Apr 01, 2024     Cleaned the hangar - (6 hours) Category: Workshop

made an attempt to clean out all my construction debris as well as reorganize so I can find stuff easier. Time will tell if I was successful.

  Dec 19, 2023     Moved the airplane factory - (30 hours)       Category: Workshop

I've spent the last couple of weeks just moving stuff from the garage to the hangar, one jeep load at a time. Bought some shelves and some plastic bins for the big parts and tried to organize stuff where I could actually find it again.

I've had my Craftsman roll around toolbox since I started working at Cessna in 1996, but with all the air tools etc. I've had to break out for this project I had bough another cheap harbor freight box just for airplane specific stuff. At this point both of these were brimming over. I've been on the lookout for a bigger box for the hangar so I could consolidate all my airplane stuff and move my Craftsman back to the house.

Behold- the one toolbox to rule them all. A giant Kobalt box with about a zillion drawers and a built in stereo. Thanks facebook marketplace! I rented a trailer to get this and took the opportunity to move my air compressor, drill press tables and band saw same day.

let the airplane assembly begin.

  Apr 26, 2023     cleaned up the shop - (4 hours) Category: Workshop

It's been a while, and stuff was starting pile up so I spent 1/2 a day cleaning up the garage/airplane factory.

  Apr 19, 2023     birds in hangar :( - (4 hours)       Category: Workshop

I popped down to the hangar a couple of days ago and discovered that there is a birds nest in the trades dead center in the middle. Swept up the mess, and cleaned some droppings off the horizontal stab that was unfortunate enough to be sitting in the drop zone.

Over the years, I've seen all sorts of things tried to keep birds out of hangars and barns. Rubber snakes, plastic owls, old CD's hung on strings, nothing seems to work for long.

My dad swears by a trick he learned a few years ago when birds were taking over one of his pole barns; he claims that plastic shopping bags are the best solution due to the way that they crackle and move in the slightest breeze. I don't know if he's right, but he's 92 and I figure he's probably learned a few things during that many laps around the sun, so I brought my long step ladder from home and tied a few up in the rafters. time will tell I guess.

  Nov 03, 2022     cleaned shop - (6 hours) Category: Workshop

After the ginormous mess made while trimming/sanding/polishing the canopy, I spent a few hours cleaning all that powdered crap out of the shop. Also re-arranged tables and some other stuff in preparation for the next big job, which is hanging the engine.

Lot's of small tasks to clean up before that though, and I'm looking forward to doing some stuff that I can complete in one work session. It's really satisfying to start something, knock it out in a day and be able to tick the box when you shut out the shop lights at the end of the day.

  Mar 29, 2021     Shop vertical enhancement devices - (3 hours)       Category: Workshop

After building the fuselage stand and cutting up the fuselage crate, the shop has accumulated a stack of scrap lumber. Since the fuselage is upright now, there have already been a couple of times when I needed to stand on a milk crate or whatever, so I decided to make some of it into a couple of more convenient large footstools.

3 hours well spent building a stand for each side of the airplane that are about 12" x 20" a foot tall & not tippy at all. I also cut up and got rid of the rest of the scraps. It opened up a whole corner of the garage.

  Sep 03, 2020     Fuselage bulkheads - (10 hours)       Category: Workshop

This entry constitutes several short work sessions over the last 4 days.

Finished all the fuselage bulkheads aft of F-705

My new seat belt brackets came in the mail yesterday. Went ahead and match drilled them, trimmed where needed, and then primed the raw edges.

Today I assembled the F-705 bulkhead. No surprises, but if anybody reads this, I'd encourage you to read and re-read the print, because there are a ton of different rivets, and multiple places where you have to do stuff in a certain order. There are also parts on the tip-up that get omitted on the slider and rivets that get shot on the slider that get left til later on the tip-up. Lots of places that don't get rivets until a later step as well.

On the flap bearing blocks, there is a note on that says drill these to #10, but I had a #11 reamer so I used that it everything fits nice and tight. The print gives you dimension for the first hole in each block, so I drilled it in my drill press, then mounted it and located the second hole, then took it back off and finished the second hole on the drill press as well. I think if you tried to drill these by hand the chance of drilling it crooked would be extremely high. The bearing blocks were in the bag with the flap actuator, and there were also a few chunks of angle. turns out that was exactly the right thickness to use as a spacer and make sure the block was square to the Frame for locating the second hole.

The next step is to bend the longerons. I have a set of buller dies, but want to practice on some scrap before I try it on the actual longerons. So, I went to the Yard this afternoon and bought some sticks of appropriate angle to practice on. We're leaving for a long weekend tomorrow so I'll likely leave this until next week.

  Aug 30, 2020     Cleaned up shop and overhauled band saw - (4 hours)       Category: Workshop

My band saw has been well loved over the years and it was time for a makeover. The tires were worn out and the blade was really dull from cutting steel.

It's an old Craftsman with 12" wheels and an 80" blade which none of the big box stores carry locally. I was able to order new tires on Amazon and a new 14tpi bi-metal blade from Home Depot online.

I had to soak the wheels in soapy hot water for a few minutes to get them stretchy enough to mount, but once that was done they went on without taking the wheels off the saw. Took about an hour Start to finish, including truing the blade up after putting it back together. Cuts great now.

I also spent some time just cleaning up the shop

  May 01, 2020     cleaned shop - (4 hours) Category: Workshop

I waited to see what our tax situation was going to be before I ordered the fuselage kit, so it won't be here until probably the first week in July. In the mean time, I'm enjoying cleaning up little jobs, but I'm running out of stuff to do on the wings. Pretty much the only thing I have left is wiring some wingtip electrical connectors, installing an archer antenna, and replacing the clecos that are holding them on now with the permanent installation of nutplates or piano hinges, depending on which way I decide to go.

With that In mind, I just spend a while cleaning up the shop today.