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Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

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Scotsman

Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Posts: 89
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:44 am Post subject: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

Afternoon all, frustration and probable stupidity has driven me to posting this question on the list.     



I am at the point where I am trial fitting the front side skins of the fuselage to the ac.  I have followed the steps in the builders photo guide but have hit the following problem.  I can't see where I have gone wrong so I am hoping that someone on the list can enlighten me.



When trial fitting the front side skins of the fuselage I have pressed the rear of the skin against the rear spar attach plate and things look good at that end in terms of the height of the skin versus the upper longeron and the lower longeron (plus also alignment).



As I look along the floor of the cockpit from the attach plate to the gear channel all is perfectly aligned.  The problem is between the main spar and the gear channel that the alignment of the predrilled holes on the bottom of the side skin drops below the height of the cockpit floor.  This obviously isn't meant to happen.



The instructions state to raise the firewall 42 mm (if I remember correctly) off the beams and what appears to be causing this is that the reinforcing "longerons" under the cockpit floor appear to be raising the floor above its intended level.  If I try raising the upper longeron to compensate then I no longer have a level upper longeron (ie. just creating another problem).



Has anyone experienced this or alternatively can visualise how I may have cocked this up?  Any help would be appreciated as this is quite frustrating and holding up the build.



Cheers



James

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pavel569

Joined: 21 Dec 2007
Posts: 77

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:03 am Post subject: Re: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

James,

if your side skin is aligned with the fuse floor aft of the gear channel and you have the gear channel level and firewall at the required angle (77deg) you should end up perfectly aligned. It's important to hold the gear channel down with some weight to keep it level.

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Pavel
CA
Zodiac 601XL
Stratus Subaru EA-81
Tail, flaps, ailerons, wings, fuselage, canopy done ...
"do not archive"

psm(at)att.net
Guest

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:03 am Post subject: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

Hi James,



I think I had a similar problem (if I really understood your 

issue).  The position of the gear channel and cabin floor has a 

couple of degrees of freedom.  I needed to be very careful that all 

the pieces were firmly held at the correct angles to get it all to 

fit together.  I think my parts - particularly the side skin - had 

fewer holes pre-drilled than yours, so I may have had a slightly 

different set of issues to handle.



This is the kind of question that the tech support folks at Zenith 

are really good at handling.  I suggest you give them a call before 

doing anything permanent.  I realize this might take some tricky 

scheduling because of the different time zones, but I think it would 

be worth your while.



Good luck,



Paul

XL grounded.

do not archive

At 05:44 AM 6/24/2009, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  

<james.roberts(at)computershare.co.za>



Afternoon all, frustration and probable stupidity has driven me to 

posting this question on the list.   [Embarassed]



I am at the point where I am trial fitting the front side skins of 

the fuselage to the ac.  I have followed the steps in the builders 

photo guide but have hit the following problem.  I can't see where I 

have gone wrong so I am hoping that someone on the list can enlighten me.



When trial fitting the front side skins of the fuselage I have 

pressed the rear of the skin against the rear spar attach plate and 

things look good at that end in terms of the height of the skin 

versus the upper longeron and the lower longeron (plus also alignment).



As I look along the floor of the cockpit from the attach plate to 

the gear channel all is perfectly aligned.  The problem is between 

the main spar and the gear channel that the alignment of the 

predrilled holes on the bottom of the side skin drops below the 

height of the cockpit floor.  This obviously isn't meant to happen.



The instructions state to raise the firewall 42 mm (if I remember 

correctly) off the beams and what appears to be causing this is that 

the reinforcing "longerons" under the cockpit floor appear to be 

raising the floor above its intended level.  If I try raising the 

upper longeron to compensate then I no longer have a level upper 

longeron (ie. just creating another problem).



Has anyone experienced this or alternatively can visualise how I may 

have cocked this up?  Any help would be appreciated as this is quite 

frustrating and holding up the build.



Cheers



James



--------

Cell   +27 83 675 0815

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Scotsman

Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Posts: 89
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:27 am Post subject: Re: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

Thanks for the responses so far.



Pavel - I have a good sized collection of weights on top of the gear channel as otherwise it was inclined to bow upwards slightly.  I made the firewall jig in accordance with the specs so the firewall should be at the required 77 degrees.



Paul - How did you solve the problem with yours?  Going from aft towards the firewall the predrilled holes at the foot of the side skin essentially stop at the main spar (there are other holes after that but they are significantly higher on the skins for some of the L angles that get attached later).  The overlap of the bottom of the side skin forward of the firewall gets trimmed later...on the aft side of the firewall it should be flush and not overhang by 0.5 cm.



Any other ideas before I zip an email to Zenith....ideally I would like to fix the problem tonight.



Cheers

James

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psm(at)att.net
Guest

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:51 am Post subject: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

Hi James,



I wish I could remember all the details of that 

problem.  Unfortunately it was a couple of years ago when I faced 

it.  The sad news is that the notion of 90% complete and 90% to go is 

reality.  The difference is the time it takes to complete the 

airframe kit and actually finish the whole airplane that includes a 

lot of stuff not included in the kit like engine, instruments, 

upholstery, paint, etc.



As I recall, I didn't wind up with any side skin overhang on the 

firewall.  Also, I remember needing to cut a rather deep notch in the 

side skin around the wing rear channel connection to get the proper 

overhang between the side skin and the rear side skin.  In my case, 

the trimming was done on the rear end of the front side skin rather 

than around the firewall end.



On second thought, I think the side skin hangs quite a way over the 

firewall to allow for attachment of the engine cowl.  Maybe I am just 

remembering this all wrong.  My plane and drawing set are at the 

hangar, and I am at home.



I also had difficulties that generated a long conversation with one 

of the Zenith guys over the overall mating of the front to rear 

fuselage and the resulting "Fit",  I wound up with one less rivet in 

the side "Splice" of the top longeron than the drawings show (7 sets 

of rivets instead of .  I also had to extend the baggage floor 

perhaps one cm.



The only suggestion I can offer is to double check the angle of the 

gear channel to both the front floor and the rear section of the fuselage.



Good luck,



Paul

XL grounded

do not archive

At 06:27 AM 6/24/2009, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  

<james.roberts(at)computershare.co.za>



Thanks for the responses so far.



Pavel - I have a good sized collection of weights on top of the gear 

channel as otherwise it was inclined to bow upwards slightly.  I 

made the firewall jig in accordance with the specs so the firewall 

should be at the required 77 degrees.



Paul - How did you solve the problem with yours?  Going from aft 

towards the firewall the predrilled holes at the foot of the side 

skin essentially stop at the main spar (there are other holes after 

that but they are significantly higher on the skins for some of the 

L angles that get attached later).  The overlap of the bottom of the 

side skin forward of the firewall gets trimmed later...on the aft 

side of the firewall it should be flush and not overhang by 0.5 cm.



Any other ideas before I zip an email to Zenith....ideally I would 

like to fix the problem tonight.



Cheers

James



--------

Cell   +27 83 675 0815

- The Matronics Zenith601-List Email Forum -

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Davcoberly(at)wmconnect.c
Guest

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:10 am Post subject: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

There was a lot of the pre-punched holes on the sides skins that I fought with trying to get everything to line up with.  After talking to Zenith I just drilled new holes between and above those that you are talking about nobody will ever notice they will be under the wings anyway. David Coberly  [quote][b]

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chuck960

Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 44
Location: PA

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:04 pm Post subject: Re: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

James,

I'm at the same place you are with my 650.

The side skin forward of the spar hangs down past the floor. I'm hoping that there is still clearance for the pre drilled holes. 

Aft of the spar the skin lines up fine along the bottom.

I had to play with the upper longerons a bit and make sure you have the width between the longerons correct. The seat back top piece should be in place as well as the instrument panel. Also I had to add 5 mm to the 19 mm shim that sits under the Rear Skin forward corner and then re-level everything.  It took two days of screwing around to tweak this setup. And I had to add weight to the gear channel. 

Chuck

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w8n2bup

Joined: 09 Apr 2008
Posts: 20
Location: Kansas City Area

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:36 pm Post subject: Re: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

James,



I had exactly this same problem about two months ago with my pre-drilled holes too low on the bottom, among other minor pre-cut and drilled areas on the side skin.  Roger at Zenith said he had heard of similar problems and they sent me, free of charge, two new side skins without any pre-drilled holes, only the air intake cutout.  This meant I had to lay out all my own hole patterns and cutouts for the wing spar but was certainly worth it because everything now fits perfectly. If you have any further questions, please feel free to call me at 913-856-4900 after 6PM or 913-915-1989 during the day. 



John

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aussiech650

Joined: 04 Oct 2009
Posts: 25
Location: Sydney, Australia

Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 7:16 am Post subject: Re: Fuselage Side Skins (Front)

Hi, I have just reached this stage on my CH650 fuselage and my front side skins dont appear to be correct either. Have the factory made a change to these skins to rectify this issue?

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