January 4, 2009 - AutoPilot
After yesterday's flight, I am motivated to put my fourth full day on the project. Today's major emphasis was on the autopilot.
The autopilot wire bundle runs through the right wing to the servo which is mounted mid-wing. I crimped D-Sub pins to the eight or so wires, then inserted the pins in to the connector.
I plugged the connector into the
socket on the top of the
servo.
Another accomplishment today was
tightening the aileron bellcrank and pushrod nuts and marking them with
blue torque seal. Mike and I had finished rigging the ailerons
yesterday -- making sure they were aligned with the wingtip and flap
trailing edges with the sticks in the neutral position, and that they had
the proper amount of
"throw".
I havn't done the servo pushrod
yet.
I turned the autopilot switch on for
the first time and .... it worked! I went through the ground testing
instructions provided and everything seemed to be working as
advertised.
You can see in this picture that my
elevator trim indicator is also
working.
