The Tool Shed (s/n 1013 rebuild)

[BRS]

@Matt541 had asked me on another thread "So what's the story with 1013? What all needs to be done with it?"

Figured I might be too wordy for a quick response so hear is a new thread on the rebuild.

I fly a wonderful Glasair Sportsman with lots of power and 29" 'clown tires' inflated to at least 8 psi. The airplane is near perfect which is why I purchased this scratch built legacy sonex (s/n 1013). You see, I suffer from the love of tinkering as much as the love for flying. That, coupled along with the fact that here in the Pacific NW (Washington State) we don't do a whole lot of flying between Nov and March means a winter "project" is nice to have.

So, I've a son-in-law who is working on his private (as is my daughter, his wife) who has put a bug in my ear about sonex's. Actually I've always been intrigued by them but never had any close encounters. So I decided a sonex fix-r-upper might be the perfect winter project. I have run into a local pilot several times who had a sonex that he was selling so we struck upon a deal and that leads me to this rebuild thread.

The name of this thread "The Tool Shed" comes from the previous owner. The story is that his family scratch built four sonex's at the same time. Go big or go home, eh? Well when ever a tool was missing or needed by another builder they would go look in one particular sonex, the tool shed as it eventual came to be known as. Not all builders return tools to their usual location in the tool box. So this moniker was on the side of the plane when I purchased it. I liked it and will keep it in honor of the original builder....

So that's my introduction and I'll stop here for now, much more to come.

[BRS]

@Matt541 asked ...
"So what's the story with 1013? What all needs to be done with it?"

What NEEDs to be done with it?

That depends. Some folks would say it needed the engine gone through and a through Condition inspection. That might have been the question for me to answer if I didn't have anything else to fly and the weather was nice and beckoning me to the skies. But Matt, I wasn't asking that question. What I was asking was...

What do I want to do to this airplane, how do I envision the end result? Here is the answer...

A) Convert to center stick so to make flying from the middle practical. Who does that? I mean, take a two place side-by-side aircraft and sit in the middle between the seats?! First time I heard of that I thought it was crazy. Until I sat in the plane making airplane noises while sitting in all three possible places (I didn't try sitting in the baggage compartment).

B) In order to do 'A', the flap handle and the brake lever were in the way so they had to be relocated. But I really didn't like the implementation on these. These levers take up valuable cubic feet (inches?) in a small cockpit. Thus I decided to go electric and put everything on the control grip. So...
B1) Make flaps electric
B2) Make elevator trim electric
B3) While I'm at it, might as well add electric aileron trim.

C) The rear-spar-carry-through had been damage early on in the life of the Tool Shed. I didn't like the repair so that needed attention.

D) The MGL Enigma display was in fine shape but dated. I wanted to update the panel. Avionics is something I get picky about. It's got to be funtional and it's got to be neat (front and back).

E) Also related item 'A' is the brakes. That mechanical brake lever needed to be moved. But then the previous owner had told me that those cable brakes don't work very well and they pull to one side. So I decided early to swap them out for hydraulic wheels, brakes, and a hand lever on the stick.

F) Engine swap. The engine was partially seized. The aircraft had had an engine out landing and ended up on it's nose. The crank was replaced but the engine was never right, so I'm told. This needed to be dealt with.

I'll flesh each of these out in separate posts. Adieu

[BRS]

Someone just asked me about how to convert from dual to center stick so I think I'll write this up now.

This simple answer is to just look at the plans, compare the parts different between the dual and single stick then make or order what is needed. That's what I did, it was one of the easiest tasks that I took on in this rebuild. Since this is a far reaching project I didn't want to get bogged down honing my welding skills. What amazed me, was that even though this is a scratch build bird, so far factory parts seem to fit quite well. The plans had been carefully followed.

Really there are only four parts different. The two longer aileron control rods, which would be easy to modify and lengthen. The triangle part for the single stick replaces a trapezoid shaped part. There is one more key part that fits into the triangle and connects the control rods to the stick. Most everything else can be reused. Heim-joints, bushings (if serviceable), one of the control stick can all be reused.

This shows the control rods, triangle and other parts. Also shows the new MX1 installed with related parts. The COM radio, Xpnder & certified GPS (for ads-b) are all mounted on the floor and controlled by the MX1.

Other work was to patch up the two seat holes and cut a new one in the center. Also, the seat cushion needs to be modified or replace (this will be my route). Seat belts are usually installed such that the buckles both on the outside. But if one buckle is say on the outside left and the other seatbelt buckle on the inside right then it is possible to sit dual or single and still have the set belts work. When sitting in the center the two outside belts would have to be used and the two center belts tucked under. The downside of this is that it is possible to slide side to side when in the center.

Dual seated on Left, stick will be in the right hand. Kinda cramp.

Sitting is more comfortable. Just remember to use the outside pedals. I thought of painting them a different color.

Obviously the brake and flap levers need to be relocated when doing this mod. Those are for another post.

[984dm]

Hi,

Yes, in the process of "remodeling" my Sonex Legacy tri gear I also swapped out the dual stick set-up for center stick arrangement. Mine hasn't flown yet, but in my opinion it helps that little cockpit feel more "roomy", and will help my wife (and other passengers) not have that right stick to deal with. At this point, I'm predicting I'll sit "centered" when flying solo. Personal preference, I guess. I bought the center stick weldments from Sonex, except for a set of longer aileron control rods which I bought from a guy who was parting out his Sonex. I also swapped the seat pan with another builder who had made a mistake and started cutting his out for a center stick when he actually needed two control stick openings. Worked out for both of us:)

Good luck with your project,

Dave M
Sonex N984DM (work in progress)

[Gmoney]

Cool thread, thanks for sharing.
G


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[OneTallShort]

One word of caution in general, if the lowered seat mod was installed with the dual sticks, that would need to be removed as well. Single stick and lowered seat are incompatible (due to the elevator pushrod location. )

[Josonex]

Thanks! These are great and very informative post.
I am the third owner of my Sonex and is currently flying. I have all the parts from another kit that I’m kicking around making it into a B model. Looks like I have to remove the wings for access or is there another way.
Joe..

[BRS]

Thanks! These are great and very informative post.
I am the third owner of my Sonex and is currently flying. I have all the parts from another kit that I’m kicking around making it into a B model. Looks like I have to remove the wings for access or is there another way.
Joe..

Good question. Yes the control rods are rather long. In don't see any practical way of getting them in place without at least one wing removal. The other way might be to remove a wing tip and thread the rods through from one side to the other then into the first side.

Another possibility, especially if you reuse and lenthen your old control rods. Would be to splice them with bolts instead of welding. That way they could be half length and you might be able to get them in from the cockpit. I'm not saying I'd recommend this but that it might be a workable solution. One would have to be sure the splice could not hang-up on a rib lightning hole thus blocking the controls.

[BRS]

Flap handle needs to be moved from the center when converting to one stick. At first glance it seemed that moving the weldment to the left, along with the handle and latch angle was the only way. But then I saw a post about electric flaps and decided to see if I could go that route. Here is what I did.

First thing was to remove the flap lever and take measurements, scratch my head, take more measurements, then order a Linear Actuator.

This is the basic landscape where the work was to be done.

I settled on the Firgelli FA-05-12-3 actuator mostly because of another forum thread has shown it. Not very scientific, I know.

Firgelli FA-05-12-3 Firgelliauto.com

This is a 50:1, 150 lb actuator with 3" of travel and limit switches at each end. I could have used the full 3 inches and made the 'arm' on the flap torque tube lever much longer than desired or I could somehow reduce the travel of the actuator. The advantage of a longer lever (arm) is of course mechanical advantage. The down side is it just gets (or could) in the way of pant legs etc. So I pulled the thing apart to see how I could shorten the travel.

Here are the unmodified guts.

With some careful soldering I was able to relocate one of the limit switches with the resulting travel of 1-7/8th inch. The switch holder is a low temp plastic and there is a diode on each switch. Respect the polarity.

Here is the installed actuator. It took some high school math as well as some trial and error to get the lever length (right side of picture) just right so the flap travel is correct for the 1-7/8ths travel of the actuator.

Here is the Actuator installed.

Now, how to control it. See next post (only 5 pics per post)....

[BRS]

How to control the flap actuator

The actuator is a simple two wire motor. So by reversing the polarity, the actuator reverses travel direction. Also, I wanted to control the actuator (flaps) via a small (think low current) switch on the control stick. So some sort of relay was in order. Here is my stick with it's switches. The top left switch (flaps) is a ON-OFF-ON momentary (sprung to off) type.

RayAllen G307 stick. Note: there was not a label location for "flaps down".

A different non-momentary switch would work but I like the idea of having to keep my thumb on the switch in order for the flaps to travel.

This circuit is (can be) used to reverse the polarity, thus direction, of the actuator. The stick switch is on the top. It uses two commonly available relays.

After mocking up two relays in a piece of aluminum angle I noticed it was larger and not as nice looking as I wanted. I was hoping to mount it on the underside of the actuator. But then I ran across this device from china which seems to be the exact same circuit but using smaller relays (no it's not solid state).

I've tested the relays and flaps and am pleased. The final installation wiring has not yet been done.
That's all for now.