Door Locks (Part 1)

My door lock saga starts with Aircraft Spruce and the initial ordering of my locks. When I was finishing up my doors I ended up ordering both a combo ignition switch with two door locks as well as two additional locks. The theory was that I would key both of the doors with the same key and both the baggage door and ignition switch with another key. Not that these keys stop anything but it is always nice to be able to have the option of giving someone a key that will let them into the plane but not start it.


Roll forward a year, and the plane is for the most part together. Post installation I never really used the locks as the plane is just sitting in the hangar. At this point though I had installed the Aerosport Products Baggage Door. One of the things that is partly nice, and partly really annoying about actually using the door strut is that you have to use the door lock to keep the door shut... (The default resting position of the door with the strut attached is wide open.) After looking around in one of the thousand places I would put the keys, I finally found them. When I went to try them though, they did not turn in the baggage door lock. One of my keys works perfectly fine the the ignition, one works perfectly fine in the doors, but the baggage door just does not turn. It feels like it wants to, but it just doesn't.



Long story short. I call Aircraft Spruce thinking I will order a new key. I thought about that though for a bit, and that may or may not solve the problem. Instead, I ask to PURCHASE a new lock to match my key that I know works in the ignition. That way I am assured that I have a good cylinder and even a spare. Not a big deal. These things are 50 dollars, so it is a little annoying because we are talking about probably a 7 dollar cam lock, but whatever. Now mind you, there are absolutely no markings on these locks. Nothing on the key under the boot, nothing on the lock. These have 0 identification markings.

The issue is that a week later I get a call from Aircraft Spruce that is a drop ship item from the vendor (which I had already discussed with them). Not that big of a deal because it was just a 15 dollar charge on top of the 49 dollar locks. Again, annoying, but in the grand scheme of things not horrible. Until a week later ACS called me again and said that the vendor had to special make this and it was not going to be $150 dollars just for the shipping.  Now we are to the point where I am annoyed. We are talking about a basic cam lock. Not even a good one. This is more a less a lock you would use to lock a cabinet door. In fact it is probably exactly that from one of those vendors, just without markings.

 

If you read the details about the locks themselves, these are "Made in America." That is great, I love stuff made in America. Actually I go out of my way to purchase things made in a America. I am not sure what part of America though it costs $150 to ship 2 door locks to Virginia, but I am assuming they hired an olympic swimmer in Hawaii to cross the ocean with my locks in tow. 

So begins my series on what is inside an ACS lock, what other types of cam locks are out there and suitable, and how to re-wafer these locks by yourself so we as a community do not continue this behavior.

Registration

The time has finally arrived to start getting the plane ready from a paperwork standpoint. This week I began the registration process. Well, in reality, I started this process about a month and a half ago, but one of the required documents (8050-2 Bill of Sale) on a kit plane requires a signature from Vans aircraft. With COVID-19 in full swing, it took a couple of weeks to get the required ink signature from the VANS CEO for the bill of sale.



The second thing that took a while was my reserved N-Number. I swear I renewed it, but apparently the tail number that I had reserved (and I thought renewed) was no longer in a reserved status. While not necessary to wait for this to come in, I wanted to ensure that I did have the tail number that I wanted (as I had already laser engraved my panel). This actually took 4 weeks to get through the system.

With the reserved N-Number, a completed 8050-1, a signed 8050-2 from Vans, and a notarized 8050-88 Affidavit of Ownership, I sealed up an envelop and sent it to the FAA. Now we wait.

RV-10 Service Bulletin Synopsis

SERVICE BULLETIN 19-09-09
Date Released: February 26, 2020
Date Effective: February 26, 2020
Subject: Cracking of RV-10 nose gear leg inboard attach lug
Affected Models: RV-10 flying aircraft and/or Finish Kits shipped prior to October 1, 2019 Required Action: Inspect the inboard attachment lugs of the WD-1017 Nose Landing Gear for cracks (see Figure 1). If cracks are discovered, replace the WD-1017 Nose Landing Gear with the WD-1017-1 Nose Landing Gear as described in this document. If no cracks are discovered, annual inspections are required. NOTE: This gear leg is heat treated. Welding as a method of repair is not approved.

SERVICE BULLETIN 18-05-21
Date Released: May 21, 2018
Date Effective: May 21, 2018
Subject: Proper installation of gauge plug in fuel spider.
Affected Models: All fuel injected Lycoming engine installations
Required Action: Check that a plug is properly installed in the fuel spider gauge port. Time of Compliance: Before further flight Supercedes Notice: None Labor Required / SLSA Warranty Allowance: .4 Hours (if applicable) Level of Certification: Not applicable Synopsis: Installations have been found in the field without a proper pipe plug installed in the fuel spider gauge port. Note new engines do not come with this plug installed.

SERVICE BULLETIN 18-03-30 
Date Released: March 30, 2018
Date Effective: March 30, 2018
Subject: Elevator stop inspection
Affected Models: RV-10 aircraft with empennage kits purchased after April 2012 Required Action: Inspect control system for jamming and proper elevator travel. Correct operation if necessary. Time of Compliance: Before further flight Supercedes
Notice: None Labor Required / SLSA Warranty Allowance: 0.3 Hours for the inspection 1.5 Hours if corrections are necessary Level of Certification: None Synopsis: In April 2012 the lower aft portion of the elevator horn was removed. See the trimmed face called out in Figure 1. This portion of the horn typically needs to be removed for use on most RV aircraft. The RV-10 does not require this trim. It has come to our attention that due to production tolerances it would be possible for the horn to jam against the up elevator control stop. This condition would also permit excessive elevator up travel. If either of these problems exist, the aft stop F-1012D Up Elevator Stop should be replaced.

SERVICE BULLETIN 16-03-28
Date Released: May 6, 2016
Date Effective: May 6, 2016
Affected Models: All RV-3, 4, 6/6A, 7/7A, 8/8A, 9/9A, 10, and 14/14A aircraft.
Subject: Cracking of wing aft spar web at the inboard aileron hinge bracket attach rivets. In addition, for RV-10 and RV-14/14A aircraft, there is a potential for cracking of the flange bends of the inboard aileron hinge brackets. Required Action: For RV-3/3A/3B, 4, 7/7A, 8/8A, 9/9A aircraft: Inspect for cracks as described in this document. If cracks are present in the spar web, stop drill the cracks and install aileron attach doublers as described in this service bulletin. For RV-10 and RV-14/14A aircraft: Inspect for cracks as described in this document. If cracks are found in the spar web or the inboard aileron brackets, stop drill the cracks in the spar web (if present), install aileron attach doublers, and replace the aileron hinge brackets with updated brackets. It is unlikely that RV-6/6A wings will be affected. If cracks are present in RV-6/6A aircraft, email Van’s Engineering Dept for instructions, with photos of the cracks, for a specific repair scheme. Contact Van’s Aircraft to obtain the parts needed to complete this modification for your specific model. See the SB kit part numbers at the end of this document.

SERVICE BULLETIN 14-12-22
Date Released: December 22nd, 2014
Date Effective: December 22nd, 2014
Subject: WD-631-PC Nose Stop Flange installation orientation
Affected Models: RV-6A,7A,8A,9A,10 Required Action: Check for proper installation orientation and correct if required. Time of Compliance: Before Further Flight Supersedes Notice: None Level of Certification: None Synopsis: Van’s Aircraft has received reports of damage resulting from the WD-631-PC or WD1031 Nose Stop Flange (stop flange) having been oriented incorrectly during installation. If the stop flange is installed incorrectly, it will allow insufficient rotation of the nose fork during tight taxi turns and can cause the tire to drag sideways. This induces excessive loads on the stop flange, nose gear leg, engine mount and the associated attach hardware. The ‘arms’ of the stop flange should be oriented forward, not aft. See Figure 1 and Figure 2. If the stop flange is oriented with the ‘arms’ aft, it is installed incorrectly.

SERVICE BULLETIN 14-08-29 
Date Released: August 29, 2014
Date Effective: August 29, 2014
Subject: RV-10 engine mount elastomer plate cracking.
Affected Models: All RV-10 aircraft. Required Action: Remove the engine cowling. Remove the WD-1015 Collar Assembly from the WD-1016 Nose Gear Link Assy. Remove the weight from the nose wheel with the use of a ballasted tail stand, etc. Remove the bolt at the lower end of the nose gear link assembly. Remove the nose gear link assembly and J-11968-14 Elastomers. Inspect the WD-1001E Elastomer Plate on the engine mount for cracks (use of a die penetrant inspection kit may be useful in determining the presence of cracks). Based on inspection results, complete the modifications required by this document. Time of Compliance: At or before the next annual condition inspection Synopsis: Cracks have been discovered in the elastomer plate of some RV-10 engine mounts. To date, all incidents of cracking have occurred on aircraft operating on rough fields. Engine mounts shipped after August 13, 2014 are not affected by this service bulletin.

SERVICE BULLETIN 11-9-13
Date: September 13, 2011
Subject: Fuel Tank Slosh Inspection
Affected Models: All Required Action: Inspect for the presence and/or condition of fuel tank sloshing compound. Time of Compliance: Before further flight Synopsis: Van’s has discouraged the use of fuel tank sloshing compounds since the early 1990s. However, some standard RV fuel tanks currently in service contain sloshing compounds applied by the original builder during assembly or after completion. While sloshing compounds have never been used during the initial assembly of QuickBuild tanks, these tanks may have subsequently had sloshing compounds applied by the owner. The safe service life of slosh can vary significantly depending on many factors including initial preparation of the interior of the tank, type of slosh, type of fuel used, etc. Failure of fuel tank slosh can cause in-flight power loss leading to injury or death. Periodic inspections should be performed to assure that slosh, if present, remains in airworthy condition.

SERVICE BULLETIN 10-1-4
Date: January 4, 2010
Subject: RV-10 Door Safety Latch Affected Models: RV-10 Required Action: Install Door Safety Latch Time of Compliance: Before further flight Synopsis: Failure to secure the RV-10 doors properly may result in damage or the doors detaching from the airplane in flight. The safety latch provides additional passive security in the event that a door is not closed properly and the door warning lights malfunction, or are not observed.

SERVICE BULLETIN 08-6-1
Date: June 1, 2008
Subject: F-1010 bulkhead reinforcement
Affected Models: RV-10
Required Action: Inspect F-1010 bulkhead for cracks Install F-1010C bulkhead reinforcing doublers Time of Compliance: Inspection of F-1010 bulkhead within the next 5 flight hours and at 25 hour intervals until the next annual condition inspection and…. Installation of F-1010C doublers at or before the next annual condition inspection. (Inspection requirement may be terminated after F-1010C doublers are installed.) Synopsis: A crack was discovered on the F-1010 bulkhead on Van’s RV-10 demonstrator aircraft at ~500 hours time in service. The F-1010 bulkhead is integral in the attachment of the forward spar of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. Inspection of the F-1010 bulkhead should be accomplished in order to determine the integrity of the bulkhead. If no crack is found, recurrent inspections should be accomplished until F-1010C doublers are installed during the next annual condition inspection. If a crack is found during inspection, F-1010C doublers should be installed prior to further flight in accordance with the instructions outlined in this bulletin.

SERVICE BULLETIN 07-4-12
Date issued: April 11, 2007
Subject: Electric flap bearing retention Applies: RV-4, RV-6/6A, RV-7/7A, RV-8/8A, RV-9/9A SECURING THE ELECTRIC FLAP ACCTUATOR ROD END Synopsis: If the rod end bearing on the flap motor jackscrew is not secured, the rotation of the jackscrews may cause the bearing to unscrew and separate. This will render the flaps inoperative. Action: A jam nut is provided and, properly installed and tightened, will secure the rod end bearing to the shaft of the jackscrew. As an extra precaution, Van’s Aircraft, Inc. recommends drilling the end of the shaft and securing the connection with safety wire as shown in the accompanying illustration.

SERVICE BULLETIN 06-9-20
Date issued: September 20, 2006
Applies to: All RV’s with manual trim and all RV-10’s. Synopsis: An improved WD-415-1* manual trim cable anchor has been designed and is being made available by Van’s Aircraft at a modest price. The new anchor has closer angular tolerances and is substantially stronger than those previously supplied.

SERVICE BULLETIN 06-2-3
DATE ISSUED February 3, 2006
APPLICATION RV-10 Vertical Stabilizer BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION This Bulletin requires changes to the configuration of the RV-10 Vertical Stabilizer shipped prior to February 3, 2006. A crack in the web of the vertical stabilizer rear spar located at the top rudder hinge brackets has been discovered on one of the factory RV-10's. To prevent this, a hinge doubler is now required on the vertical stabilizer rear spar of all RV-10 aircraft. If a crack already exists in your rear spar, please contact Van's Aircraft for repair instructions.

SERVICE BULLETIN 04-2-1
DATE ISSUED: February 25, 2004
APPLICATION: Fuel Tanks
SUBJECT: Protective plastic sheeting found in fuel tank.
BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION: Van’s Aircraft, Inc. recently received a report of clear protective plastic sheet having been found inside fuel tanks. In 2000, the color of the applied protective sheeting was changed to a “blue” to minimize the possibility of inadvertently leaving it in place during construction. Prior to this change, the sheeting was clear and more difficult to detect on the skins. It has come to our attention that at least one QuickBuild RV-6 aircraft produced prior to the change has been found with some of the protective sheeting inside the tank. The report indicates that the rear baffles in both left and right tanks were still covered in the protective plastic. This was detected by visual inspection through the fuel filler necks during refueling. Van’s Aircraft feels it prudent to issue this Service Bulletin recommending a one time inspection of fuel tanks on all RV-6/6A QuickBuild Wings and any Standard Kit Wings built prior to our supplying the “blue” version of protective sheeting.

SERVICE BULLETIN 02-12-1
DATE ISSUED: 12-11-02
SUBJECT: Pre-manufactured oil and fuel hose assemblies, part numbers VA-129, VA-133, VA-134, VA-135, VA-138, VA-139 purchased from Van’s Aircraft, Inc. before December 10, 2002. These hoses carry fuel between the gascolator, fuel pump and carburetor/injector body, and oil between the engine and oil cooler. Most have been supplied as part of Van’s Firewall Forward Kit, but some may have been sold individually through Van’s Accessories Catalog. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION: Van’s Aircraft, Inc. inspections have revealed that some hose assemblies may have been improperly manufactured by the vendor supplying the hose to Van’s. Small curls of rubber, cut from the inside of the hose as the ends were installed, may remain attached to the inner wall of the hose. These may obstruct the flow of fluid through the hose and result in potentially unsafe conditions.

SERVICE BULLETIN 96-10-1
Date issued: 10-8-96
Number: 96-10-1 Synopsis: Affects users of Van’s FAB-320 and FAB-360 filtered airboxes. Bolts attaching the top plate of the airbox to the carburetor may come loose and be ingested in the engine, possibly causing severe damage.

Spark Plug Cables

Something I have been pretty picky about is the routing/mounting of the ignition system. This process started a probably a year ago at this point but started finally coming together in December when I was finally able to securely fasten the coil packs in a position that was both secure and cleared the cowl. 

I have seen a lot of planes (or at least photos of planes) with people bundling the plug wires on their electronic ignitions. While I am not sure how important it still is in modern plug wires to separate cables by at least 1/4" I made the decision early on that I wanted to isolate individual plug wires. 


 

I did end up ordering a lot of spare hardware from Summit and Amazon that I ended up not using as I was trying different wire layouts. As a base, FlyEFII sends 2x Taylor 8mm Spiro-Pro cable kits along with their System 32. I stuck with those cables as they seemed to be pretty nice quality. I swapped out the coil pack ends from that kit with Taylor Cable 46051 90 degree low profile HEI boots. I ended up doing that for two reasons. First, FlyEFII sends enough hardware to do the 12 plug cables. I always like to have extras prior to starting so I was going to be ordering another set of plug boots anyways. Secondly, I centered the coil pack bracket on the engine mount cross bar. In doing this, the coil packs are a bit close to the baffle. While the standard locking boots still fit in this space, the low profiles make it just a little bit nicer to service the forward facing boots.

In order to secure the cables I used 2 packs of 42700 as well as 2 packs of 42502 cable separators. The 42502 have standoffs included with them.

  

Service Bulletins

As I was updating my airframe and engine logs I figured it would be good to have a single page tracking my work on any and all applicable service bulletins.

Vans RV-10

Service Bulletin	Completed Date	Blog Link
sb-19-09-09		Need photo and link
sb-18-05-21		Need photo and link
sb-18-03-30		Need photo and link
mt-sb-31
sb-16-03-28	7 July 2018	sb16-03-28
sb-14-12-22		Need photo and link
sb-14-8-29	19 March 2020	Engine mounts shipped after August 13, 2014 are not affected by this service bulletin.
sb-11-9-13	19 March 2020	As the builder of this aircraft I confirm that no fuel tank sloshing compounds were utilized in the construction of this aircraft.
sb-10-1-4	19 March 2020	While the upgraded door latches were contained with-in the finish kit, the builder installed the PlaneAround 180 latch kit. The PlaneAround kit modifies the door handle to turn 180 degrees while adding the third latch mechanism to pull the door in and assist in easier pin engagement. While this alleviates the issue of the SB10-1-4 it also increases the pin engagement by one to two inches.
sb-08-6-1	6 August 2017	sb08-6-1-part-1 sb08-6-1-part-2
sb-07-4-12		Need photo and link
sb-06-9-20		Need photo and link
sb-06-2-3		Need photo and link
sb-04-2-1	19 March 2020	Fuel tanks have been inspected. No usage of clear plastic film was discovered. Both fuel tanks when built did have a blue protective plastic coating which was removed.
sb-02-12-1	19 March 2020	Firewall forward kit was purchased in 2018. Additionally all firewall forward lines were ordered from TS flightlines. Fuel/oil lines were inspected per the SB regardless and no deficiencies were discovered.
sb-96-10-1	19 March 2020	N5412-K is leveraging a horizontal sump and non-Vans intake system. Regardless, all hardware in the fuel servo forward has been inspected and safety wired where applicable.

Lycoming IO-540

MTV-12-B/193-53

sb1r4

sb5

sb8b

11

sb13r3

sb14r6

sb15r2

sb16m

sb20

sb22

sb24

sb30r3

sb32

sb36r2

MT P-860-5

sb8b
sb9
10
sb14r6
sb27
sb31

Stick control wiring

With both the left and right panel switches and breakers in, I was finally able to cut down the control sticks, install the stick grips, and start wiring the controls. I previously drilled the control sticks at the hand end so I could wire the controls internal to the stick tubes, but now that things are a little further together, I think that is a bad idea. The problem is not the end near the stick it is the pivot under the seat. The WD-1011 bracket under the seat has a 90 degree enclosed angle in it. I may re-think this later, but in order to get the wire to exit the control stick I would have to put a hole somehwere in the WD-1011 stick base. I remember thinking that I would pull the wire through the bottom of that control base, but now that I have the F-1064 push rods in place with the F-1065 that would be the wire bundle in interference with the physical controls of the plane. That I am not comfortable with.





I am going to keep the wiring on the outside of the control stick. I am using a connector that still fits through the control stick (at least the straight part of it) so if I ever needed to service my control wires it wouldn't be much of a problem. I chose some 7 pin circular connectors from Amphenol (APC1629-ND). The really great thing about these connectors is that they use same High Density pins and sockets that the DB connectors use for most of the other avionics.



The 7 control stick wires fit nicely into the connector, and the connector is actually small enough to fit through the control stick in case you choose to pop a hole in the control stick and route the wire inside of the stick.



The wiring pattern for the control sticks are as follows:

Pin	Stick Wire Color	Switch	Airplane Wire
A	Blue	Trim (Up)	Red (VPX Trim Up)
B	Brown	Button (Black)	Not used
C	Yellow	Trim (Right)	Black (VPX Trim Right)
D	Purple	Trim (Left)	White Black (VPX Trim Left)
E	Red	Button (Red)	White Black (CWS/Autopilot Disconnect)
F	White	Button (PTT)	White Yellow (Pilot) White Brown (Co-Pilot)
G	Green	Trim (Down)	White Red (VPX Trim Down)
H	Black	Ground (common)	Black (GND_ControlStick)

Ignition Breaker wire isolater

I ended up putting 3 mechanical breakers on the co-pilots side console for the ignition coil packs and two ignitions. These circuits are fed from an essential bus sourced by either the aux or main contactors in the rear of the aircraft. Both of the buses are connected to a schottky diode which means that if there is ANY power in the system, it will feed the essential buss.

I opted to not put any of these flight critical items on the VPX. I also opted to keep them out of the AUX fuse block because I wanted them to be in-flight resettable. On my first installation of this setup, I was uncomfortable that now my safety came down to a single yellow ring terminal and a dangling wire. There was no real great way to isolate movement of that cable. After a couple of goes at various circular connectors and adel clamps I came up with the following design:



In this approach I removed all connectors and wired everything direct to the breakers, but isolated movement of the cable with a standoff that I could solidly mount to adel clamps to. Out of the design and into metal it goes.




Probably a little overkill, but why not when you have the tools, the software, and some spare time on the plane for work.


I suppose I have to grab another photo yet of the final install, but here it is for now.