Thoughts

EAA Chapter 406 (Bremerton, WA) has placed a link to this blog on their web site.  I have been getting an astounding number of "hits" on this blog. 

The interest being shown is humbling, and underscores the need for me to be very careful in my processes and procedures.  I actually appreciate that, as it is a motivator to do the very best work I can while using the best materials and practices.

The interest keeps me motivated, too.  I am much more likely to get off my back side and get some work done if I know there are folks looking into this blog to see what I have done lately, other than watch TV.

In case there are those who haven't picked up on it, this is my very first airplane build.  I am learning as I go.  If you have comments, rather than clutter up the blog, send them to my email address at rhearn4@yahoo.com.  Some folks already provide comments on my Facebook page, on the WagBuilders Yahoo group, and on the Cessna 150/152 Club forum. 

I joined The Biplane Forum a few days ago.  This seems like a terrific group of people and has tremendous resources for anyone building a rag and tube airplane.  I here there is a rag and tube forum.  I haven't checked into that yet, but I will soon.

Compressor

I had the opportunity to spend some time in the shop today.  Shop time has been a little scarce this week.  My 90-year-old dad has been having some health issues and that has been occupying my attention.  As well it should. 

In addition to finishing up the cutting and fitting on one rib and gluing up gussets on that rib, and the flip side of another, I spent some time working on this old compressor.

I picked the thing up at a garage sale for ten bucks more to help a friend than a desire to have the thing.  But I figured that since I had it I may as well see if I could make it work.  So I went through the electrics to make sure the basic connections were all there, dusted off the sawdust, and plugged it in.

By golly it fired up and built up pressure.  In fact it runs very smooth and built up to 20 psi in a very short period of time.  I shut it off at 20 psi.  I will do a pressure test on another day when I can put it out somewhere where I can cower behind some kind of protection until the little safety valve trips.

If all goes well, I will use it for small jobs around the shop.  It is a small unit.  The whole thing only stands about 30" tall.  I would call that about a 1-1/2 cubic-foot tank, maybe.  I couldn't find any brand names or data tags, even on the motor.  So no idea who built it or how old it might be. 

The power plug needs replacing, too.  It works, but it is pretty rugged and could short out a little too easily for my comfort.   

Consequences

I am not sure how I am going to explain this, but I will give it a shot.  First, if one is going to deviate from the published plans, one had better pay extremely close attention to those plans. 

The above photo shows plans for part of the wing, the leading edge at the top.  Look closely and you will see a penciled-in label "6A" near the leading edge.  Recall that I am replacing the leading edge ribs with full length ribs.  Wag Aero numbered the full length ribs, but not the leading edge ribs.  I assigned identifiers to the leading edge ribs by adding an "A" to the number for the full length rib next to each leading edge rib.  Therefore, the part identified, in pencil, on the drawing as "6A" is the leading edge rib next to full length rib "6". 

Note that rib 6A, if extended the full width of the wing, intersects parts identified as details illustrated elsewhere, such as "ZN A70".  That designator describes a particular location on the drawings.  Don't worry about understanding the system.  All you need to know is that the parts illustrated in those zones are the lift strut attach brackets.  The parts identified with the number "2" in the diamond-shaped box are 3/32" plywood pads laminated to the spar.

The location where the spar passes through the rib typically looks like this:

 
The "L5A" written on the rib indicates that this rib replaces the leading edge rib next to the full length rib number 5 on the left wing.

There are a couple of places where a rib intersects the spar where there is a pad or another part attached to the spar.  Those parts and pads typically stick out a maximum of 1/4".  In those places the verticals next to the spar are doubled so that one of them can be trimmed to clear the part or pad.

However, in the case of the lift strut attachments, the total dimension for the plywood pad and the lift strut attach bracket is 13/32".  Carving out that much from two verticals (1/2") would not leave much "meat" with which to attach the rib to the spar.

So, for rib 6A, I have tripled the verticals at the spars.  Thusly:

Note that I removed the cams and replaced them, temporarily, with plywood blocks.  The cams will be re-installed once the two ribs (6A right and 6A left) have been completed.  The same treatment will be applied to the rear spar.

I shudder to think of the work involved had I not taken a close look at the plans before building the 6A ribs.

Will this work?  I don't know.  We will find out when it comes time to attach the ribs to the spars.

Even More Ribs

Rib construction continues. 

This is what the stack looks like at the moment..

One question that pops up from time-to-time is the cost of the project.  Here is a breakdown so far:

Date	Source	Description	Cost	Totals
12/31/11	Wag-Aero	Plans	$125.00	$125.00
06/05/12	Home Depot	Router Bit	$24.00	$149.00
06/15/12	B&D International	1/4” Plywood	$53.61	$202.61
06/06/12	Home Depot	3/4” Plywood	$74.50	$277.11
06/18/12	Aircraft Spruce	702' Cap Strip	$147.42	$424.53
07/01/12	Toziers	Parts for Steamer	$10.30	$434.83
07/02/12	B&D International	1/16” Plywood	$127.02	$561.85
07/02/12	Home Depot	Fine Cut Saw Blade	$43.45	$605.30
09/27/12	SystemThree	T-88	$71.72	$677.02
10/05/12	O'Reilly Auto Parts	Latex Gloves	$15.19	$692.21

Note that I have included only those items specifically related to building the airplane.  For instance, the new sander is not included in this list because it is a general shop tool that I would want whether I was building an airplane or not.  Specialty tools, are, and will be, included. 

The next logical question is;  how much time does it take?  Here is my time log to date.  The spreadsheet didn't copy over very well.  In future I will convert to a Word document before importing it. I also keep a paper log.

Date Task Hours Total 06/06/12 Assembled small fabrication table 1.50 1.50 06/07/12 Wing Rib Nose Block Pattern 1.50 3.00 06/08/12 Wing Rib Nose Block Jig 1.50 4.50 06/09/12 Wing Rib Nose Block Jig 1.25 5.75 06/09/12 Practice Nose Block 0.75 6.50 06/11/12 Calculated Ply needed for Nose Blocks 0.50 7.00 06/16/12 Wing Rib Nose Blocks 1.50 8.50 06/20/12 Wing Rib Nose Blocks 2.00 10.50 06/22/12 Wing Rib Nose Blocks 1.00 11.50 06/23/12 Wing Rib Jig 6.00 17.50 07/02/12 Capstrip Bending Jig and Soaker 2.00 19.50 07/02/12 Gussets 4.50 24.00 07/04/12 Gussets 4.50 28.50 07/09/12 Aileron Rib rear Blocks Jig & Blocks 1.50 30.00 07/10/12 Aileron Rib rear Blocks & Gussets 1.50 31.50 07/18/12 Glue Tests 2.00 33.50 07/20/12 Wing Ribs 3.00 36.50 07/27/12 Wing Ribs 2.00 38.50 07/29/12 Wing Ribs 5.00 43.50 07/30/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 44.50 08/03/12 Wing Ribs 3.00 47.50 08/06/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 48.50 08/07/12 Wing Ribs 1.50 50.00 08/11/12 Wing Ribs 2.50 52.50 08/13/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 53.50 08/17/12 Wing Ribs 2.00 55.50 08/18/12 Wing Ribs & Fairing Attach Blocks 4.00 59.50 08/19/12 Wing Ribs & Fairing Attach Blocks 2.00 61.50 09/14/12 Wing Ribs 1.50 63.00 09/22/12 Wing Ribs 3.50 66.50 10/04/12 Spent time with EAA Tech Adviser 1.50 68.00 10/05/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 69.00 10/09/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 70.00 10/11/12 Wing Ribs 1.50 71.50 10/12/12 Wing Ribs 2.00 73.50 10/16/12 Wing Ribs 1.50 75.00 10/17/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 76.00 10/18/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 77.00 10/20/12 Wing Ribs 2.50 79.50 10/22/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 80.50 10/24/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 81.50 10/27/12 Wing Ribs 3.00 84.50 10/31/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 85.50 11/02/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 86.50 11/03/12 Wing Ribs 5.00 91.50 11/04/12 Wing Ribs 3.00 94.50 11/08/12 Tail Ribs (behind fuel tank bay) 1.00 95.50 11/09/12 Tail Ribs (behind fuel tank bay) 2.00 97.50 11/12/12 Leading Edge Ribs/Tail Blocks 4.00 101.50 11/12/12 Gussets 2.00 103.50 11/26/12 Wing Ribs 2.00 105.50 11/27/12 Wing Ribs 2.00 107.50 11/28/12 Wing Ribs 1.00 108.50 11/30/12 Wing Ribs 1.50 110.00

Ribs, Ribs & More Ribs

Progress is re-started, after the Thanksgiving celebration.  Rib construction is the order of the day.  With 20 completed and 14 more to go there is not much to contribute to the blog. But I do have some thoughts.

The photo is of a pretty typical joint.  I have now made several hundred of these joints.  That would be 21 X 12 plus 25 X 8.  You do the math, I don't have my calculator handy.  I counted myself a pretty crafty wood worker before I started this project.  I have done everything from rough framing to fine scale models.  

But I got to thinking and evaluating after spending some time on William Wynn's FlyCorvair.com web site.  (Yes, Corvair power is a possibility for this aircraft).  William is big on education.  He is a proponent of homebuilding as a learning exercise.

This exercise, building all these ribs, while theoretically well within my skill set, has still taught me a lot.  The first of the capstrip joints are just as good as the later joints, such as the one above.  But I turn them out a lot faster now and with fewer discards due to mistake.  I have also learned to think in terms of production instead of just one part at a time.

There will be plenty of learning opportunities for me as the project moves along.  Once I have the ribs built, I need to fabricate the ailerons.  The aileron ribs are fabricated from sheet aluminum and the ribs are riveted to an aluminum spar.  I understand the theory and process, but I have never done it.  I have never formed parts from sheet aluminum. Except for a few very small pulled rivet projects, I have never set rivets. So that will all be a learning experience.

I am loving the process, but it is a challenge.

I find that many people do not tackle new challenges because they are afraid to let themselves fail.  How often do we hear, "Oh, I could never do that", when someone is looking at an example of fine craftsmanship.  But I think the main difference between those who "do" and those who don't, is that those who do are not afraid to fail.  OK.  There are exceptions.  My late, and highly respected, father-in-law could not work with his hands.  But he could do a great many other things and was never afraid to fail.

If you look at a project like this airplane and think it is something you could never do, you may want to evaluate your approach and determine if you are hampered by objective realities, or if you are simply afraid to fail.  

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

There is not much happening during this Thanksgiving week. But no regrets. Lots of time for friends and family.

I thank God for all the blessings He has showered on me and mine.

Sander Report

My sander has been in service for a few weeks now, and I have developed a few thoughts on the thing.

This is the 9" Porter-Cable belt/disk sander.  After quite a bit of research and fussing, this is the unit I settled on as being the best choice within my price range.  With a package of sander disks and sales tax, the final damages were a few bucks over $200.00.  It seemed to be the sturdiest unit I could look at within my price range.  Everything I looked at was Made In China and so is this tool.   :(

This unit's performance has been, so far, quite satisfactory.  The table is very sturdy, and the unit is hefty enough to stay in place without having to be bolted to the bench.  I have yet to come even close to bogging down the motor.  But then, I am doing pretty light work, though lots of it, at the moment.

The dust collection system is totally ineffective when using the belt sander.  But then, it HAS a dust collection system.  The ancient and beloved Craftsman did not.  The dust collection system actually works pretty well when using the disk.

It actually has several advantages over the old Craftsman.  First, it is much quieter.  The Craftsman's mechanism was completely open with the motor mounted under the bench driving a V-belt, and the bearings have been in rough shape for a long, long time.  I also like the larger disk (the Craftsman was a 6"). 

Something I REALLY, like over the Craftsman is the speed.  The Porter-Cable operates at a much higher rpm than my old tool.  The result is the ability to do some very "light touch" work.  Much as I hate to admit it, this tool allows a higher level of accuracy, due to the high rpm, over my old standby.

On balance, and so far, I would have to say that this is a tool I could recommend to a friend.