REFLECTOR: Jeffco or not?

[Joe Ewen]

Grigore,
1-I believe the Jeffco is considered the preferred approach.  I bought mine from the factory.

2-I used a balloon to test my tank.  After sealing the fuel cap with 4" masking tape, a balloon was connected to the vent line and air blown into the tank's fuel supply line.  A temporary valve in the supply line was closed.  I tested my tanks individually for 24+ hours.  During that time the balloon contracted due to temperature change, but came back to original inflation when the temperature came back up.  In fact one balloon burst from the higher temp the next afternoon.  

3-I completed one strake then worked on the second.  May be personal preference, learn on the first and the second is usually constructed more efficiently.  I left the wings on until the strakes were finished.  

I departed from the manual on a couple of techniques.  One was I used Ronnie Brown's procedure for making the baffle templates (I believe he outlines the process on his web site.)  The other departure was to create flanges on the upper portion of the bulkhead and baffles to eliminate the need for inverting the fuselage.  I shared this approach with Andy M, if he used the technique maybe he can comment of his success. 

At the time of construction my strakes tested leak free.  I will be retesting now that I am close to completion and hope they are still leak free.

Joe

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Grigore Rosu 
  To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
  Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:34 AM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: Jeffco or not?


  I'm about to install the bulkheads in my first strake and therefore I'll soon need to worry about the fuel tank.

  1) Should I use Jeffco or not?  The manual sounds as if Jeffco is optional ...  If I should use it, where can I get it from?  (I can do a random search on the internet, but perhaps there are some better avenues that you may have encountered so far).

  2) Do I need an altimeter to test the fuel tank?  I have none, but the messages I could find in the reflector archive on this subject mention an altimeter.  BTW, can I test each tank in isolation, or they need to be both installed first and checked together?

  3) Should I finish the first strake (including installing the upper strake) and then move to the other one, or it is better to also install the lower strake on the other side and its bulkheads, then do both tanks at the same time, and then install both upper strakes at the same time?  Note that I can only install one wing at a time in my garage.  The flow-chart that came with my manual says that the wing can be removed once the lower strake is installed ... I'm a bit reluctant to do so though, because I'm affraid the torsion generated by the spar may be too big without the upper strake.

  Thank you,
  Grigore



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