CUTTING OUT THE STALL WARNING ACCESS HATCH
I had previously mentioned my desire to use both AOA and the stall warning system designed by Van’s. I will get to the AOA system soon enough, but today is about the stall warning system. The first step is to line up the receiver piece that will accept the cover plate for the stall warning access hatch. I will admit that at this point I had my first hesitation on proceeding with the stall warning system. The idea of cutting into the skins of my beautiful new QB wings gave me pause. Then I remembered all of the things that I have already done to my plane and all that lie ahead and somehow it just made sense. Move on!
The alignment here is not overly critical. Just keep it far enough away from the leading edge, but close enough that it serves the purpose of being able to access the stall warning system and you’ll be fine.
RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB
I have said this before and do not feel the least bit bad saying it again: having the right tools makes all the difference. I will admit to being fairly green with metal working prior to starting my plane. My learning curve was steep, but highly effective. I truly enjoy all of the metal work on this plane, especially when I am using the right tools for the job. Here, we are asked to cut out the access panel from an already riveted piece of wing skin. Outside of drilling the four corners to ensure rounded edges, there are a few ways to go from here. A Dremel would work fine. I have nothing against this at all. But here is what I used and found to create superior results for me personally compared with a smaller Dremel.
I used a nibbler and an air grinder, both tools from Ingersoll Rand. I’ll admit that my wife works here and I was able to get some pretty incredible tools like this at almost no cost. That helps. The nibbler was amazing. Once I practiced on a few sheets of basic aluminum scrap, I was incredibly accurate with it and it created fantastic lines. Here are the results.
I still need to polish some corners but this is a rough finish picture. I’m quite pleased.
- Total time today – 1 hour
- Total time wings – 13.5 hours
- Total time aircraft – 221.5 hours