The I39 Fly-in
Dan Overall's fly-in has become the de facto kick off to the fly-in season. Last Saturday, he held the annual event at his hangar in Richmond, Kentucky. Good. It's been a long winter. Here's some various links to pictures and information about the event.
Mike Norton's pictures
Bobby Hester's pictures
VAF thread

Engine monitoring today
Virtually all modern engine monitors provide a plethora of information to the pilot. All basic functions are expected to be included with the offerings for our airplanes—you could say we’re information spoiled. I’m happy to say that most builders with a sizable investment ahead of the firewall are seeing the value of allinclusive monitoring. It’s not just for the retentive types anymore. At a minimum, you’ll be monitoring. (Stein Bruch in Kitplanes)

RV-12 progress report
Van's Aircraft issued an update on the RV-12 kits on Tuesday. One of the more interesting items was this: "We recently learned that the widely discussed rumor that an E-LSA can be changed/reconfigured with
impunity after it was licensed isn’t entirely correct. Yes, the airplane can be changed, but the owner would then be required to re-state the Form 8130-15, affirming that the revised airplane still meets the
standards of the LSA category. Since Van’s can not supply a new form, the burden of proof would fall to the builder (see FAR 8130.2F). We don’t know what form of proof the FAA might require in this case." (Read the update)
Related link:
RV-12 plans/manual changes released
Plans 31-03 Revisions (released this week)
Plans 31-15 Revisions
Plans 3-4 Revisions
Plans 3-3 Revisions
Plans 3-2 Revisions

Serious injuries in Indiana RV-3 crash
Walt Fritz, 80, of Indianapolis man was listed in good condition at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis Sunday after a plane he was piloting crashed in a Putnam County field last Saturday morning. (More)

A visit with two Texas craftsmen
Keith Williams, of EAA Chapter 33, picked a good place to have some bad luck. When his pickup truck broke down, he got to visit with a couple of expert builders, including the builder of an RV-9 1/2. (The Lippisch Letter)

How to make a wiring harness
I'm the first to admit, I know virtually nothing about making a wiring harness, despite several sessions trying to learn. But in the process of investigating the PS Engineering 1000II intercom wiring, I stumbled across this Powerpoint presentation on the subject, taking note of Raychem solder sleeves (Seriously, go look that up on Google, especially the ones that cost $200-$700 each). It also has an introduction to some tools you'll use and some techniques. Keep in mind, you must have Microsoft Powerpoint on your computer for this link to work. (Download the presentation)

Electric trim wiring
(From Vertical Power's newsletter)

Many experimental aircraft today use electric trim motors from the Ray Allen Company. Along with the seemingly simple task of installing the trim motor comes more complexity and questions.  
 
How do I show trim position?
How do I make the trim less sensitive at speed?  
How do I wire it for the co-pilot and pilot?  
What about runaway trim?   
How do I run them in a 28v system?  
 
 
   
 
The Ray Allen trim servo (models T2-7A-TS, T2-10A-TS, or T3-12A-TS) has five 26ga wires, as shown in the diagram below:
 

 
The trim motor itself is driven by the two white wires. It does not matter how they are connected, as the polarity can be changed in the setup menus. The direction of travel is controlled by reversing the positive and negative connections to the trim motor. This is done conventionally using switches or mechanical relays, but is done in the Control Unit with solid-state circuitry. Therefore, no external relays or switches are required between the trim servo and the Control Unit
 
The position sensor uses three wires to determine the position of the sensor within the servo:
white/ orange - connect to ground.
white/blue - connect to a steady reference voltage.
white/green - the voltage on this wire changes as the servo moves.

The three wires are connected within the servo to a potentiometer. You can simply run all five wires from a servo directly to the VP Control Unit.
 
Then, you run wires from the pilot's and co-pilot's trim switch (typically a coolie hat on the control stick) directly to the Control Unit. No external relays, black boxes, or indicator lights are required for trim wiring.
 
These servos are designed to run at 14 volts, and the VP Control Unit provides regulated 12v power to the trim motors so they can operate safely in 14v or 28v systems.
 
The VP Control Unit now knows the trim input commands from the pilot and co-pilot, trim position, and has the ability to drive the trim motor. From that, it provides runaway trim protection, variable speed trim, trim position display, "trim running" indicator, management of conflicting inputs from the pilot and co-pilot, and backup trim controls.
 
That's one example of what we mean when we say "simpler wiring, more features." 

Cutting tubing with your table saw
The abrasive cutoff wheel, often referred to as a "chop saw blade" is mounted in the table saw in place of the normal saw blade. Make sure your cutoff wheel is appropriate for the arbor size of your table saw. This operation is going to create a lot of sparks! Make sure you clean ALL wood chips and sawdust out of your saw and the area where you're cutting to avoid fire hazard. Also make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy just in case. (The Experimenter - See slideshow)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK   With this picture from Tom Velvick, one almost expects the plane to be registered to Jackie Gleason. (You kids won't understand that reference). By the way, I'm in need of your favorite RV pictures for this space. Send 'em along.