Time: 4 Hours
Since I had the switch panels now I decided to finish up the work needed to install the switches. What I really needed to do was fabricate some backer plates that will give structure and help lock the switches into position. The first this was to do was match drill all the holes in the plate. The second thing to do was drill small holes that correspond to the anti-rotation washer. These washers have a tab on the inner side to match to a notch in the switch threads. They also have a tab on the outer edge that will match to the hole in the backer plate. What this does is secure the washer to the plate so it doesn’t spin. The inner tab doesn’t allow the switch to spin and holds the switch in place.
So now that I have both the left and right backers finished I can clean them up to prime and paint the side consoles for their final color. Once those dry I will stick the switch placard on and install all the switches minus the seat heat since it will come with the seats later. I didn’t want to paint yet since we were both in the shop and the fumes get bad I moved on to another task. I got a few new soldering items and planned on building the headset jacks starting with the passengers. The head phone and mic jack look identical except the holes are different sizes. They both have three components, a ground, a ring and a tip. Each of these parts has a a tab that is associated with it and is where you connect a wire. These wires get soldered to the tabs. This is a new skill for me and watched a few videos including the EAA’s to get a good idea of how to do it properly.
I made sure to put a small piece of shrink tube on each of the wires before soldering the wire so I could protect it after it was finished.
After getting both the phone and mic soldered and cleaned up with heat shrink I put them into their place and fished the wires up to the instrument panel. I bought isolation washers from SteinAir that make sure the jacks do not touch the metal of the airplane as this can cause real problems with their operation.
In the one photo you can see the pile of wires, most of which will be going to the intercom. Next I need to decide where I want to put the pilot headset jacks and wire them.
