EAA Chapter 563

Zenith Cruzer s/n 11547
Build Log and Photo Album

05/27/23

2 hr: Killian, Julian, Alex, Wyatt, Zee, Ishan - Assemble remaining 3 flaperon sections and and rivet up one of them. - Drill right landing gear brackets to fuselage. - Inventory parts from Stein, Aircraft Specialty, and Zenith. 542 hr cummulative

05/20/23

2 hr: Killian, Paxson, Julian, Wyatt, Zee, Ishan, Alex - Assemble remaining 3 flaperon sections. Don't have the narrow nose riveter, so stop at clecos. - Drill holes in nose wheel fork for the axle. Slightly undersize. Fiddle with adjustable reamer to fix hole. - Continue work on seat support framing in the cabin: Getting close. 530 hr cummulative

05/13/23

2 hr: Ishan, Isaac, Paxson - Rivet up first flaperon section. - Begin next flaperon section. 516 hr cummulative

05/06/23

2 hr: Grace, Ishan, Paxson, Killian - Begin drilling the steel strut attach bracket to the longerons. - Begin riveting first flaperon assembly together. Wrong riverter head used, so drill out all the rivets. 510 hr cummulative

04/29/23

1.5 hr: Julian, Killian, Zee, Paxson, Luke, Ishan - Start assembly of first flaperon. - Continue cabin assembly. - Continue discussion on what must be mounted inside the wings before those can be closed. 502 hr cummulative

Wing Internals Discussion
Pitot & Stall Warning
We will use an Angle of Attack type pitot. This will require two air tubes to the cabin. For VFR work, a heated pitot is not needed. While Van's adds a supplemental, old style stall warning system, for this simple VFR airplane, the AoA gauge should suffice.
Lighting
We'd previously agreed this plane would be suitable for night VFR work and have already purchased LED wing tip navigation lights. Zenith sells a bracket kit for such lights. They also have a $1,200 landing + taxi light kit for the Cruzer. Other sources might be as low as $500. For now, we'll install the wiring but defer the choice of lights.
Magnetometer
The somewhat less expensive Dynon avionics are what we agreed to use for this airplane. The Dynon inertial box includes a magnetometer, but they recommend a remotely mounted unit to supplement it. The wing is the usual location for such. A magnetometer should be mounted level, so the bracket must compensate for the dihedral angle, and we'll also need an inspection plate. A Skyview remote magnetometer is under $200, so we'll install one.
Fuel sumps
These will be installed per Zenith.
Antenna Discussion

It was agreed no antennas are needed in or on the wings. This started another discussion.

Communications
For an Experimental, a second radio is about $1,500 so we'll plan on installing one. The antenna can be installed on top or on the belly. Mounting bent whips below the cabin will greatly shorting and simplify the wiring, so we'll plan on installing doubler plates for those below the seats currently being assembled.
Transponder & ADS-B
The compact "lollipop" style antennas for ADS-B In and Out are cheap. We can install one of each on the belly just aft of the firewall, again to minimize wiring runs. There is also the "sharkfin" style which includes both channels but is more expensive. We chose the former style.
Navigation
With GPS, there is no need for a VFR airplane to have a VOR and its antenna. The GPS antenna is mounted on top or under the plexiglass.
ELT
This typically goes on top, oft near the fin to give it some protection. Rob is building a 750 HD and plans to put the ELT in the belly aside the existing hatch with the antenna on the roof directly above this. No one offered a better location. A cable will run GPS data from the cabin back to the ELT.

04/22/23

1.5 hr: Killian, Paxson, Grace, Wyatt, Zee, Ishan, Julian - Continue seat support fixes. - Flaperon deburring. - Discuss plumbing and wiring which will be needed inside the wing being assembled. 493 hr cummulative

Fuel System Discussion

Rob Meyer talked about the fuel system requirements for the UL Power engine selected for this project. After a discussion, the following decisions were made:

04/15/23

2.5 hr: Wyatt, Zee, Grace, Killian, Julian - Remove from tailer and inventory most of the wing kits. - Rearrange stacks in the hangar, and then move the fuselage to sawhorses in the space freed. - Resume work on the seat support brackets. - Begin assembly of the flaperon. 484 hr cummulative

04/08/23

1 hr: Paxson, Ishan, Nolan - Fuss with fitting the angle attachments for the seat base to the cabin sides. - Fuss with the fit of the steel main gear brackets to the airframe. - Frustrating morning over all with little to show for it. Fortunately, the wing kit arrives this coming week. 472 hr cummulative

04/01/23

1.5 hr: Zee, Wyatt, Nolan, Killian, Ishan, Paxson - (It was difficult to keep all 6 teens busy this week.) - Finish etching the fuselage sides and top. - Work on the angle brackets for the seat supports. (Argh.) - Build up nose gear fork and strut: Drill and bolt. (Photo guide calls for AN4 but prints call for AN3.) 469 hr cummulative

Sliding Seat Support Structure

It was found other builders assemble the cabin separately on a table, and the factory's assembly photo guide does this. The teens chose to do so, but this, compounded with errors in the factory drawing, has created a problem. The Rear Seat Channel mates to the main Gear Channel. In our kit, the supplied rivet holes on the Gear Channel were about 4 mm too far forward. Worse, in laying out the rivet and bolt holes in the Seat Base per drawing SSO-1, this resulted in the both the Front and Rear Seat Supports being forward. In turn, the Rear Seat Support can not attach to the cabin side member indicated in SSO-1. Extra L angle attachments must be fabricated, but because the holes in the Seat Base were drilled before its Seat Supports were fitted, and because these holes locate the Seat Supports, it's quite a pill to reach the location where the angle attachments are to go. In hindsight, an alternate assembly sequence would have been better. Attach with clecos the cabin sides to the aft fuselage. Attach the floor and its various longitudinal and lateral stiffeners. Attach the Seat Channel and Arm Rest Sides to the floor and to each other. Attach the Seat Bases to the Seat Channel and the Rear Seat Channels. The latter should be in their correct position against the aft fuselage's Side Channel (C75F4-1) to which they will eventually be riveted. Prepare new rivet holes up through the Gear Channel into the Rear Seat Channel and rivet. Add the angle attachments to the front of the Seat Channel. Remove the Seat Base and position the Rear Seat Support per the drawings. Drill and cleco the Rear Seat Support's end to the extrusion in the cabin sides, and then make the angle attachments between the Arm Rest Sides and the Rear Seat Support; drill and attach. Position the Front Seat Support 275 or 280 mm forward of the Rear Seat Support and do the angle attachments. (The drawing in SSO-1 shows a spacing of 275 for the bolt holes in the seat slider rails, but ours measured 280.) Replace the Seat Base and layout the rivet holes for both the top and bottom flanges of the Seat Support channels. Be sure the bolt hole pattern for the seat sliders is square.

03/25/23

2 hr: Grace, Wyatt, Zee, Killian, Ishan, Alex - Scotch Brite the rudder and fin for (later) painting. Start same on fuselage. - Drill brake cylinder mounts to cabin floor. - Begin to assemble cabin onto the aft fuselage. Seat bases don't align with cabin sides, so will have to fashion extra brackets. 460 hr cummulative

03/18/23

2.5 hr: Julian, Ishan 4 hr: Killian - Since the plane will most likely be painted, work began to Scotch-Brite the aluminum surface. - Drill up several rows of punched holes in the cabin floor from #40 to #20. - Drill bolts holes for the rudder pedal brackets. Layout brake cylinder mounting brackets. - Discover the seat base assemblies are crooked, and begin drilling them out for rework. 448 hr cummulative

03/11/23

1.5 hr: Killian, Paxson, Ishan, Wyatt, Zee, Nolan, Isaac, Julian - Fiddle with new elevator bell crank layout and linkage. - Begin fitting main wheels to main gear. Fit could be better. One set of brake pads binds on its ways. - Work on attaching rudder pedal assemblies to cabin floor. Factory holes are too tight a fit. - Start fitting the bearings for the control stick's torque tube. 439 hr cummulative

03/04/23

1.25 hr: Grace, Julian, Isaac, Nolan, Wyatt, Zee, Paxson, Killian 0 hr: Ishthan (learning deburring, etc) - Limited number of parts to work on today, so a bit slow. - Continue assembly of cabin floor. - Begin fitting rudder pedals to floor. - Figure out how to trim rubber shock bushing for the main gear. - Continue fitting parts for new elevator bellcrank. Craig Hittle fashions new parts for control linkage. - Deburr center console parts. - Deburr wing struts, but can't add fittings until final assembly. 427 hr cummulative

03/03/23

3 hr: Karl, Jim - Trial and error fitting of cabin sides into slots in aft fuselage. 417 hr cummulative

02/25/23

1 hr: Will 2.5 hr: Alex, Paxson, Killian, Grace, Wyatt, Zee 3 hr: Julian - Finish assembly of fire wall. - Finish fitting of the seat supports. - Finish assembly of sliding seat and frames. - Rivet most of the aft fuselage together. Includes fix of top channel deburring mistakes. - Disassemble cabin and begin to reassemble onto aft fuselage. Begin fitting main gear support structure. 411 hr cummulative

02/18/23

1.5 hr: Killian, Alex, Julian, Grace, Paxson, Wyatt, Zee - Brackets fashioned and installed on the seat supports. - Riveting of the fuselage continued. - The new top channel was match drilled to the top skin using a tool Dean Lake had machined to accurately center the drilling. Mistakes in deburring will require some of the holes to be drilled up for 3/16 rivets. 392 hr cummulative

02/11/23

2 hr: Paxson, Nolan, Wyatt, Zee, Will, Killian - Rivet up rear carry through spar. - Begin riveting seat supports. - Deburr firewall and begin riveting. 381 hr cummulative

02/04/23

1.5 hr: Grace, Nolan, Zee, Wyatt, Paxson, Killian, Julian, Alex - Seat assembly: got ahead of ourselves and will have to drill out rivets. - Front tire assembled. - Begin fitting new top channel assembly. - Discussion on wiring runs in the fuselage assembly sequence. 369 hr cummulative

01/28/23

1 hr: Paxson, Julian, Killian - Firewall match drilling and some riveting. 357 hr cummulative

01/21/23

1.5 hr: Paxson, Killian, Nolan, Isaac, Will, Alex - Long discussion on placement of antennas, ELT, bungee on the elevator cables, etc, before closing the fuselage. - Start to rivet up the sides of the fuselage. - Work on fittings on the firewall. - Strip powder coat from the nose gear strut where the rubber shock biscuits are to slide. - Further assembly of the control linkages. - Andy and Jim looked at the fit of the rear carry through spar and agree with Karl that new pieces are required. 354 hr cummulative

01/14/23

1.5 hr: Paxson, Grace, Julian, Nolan, Isaac, Zee, Wyatt, Killian - Rear carry through spar (top channel) rivet holes don't match skin. New parts are being prepared by the factory. Aft fuselage assembly is halted. - Both main gear wheels/tires assembled. - Begin fitting firewall together. - Inventory the firewall forward kit (no missing parts). - Test nose gear shock parts: Will have to remove some of the powder coating. - Fit some of the flaperon linkages. Some parts were difficult to locate in storage. 345 hr cummulative

01/07/23

2 hr: Wyatt, Zee, Grace, Will, Paxson, Killian, Julian - Prepare to rivet fuselage; ream tight holes; place pull rivets. - Reassemble baggage bay to assure it remains in alignment while riveting the rest. - Assemble rear carry through spar. Parts don't fit correctly. - Continue working on the seat support structure. - Begin assembly of main gear wheel and tire. 333 hr cummulative

12/29/22

3 hr: Grace 1.5 hr: Luke, Nolan - Steady progress on the seat framing by Grace. - Defective parts in the wheel assemblies and the rear carry through spar hindered progress by Nolan and Luke. 319 hr cummulative

12/17/22

2 hr: Will, Paxson, Zee, Grace, Wyatt, Julian, Killian - Test trim tab motor. Finish riveting the elevator/stabilizer assembly together. - Continue fitting seat pans to their supporting structure and building up the underlying structure. 313 hr cummulative

12/10/22

2.5 hr: Isaac, Paxson 1.5 hr: Will, Julian 0 hr: Grace (finished training) - Begin riveting elevator/stabilizer assembly. - Assemble both seat pans. Begin to drill and cleco their supports to the cabin floor. 299 hr cummulative

12/03/22

2 hr: Nolan, Isaac, Paxson 0 hr: Julian, Grace (both in training) - Finish wiring inside elevator, etc. - Install seat pans and their braces in the cabin. 291 hr cummulative

11/26/22

2 hr: Isaac, Nolan, Paxson, Luke, Killian - Drill elevator to hinge, disassmble, deburr, begin to reassemble. - Begin to assemble cabin section of the fuselage. 285 hr cummulative

11/19/22

Killian, Luke, Zee, Wyatt, Grant, Gracie, Julian 2.5 hr: Zee, Wyatt 2 hr: Killian 1.5 hr: Luke 0.5 hr: Julian 0 hr: Grant, Gracie - Disassmble door pillar - Finish drilling extra rivet holes in elevator. Ready to deburr. - Have newbies Grant and Gracie practice drilling, reaming, and deburring. 275 hr cummulative

11/12/22

2.5 hr: Wyatt, Nolan, Isaac 1.5 hr: Will, Killian, Luke - Continue remedial work on elevator assembly; nearly ready to disassemble and deburr. - Study assembly sequence of control rods (not obvious); remove powder coat from mixer's bearing areas, lubricate, assemble mounting brackets, and assemble the lot back in to the fuselage. 266 hr cummulative

11/05/22

2.5 hr: Nolan, Isaac, Killian 1.5 hr: Will 0 hr: Julian (had to leave early, introduced to inventory scheme) - Test wiring of the trim tab. Finish fitting last aluminum bits to elevator. - Work on flap motor mounting. 254 hr cummulative

10/29/22

1 hr: Nolan, Paxson, Luke, Killian - Discuss fuel line routing for about an hour. - Continue assembly of elevator, with discussion of wiring to trim tab. - Fit right cabin side (filing and reamer). 245 hr cummulative

10/22/22

2 hr: Paxson, Killian - Continue working on the mount for the controls mixer. - Assemble trim tab and other parts (including one replacement) on the elevator. - Lecture on electrical connections (Julian arrived in time for this). 241 hr cummulative

10/15/22

1 hr: Paxson 2 hr: Will, Nolan, Isaac, Killian - Resume work on elevator (Rob has returned). - Start to install flapperon mixer. - Finish reamering the left attach bracket of the rear carry through spar. - Start to install the reinforcing brace in the rear door posts. - Discussion of engine options. ULPower 350i selected. - Julian arrives for an introduction to the shop. He'll join us next month on the build. 237 hr cummulative

10/8/22

4 hr: Killian 2 hr: Paxson, Luke, Will 1 hr: Matthew 0.5 hr: Wyatt, Zee (training completed) - Gather and deburr cabin parts. - Store steel parts received from powder coater. - Begin fitting of flaperons mixer linkages. - Complete fitting of baggage bay pieces. 228 hr cummulative

10/01/22

1 hr: Paxson, Matthew, Nolan, Luke 3 hr: Killian 0 hr: Wyatt, Zee (training) - More baggage bay fit up. Deburr the aft tail cone and drill the rudder bracket. - Test fit cabin lower sides to tail cone. File slots on left side to better fit. Right side fits fine. 216 hr cummulative

9/24/22

2.5 hr: Paxson, Killian - Fashion clips to hold down the conduit for the trim tab wiring. - Finish fiddling with top sheet fit. Reamer A5 holes up to correct size. - Continue building up the baggage bay—lots of little parts. 209 hr cummulative

9/17/22

1.5 hr: Matthew 2 hr: Will, Paxson, Nolan 3.5 h4: Killian - Finish preparing steel parts for the powder coater. - Continue fitting parts for the baggage bay. Find the controls may be difficult to insert once the bay is riveted in. 204 hr cummulative

9/10/22

1 hr: Matthew, Luke, Will 2 hr: Paxson 4 hr: Killian - Fit h. tail brackets, which were incorrectly drilled at the factory. - Fit and deburr upper and lower baggage bay sheets, angles, and posts. - Fuselage top sheet left is too wide; begin to file/sand and fit. - Study plans trying to figure out how the above fit together. 193 hr cummulative

9/3/22

1.5 hr: Killian, Paxson, Matthew, Will - Resume work on elevator internals. - Figure out how to run elevator trim wiring bundle down the fuselage. - Assemble baggage bay back sheet. Will need to up drill some rivet holes to compensate for overly deburred skins. (Included debate as to whether this is necessary.) - Discuss with the teens engine options. 184 hr cummulative

8/27/22

2 hr: Paxson, Nolan, Matthew, Luke 4 hr: Killian - Cleco top skin of tail cone in place. Prepare baggage back and stiffeners. - Begin to break the corners of steel parts ahead of drop off at powder coater. 178 hr cummulative

8/20/22

2.5 hr: Killian, Luke, Nolan, Isaac - Deburr top skin and stiffeners; cleco. One stiffener/bracket was not fully drilled, and Rob will demonstrate the fix next week. - Cleco aft bulkheads to bottom skin. Cleco side skin assemblies to bottom skin. - Prepare rear spar carry-though and cleco. 166 hr cummulative

8/12/22

2.5 hr: Paxson 4.5 hr: Isaac 5 hr: Killian - Clean, deburr, and cleco both left and right sides of aft fuselage. Pull top side from storage and begin deburring. 156 hr cummulative

8/5/22

2 hr: Luke, Will 5 hr: Paxson - rivet belly together - collect parts for right side 144 hr cummulative

7/29/22

5 hr: Paxson, Isaac - cleco entire fuselage bottom, disassemble, deburr, clean, cleco, begin riveting 135 hr cummulative

7/22/22

1 hr: Bryce 3 hr: Will 4 hr: Paxson, Isaac, Nolan 5 hr: Killian - Lecture on deburring: Close inspection of elevator skin reveals we must double the number of rivets to compensate for the awful job of deburring. - Fit internal members of the elevator. - Finish map box; store in the attic. - Collect fuselage bottom skin parts from the attic and begin layout. Deburr bottom skin (huge burrs). Begin to cleco up on picnic tables (main build table is occupied with the delayed elevator assembly). 125 hr cummulative

Fr 7/15/22

2 hr: Mae, Carter 3 hr: Isaac, Nolan, 4 hr: Killian - Attach and drill elevator to stabilizer; deburr (not the best). Fit plastic tips to stabilizer. - Cleco, drill, and deburr instrument panel's map box: Ready to rivet once panel is available for test fit. 104 hr cummulative

Fr 07/08/22

2 hr: Afzal 3 hr: Will 4 hr: Carter 5 hr: Isaac, Nolan - Finish stabilizer skelton riveting. Rivet down second side of stabilizer skin. Drill elevator hinge into stabilizer. - Collect parts, deburr, assemble fin. 90 hr cummulative

Sa 07/02/22

1 hr (net): Paxson, Killian, Matthew, Luke, Afzal - It was decided the poor deburring was not a safety hazard (although it may affect longevity); proceeded with A4 rivets. - Rivet on half the skin of the stabilizer and prepare the front spar angle brackets. 71 hr cummulative

Fr 07/01/22

3 hr: Isaac, Nolan, Carter 4 hr: Paxson, Will 2 hr: Bryce - rivet up the stabilizer skeleton - deburr and cleco the elevator - deburr stabilizer skin; too deep in places, but factory authorized drilling up to A5 66 hr cummulative

Fr 06/24/22

3 hr: Bryce, Isaac - stabilizer: finish deburring, begin to rivet skeleton together 47 hr cummulative

Sa 06/18/22

2 hr: Will 3 hr: Matthew, Paxson, Luke - deburr horizontal stabilizer, cleco up 41 hr cummulative

Fr 06/17/22

3 hr: Nolan, Isaac - rudder completed! 30 hr cummulative

Fr 06/10/22

3 hr: Nolan, Isaac - rudder tip problems, deburring skeleton 24 hr cummulative

Tu 05/24/22

3 hr: Mae, Carter, Nolan, Isaac, Bryce - Nolan, Isaac, and Carter on the rudder skin; ran into trouble drilling the holes in the plastic top rib, drilled to A5 - Bryce and Mae on inventory (0 hr building) 18 hr cummulative

Sa 05/21/22

2 hr: Killian, Matthew, Afzal, Paxson - assemble shelving; begin inventory of Cruzer fuselage and finishing kits (0 hr building) 9 hr cummulative

Tu 04/19/22

3 hr: Carter, Nolan, Isaac - rudder skeleton finished 9 hr cummulative