JUAN RIVERA HELICYCLE BUILDER LOG #2 INSTRUMENT PANELS

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1 May, 2018 NOTE: I installed these panels in another ship, so they are no longer part of the kit. All of the custom Uma instruments are available for sale separately from me. I can supply the AutoCAD.DWG design files should you desire. This kit does come with the Rotor RPM alarm processor board as well as the CAS circuit board. No lights, switches, or circuit breakers are included. I can supply a bill of materials for this project that contains all of the necessary part numbers. No avionics are included. ===================================================================================== 22 August, 2015 There have been some slight changes since I wrote this one year ago. The CAS board has been revised, but it is still located in the same position on my side plate. It now mounts with three standpffs instead of two. Page-4 shows the Rotor Alarm Processor board mounted on top of the radios. It is now on the opposite side from the CAS board. It s shown correctly on pages 10 thru August, 2014 I ve been working on the layout and configuration of my new instrument panels since before I sold my first Helicycle. This new one is going to have a number of major enhancements: 1) Custom UMA indicators tailored to the Helicycle a. Most indicators have at least one limit alarm b. I ll be using some 1-1/4 indicators for the first time c. No more stick-on Vinyl colored arcs the UMA indicator arcs are silk screened. 2) The rotor RPM alarm will remain as before 3) Doug s dual stepping motor tach also remains as before 4) No Red Lion engine tach (not necessary with Doug s tach and my rotor rpm alarm) 5) I m adding seven alarm indicator lights 6) I ll be monitoring sixteen engine and transmission parameters that will trigger the alarm lights and also latch a very bright Master Warning Annunciator at the top of the panel 7) I am switching from the Icom VHF transceiver I used previously to the Garmin GTR 200 which is slightly thinner and has a few new features. 8) No more stick-on labels for the circuit breakers, switches or warning lights These panels will be laser-engraved. First the panels are cut, then laser-engraved, then painted, then the engraving is filled in with gloss white. The result will be high contrast labels that will not rub off since the paint is below the surface. 9) The lower panel is counter-bored on the back side to accept the indexing tabs on the switches and circuit breakers to keep them from rotating August, 2015 Page 1

2 28 November Well, four months later and here s the first prototype upper panel populated with my customized UMA instruments. The panel itself is painted a non-reflective gray and the lettering is laser engraved and filled with white paint. Below is a closer view of the small indicators and warning lights August, 2015 Page 2

3 16 May, 2015 Here s a comparison between my first lower panel and the ones I m making now. I ve made several changes; some are obvious like a change to my custom Helicycle instruments, and some are less obvious. I used a very expensive label maker at work to make the Mylar labels on my first ship, and I was very pleased with them at least for a while But compare those with the laser-engraved labels on the new panel. There is no comparison. In less than ideal light you can t read my old labels, and sitting next to the engraved ones they look pretty lame. I ve also found a supply of non-reflective black nuts for the switches to eliminate a small source of glint. All the light-colored metal on the Honeywell switches have a satin matte texture, so only the glass on the indicators remains as a potential source of glint. I ve also gone to a slightly darker shade of gray for the panel, and it is also a satin matte. If you look closely you ll see an error on the new panel. Its scrap but serves to illustrate the improvements I ve made since my first panels. Now back to my original write-up 22 August, 2015 Page 3

4 to read the manual yet. 28 November, After checking out the UMA indicators I set them aside. Two sets of Garmin avionics arrived and here is a look at the business end. Notice that the GTR 200 VHF radio at the top has a micro-sd slot. It s used to update the firmware. It may have other uses but I haven t had time There s a lot of work to be done on the back side. The individual radio trays need to be captured and secured to the panel with side brackets as you see here, and I need to make a top cover to mount the Rotor RPM Alarm processor, the Static Manifold and the three Bus Modules. The Master Warning Annunciator logic module mounts on one side and the Blind Altimeter on the other. I used a small combination sheet metal shear and brake to bend the ears on the side brackets but it wasn t up to the job. On top of that, I made the brackets you see here out of T6 because that s what I had, but it ss too thin and too brittle for the tight bend I need to make and I can t afford a fatague crack in those two brackets because they support the radios and the radios have a fairly big moment arm since the CG is about four inches back from the mounting ears. I ll have to scrap all six of the brackets I made and start over with No local dealer had any of this alloy so I had to order it on-line. Once it arrives I ll start over. Meanwhile, I need a bigger shear and brake 22 August, 2015 Page 4

5 OK After hefting this three hundred pound bad boy up on my banch I m well on my way to solving one of my problems. It s made in China and has some weak points, but they can be fized. The first one was a guide on the sheer that was off by several degrees and it was only about two inches long, so it wouldn t be of any use with short pieces. I whipped this guide out on my Chinese mill and dialed it in with a Chinees square. Is there a common thread running through this project? My new guide is spot-on and runs all the way to the blades. Now I can cut and bend material up to thirty inches wide and I can also work with thicker material. This will allow me to make all the bracketry myself in my shop and not have to farm it out. That s a huge improvement. You have to have the proper tools for the job August, 2015 Page 5

6 Meanwhile I ve been laying out the mounting holes for both sides and the top plate. Here s the side of the bracket that will mount the Master Warning Annunciator logic unit. I have to drill fourteen holes in this one eleven on the side and three on the mounting ear, and they all have to line up. Getting to this point has taken three full days so far and I m now four hundred dollars lighter thanks to the combo shear and brake August, 2015 Page 6

7 Here s those Deutsch Bus modules. I ll be using these on both the upper and lower panels. You can see on my lower panel schematic how I ll be busing forty wires in a very tight space. You could do the same thing with rows of terminal strips and lots of ring terminals but this whole assembly with five modules is just over one inch long. These modules are good enough for the Lockheed U2, so they should be ok for the Helicycle! There is just one catch You re looking at over $200 worth the parts. Obviously this is not for everyone but this is the last Helicycle I will ever build and I want to make it as good as I possibly can August, 2015 Page 7

8 Here s the top of my first lower instrument panel that used the stock factory instruments: 1) Fuel Quantity 2) Volts/Amps And here is the current design using UMA 270 degree air core movements and the small 1-1/4 voltmeter and ammeter. Notice how much easier the UMA indicators are to read with the wider sweep and large, bright needles and larger numbers. The voltmeter has two alarm outputs Less than 11.0 volts and more than 15.0 volts. Either condition will trigger an alarm light and the Master Warning Annunciator at the top of the upper panel. 4 Aug, 2014 The Helicycles.Org sheet metal shop is finally cranking out product! Here s one of the side panel sides for the three instrument panel sets I m making. These are.061 thick and 5052 alloy which is much more bendable. I m comfortable trusting these panels to support the avionic stack with no rear support. I m also going to beef up the instrument panel thickness as well August, 2015 Page 8

9 Here s one of those sides temporarily attached to the radio trays with the Master Warning Annunciator logic unit in place. Of course I ll use locking nuts for the final install. I still have five more holes to match-drill three on the ear to secure it to the upper panel and two to secure the top plate which I haven t gotten to yet. Those two and the screws securing the two stand-offs are countersunk so the heads are flush on the back side and don t interfere with the radio trays. As you may have noticed, I ll have to move a few lights to clear the ears on the side panels and give the GTR 200 a bit more room. I also have to make sure that the front panel mounting hardware that secures the side panel ears doesn t interfere with the hardware that secured the panel to the radio trays. I ll have seven screws in that small area. That s it for today. I need to design the other side and the top and then fabricate three sets. Once all that s done I can start thinking about wiring harness fabrication and routing. Actually, I have to do that as I m laying out the sheet metal and locating all the bits and pieces that mount back here. I don t want to paint myself into a corner! 22 August, 2015 Page 9

10 5 August, 2014 This morning at 8:00 I headed across town to my second choice metal supplier and picked up a big sheet of sheet. I tossed out all the brackets I spend the last day making and started over. A few of the screw hole locations were not quite right. This time I cut up eight blanks for my avionics stack side pieces. I ve got my technique down now so it only took me a few hours to fabricate three new sets of brackets for the right side. Then I finished off the design of the left side and made three of those as well. Here s the other side bracket with the Rotor RPM Alarm processor board and the rail for the three bus modules sitting beside the equipment. I have the top plate design almost completed and that s where the static air manifold and the blind altimeter will mount as you see in this picture. I had to rearrange things from my earlier layout on page-5 to clear the screws that attach the side panels, provide a clear path for the cables, and allow access to the thumb screw that secured the blind altimeter to its mounting shoe August, 2015 Page 10

11 The top plate will have a lip on both sides and mount to the sides with four countersunk flathead screws two on each side. Once I have that piece sitting where I want it I ll scribe the side plate screw locations through the holes in the top plate lips. That will be much easier than trying to calculate those locations (I m getting tired of remaking the same pieces over and over!) I ll do the same thing with the six mounting holes in the front. That will guarantee that all the holes line up with each other. 6 August Today I finished the first top panel. Everything fits and I m almost ready to replace all the temporary hardware with locking hardware. But before I can do that I need to switch to the instrument panels. I need them all completed with powder coating and engraving. Then I can mark the exact location of the six mounting holes in the two front tabs and scribe them through the front panel holes. That will insure that everything lines up perfectly. Each one of these three pieces has ended up taking a full day to create. That s because I had to lay out the design and locate all the various holes and bends exactly. Now I have a full set of engineering drawings and I can crank out more pieces much faster. This design / prototype/ test phase is lumped under NRE Non-recurring Engineering. If I was trying to make any money on this project I d have to spread the three day labor cost across the project and add a portion to each order. As it is, the time required to acquire the materials, cut the sheet metal to the exact size I need, drill, debur, and countersink the holes, and then make the bends is substantial. Doing three of these panels is turning into a full-time job. It s a good thing I like this type of work and have the time to do it! 22 August, 2015 Page 11

12 Here s a view from the other side. When you include the two trays themselves this is a fairly complex assembly. Without that combination sheet metal sheer and brake I simply couldn t do this work and I d have to farm it out. I think the cost of doing that for three sets would have cost me at least as much as the tool and I d still be waiting to get my jobs back. That route would also eliminate the prototype and test pieces I did to refine my dimensions so I d probably have ended up having a few bad parts that would run the cost up even more. 8 August - Oh oh Do you notice anything wrong with this picture? The ACK blind altimeter s static line is directly in front of the connector for the engine oil temperature indicator. I d just assembled everything so I could plan my cable routing and now I have to tear it all apart again and design and fabricate another top cover. That will keep me busy for the rest of the day August, 2015 Page 12

13 8 August evening Here s the sheet metal work as it sits one week after I started this project. I still have three very small changes to make that will make it a little easier to assemble, but this is essentially complete. Other than the indicator light assemblies, all the active circuitry is now assembled and in this picture. Everything can be accessed and all the connectors are clear of obstructions. The new top cover is longer and allowed me to move the static manifold back and also relocate the ACK blind altimeter farther from the rear of the indicators and offset from their connectors. I won t know the final cable harness routing until I actually make the harness. Then I ll have to tear everything apart again to add some cable clamps, but this first avionics assembly is just about done mechanically. I may replace one of these hose fitting with a 90-degree fitting, but that s about it August, 2015 Page 13

14 14 August I ve got three sets of brand new Garmin avionics on the table now. I have a few minor things to finish off and then it s time to move to the actual instrument panel fabrication. The upper panels will all look like the one in the middle and the lower ones will all look like the one on the right, except they will be powder coated and all the labels will be engraved. The three Interface Chassis are in the front and I m also about ready to start on those, but I ll leave that project until the panels are wired. I m thinking of making a panel test box that I could plug the cables into and check out all the components. Eventually I ll also make smaller test boxes to simulate the temperature and pressure sensors. That way I can verify the wiring at each step, all the way to the end of the ship s main cable harness. I ve actually gotten a lot done in two or three weeks. I ll be switching from working in my shop on this project to doing some consulting work for a few weeks, so I probably won t add much to this for a while. Juan 22 August, 2015 Page 14