Michael Burbidge
Well Known Member
When I built my RV9 it was my first experience working on airplanes. At the time I had no idea what kinds of things made maintenance easy vs. hard.
One thing I had no clue about is how hard it would be to work behind and under the panel. It is nearly impossible to get two hands behind the sub panel, so choose very carefully where you put stuff and how you secure wires.
In the process of installing a new comm radio I came up with the following never agains.
1. Never install an Adel clamp, behind the panel, with a nut and screw. That takes two hands to remove. Always install with a nut plate so that it can be removed with one hand. Next time around I won’t even use adel clamps behind the panel.
2. Never put a service loop in an inaccessible location. (I was so proud of this one) If you ever need to add a wire or remove one from such a service loop and you can only get one hand on it, good luck!
You can see in this picture that there use to be two beautiful service loops. I had to cut the zips on one to add and remove some wires and now it looks like a galaxy that exploded behind my panel. I’ll try to clean this up. Going to be a fun one-handed exercise.
3. Never put things like regulators and ground blocks up high on the back side of the firewall. They are both inaccessible in my 9.
To be fair, it would serve me well to install the new Vans approved access panels. But So far I cannot bring myself to cut into my beautifully painted airplane. If I ever have to replace the regulator that might provide the needed motivation.
Cheers,
Michael
One thing I had no clue about is how hard it would be to work behind and under the panel. It is nearly impossible to get two hands behind the sub panel, so choose very carefully where you put stuff and how you secure wires.
In the process of installing a new comm radio I came up with the following never agains.
1. Never install an Adel clamp, behind the panel, with a nut and screw. That takes two hands to remove. Always install with a nut plate so that it can be removed with one hand. Next time around I won’t even use adel clamps behind the panel.
2. Never put a service loop in an inaccessible location. (I was so proud of this one) If you ever need to add a wire or remove one from such a service loop and you can only get one hand on it, good luck!
You can see in this picture that there use to be two beautiful service loops. I had to cut the zips on one to add and remove some wires and now it looks like a galaxy that exploded behind my panel. I’ll try to clean this up. Going to be a fun one-handed exercise.
3. Never put things like regulators and ground blocks up high on the back side of the firewall. They are both inaccessible in my 9.
To be fair, it would serve me well to install the new Vans approved access panels. But So far I cannot bring myself to cut into my beautifully painted airplane. If I ever have to replace the regulator that might provide the needed motivation.
Cheers,
Michael
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