Apr 26, 2022     Rib Stiffeners - (18 hours)       Category: Wings

This entry is a bit overdue, right before I was about to finish the fabrication on the rib stiffeners I learned I might get transferred out of state and put everything on hold until that was straightened out. I did end up with a transfer about a month ago, but it was locally, and then finding the motivation to get back to work was a bit difficult. Yesterday I spent some time cleaning the shop so I could get back to work so I figured it would be a good time to make an entry on what got done before I last stopped. During the latter half of January Molly and I did the basic fabrication on the rib stiffeners, I had ordered the aluminum a while back and our EAA chapter had recently finished building a new workshop so we figured we'd put it to use. One of the tools the chapter had was a 48-inch sheet metal shear, this made quick work of the aluminum turning it from a large sheet into blanks for the stiffeners and attach angles for the ribs. After we cut the blanks and then tried to use the large brake at the chapter shop to bend a few we realized we had done the math wrong for the bend allowance. We had added where we should have subtracted, the result of which was that the legs of the angles were wider than they needed to be. Initially, this was concerning because it meant more weight, because of this we considered trimming them all to make them the appropriate size. Before we spent the time to do this we figured we should find out how much weight we were adding, after calculating the total area for the added aluminum and multiplying that number by the weight per square inch of that thickness of aluminum we found it would only add a few ounces, and decided that it was not worth the work to trim them all. Using the large brake at the shop we determined there was no good way to jig it so that we could quickly bend all the blanks, so we cleaned up the mess we had made at the chapter shop and went home. Our home shop had both a press brake and a small bending brake. The small bending brake turned out to be the easiest to jig in order to quickly make repeatable bends, so that's the method I used to bend several hundred angles from the various size blanks we had made. With them all bent, the next thing to do was trim corners, drill rivet holes, deburr, and scuff for paint. Molly did all the trimming using our shear I made a drill jig and began drilling rivet holes. Drilling, deburring, and scuffing is a very tedious task that I got done with on 2 of the 3 stiffeners on the center ribs, so my next task is to finish the last set for the center ribs so that I can paint them and then begin prepping the ribs to attach them. After cleaning the shop a bit yesterday, hopefully, I can get started on the project sooner than later.

  Jan 09, 2022     First Complete Parts - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Much of this entry could be considered puttering, but I now have some complete parts ready for paint. Both inboard flap lavers and the flap arms that move the pushrods are complete as are the pushrods. The aileron pushrods are complete and ready for paint as well. After making some improvements to the jig for the Support Frames I was finally satisfied that the uprights were parallel enough to finally weld the support frames so I did exactly that. I still have to add all the fittings to them to accommodate the flap arms on the ones for the flaps and the bell crank support for the ones for the ailerons, but the basic structure is complete which is a huge step in the right direction. Once I get a few more parts done I may have to set up the paint booth and paint a few things.

  Dec 10, 2021     More puttering - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

This entry is a bit overdue, but sometimes life gets in the way. while I have been puttering along over the last two months, life has most definitely gotten in the way, that and the fact that it seems for every new task a new tool is required. I spent quite some time making a jig for the flap and alerion drive support. I would get everything square, tack weld it, and then when I finish welded it, it would move more than is acceptable. This caused me to remake the jig at least 4 times before I was happy with the outcome. In the end, I didn't go any further than tack welding, after all, it is just a jig for alignment and not a structural part. My theory is that because the mild steel angle iron used for the jig isn't normalized, as it was heated and cooled while welding any stress was relived causing movement, my hope is that because all the steel used for the aircraft is normalized, I won't have this problem when welding the fuselage. Most of this work occurred during October, and I had planned to make a blog entry then, but then life happened. I lost one of the primary readers of this blog, my Grandfather. This caused me to procrastinate on making an entry. Then roughly half of November was spent traveling, first for my Grandfather's memorial, and then for Thanksgiving. In the in-between, I managed to finish the fabrication for the spar attachments for the flap and aileron drive supports. Finally, a few days ago I got back into the groove of things and figured I'd better make an entry before I get too much done and the entry ends up being a novel. I was just about ready to start welding up the support frames in the jig when I discovered that an AN3 bolt is not in fact a 3/16 bolt as you might think, but it is actually a #10 bolt, which means after drilling a 3/16 hole for the bolt you need to ream it with a #10 or #11 reamer (depending on how much clearance you want). So while I wait for yet another tool order to be delivered, I began working on the Flap drive push rod, so far one is complete, it took about 4 hours, I am hoping the second one will take less. In the next entry, I should be able to let you know.

  Sep 26, 2021     Parts fabrication and Rivet practice - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

The last month has been a lot of puttering, I have been working on something for at least a few minutes every day, but have had a hard time finding the drive to tackle anything of substance. I have cut out many of the steel sheet parts and have begun to shape some of them and have done a little welding. I found that I didn't order enough tubing of some of the sizes to account for waste, which is unfortunate since tubing doesn't ship for free. This limited what I can do because I have found myself not wanting to make another order until I know if there are any other tubing sizes I didn't order enough of, but not being able to finish one part had made it difficult to move on to the next one. I added some drawers to my sheet metal cart for tools and got to practice my sheet metal skills including riveting. The big news is that the wing kit has shipped and should be here in a week or so, which hopefully will kick me in gear. I have at least been making progress almost every day, even if it's only a little, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

  Aug 21, 2021     First Actual Part - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Last week we finally made our first order of actual build materials, mostly steel, the tubing, and sheets we need to make all of the various small steel parts inside the wings, and the hinges for the flaps and ailerons. The first package of steel sheet arrived open and only one of the 6 sheets were inside, I guess the other 5 were somewhere on a UPS truck or loading dock between here and the Aircraft Spruce Wearhouse in Atlanta GA. A phone call to Spruce got a replacement package on the way. We ordered materials from both Aircraft Spruce and from Air Parts in KC, based on which had what for cheaper, though I think we may have paid more in shipping being 2 separate orders that it the money we saved on the cheaper materials from Air Parts may have been a wash.
Starting with what we did have I began the process of fabricating parts, this began with making copies of the plans for specific parts followed by Molly cutting them out, once they were cut out we used a spray adhesive to affix the paper to the sheet of steel that was the appropriate thickness. From there I roughly cut them out using a cutoff wheel, I then used the sander to remove the rest of the material up to the line on the paper, and then drilled out the required holes on the drill press. Because of its shape, this worked well for the first part I selected. The next part I started on was one of the aileron hinges, my I didn't have as much luck because of the shape. I needed a way to get closer to the lines with my first cut prior to using the sander, so I broke out my Portaband and give it a try. Happily, this worked well but the portaband was a bit unwieldy, so broke down and bought the stand for it that I had wanted for some time. Once the stand arrived, I was happy to see how much easier it was to get a nice clean cut close to the lines requiring much less sanding to shape the part. There are quite a few of these parts to make so it will be a lot of the same for some time, but it's really cool to have finally made or first actual part.

  Aug 13, 2021     Metal Brake and Paint Booth - (40 hours)       Category: Tools

This entry is a bit overdue, and I should have broken it up into more than one entry but, the multiple projects listed all tied together. After my practice projects making tool totes, I decided that the heavy-duty paper shear I was using to cut thin aluminum wasn't "cutting" it, pun intended. Additionally, the bender brake I got with my tool kit, wasn't well suited to do mass quantities of bending small pieces, which is mostly what I needed it for in order to make all the rib stiffeners I need. With all this in mind, I decided to buy a combo Brake, Shear, and Roller. I was tempted to buy one of the "nicer" ones from Grizzly or Eastwood, but from the reading, I did they are not worth twice the cost of the Harbor Freight one, and in fact, they are likely all the same product with slightly better quality control and more "finishing" and different color paint. So a quick trip to Harbor Freight and I had my new 3 in 1, though I really only need 2 of the three functions.
Once I got it home I unpacked and disassembled it to clean off the packing grease. While it was disassembled I took advantage of it being light enough to move by myself to design a cart for it so that once it was reassembled I could still move it by myself. The design I came up with incorporated parts bins in the base as a place to store my array of rivets and Clecos as well as whatever other hardware I may need space for. A quick trip to the local metal supply and I was ready to begin building the cart.
After I got all the pieces cut, I found I needed some fixture clamps to hold everything square and in place while I welded it. While waffling over what to purchase clamp-wise and not being excited about spending $30 per clamp, of which I really needed at least 4, or a fixture kit most of which start at the $250 mark, I stumbled across a post in one of the welding facebook pages I am in, that presented an alternative. The post was from a High School student that had made a fixture table/welding cart for his final project. Along with the table, he made his own fixture clamps, using a 5/8" bolt welded to a Harbor Freight F-clamp with the top cut off, making a fixture clamp for a total of $4 each instead of $30. This of course appealed to me, so another trip to HF and one to Home Depot plus a little welding practice and I was in business.
About the time I finished welding the cart it was time for Airventure. This was the first time I have been able to get off work and be close enough to go, so Molly and I made the trip and had a ton of fun. We were there for a total of 4 days and 3 nights, so about half. We camped in camp Scholler right there on the grounds and walked 8 or so miles each day. We were able to attend a few forums, including Tig Welding 101 (this was mostly review for me, with a little aircraft building-specific information, but was very informational for molly.) Sheet Metal 101, again mostly review and confirmation that what I was doing was right, but again extremely valuable for Molly. Between the classes, the daily airshow, and the several thousand aircraft to look at, including quite a few BearHawks, we had a ton of fun and hope to make it a yearly trip.
With the cart finished I thought it would be a good thing to practice using my paint sprayer on, using the same 2 part epoxy primer that I will be using on most of the Patrol. With this in mind, I took it to the local sandblaster to get all the mill scale removed and prepped for paint.
While the cart was at the sandblaster, I agonized over what I wanted to do regarding a place to paint. After a bit of research, I had three different options each a different functionality and cost level. The first being the cheapest, but least functional, simply masking off a portion of the garage with thin plastic and doing this each time I needed to paint. The middle option was to build a PVC frame for a small paint booth that could be disassembled for storage when not in use and I could likely get more than one use out of the plastic. The last and most expensive option was to make a folding paint booth using wood and some heavier duty plastic. I decided a quick paint booth with PVC pipe and some clear plastic drop cloth would be the best bet, that was until I got to Home Depot and saw how much the price of PVC has gone up in the last year. Because of this, my original idea of making a frame out of 1x2 firring strips was actually the cheaper one. It had the added bonus of being more sturdy, so after a few days of paint booth construction, I was ready to give it a try.
Mixing and spraying the 2 part epoxy was quite the learning experience, which was the goal, so even though it didn't turn out very pretty I learned enough to be able to do a better job on the next thing I paint. I ended up doing 2 coats, or more accurately I mixed the epoxy twice and each mix was used for several coats. In the first mix-up, I didn't read the directions adequately, as I was mixing, I had read them multiple times before but they don't seem to stick until you've done it at least once. The result of not reading as I was doing was that I added the thinner almost immediately after the catalyst instead of waiting the requisite 30 min before thinning. This resulted in a thinner than expected paint, which combined with the fact that I was very new to the HVLP gun resulted in a few runs on my first coat. For a tool cart that I was painting for practice, this wasn't really an issue, subsequent coats went on much better with fewer runs. Hopefully, by the time I get to a visible component, I will have gained the skills to do a much better job. I think after this "experiment" I have a much better knowledge of A) how mixing epoxy paints work, and B) the setup and use of an HVLP spray gun, so now I can watch a few more videos and what they are saying will actually make sense.
With the cart painted, it was time to install the casters and put it to use. I spent several hours thoroughly cleaning each part of the brake as well as "finishing" the parts a little better, this basically consisted of deburring sharp edges and greasing every moving part thoroughly. The other thing I did to improve the finish, likely making it as good or better than the more expensive brands I had thought about, I polished all of the fingers and the V block for the press brake, that way they won't mar any of the aluminum I'll be bending. I am quite pleased with the finished product, I made a couple of test stiffeners using some scrap, and not only did they turn out great, it only took a few seconds to make one, considering making one without these tools took me about 15 min, and I have over 100 to make plus another 100 or so attach angels this will save me quite a bit of time.
At this point, I am mostly complete with the "Set Up" and am ready to actually start building. As such I have finally ordered materials to start the build, including the wing kit, all the steel needed to fabricate the few steel parts inside the wing, and some of the additional aluminum needed for the inside of the wings. The first part of the wing kit should be here in a week or two, this will be all the performed ribs and maybe a few other things. The spars will come from the factory sometime in September, likely arriving in October. My goal from here on out is to do a weekly update, so I can keep better track of my progress and so I don't have to write another novel of an update.

  Jun 05, 2021     Tool Storage and Rivet practice - (10 hours)       Category: Tools

This entry is a bit delayed, partially because some things included are still ongoing. After I got my tool kit from ATS I went about making good storage for everything so that my expensive tools would be protected and easy to locate. I started with some two-part tool foam and pencil cases I got from Amazon. I cut the foam to fit the pencil cases and made cutouts for the three drilling sets I got, the angle drill, the rivet removal drill, and the rivet countersink. Once that was finished I moved on to making cut-outs to fit in the bottom of the toolbox that came with my tool kit for the rivet squeezer, and its yoke next I made one for the air drill and rivet gun. Next, I got a couple of small parts organizers to store and organize my drill bits and drill stops. Once almost everything had a home I made a list of the remaining tools I would need as well as a rough estimate of the rivet sizes I would need to get started building. While waiting on that order to come from aircraft spruce, I got work on some practice projects. I had remembered that the local steel shop I've been shopping at for my practice welding projects had some cut-off aluminum sheets from some other customer that they were selling pretty cheap since they were basically waste. I figured this might be good to practice on, despite not knowing what the alloy is. So for $40 I got two 4x4 sheets of .032" unknown alloy. Using a couple of pictures I found online for inspiration I cut and bent up a tool tote and a cleco holder tray. Using the clecos that came with my kit I assembled the two projects and then had to wait a few days before I had rivets to permanently put them together. Once my rivets arrived I used some scrap to practice on a little before riveting my two practice projects. They aren't the prettiest but they are functional and I learned a lot which was the goal. I have continued to practice and will do so until I am able to order the wing kit, but I am finding that taking a class on riveting may be very beneficial. In the meantime, I plan to get an A&P or two to grade my work and probably also speak with one of the technical advisors in our chapter.

  May 21, 2021     Trip to ATS - (7 hours)       Category: Tools

This week I started making preparations to learn how to rivet so when I finally order my wing kit I will be ready to start as soon as it arrives. In order to learn I need some tools, I have been eyeing the Master Builders Tool Kit from Aircraft Tool Supply for some time, it has been in my Aircraft Spruce wishlist for months. Now being the time to finally get it I logged on to order it only to find out it was a special order item and they could not give an estimated delivery date. Because of this, I figured maybe I could just order it directly from ATS. A quick google search led me to their website where I learned they are here in Michigan. A couple of phone calls and I arranged to pick up the kit directly from them, I was originally hesitant because Aircraft Spruce had it priced about 10% below MSRP and they weren't willing to match the price their distributors offered, but then I asked if they had a veterans discount, which they did and it was 15% off, making it cheaper from them then Spruce. As I said earlier ATS is here in Michigan, however, they are not what you could consider close, so the next day I jumped in the Maule and headed North. ATS is located in Oscoda, which is home to what was Wurtsmith Air Force Base, a Cold War relic with a nearly 12,000' long runway. These days it is home to an Air National Guard air refueling wing, and an airline scrap yard. The Flight took about an hour and a half to get up there going around Saginaw Bay, once there I grabbed a crew car from the FBO and drove the 3 miles down the road to ATS. The tool kit came in 3 fairly large boxes and was heavier than I expected. Thankfully with the back seat out of the Maule, there was more than enough room in the back. The flight back was a bit longer since the wind was out of the south, once I got home, molly helped me do some cleaning in the garage/shop to include packing some stuff to be stored at the hangar. Then it was time to sort and inventory my kit, everything looked good with the exception of the 3/32" Strap Duplicator, the guide peg, and drill bushing were not exactly lined up, after a quick email to ATS they put a replacement in the mail. Now I have to organize the tools for this I ordered some toolbox foam so that everything can have a place, be protected, and be easy to put back where it belongs.

  May 13, 2021     Study Time - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

The last few days have been spent studying the plans and making lists of materials needed and tools needed to continue. This resulted in the realization that ordering a Wing Component Kit from Avipro in Austin, TX may be my best option. I arrived at this conclusion from a number of factors. First, tools required for some aspects of the wings are extremely expensive and are only used very limitedly. The most obvious of these tools is a sheet metal brake to bend flanges in the spars and skin stiffeners the longest of which is over 9 feet. So to accomplish these bends I would need access to at least a 10 ft brake, purchasing one is completely out of the question as they cost typically north of $10K. I thought maybe I could rent time on one at a shop nearby after making a few calls this too was cost-prohibitive, most of the shops I called said they would provide bending service but for liability reasons they could not allow me to use their equipment, totally understandable, but as a result, the cost of accomplishing all the bends I needed would be at my best estimate north of $1000, and that is if I had all the materials prepared to all be done at once and that I had already done all the calculations for bend allowances and the like. That might sound like just a bunch of math that shouldn't take too long, but since the spars have to be bent to fit the ribs you are going to use, and in a scratch build the ribs are hand made, this is generally done by trial and error with scrap pieces of aluminum, not mathematically. The next consideration was that with the required build sequence the first thing I would be riveting would be the wing spar, which is arguably the most critical part since it is built as an assembled part using webs and caps riveted together to make an I-beam of sorts and there is a riveted splice in the middle. This is something I have been aware of since I first got the plans but I thought the roughly doubling of the cost compared to raw materials made it worthwhile to build it myself. After further study of the plans and reading other build logs and what mistakes they had made, most of which are very costly because the spar is such a critical part there aren't many acceptable workarounds, mistakes often result in purchasing new materials and starting over on some parts. One other thing I did this week was email Avipro to find out exactly what was included in their wing kits. They have several different levels of kit for the wings and they are all quite different, everything from just the spar webs not bent up to a nearly completed wing. I narrowed it down to 2 different kits. the first included all the parts needing to be bent on a long brake, already bent to fit a set of ribs included with the kit, this kit seemed like a good deal, as it solved my problem of needing a bending brake and vastly accelerated my build, and only cost about 20% more than raw materials. The other kit solved my concern about the first thing I rivet being the most critical it included the complete set of ribs, all the parts that needed to be bent on a long brake, and all the spars completely assembled. This kit is more than double the one without the spars being assembled, but with that comes the peace of mind that they were assembled and inspected by professionals and there are quite a bit of additional materials that are needed to complete the spars that are not included in the other kit. This kit also has the advantage of saving me in terms of tools required to the tune of at least $1000. That in combination with the cost of aluminum locally (there is considerable savings to order the aircraft aluminum from an aircraft parts house elsewhere, but only if you order it all at once so you only pay shipping once), I made the decision to purchase the wing component kit that includes completed spars. The cost of this kit is about $8K plus shipping so I will need to save for a few months but in the meantime, there are a number of other small things I can work on, these include making the steel parts that go inside the wing, the total materials cost for those parts is around $300 and I can get it all locally so that will probably be my next step.

  May 07, 2021     Sizing Form Blocks - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Now that I had all additional jig pin locations drilled in the master form block I was ready to start using it to make templates to use for cutting out the aluminum rib blanks. To accomplish this I decided not to go the traditional route of tracing the form block with a spacer and sanding to the new line making a form block 9/16" larger all around. I instead used the router with an offset bearing to accurately enlarge the form block. I already had a set of offset bearings but lacked the right size to create a 9/16" offset, I looked into purchasing the right size offset bearing, but it was not available individually, but only as part of a set that was over $100. I didn't figure this was a worthwhile expense since I would likely never use it again and may never use the other bearings in the set. This caused me to get a little creative and do a little math in the form of subtracting and dividing just like Mr. Frates taught me back in 4th grade. With the router bits, I was able to easily get I was able to get to 9/16" in two steps. First I used a 1 3/8" bearing with a 3/8" bit giving me a 1/2" offset I then used a 5/8" bearing with a 1/2" bit to achieve another 1/16" offset resulting in a total of 9/16" being achieved. With the bearings I had and using the two size router bits I got there were multiple combinations that would have resulted in a 9/16" offset in two steps, but the combination I used allowed me to use the intermediate form block with the 1/2" offset to spin-off flap and aileron sizing form blocks since both have only a 1/2" flange. Next will be the duplicates of these templates so I can sandwich aluminum between them and start making rib blanks.