Left landing light complete

May 9, 2011 – I got both landing light assemblies pretty much up to the same place, then I installed the left landing light, since that wing is on the table.

I attached the retaining strips using the recommended double-stick tape. I had a few reservations about doing this, but I figure I’ll do it now, then when it’s time for maintenance and the tape fails, I may install pop-rivets. As it turned out late today, pop-rivets may have made my life a little easier.

As I read through the instructions last week, I ran across something that I really didn’t care for. You are told to use a washer and a screw to hold the light assembly in the bracket, something like below:

I really didn’t like that, so I set out to make something that I liked better.

I started out with a piece of aluminum L-angle. This piece is .125″ thick. The big leg is about 1″ and the smaller one is roughly 1/2″.

Using a 1″ rotary file, I milled an edge 3/8″ wide. I did this milling below the nice rounded edge of the raw stock. I finished the milled surface with a sanding disk, then a scotch-brite disk.

I cut four 1″ pieces from the milled stock. This is a good shot of the profile of the piece.

I drilled the holes for the screws. The screw holes do go through the milled section, but that’s where the pre-drilled holes fall in the bracket; they are right along the edge of the lamp assembly. I’m not worried about any kind of structural issues with this. The picture shows the top and bottom of a couple of the retainers.

I cleaned, treated, primed and painted  the retainers, then installed them. I really like how they turned out.

I shaped the edges of the lenses at the top and bottom around the lens retainers. The lenses wouldn’t go into the leading edge without hitting the light bracket already installed inside.

I installed the screws for the lens. I had some trouble getting one of the retainer strips to stay down so I could get the last screw in. I had to slide a thin piece of aluminum through the back under the light bracket and push the strip down while I got the screw started.

Here’s the finished product, inside and out:

One thing I’m going to do differently, and change on this light: I’m going to get some more cap screws that use an allen wrench for the adjustment screws for the light bracket. These are very hard to get tight without running the risk of stripping the screw heads.

Time: 3:50