RV-14 7-star Landing Lights - Final position question

[DanNiendorff]

A question for those who have installed the FlyLED 7-Star in the RV-14.....

I am ready to mount the 7-star in the leading edge, and I am looking at the mounting arrangements. I am quite tempted to simply mount it directly to the W-00017 and call it good. But I'm a little hesitant, as I am not quite sure how accurate the aim is on that bracket. For those who had done this already...

1) Did you mount an additional aiming mechanism? Happy with result?
2) Did you mount directly to the W-00017? Happy with result?

An aiming bracket would be simple, but why add it if its not needed.......
Note that the diagram is for a different light - not the 7-star.

-Dan

 

[MS19087]

I used the aiming bracket

Happy i did - it also puts the unit further forward . . .

 

[BravoAlphaRomeo]

I also bolted a FlyLED quad beam straight to the 00017. Match drilled four holes from one to the other. If I have an aiming problem I guess I’ll go in there with spacers and angle to correct.

 

[1949MGTC]

I modified the W00016B to fit the seven stars on my 14A. I just wanted to have the adjustment capability.

Bill Gardner
140849
N513DB flying

 

[DanNiendorff]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I decided to mount mine with an aiming bracket. My kit did not include a W-00016B, but it was easy enough to fab a pivot bracket.

 

[CF86301]

Design of W-00016B substitute?

Dan, what did you make your pivot bracket out of? The W-00016B is only 0.040" thick, and the Seven Stars light weighs just over 24 oz, vs 10.1 oz for the LL-00008, so I'm a little nervous about using the W-00016B. I know others have, and have flown that way, but still...

 

[DanNiendorff]

Dan, what did you make your pivot bracket out of? The W-00016B is only 0.040" thick, and the Seven Stars light weighs just over 24 oz, vs 10.1 oz for the LL-00008, so I'm a little nervous about using the W-00016B. I know others have, and have flown that way, but still...

I used 0.050 6061-T6. It seems pretty stout. I won’t really know if that was the right call until I get flying.

 

[Dennis Harm]

Landing light

I used this method,works great adjustable to any position.

 

[CF86301]

Bracket

This is what I've come up with. It's designed to let you tilt the light up (?) or down at least 5 degrees. SendCutSend will make two of them for less than $45. I made the holes on the ears 3/16" so they can be reamed to #12, and the K1000-08 nutplate rivet holes are 3/32" so they can be reamed to #40 (and countersunk). I tried to keep the ears short after doing some balance experiments and determining that the light wants to balance about at the base of the heatsink rods. The bracket will shift that even farther forward.

It's designed to be made from 0.063 5052-H32. SendCutSend only has 2024-T3 in 0.025" thickness, and they don't like to bend 6061-T6. But hey, 0.040" titanium is an option!

Update 26 Dec 2023: I finalized the design and had two made. They seem to fit OK. I shared the design on SendCutSend.