Balancemaster Dynamic Balancer installed. Lower cowl ramp tweaked.

My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas and then she told me to order it.  The Balancemaster product was purchased through Aeroperformance/Aircraft Spruce.   This continuous dynamic balancer is rather pricey but it's only a little more than what I'd be charged to for my neighbor to balance the prop once.   Three out of four reviews were good and it comes with a 100 day money back guarantee.  With tax and shipping, was over $400.  https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/lycengblnc1.php?clickkey=8325   

Link to Balancemasters web site:

https://www.balancemasters.com/

This is supposed to fit Lycoming engines behind the prop, in front of the ring gear.  I tried putting it on one way but didn't seem to fit quite right so flipped it around and could see that the Superior ring gear is apparently a little larger.  Based on watching Mike Arnold videos, I'm guessing that this isn't going to have much effect on airflow since the outer diameter is a bit smaller than the ring gear.   There's videos on the Balancemasters web site showing the balancer flipped the other direction, so it should be good.  Rain is forecast tomorrow so might be a couple days before I can test.

The diameter of the balancer is a bit smaller than the Superior ring gear apparently.

I torqued the Saber extension bolts to 50 ft. lbs. and safety wired them.

I tweaked on the lower baffling again.  The #1 & 3 CHT's are within 5%.  The #2 & #4 were within 10% so I added a little piece of glass to divert more air to #4.  The pour foam has made a mess of the lower cowl but I'll clean this up good and make it pretty again.

Frank Bibbee and Vance Atkinson stopped by.

Trip Report - Auburn KAUO - Thanksgiving 2023

We took off from T67 (Hicks/FTW) Wednesday a little after 0800.  Called KAFW (Alliance FTW) to transition to the East, under Bravo, then headed direct to Minden LA at 7500' for our first stop.  We landed with about 25 gallons so added 8 gallons to give us an extra hour of reserve.  When I'm not doing flight following, I tune up the CTAF of the larger airports as we transit their areas so when Jackson was calling us (unknown AC) out to other traffic, I requested flight following and later got handed off about 5 times and with the exception of Memphis and Atlanta, were fairly quiet.  I got a short GoPro video near Jackson but the battery didn't last long.  

The weather was forecast to be broken near Montgomery but as we got near, the cloud deck below was getting more solid and holes more sparse.  I could make out some water/rivers through some of the holes that were Northeast of Auburn so called Approach to terminate FF and maintained VFR when we were well clear of Montgomery.  I diverted over to one of the cloud canyons and descended under the clouds.  The weather reporting at AUO had been malfunctioning but the Unicom had a jet announce landing on RWY 29.  As I neared the airport, a Citation reported a 5 mile base for 36.  I called that I'd extend my downwind for 36, he thanked me and we followed them in.  I sort of regretted that as there was a bit of turbulence on final.  We slowed and I braked enough that we exited on C.  We taxied to the terminal and were parked in about the same spot as last time with 8 gallons left in the tanks.  We chatted with the line guy about what traffic was going to be like with the Alabama/Auburn football game on Saturday and he confirmed that it gets very busy.  We advised we'd probably be leaving early Saturday due to forecast weather in FTW (rain).  The wind was bumping the rudders so it reminded me to put gust locks on and the exhaust plugs in.  My son helped put the cover on.  And I found later that I left the buss switch on (to raise the landing brake) which powers a relay...and almost drained the battery.  20 gallons of fuel were added.

We enjoyed time with our son & family who fixed a huge Thanksgiving dinner and hosted several dozen relatives.  The weather was great but a bit chilly.

Friday evening some social media posts regarding the airport were made and a temporary NOTAM advised one of the runways would be closed to park aircraft and that a control tower and ground control would be active at 1030.   The forecast weather was still predicting rain in the FTW area Saturday afternoon with ceilings becoming lower.

We got to the airport a little before 0800 and my wife took care of the ramp fee and fuel while my son and I preflighted.  I discovered that I'd left the switch on but the battery wasn't dead yet.  I went ahead and tried a few start cycles but the battery went into protection mode after the third attempt.  My son got jumper cables and the line guys brought a truck over to jump with.  It only took a few minutes to boost the battery and the engine fired up.   I left the nose down and the engine idling to warm up with ambient temp a little above 40F.  I showed my wife how to kill the engine if necessary while I went back in to use the restroom one more time.  My wife climbed into the back and I raised the nose before climbing in.  The oil temp was over 100 now and the amperage was indicating the battery was taking a charge.  I dialed up Montgomery approach and the Unicom before taxiing.  After taking off and calling that I was turning downwind at Auburn, Montgomery approach called my tail number and asked my request....ooops....I was transmitting on Approach.  Oh well...I requested Flight Following to KTVR Vicksburg Tallulah @ 8500.   After passing Montgomery, we descended to 6500 for less headwind.  Fuel burn was a bit higher at the lower altitude.  There's some long stretches of heavily forested areas below and occasionally an Interstate or other roads are visible.  ADS-B wasn't showing much other traffic (filtered to 15 NM/+/- 3500') except when near towered airports.  While en route, KTVR had gone MVFR with haze.  The alternate airport nearby to the south was VFR.  Visibility to the ground as we got further west had dropped to about 20 miles due to haze.  KTVR's ASOS was reporting improved 6 mile visibility and the airport could be seen when I was within 20 miles so discontinued flight following.  We landed and were greeted by a lineman who mentioned my transmit audio was "scratchy".  It's probably because my microphone is to far from my mouth again.  

We got 20 gallons of fuel, took off and requested flight following to T67.  I wasn't sure if  I'd be up to getting entangled with the DFW Class B traffic but it would make the trip shorter if we could get clearance to go direct.   As we passed Monroe, I thought of Paul Roberts and got a quick video of the airport.   As we neared Shreveport, traffic advisories became more frequent and the light cloud layer seemed to be getting lower.  Less than 10 miles from Class B, FTW Center handed me off to a different frequency than I expected, where the controller was in auctioneer mode.  He cleared me into Class B and soon vectored us lower, eventually terminating flight following when we were at 2500 just south of KAFW.   It was 1 PM when we unloaded the plane and was showing 8 gallons remaining.  I did get a few photos of Love Field and DFW. Click on them for a larger image.

Dallas Love Field

Let the fun begin.  Entering DFW Bravo.

After we landed, I got a text from Paul that he'd seen us fly over Monroe!  https://youtube.com/shorts/qS3g4L4JgpI?si=eJ5kcmlpB595JkHA

We unloaded the plane and got a late lunch.  Some items were added to the squawk list.  My wife complained that the rear seat belt attachment was digging into her hip.  I'd heard a squeal that I think is whistle from the canard cover not sealing as well after adding a second Dynon back up battery.  I also want to add an audible warning to alert me when I leave the buss switch on and the engine is not running.  The canopy's (magnetic door switch) contacts seem to bounce when taxiing (and the latch is barely touching the "locked" contact) so I may need to change that to something more robust.  There's a few Dynon configuration items I need to look at as well such as the glide ring not displaying when zoomed out and some other autopilot/Nav settings.  I suspect that when the EarthX battery is charged, it's not smoothing out the electrical noise so either I need to add a lead acid battery or a filter to smooth out the noise...or both.  It would be nice to have a built in boost battery for jump starting or extending endurance should the alternator fail.

11/18/23 Crappy weather=more maintenance

 11/18/23  The sun is finally shining again this morning after having some foggy overcast days.  The weather forecasts were off the mark a bit.  We cancelled a trip to go watch the new SpaceX rocket launch at Boca Chica due weather and other circumstances.  The launch was delayed until Saturday morning.  Maybe we can catch the next one. 

I checked back through log entries and see that the spark plugs had last been replaced in June which was over 100 hours ago.   On my task list was to tweak the fuel settings down a bit and I'd found that the B ECU's mid RPM range values weren't matching the A ECU.  I'm not sure how that happened but am guessing I got interrupted mid-task.  I need to close my hangar door to avoid interruptions when I'm working on tedious tasks.  I reviewed the SDS documents on operation and need to start using the LOP button and get the fuel and timing dialed in for x-country cruising.

EFIS data is showing about a 10% delta on the CHT's.  I'd paused the initiative to get them closer so will attempt to get the balance a little closer.  I'm having to sift through my notes for when and what tweaks I'd made to the lower ramps and now wish I'd added notes to the Savvy flight data.  

The head of a cowl screw stripped so I cut a slot with the Dremel and removed it with a flathead.  Guess it's time for a new batch of screws.

The alternator belt seemed awfully loose even though I'd tightened it recently.  An internet search returned Lycoming SI 1129D and explained how to check the belt tightness.

https://www.lycoming.com/sites/default/files/attachments/SI1129D%2520Alternator%2520Belt%2520Tension%252C%2520Methods%2520of%2520Checking.pdf

Friend made a video

 

My friends finally got to go for a ride in the plane they watched me build.  Karen ran the cameras.  Don got to fly and play with the avionics. 

Wheel shimmy and continuing ARINC module going off line

On the task list today:

Check main wheel shimmy source...suspect when I aired the tire up recently that one of the ceramic beads kept the valve stem open and let the air out, flattening the tire and it displaced the tire bead on the rim.  I quickly aired it back up.  Anyway,  I'll jack it up, let the air out, maybe compress the side walls with clamps and then air them back up.  Probably should order new tires and tubes.  On a side note, the new nose tire and lubricated castor bearing has resulted in quieter castoring (no more groaning sounds), but the ride seems to be a bit stiffer when hitting bumps on the taxiway.  Additional note - I'd aired the mains up to 60 psi and found they probably should be at 50 psi.  I replaced one of the filtering valve stems to get the ceramic beads out of it. Update - shimmy is greatly reduced now after setting the pressure to 50 psi in the mains.

The ARINC 429 module is still going off line occasionally and a couple other anomalies at boot or take off.  I'll check power connections that were possibly overlooked (terminal strips under the pilot seat and at the VPX).  Also will see if I have any large filter capacitors in my stock to put near the connector for the transponder, suspecting dirty power is the culprit.  Additional note - found two connectors on the back of the pilot side panel each had the bottom screws loosened on the 15 pin and 37 pin connectors.  Wish these were clips instead of screws. Update - the ARINC module is now staying on line, so apparently the loose connectors on the back of the PFD were the culprit.  I also added a filter capacitor at the essential buss to reduce alternator whine/noise.

SDS had posted some notices, one of which was corrosion on aluminum coil terminals, so will check them and apply dielectric grease. - Update - Found the coil boss inserts were loose and the coil was becoming loose despite the bolts were tight.  I followed the SDS Service Bulletin instructions to resolve that.   There was no corrosion on the posts. 

Relocate pilot and copilot head set jack panels to the strakes near the control sticks.

Pilot side PTT was getting intermittent.  Emailed Tosten and he's sending a new circuit board for the PTT.

Dynon released new software version 16.6.0.10546.  I read the release notes and upgraded the system.  The pilot side panel's fans spun up when upgrading and were growling some.  The copilot side was fine. Need to check into getting new fans.  Update - noticed I was seeing a lot more ADSB targets.  Also, near RPH, saw "Partial ADS-B" which was new.

I'd replaced the bottom plugs but after flying to RPH, getting fuel, the engine still started a bit rough. I just got a new set of plugs, so changed the top plugs too and noticed that the #2 plug that I'd pulled last week didn't look the same as the other plugs, apparently because the gasket wasn't sealing good despite it was torqued to 19 ft. lbs.  

#2 top plug base indicates the gasket wasn't sealing good after the plug was reinstalled.

I found a couple other minor items that I'll address tomorrow.

Thomson Electro-Hydraulic Actuator info

Looking at replacements for the satellite actuator used for the nose gear:

 https://www.thomsonlinear.com/downloads/actuators/H-Track_bruk.pdf

https://www.thomsonlinear.com/downloads/actuators/H-Track_bren.pdf

An email exchange with a Thompson engineer about the H-Track resulted in this model as a possible  replacement:  https://www.thomsonlinear.com/en/product/H2H-12-2A22-A-08

This flap positioning system from Showplanes may work to replace the roller microswitches:

https://showplanes.com/Category/Flap-Position

Bob Morgan is building a LongEZ and has a presentation on implementation of the electro-hydraulic system with a drag link and mountain bike shock absorber:   

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ko-oGt7l-oznDj-59RlTeDmcSS4XT5yv/view?usp=sharing

Pulled from an email from Thomson:

When it comes to advanced actuator technologies, Thomson has been at the forefront for more than 50 years. That same pioneering spirit exists today amongst our engineers, resulting in breakthrough features and benefits driven by the needs of our customers. To further enhance our offerings and simplify the conversion from hydraulic systems to electric actuators, a groundbreaking set of benefits are driving our latest developments.

FORCE FEEDBACK For payload-sensing and controlled clamping force applications, Thomson electric actuators can sense an overload event to prevent system damage, push or pull with a predetermined, controlled force level and act as a scale by providing load measurements. MOTOR/DRIVE/CONTROL & REGEN For mobile, battery operated applications, regen circuits feed energy back into the battery to extend time between changes, providing more uptime. An integrated motion controller and drive simplify system design and save engineering time, while enabling diagnostics, condition monitoring and bus communication.

POWER DENSITY For applications with limited space, zero tolerance for leaks or high accuracy requirements, our actuators are suitable drop-in replacements for hydraulic systems, providing efficient weight and space benefits. SHOCK DAMPENING For vehicles on rough terrain or applications with impact loads, the actuator's ability to dampen shocks helps avoid breakage of structural machine parts, eliminates bouncing and extends its own service life.

Baffling cracks

 At about 150 hours of flight time, 125 Tach.  After returning from formation flying found a couple of cracked pieces of baffle off the #1 and #4 cylinders.  The metal is .032" 2024.   I removed the broken pieces and will see if there's much effect on CHT's.   These parts were cut per plans.  -Update....I think the broken baffles should have been on the outside, not pinched by the screw.  I made new baffles but this time made a lip so the edge clears the screw where the crack occurred and stiffens the part.  A bead of RTV was applied to reduce fretting. 

The new baffle's edge was folded upward to clear the screw and stiffen where it previously broke.

 

The right cylinder baffle clears the 1/4" screw.  A bead of RTV should help reduce fretting.

Post flight maintenance 11/7/2023

 A variety of items are cropping up that need attention:
ARIN-429 module, rough running at start up, worn nose tire, relocate headset jacks for pilot/copilot. Found some cracks in baffling - details here:  https://cozy1537.blogspot.com/2023/11/baffling-cracks.html

   

Recently the ARINC429 module was replaced but it seems the transponder was contributing to it going off line.   The coax and connectors for the transponder appear to be good and check good with a meter.  I don't have the TNC adapter to connect to the NanoVNA to see what that looks like though.  There is a BNC connector on the antenna that the Nano will connect to.   Some ferrite beads will be installed on the cables near the antenna to further reduce any stray noise.  Also suspect the annular slot antenna needs a better ground plane.  During Phase I, there was ballast piled around the front of the nose and it has all been moved into the nose.

Thursday evening, Dynon had sent an email alerting of a safety of flight issue with the Auto Pilot panel made 2017 and earlier.  I powered the display up, went into network mode to get the serial number and found it was not an affected unit.  

One of the safety pilots works with avionics a lot and recommended I start the engine with the avionics off, turn on the alternator field, then power up the avionics.  He said that modern avionics are supposed to handle the voltage fluctuations, but after starting the engine, the current and voltages can spike quite a bit.  The downside to doing this is that I cant read my fuel pressure or oil pressure when the engine starts.  I suppose I could boot one display, turn on the fuel pump, then turn the display off while starting.   I'll consult with Dynon support.  It may be with the back up batteries for the displays, they'll help filter the power so may not be an issue.

On Friday morning when starting the engine for the 4th formation flight, the fuel pressure was reading 80 lbs.  I told the safety pilot this wasn't normal so we climbed into his RV7 to do the flight.  Saturday, I pulled the cowls and battery cover.  The ground at the battery was slightly loose and also the positive on the master was slightly loose.  Some of the smaller ground wire screws on a terminal strip in the hell hole took about 1/8 turn.  A test run was good and the cowls were put back on.  I taxied over to the self serve fuel and returned without trouble, shut down and later came back, restarted and the engine was loping and missing terribly.  I pulled the cowls off again, borrowed a spark plug wrench and looked at the top #2 plug.   It looked like it had been pretty wet so suspect the plugs weren't pristine, engine is running a bit rich at lower power settings doing formation flights.  I put the plug back in, did a full power run long enough that the oil had warmed to 200.  It was running fine.  I consulted with several folks about whether it was safe to fly home and I felt it was. 

The nose wheel tire tread has worn down quite a bit on this trip so will probably put a new tire on that is setting on the shelf.  I need to fix the foot on the nose gear too, it's been bent since before OSH when I landed with the gear not completely down.  Mine takes 20 seconds to lower, so the gear needs to come down when entering downwind, not base/final....

 

The "new" tire that's been setting on the shelf awhile.

The old Kenda tire.

Fuel filter debris at 150 TT, 70 hours since cleaned last.

The Kenda tire with about 170 landings.

Formation Flight Training at EFD 11/2/2023-11/5/2023

Here's the link to the formation clinic info which has additional links to the FFI's documentation:

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/e/2PACX-1vS4PqgR6T6EDhVn6Ybw7pfy3E_5cjjrhk3YWHT1J5P6BFwHLQ3Cm6DaFf0BlyWe3-jwHy8GlLl9Q0G_/pub?mibextid=S66gvF&pli=1 

Jay Van Every out of Cleburn (CPT) had the opportunity to put some hours on a friend's LEZ so he met me enroute to Ellington (EFD) where the formation clinic was being held.  We planned our arrival for 10:30.   Jay practiced station keeping, crossing under and trail while I led.  Jay was having some avionics issues so was relying on me to navigate and communicate.  We went direct to Cleveland (Northeast of Houston) and dropped under the Class B shelf, then South.  About 25 miles from Ellington I radioed the CT we were an inbound flight of two and position from the nearest airport.  They assigned a squawk code and asked for my location from Ellington which was now about 20 miles NE.  They identified us and confirmed only the lead should squawk.   About ten miles out,  another voice from the tower assigned a new code and advised to report several miles down wind for 17L.  Then as we were nearing closer, a third new voice f rom the tower advised to fly direct to the end of 17L and she'd call our base.  Before we reached the end of the runway, she advised "when able, turn base".  I reduced power, lowered the gear and did an OSH type landing on the 9000' runway with Jay.  We managed to find taxiway Kilo despite it not being marked, taxied to the museum and saw some canards parked already.  When we shut down, Jay said, "THAT LANDING WAS AWESOME!"

Jay & me on the way to KEFD.

Not long after we had parked, Troy Chaddon from Oklahoma taxied a LongEZ in.  

We met Jerry Scott with the museum, Richard Sessions the event coordinator, volunteers (Darlene & Jordan) as well as Scott, a Cozy III builder.

Ryzard Zadow had acquired help from some very experienced folks with a variety of aircraft and planned a four ship demonstration with us newbies riding along to get a picture of what we're striving to achieve.  A LongEZ was lead, with a T-18 as #2, T-34 and RV7 as #3 & #4.  I got to ride in "Bloke's" T-18 Thorpe which was awesome because I'd entertained buying one to fly while I was building.  I was briefly given the stick but tended to overcontrol and started oscillating the pitch.  Yep.  I'm a newbie.   

We debriefed, had lunch and then briefed on doing two ship flights with the ships from the 4 ship flight being lead and carrying observers.  We completed several two ship flights Thursday afternoon.  On my first flight, Bloke was my safety instructor riding in my plane.  On another, Ryz was in the right seat.  I think I was doing better at not over controlling the throttle and pitch but was still to conservative and taking to long to rejoin.  On the first section take off with the T-18 in the lead, I over modulated the throttle right at about rotation and when the T-18 went airborne, we shot ahead as we quickly gained speed when we went airborne.  Ryz called "we were lead" and we coordinated a rejoin.  When we briefed for the next flight, Rodney and Bloke agreed a higher RPM on take off for the RV7 would be good.  With the previous experience, I did better at matching power this time. 

Dynon emailed a bulletin on the Autopilot panel that was classified as a safety of flight issue that showed up in my mail box Thursday evening.  Friday morning, I advised Ryz that I needed to check the serial # before flight and fortunately the serial number was in between affected units.  

Several of us had trouble hearing the tower and I found that I needed to open the squelch on tower frequency when we were at taxiway B.

On Saturday, Rodney was to be my right seater but the Cozy's fuel pressure was reading 80 PSI, which is double what it usually reads.  "This isn't normal...I'm not comfortable taking this on a flight."  Rodney agreed and quickly said we'd take his RV instead.  Flights continued but Saturday afternoon I opted to pull the cowls and work on my plane.  I found a bolt on the large ground cable a smidge loose and one of the positives on the master was a touch loose.  I checked the ground terminal strips in the hell hole and engine bay as well.  Some of the small ground wires on the pilot side terminal strip needed tightened a tiny bit.  Jordan & Richard came over and looked the engine over and took some photos.  I taxied over for fuel and saw the Super Guppy doing touch and goes.  On a subsequent engine start, the engine was acting like the plugs were really fouled.  The cowls came off again a spark plug didn't look bad, but like it had been wet.  The plugs are apparently fouling during the richer start cycle.  A full power test run seemed to be okay so put the cowls back on and chatted with others about if it was safe to fly home.  I was pretty confident after starting, the engine would run fine but I'd need to put new plugs in and tweak the fuel map a bit leaner.

Sunday, Jay & I departed after another formation flight was completed.  We reversed our flight path, so flew to Cleveland, then turned to Cleburn with me squawking 1203 and making advisory calls along the route.  Jay practiced station keeping, finger tip, cross under and trail positions with our KIAS at about 130 and later a little faster after we'd climbed up to 6500.  

We descended to TPA at CPT, did an inspection pass down 15, then right break but I continued North and Jay landed.  I switched the squawk code to 1200, called Meachum for transition clearance to Hicks.  The pattern wasn't busy with a bit of a x-wind out of the West.  

Ryz wanted to know that we'd made it home so I texted Jay first and asked him to text Ryz.  I thought Jay may want to let him know that he'd gotten another hour of practice.

It's nice to be home.