page 82. http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a082.htm

The LED lights over the instrument panel are shown first on page 128. http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a128.htm You will see them installed on page 129. http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a129.htm

Jerry K. Thorne
East Ridge, TN.
RV-9A N2PZ "Enterprise"
Hobbs = 207.3 hours
www.n2prise.org
 
Which EL strip?

RV7ator said:
You can wait to rivet the covers until just before take-off.

I retrofitted an EL strip under the glare shield. It works great. The eyeballs are just along for the ride now, and their contribution is nill compared to the EL strip.

John Siebold
Click to expand...

John ... who's EL light strip did you use? gil A
 
Gil,

I used Stein-Air's offering (the blueish one). At $90 some-odd it's pricey compared to auto offerings, but considering the time spent trolling websites for cheap and workable, and still wasn't sure, I happily payed Stein for the research. I put it on its own B&C dimmer; more light than you'd ever want at the high end. Ship now has three dimmers (four, actually): EL, spot, and panel stuffings. The forth is dedicated to the EI UBG-16 monitor because it doesn't have ambient light sensing/dimming like the JPI. Getting all the panel stuffings balanced took some resistors, particularly the Tru-Trak "ALT" button. That thing causes third degree burns.

John Siebold
 
Yes, the do completely swivel and point just about anywhere you want.

>>Matthew, you gave me another thing to think about. They do look nice >>behind the cover. Do you still have the same ability to rotate them fully? (I >>don't have them yet to know).

Right now they are the only lights I have. I would say they aren't entirely sufficient for lighting the instruments on the panel but are fine for map reading and such in your lap. I'll probably install the strip lighting under the glare shield to get better lighting of the instruments.

>>Further question on the lighting--are the eyeball vents the only lighting >>you all are using for the panel or do you have other light as well? I >>definitely don't want post lights so I've been planning on using a >>luminescent strip under the glareshield for the primary panel lighting. Kind >>of wondering whether that will require it's own dimmer switch or if I can (or >>want to) combine it on the same dimmer circuit as the eyeball vents.

DAVE! Yea... it has been too long since I've finished building and I don't keep the plans handy in any more.. I should really do that. The 2nd airplane project may start this winter but it won't be an aluminum airplane this time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top