Back to work, roll bar

Well it I really need to keep this site up to date...

Today I worked on the roll bar and support parts.

Ok time for some dinner!

Working on roll bar

Ok so I am trying to get this to work from my phone so I might post more stuff.

I have been working a lot on the plane but don't have time to update this so I hope having my phone do the work will help.

I have added autopilot servos, sealed the tanks, put in the static ports and am working on the roll bar now, to bad I leave for the desert on sunday again... Oh well piece by piece and one day I will be done.

Pitot tube and Riveting

6 hours

Ok so I spent a lot of time in the garage today but didn’t feel as productive because of the amount of time I spent thinking about how to do things. I guess that’s part of the build but it’s not as rewarding as driving rivets. Speaking of driving rivets…


I did rivet the aft side and bottom skin to F-712 (the last bulk head) today! It is really nice to see things go together and also to know that I won’t be taking them apart any more =)


I love it when a PLANE comes together ;)


I clecoed the bottom skins on so that I could see how they fix and well the fit! I did notice that I need to sand down the lapping edge to make it a little smother but it is on the bottom so not as visible as the top but every ounce of aluminum I remove the better!

I also spent considerable time trying to figure out how I was going to mount the pitot tube but I made a decision and well now there is a hole in my pretty bottom skin. The plans call for a bent piece of ¼” aluminum tube but I wanted a heated pitot tube so I needed to get that and figure out how to mount it.


I looked at a few different peoples planes online and went against how the mounting tube people said to do it. They wanted me to rivet the mast to the wing, I wanted it to be removable… So it’s now removable =) I just didn’t want that thing sticking out in the wind for the next 2 years as I am working on it, don’t know it I will ever need to remove it again but hey at least I can.

Ok well this Turkey day holiday did allow me to get a bit done, would always have liked to get more done but I am happy with the forward progress. Only 10 more building days (ok any kind of days really) till I ship out again so I hope to get some more stuff done, maybe the flap motor next…

Wing Skins - Tail Wheel Support

4 Hours on wings

3 hours on tail wheel support

Today took a lot longer than I thought it would… I started off by using a soldering iron to melt away the protective plastic that is on most all of the aluminum parts to protect them. This process was a little slow as I was going at about an inch a second and I only had about 150 FEET to go =O

Before

After

In all I think it is worth it as it does protect the skins as I am moving them around and what not, I just hope to rivet tem to the wing soon so that I will be able to call that part done.= O
After deburing all the holes in the bottom right skin I then had to dimple them. Wow another hour plus just banging away.

This is what I had to do…

Didn't take a deburing picture but that it done to EVERY HOLE too!

Dimpling with the C- Frame

Close up

Video

And as you can see there are a lot of holes that need to be dimpled. Just got one skin done last night.

Well that’s what I did on the wings today, I also worked on the Tail Wheel support. I had to do a bit of filing away to make room for the support bracket.

Here you can see what I needed to do.

Once I got everything in there (yes many many trial fits) I drilled the holes for the bolt in the forward bulkhead, and the “temp” rivets in the aft bulkhead.

I tried to paint the steal support last night but because of the temps (even in the heated garage) the paint was taking too long to dry so I let it sit over night and will give it a second coat tomorrow (well today, I was tried and didn’t post this till morning).

OK back to work!

Brakes

1.5 hours

Today I assembled the brakes and got ready to cut the aft end of the plane to make room for the tailwheel spring mount. Not a lot as I was doing other things but still steady progress.

This is the rudder pedals with all the brakes

Here you can see that I don't want any dragging brakes, I used the single bolt (AN3-56) instead of the dual bolt setup as per Van's. I also added a spring to help with the return as some have done. I figured this is easiest to do now rather then later, and I think it is well worth the very little weight gain if any as I eliminated some extra washers and nuts with this whole setup.

Hope to get close to mounting the tail spring mount tomorrow, night.

Brake Pedals are Done!

8 Hours

Well today started off slow as I was helping a friends try and hunt down the door that he was house sitting, I guess it opened the fence and well you get the idea. After an hour and a half of seeing the neighborhood I had to return to the project.


I started off by washing, scotch brighting, acetoning and then priming the parts.



I made this stilly priming box that I thought would help and work and it just really sucked so don’t waste your time. I had to reprime a few of the parts, maybe I was just trying to do more than that box could handle. I was just trying to keep the parts warm as it was 35 outside while the garage is heated, it’s not 70 degrees like the primer wants.

So as the parts dried I tried to figure out how many adjustments I would like in the placement of the rudder pedals. The stupid thing is that the center support bracket has holes that are not the same distance apart as the side support blocks, this makes it a pain when you are trying to keep edge distances for all the holes. Because of this is made a command decision and let the center support get within the 2 diameters apart and decided that I would just use a washer to help.


I got to use my 90 degree drill for the first time today, without it I could not have done this.



Then I got to try the fly cutter for the lightening holes in the center support, another first and hope it’s the last, that thing is scary!





Once all the primer dried I got to rivet the brakes together. It was pretty rewarding.


This is me putting in the last rivet in the brakes =)


I found a lot of humor in this, I have been working on these brake pedals for the last 2 days and all I did was one stupid line in the instructions! Ok I have done more than just that but if you were to read it it would look like a simple task, which it is but it sure takes longer to do it than it would lead you to believe.


So here they are, tada...

I called it quits at 2000 (8 pm) as I have spend most of the day in the garage and well I need a break, now I just need to come up with a plan of attack for tomorrow =)

Rudder and Brake Pedals

5 Hours

Today I worked on the brake pedals. It’s more of that drilling, deburing, countersinking and well you get the idea. One of the tricky parts today was I had to align the rudder pedals to neutral and align the brake pedals so they were all the same so that when I drilled the master cylinders to the pedals it would all look and more importantly BE right.


I have been looking a lot at Dan Checkoway’s webpage and he did a really good job documenting his build. He showed how he centered everything up and I just followed his lead and it turned out great!


Yes you noticed that I don’t have a plumb but gravity works with about anything and this will work till I get a set that I will need for the rigging of the wings.




I just need to prime the parts tomorrow and then rivet the brake pedals together. Next is drilling the holes for the rudder assembly so that it can adjust back and forth on the forward longerons, I think I can do all that tomorrow, but things do always tend to take longer then I think.


I hope to have what this looks like in the plane for you tomorrow.

Gas Tank Braces

2.0 Hours

I finished the gas tank braces tonight, or at least as much as I can before fitting the wings. I was able to cross off a few more pages in the manual as well as I am getting closer to verifiying everything that the quick build has done.


These are the parts, dad knows that even every hole in these things take a bit of time; measuring, marking, drilling, deburing, clecoing, drilling to final size, deburing, matching to the other parts by more drilling, deburing… your getting the idea


Here is what the fuse now looks like without the floor boards/seats/baggage bulk head.


See all empty (I found 2 left over rivets in here)

Night

Lots of Screws

1.5 Hours

Tonight I drilled out the seat and baggage floors that were pop riveted in so I cold inspect the work in there and get it ready for final install. I also drilled out the rivets that will hold the gas tank bracket and the last bulkhead where I need to install the tail wheel support.

Not a lot to show but there were a lot of screws and I wanted to take things slow as not to strip any of the heads.

No pictures for now, but still moving in the right direction.

Making parts

3 hours

Today I made the rudder stops and the brackets that hold the gas thanks to the fuselage. There are a lot of angles in each and it takes studying the plans to know what you are doing but in the end it is pretty rewarding to have these complex parts in front of you that you just make (without spilling any more blood too ;)


Hard to see all the angles, but these things don't have a 90 degree cut any where

Well I will most likely try and find a few more parts that need to be made so I can do a batch for the priming and such.

Oh I ordered some stuff from Avery Tools and I just want to say that they rock! I got my stuff fast and they even discounted it cause I am in the military, great company!

Ouch!

2 Hours (not counting the ER)

So today I started with making some parts.

I cut 1.5 of the rudder stops before I had to take a little break. I got to take this break as part of a lesson that I learned…

NEVER PUT YOUR FINGERS IN FRONT OF THE BANDSAW BLADE!!!!!!

I was cutting a small tiny piece of angle stock and got mixed up and was pushing it with my left thumb on the piece that I was cutting and yep, I pushed my thumb right into the blade! I ran inside washed it off and well felt a little woozy so I called my buddy Josh and he took me to the ER.

Yea it kinda hurt, it was a clean cut but it was a saw not a knife so the blade removed stuff instead of just cutting it =0

The glove

They looked at it and after an Xray they said there was no metal in it so they poured some glue on it and sent me on my way. I knew there was not much they could do but better safe then sorry. I thought that I needed some food so Josh and I went to the Egg and I and filled our bellies.

After I returned home I had to pack a bag and head north to Casper to hangout with my sister and Watch a Monster truck Rally! More on that on my kctrips.blogspot.com page.

Time for some QCing

3.5 hours

So tonight I didn’t touch the wings but instead I decided that I need to go step by step with the book and see what they did and didn’t do on my Quick Build. I have read the manual many times in the desert and even on my last trip to Little Rock but without the plane and manual and the drawings all staring at me I am a little lost.

I started in the beginning hoping that they put the book close to in order and I started finding little things immediately. I riveted the recess in the firewall thing, got to do some deburring and dimpling. Then I looked at the brake fluid brace that I fabed up before and match drilled it. I also had a bit of counter sinking and dimpling to do on the firewall.


Dimpling the firewall recess, I also got to smash a few rivets =)

The one question I have for Vans is why do 90% of a task when it would be harder to me to stop there and move on. I know it’s the whole 51% rule and all but for there to be a row of rivets and all are dimpled except 8 of the 100 why? Maybe I am missing something but I found the part that needed to go there so I dimpled it and put it there, I guess I’ll just be happy that they did the other 92 =)


See they do most of the steps that you thnk they would but the did miss a few...

OK bed time, I am beat, this going back to work thing is really a drag!

Fuse – Seat Backs

1 May

So I am not the best about updating this when things happen but I will try and be better though I would rather spend the extra hour on the plane then this silly thing. But this is what I have been up to.

My Dad, Eric and me went to Harbor Freight and got some more tools that we could bring home and then throw into the trash can. Sometimes I really wonder why I keep buying things there, but today I got one that I really like, so far… It’s a 6” chop saw that’s uses a cut off wheel and works great on chopping aluminum stock; angle, tube, and hinge or whatever. We also when to Sears and got a belt sander, and boy do I love it. I know tools are important but it’s amazing every time you get a new tool and you wonder how you lived without it.


Sander in action

When we got back Eric and my dad worked on the seat backs as I worked on attaching the ailerons.

The seats are not pre punched at all, so a lot of measuring and marking then drilling was necessary. This doesn’t normally take me too long but with 2 Aerospace engineers on the job site with a micrometer in hand things moved a little slower =) But I will tell you that there is not one rivet more than 0.00000001” off from where it should be!

The backs



Looking Good



Yep parts are primed

I was not so successful as I quickly needed a reamer. I decided that if I was drilling the hinge eye for the hinge pin that I should use the right tool and that a drill bit was ok, but a reamer was better so I ordered one online and will wait for that to come in.

Now I decided to work on the control tubes. I got to use my new pneumatic pop riveter and let me tell you it was well worth the $35 at Harbor Freight. It is a one hand operation and you can make sure that there is pressure on the material and that it’s all lined up just like you want it to be.



This little device helped drill the holes straight on the round tube



6 Rivets in each end, how to do this...


I'll use my new pneumatic pop riveter =)

Progress

Today was a good day; I build a set of legs with wheels for the fuselage and a tail stand. It was nice to see something get done other then planning.


It made me smile as I made my way through the cashier at Lowes. With all the odd parts I was asked what I was building, I had to smile and say “an airplane”. She looked at me and said, oh one of those R\C planes, my brother had one….. I said nope it’s a real plane that can take 2 people flying over 200 mph! Then I showed her a pic of me and my dad building the elevator and she looked puzzled, I told her that she can ask me more whenever she wants to as it looks like Lowes is my new home anyway.



So the axles were a little tricky to make but hey if there is a will there is a way.





Now the fuselage is just like a wheelbarrow and it’s very easily moved. The wheels have metal rims with a ball bearing bushing built into them. They are made for a lawn mower and easily hold the weight of the fuse with me in it. I had help from Will a college/work buddy to get the plane off the empennage crate.



My emp has been crated up for almost a year as I have been busy moving, buying a house and working a lot. Everything was in order and now it all sits in the basement waiting to be put on the plane.

I got one more crate to open and inventory, the finishing kit. I also have tons of tools on order including a 60 gal compressor =) I am getting closer to starting up the new aircraft production line.

Oh the heated garage is incredible. It was single digits outside today with about 6” of snow. I was nice and toasty in the garage today but I don’t want to see the power bill.

Till next time,
Aloha