24-Seats-Armrest-Fairings
Chapter 24 Armrest/Seats/Covers/Fairings
Lower strake fairing (see chapter 21)
Upper strake fairing (in late May-2010-see chapter 21) LG to fuselage fairing (see chapter 9) Wheel pants (see chapter 9) Armrest/Seatbacks This chapter really is a continuation of chapter sixteen and so I did this work right after the controls. This is work done before the strakes and turtleback, so the fuselage is turned on the side on (secured) saw horses. 24-1 The first two pictures show the location of the AN3 bolt to take off the CS-124 and where the fuel line runs. Later, I cut the armrest for access to get to the AN3 bolt. The third picture shows the completed right rear armrest. The next picture shows the front right side to the armrest with the inner surface glassed and cut. I made the half thickness cuts by turning the fine cut blade over and running the blade with the teeth reversed. This was gentle to the foam. There were more cuts on the back armrest sides and where the armrest tapers down, I needed some angled cuts to make the curve shape contour. In the last picture, I laid down some plastic over the side of the fuselage and the armrest supports. Then, I put some 5 minute epoxy in the cut lines and quickly placed the armrest side down in position and laid boards on it and then some bricks for cure to hold the curve. Later, I added some micro into the cut lines and some UND strips across the cut lines, and reapplied the plastic and weighed it down again to cure. I did not flox the wood armrest to the armrest side at the final install, for fear of flox dripping down onto the controls. Before the final install, I sanded all of the foam off at the points where the passengers hips would touch. I only stopped when I could see the inner glass. Looking back to the third picture, I used some masking tape to bridge the small gap between the fuselage and the bottom of the armrest side. I laid the armrest down on a piece of plastic and marked the outline and added the overlap to that. I wet a two ply BID layup on the plastic and transferred it to the armrest/side with micro on the corner and edge of the masking tape (at the bottom) and then peel plied the edges. The black line is the line marked on the plastic to show the corner of the armrest to line things up for placement. I did not try to overlap at the front and back of the armrest. I later applied BID tape (plastic backed) there. The picture does not show the BID tape in the armrest to fuselage corner. The result of this is that I can prime and paint the armrest and have a smooth curve surface that will not need upholstery work. 24-2 The first picture just shows after the 5 minute epoxy. The second picture shows how that I glassed the front and back edges to prepare for the use of BID tape. The reason for the puzzle pieces in the third picture is to gain some more storage space up front for "stuff". The larger funny looking space has a slot for the roll cable and the depression with the funny look is for the travel of the controls. The rest of the pieces finish the enclosure of the space. I just made the big piece in cardboard and then in foam. I repeated the process for the other parts. You can see the pocket, but I would not call mine a map pocket. I made a flush cover for that pocket to allow support for my elbow. The cover is not on in the last picture, because the fuselage is upside down in that picture. The fresh air vent is covered in ch. 21. When I prime the bottom of the fuselage, I will flip the plane and finish the bottom of the strake area. In the last picture, I have an access panel cut out to be able to guide the pulling of wires down the electrical conduit. The next to the last picture shows the number of cuts needed to curve the seat bottoms. I extended the front seat bottom back a little to raise it up a wee bit and to allow better but contour. I also added a seat back like the rear seats to allow for adjustment of back support and that is covered below. 24-3 24-4 The seat backs are to be adjustable for both pre-flight and inflight adjustment. I am aware that in-flight adjustment is questionable, but I will only do an adjustment if the autopilot is engaged. I like to lean up for pattern work, but rest my head on the memory foam headrest for cruise time. The first two pics show the piano hinge part of the seat backs. The third pic is the shaft hinge assembly. The bolts shown are temporary ones. The portion sitting on the wood is embedded in a hardpoint in the fuselage seat back (the use of "seat back" will be for the adjustable one) with a 4 ply UND reinforcement over that. The fourth picture is another of my color drawings. The orange/yellow shows the adj. seat back in the aft position. The short yellow part is a "flap" shape across the back of the seat. The long yellow part is a glassed handle that slides of the outboard edge (or inboard) of the seat back and slips into a notch on the side of the seat and "locks in". The tension on the handle towards the side of the seat back is generated by mounting it with a slight tilt towards the center of the seat. The length of the handle is variable, but the seat cushion is not shown in the drawing, and so length shown is a good length. Note: 07-15-2010 The adjustment assembly is good, but the seat back needs to have the headrest attached to it. This will give the head support at the two seat back positions.
The first picture shows control cable conduits in foam. This in the rear area. The upward turn point is going to be modified. I had planned on a bolt with a piece of tubing around that. The problem is that the control cables will be moving in opposite directions. I probably will do something like the rudder cable to belhorn idea of chapter 20. I will post the change in this chapter and edit this. There are so many little details in a project like this. I added UND reinforcements (4ply) on the bottom side of the front seats, because they will get stepped on.The seat bottoms are contoured. The seats are removable. I placed Tee nuts with some wax in the holes and glassed over them. The hinges were cut out and labeled for each spot and used to exactly place the Tee nuts. One side of the hinge is glassed onto the fuselage. The bulkhead covers are shown.
Movement prevention:
The border area of the seat back above the notch for the handle has an embedded metal rod (3") with some UND reinforcemnet to secure the handle.
The seat back has an added wedge of glassed over blue foam to limit the rotation of the "flap". This also supports the seat back to keep it from resting on the pivot rod.
Construction:
The "flap" is a glassed piece of 3/8" foam with flox reinforcements around the 4" long 1/4" carriage bolts that are inserted through the 5/8th inch 2024 alum. tubing. The "flap" runs along the back of the seatback to within about an inch of the border.
The rod is 5/8" 2024 alum. (AS # 03-332000) and runs past the width of the seats.
The rod mounts/hinges are simple in design and in, but it is two pieces. The piece that the rod goes into is 2024 1/4th" alum. and sits on the surface of the fuselage seat back. I used the same drilling technique as for the wing mount bushings to drill these holes (ch. 19). The end cap (second) piece is 1/8th" 2024 alum. and has two 1/4" bolts that embed in flox in the fuselage seat back with a UND reinforcement. I made these 2.5 inches long and had 1/2 inch of the endcap piece extend down into the fuselage back rest. I put some washers between the end cap and the 1/4" piece to add some distance for the pivot rod to be locked in to the bracket. You want to keep the pivot rod as close to the fuselage back rest as possible, even if you have to trim out where the carriage bolt heads rotate and add some flox in the depressions.
Above, I referred to the small rod reinforcemnt of the seatback edge above the notch. The handle is two pieces of 15 ply hardpoint scrap, from the FHC work, sandwiched around the carriage bolt with flox between the two sides. The flat side faces the seat edge. You just tape it together with masking tape and let cure. Then you round the edges.
The final pictures will be posted later, in May of 2010. I will give the final length of the "flap" and handle then. I tackled the wheel pants while the fuselage is flipped over and so the adjustable seats are incomplete.