E. D. Eliot
Well Known Member
I write this thread after spending a large part of Friday replacing my not so well installed landing light lens. My RV-12 is still under construction.
My goal with this thread is to help those who is either facing installing a landing light assembly and lens during construction of the right wing or who are considering putting a second landing light into the left wing post certification.
First off, let me say that I did a poor job of installing the original lens. Just not up to my standards. So, I removed the original lens this AM and began replacement of the old lens.
The lens that Van's sends to RV-12 builders is marked 00014 - RV-10 lens. No problem, I thought but I was really wrong. The shape of the 00014 lens doesn't fit the leading edge of the RV-12. This fact and my lack of skill are likely what caused me to foul up my first lens installation a few months ago. So, I decided to try and match the shape of my RV-12 leading edge - out came my heat gun. First, I cut the RV-10 lens down to a size that was about 1" wider and longer than the landing light cut out of the leading edge. I taped a piece of towel to my RV-12 leading edge and then taped the top of the lens to the wing - used the low heat setting of my heat gun and 'carefully' applied heat to the plastic - making sure that I held the heat gun at least 12" or so from the plastic. Worked the curve of the plastic lens for about 1-1/2 minutes 'carefully' and after it seemed to relax a little, I left it alone until it was cold. This resulted is a lens shape that was a better fit to the leading edge. It was 'close but no cigar' and I was aftaid to apply more heat so I settled for what I had.
Used the Van's method of fitting the lens but first match drilled, counter sunk, and deburred the bottom screw holes only. As my first lens wasn't tight enough to the wing skin, I wanted to make sure that this replacement lens was tight. I installed the lens the bottom of the lens and pulled as top to the skin as well as I could.
I couldn't get the tight to the wing skin fit that I was after so, I marked thru the four lens bracket holes that I had drilled in the wing skin previously. I then removed the lens and added 1/8" more 'height' to the marked holes and drilled the holes (no match drilling). This forced the lens to better fit the opening in the wing skins. Removed the lens, countersunk, deburred and installed the new lens. It looks good but time will tell if it will crack or not!
I want to say that if you are replacing a lens as I did then I recommend that you drill out the landing light bracket before you begin this operation. Also, if you are building 'new' and are going to install a landing light, then I recommend that you install the landing light assembly and lens before you close up the wing tip. These tips will save you time, extra work and possibly $$$ as you won't have to do it twice as I did.
Maybe others will chime in here and add of supplement these instructions with better ideas. If there is a better way to do this operation then I'm all ears - I will install a landing light into the left wing post certification. Best to you all.
My goal with this thread is to help those who is either facing installing a landing light assembly and lens during construction of the right wing or who are considering putting a second landing light into the left wing post certification.
First off, let me say that I did a poor job of installing the original lens. Just not up to my standards. So, I removed the original lens this AM and began replacement of the old lens.
The lens that Van's sends to RV-12 builders is marked 00014 - RV-10 lens. No problem, I thought but I was really wrong. The shape of the 00014 lens doesn't fit the leading edge of the RV-12. This fact and my lack of skill are likely what caused me to foul up my first lens installation a few months ago. So, I decided to try and match the shape of my RV-12 leading edge - out came my heat gun. First, I cut the RV-10 lens down to a size that was about 1" wider and longer than the landing light cut out of the leading edge. I taped a piece of towel to my RV-12 leading edge and then taped the top of the lens to the wing - used the low heat setting of my heat gun and 'carefully' applied heat to the plastic - making sure that I held the heat gun at least 12" or so from the plastic. Worked the curve of the plastic lens for about 1-1/2 minutes 'carefully' and after it seemed to relax a little, I left it alone until it was cold. This resulted is a lens shape that was a better fit to the leading edge. It was 'close but no cigar' and I was aftaid to apply more heat so I settled for what I had.
Used the Van's method of fitting the lens but first match drilled, counter sunk, and deburred the bottom screw holes only. As my first lens wasn't tight enough to the wing skin, I wanted to make sure that this replacement lens was tight. I installed the lens the bottom of the lens and pulled as top to the skin as well as I could.
I couldn't get the tight to the wing skin fit that I was after so, I marked thru the four lens bracket holes that I had drilled in the wing skin previously. I then removed the lens and added 1/8" more 'height' to the marked holes and drilled the holes (no match drilling). This forced the lens to better fit the opening in the wing skins. Removed the lens, countersunk, deburred and installed the new lens. It looks good but time will tell if it will crack or not!
I want to say that if you are replacing a lens as I did then I recommend that you drill out the landing light bracket before you begin this operation. Also, if you are building 'new' and are going to install a landing light, then I recommend that you install the landing light assembly and lens before you close up the wing tip. These tips will save you time, extra work and possibly $$$ as you won't have to do it twice as I did.
Maybe others will chime in here and add of supplement these instructions with better ideas. If there is a better way to do this operation then I'm all ears - I will install a landing light into the left wing post certification. Best to you all.