Finishing conduit holes in both end ribs

I removed the end ribs from boths main spars the other evening. I then marked the position for the last conduit hole in each rib, and I still need to finish drilling the holes. Once that is done I will take one of "money pics" of the build. By that I simply mean that there are few times during the build where some fairly interesting pictures are taken. One of those, in my opinion, is the pic that most people take once all the conduit holes are drilled, and they take a pic of the ribs down through the series of holes with the ribs all mounted on the spar. It is another one of those optical illusion pics that I like.

Last night I took the fam to the Jeff Dunham show here in Broomfield at the 1st Bank Center. It was a blast. I first became acquainted with him during first year at Oshkosh in 2009, which turned out to be the 2nd year in a row that he was performing at Oshkosh. I have mentioned before that he also has ties to aviation, having built his own kit helicopter.

He is absolutely one of the funniest and most talented vantriloquists I have ever seen. All the characters were there, Achmed, Peanut, Bubba Jay, Jose, Walter, and Little Jeff. He began the show, titled Disorderly Conduct, with an absolutely hysterical video where all the characters end up in the slammer, getting interogated by Jeff himself. Then he showed pictures from his childhood, and the show was made up of a mix of old and new material. I highly recommend going if you really like to laugh.if you have the chance.

Now for some really wierd and amazing facts that my wife just told me about as she was reading his bio online. He was born 4-18-1962, a day before I was, in Dallas, Texas, same place I was, and was raised by a Presbyterian family, same as I was. How bizarre is that! We could have been neighbors for crying out loud. One big difference is that he grew up as an adopted only child. Of course, he is also a rich and famous entertainer - yet another major difference. Still, it's nice to know we come from the same background.

Back to the build, we had a major snow storm blow through last night so we are now thawing out from that. So not much was done on the build today. I did spend considerable time researching some things in preparation for a rather large parts order I am about to make. Soon on the way to me will be the following:

SafeAir1 pitot/static line kit #1
SafeAir1 Pitot mast kit
Dynon Heated Pitot Tube and controller
SafeAir1 extended range tank bung kit for both fuel tanks.
Additional SB375-4 plastic snap bushings for RG400 antenna coax wire run and additional wire runs at the forward end of each main rib.
Possibly the SafeAir1 Fuel pump access/inspection hatch kit for the extended range tanks

I also managed to drill and debur all the forward flange rivet holes in both the right wing ribs and main wing spar, as well as the underside of the Lef main wing spar. I will still need to do all the holes for both end ribs. I confirmed from VAF posts that the SB375-4 will provide good clearance for the antenna coax. It requires a 3/8 inch hole drilled in the rib for a 1/4 inch ID hole for the wires/tubing, etc. I also need to call Vans again and ask about drilling the rib holes through the main wing spar flanges. Problem is that you have to drill and debur these holes BEFORE you rivet the main ribs to the spar, but the wing skins are not yet final drilled to those holes, which may cause the skins to be offset just a bit. This may effect the alignment/fit of the leading edge skins against the main wing skins, so I want to check with Vans to verify when exactly should I drill adn debur those holes.

I also researched the DuctWorks site and saw that they are selling a new round stle LED wing tip lite kit. Only problem is that they require a separate flash unit to allow them to wig wag, which ductworks apparently does not sell. Aero Led also has some new high briteness LED lights. I like the wing tip light concept because I don't have to saw out part of the leading edge wing skins for a leading edge type of mount, and it makes servicing the lights a bit easier as well, since all you have to do is remove the wing tip or just the lense cover. This makes installation fairly quick and easy I think.

I like the AeroLED lights because they come with wigwag functions build into the lights, so no separate flash unit is required. Still mulling all that over right now. I also saw a recent post of a comparison of LED, Incandescent, and HID light systems. I don't think that LEDs do all that well for distant illumination, but we'll see. I may still go with them because one of the new features of the GRT AHARS avionics is that they provide an option for a night vision infrared detection - not sure if it is literally FLIR based or not, but I figure I could use this feature in addition to whatever my landing lights  do to provide me with as much situational awareness that I need during a landing approach or takeoff at night.

I then did some research on VAF regarding the installation location of the heated pitot tube controller. Some folks are mounting this on the rib just outboard of the last inspection/service palte location on the bottom of the wing, while others are installing it in the end rib or even on an inpsection plate itself. I will most likely put mine out on the end rib for ease of inspection and service, but may also explore the inspection cover installation a bit more. I am less interested in the rib location because I think this location is difficult to both inspect and service if/when the time comes. Others even run it all the way back to the fuselage.

The pitot tube mounting location is yet another decision that has to be made. I will mount it in the next bay outboard of the bay where the aileron belcrank is located. There are two reasons for this:
1. Dynon has some rather long 3/8 inch air line tubes coming out of the pitot tube where the air lines willbe connected and run back to the avionics, and this will provide enough room for them to be bent  and connected to the lines
2. It allows for connection of the air lines so that they can run through a mounting bracket underneath the entire aileron belcrank assembly, with no chance of interference with the bellcrank or the push/pull tubes. This is something that is rather important, if ya know what I mean.

Also need to get up in the rafters and shelves in the garage and start pulling down the aileron, flap, and wing skins - wow - I will have to order the fuselage kit or something to keep those shelves fully utilized!

Hope to have some pics tomorrow.