Cut the push tube to size and then primed it. Inserted the bushing into the ends of the tube by cutting a small block of wood and drilling a hole thru it. Pounded the block as opposed to the bushing to insert it. Riveted the ends and set the length per the plans. Installed the push tube.
Fabricated the small washer insertion tool as suggested by Jim Cone. Glad I took the 20 minutes to build it. Worked very well to insert the washers on both sides of the flaperon bearings.
My CARE package arrived from Van's today. Enclosed were the magnets and reed switches for the wing attach pins. These were some of the shorted and/or backordered items.
Installed the magnet in the wing pin (not yet expoxied) and the reed switch wired to a DVM. Could not get the reed switch to close after trying a multitude of reed switch positions.
In the fuselage the magnet is vertical and the reed switch is horizontal and is 9/16" from the tip of the reed switch to the magnet centerline.
Removed them and did some bench testing. With the magnet vertical and the reed switch horizontal you have to get them to within 7/16" for the reed switch to work (close) reliably. The pair become more sensitive if you could mount the reed switch vertically. With the magnet AND reed switch vertical, (ie. side by side) they work reliably at 9/16".
Also tried reversing the magnet, did NOT make a difference. Also tried mounting the magnet higher in the tube, it was worse. The reed switch is more sensitive to the magnet ends as opposed to the center of the magnet (with the magnet vertical/reed switch horizontal).
This is MOST definitely a problem and will e-mail Vans.
Time Today - 5 hours
