Just more poking with this shelf today. I made myself a little diagram and spreadsheet to analyze my idea for letting the shelf flanges act as a stop. Turns out it’s not really a workable idea, unless I want to get really fancy with those flanges…which I don’t. So I changed my mind (again). I’m going to bend the flanges up at the edges of the shelf, which will make the bottom smooth, and just let it rest against the brake lines when it’s lowered. Since this will only ever happen on the ground, I think this is fine.
This decision was the culmination of a variety of head-scratching moments today. At one point I put the baggage bulkhead and other associated parts back in the plane to evaluate how the shelf would sit. I did actually do a tiny bit of metalwork…I took a vixen file and squared up the cut edges of yesterday’s sheet, then got the flanges laid out. I wanted to get to cutting them, but the hangar lights were attracting entirely too much insect life for my liking, so I used that as an excuse to go inside for the evening.
Hopefully soon there will be some photos of the result of all this head-scratching. But probably not tomorrow, the grass is looking like it’s due for a mow, and sunset is getting earlier by the day…
Oh, I did get in my big pile of switches and stuff from Digi-Key. Once this shelf is fabricated, I think I might be moving on to the switch console.