1093.1 The Third Workshop

Workshop - 2 hrs 0 min (Workshop 19:56, Total 294:19)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 5,337)

Yesterday was supposed to be the first full day of working on the plane in a very long time. Instead, I spent it working on the wife's car. We popped a check engine light, and the coolant flow control valve was at fault. $90 part, a full coolant flush, and six hours later, the car is back in working order. The plane however, is not.

A big thanks to T. for lending me some tools to get the job done! I met T. a few months back. Some pretty unique circumstances leading up to it. He's a couple miles down the road and also building an RV-10. He is significantly further along than we are. Leaps and bounds further... It's great to have someone around to pick their brain about the project as well as seeing what we are working towards.

However, I did take some time to organize things in the garage and the third workshop in this project is in working order. (Hopefully the last workshop until the eventual move to a hangar)

Making lemonade from lemons, I was able to use the car work to try out a new time lapse program. Up to now, I had been using Webcam Timelapse and taking a frame every 4 secs. At 15 frames per second on the videos, it meant a minute of video equaled an hour of work. I will now be using Video Velocity 3. It's compatible with a better camera than what I had been using. I will now be taking a frame every 2 secs and output a video at 30 frames per second. It is still the same ratio, but a smoother and more detailed product. Stay tuned for the first build video soon! -M

1055.3- Workshop completed

Workshop - 4 hrs 0 min (Workshop 17:56, Total 157:28)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154)

This is actually a back-dated post. Last week, we managed to make it to the local Harbor Freight (1.5 hours away) so I made the most of the trip. I purchased a rolling toolbox to help keep organized in the garage. I also managed to get the skins out of the crate and everyday after work was able to break it down into useful pieces. A lot of the wood is saved for future use, and some pieces were put to use immediately.

I made another EAA workbench to replace the one I had previously sold to a neighbor. I now have a surplus of room available. I used some crate materials for it, so apologies for the crudely photoshopped hiding of my address.The workshop is complete and looks great for the limited space available. Now all I need to do is find time in this ridiculously busy schedule to go out and get some work done. -M

1055.1- Return from the dead!!

Elevators - 3 hrs 0 min (Wing Kit 3:00, Total 153:28)
Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154)

It has been entirely WAAY too long since my last post on this board. Six months!!

A quick recap of my absence and the reasons I've had to take six months off of building an airplane.
April 2014- I finished up my time in active duty Air Force. More importantly, I packed up my house and workshop and put it all into storage. So I wasn't able to work on anything even if I wanted to!
May 2014- I was living at my fiancee's apartment. No room to work and a whole lot of other things happening.
June and July 2014- My fiancee and I spent 7 weeks in Spain. We hiked across the entire country on El Camino de Santiago, and even spent some time with relatives and sightseeing.
August 2014- I married my fiancee. 6 days later, we had packed up her apartment and moved to Mississippi. Needless to say, there were a lot of other things to do around the house. However, I didn't get my workshop tools until late August. We spent weeks organizing and moving things around.
September 2014- The garage workshop still wasn't set up and I had also started pilot training for my new job. I really didn't have any time to spend on it. In fact, it will be slim pickings for time from here on out, but I suppose something is better than nothing.

Today- I spent 3 hours unpacking the wing kit crate and cataloging parts. Since I still have hardware from the empennage kit that will be used on the unfinished elevators and on the unbuilt tailcone, the cataloging part was a real pain. Lot's of multiples and I'm OCD for organizing and keeping all the bolts together, etc.

It's all done now though. Below are pictures of my new digs in MS. There's still a lot of organizing left to do, but it's good to be back in action! I'll keep tidying up the shop in weeks to come. -M

1022- Rudder- p.7-8 step 1-3 & p.7-9 step 1

Workshop - 30 mins (Workshop 13:56)

Rudder - 1 hr 24 mins (Rudder 18:56, Empennage 46:29, Total 60:25)
Rivet count: 48 (Total 596)

Steady progress on the rudder. Attached top and bottom ribs to the skins, and then the shear clips to the stiffeners. First blind rivets of the project today.

Also spent a little time getting the angle ready for the back riveting of the rudder this weekend. Tomorrow, I will hopefully dive into the proseal goo and get the trailing edge done. That will rest all day Friday to hopefully get the rudder done between Saturday and Sunday. -M

1016.1- V.Stab p.6-4.5, Rudder p.7-6.13, H.Stab p.8-2.4

Workshop- 30 min (Workshop 13:26)
Vertical Stabilizer - 1 hr 30 mins (V.S. 14:01)
Rudder - 1 hrs 30 mins (Rudder 15:04)
Horizontal Stabilizer - 30 mins (H.S. 2:26, Empennage 34:12, Total 47:38)

I built a long dunk tank for the HS spar out of 12 ft. 2x4 and spare pieces and ply from the crate from Van's. Glad that is done!

Massive night of work with alumiprep and alodine. All the pieces that were sitting around are complete. Part of me is glad I did everything at once to save on the set-up and clean up (about 45 min total), but wow is it tiring...

Either way, the parts came out really nice.... Priming tomorrow! -M

1016- H.Stab- p.8-2 step 1-4

Workshop- 36 min (Workshop 12:56)
Horizontal Stabilizer - 1 hrs 56 mins (H.S. 1:56, Empennage 30:42, Total 43:38)

So I thought I was going to have time this weekend to do some priming, but I was out of town. Same goes for next weekend. Mid-week it will be. Tonight I started the Horizontal Stab. Cleco the rear spar and doubler together and match-drill and countersink. Also match drill the 8 hinge brackets to the spar. Deburr, Scuff, and set aside. First batch of the H.S. is ready for priming.

I finally got around to set up my drying rack: Simple construction out of PVC pipe, L's, and T's. I also got some 16 gauge wire and tested the concept by hanging the pieces of the V.Stab on one of the racks. Even was able to hang some pieces off other pieces. Success. For long pieces like the H.S. spars, I'll have to hang one end off each rack.

Tomorrow will consist of making the dunk tank for the H.S. and hopefully start the alodine process on  as many pieces as I can. You can see the dip tanks and distilled water hanging out in the back of the last few videos. -M

1014- Rudder- p.7-6 step 10-11

Workshop- 33 mins (Workshop 12:20)
Rudder - 1 hrs 37 mins (Rudder 11:36, Empennage 26:48, Total 39:08)

Spent the first part of the night making a platform for the C-frame dimpler to help hold the larger skins. It worked out great!

Finished up deburring the skins and then dimpled them. It was a simple, albeit painfully repetitive, night. -M

1002.5- Workshop Ready

Workshop- 3 hrs (Workshop 11:47, Total 11:47)

Between last night and today I got my shop set up and ready to go. No video as it was moving things out of garage and rearranging them again. Pretty boring but necessary step. Next post should be vid of the practice kits (only took two months...). I hope this isn't a preview of things to come with respect to progress. -M

1002- EAA Workbench #2

Workshop- 2 hrs 7 mins (Workshop 8:47, Total 8:47)

     Modified more plans to build a second work table. This one is 8 ft long which should come in handy for the wings later on. Also had my first oops of the build project when the casters on the work table weren't locked and slid out from the 8ft table when I was flipping it. I dented in the MDF on the overhang. I was going to have to cut one of the overhangs off regardless to accommodate the angle iron for double flush riveting on the trailing edges of the control surfaces, so at least that has been decided for me. These tables are designed to have easily replaceable tops anyways, so it is the first of many abuses they will undoubtedly endure. All I have left now as far as workspace PREP is to organize the garage to make everything accessible for the build. Still need some kind of priming/painting setup, but that can wait for a bit. The rest of August is going to be busy, and the emp kit order should be placed sometime in September. -M
     Once again, the plans for the workbench can be found here: http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/worktabl.htm and the idea for the gear I picked up from here: http://www.eaa.org/sportaviationmag/1001/RetractableGear.pdf

1001- Tool Table

Workshop- 2 hrs 56 mins (Workshop 6:40, Total 6:40)

     Modified EAA workbench built specifically as a tool table. I also added the "landing gear" option to this one and then flipped over the first table to add casters in order to bring the working height of the table up to my navel. Both tables are the same height in case I need to remove the machines for additional workspace at a later date. -M
     Once again, the plans for the workbench can be found here: http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/worktabl.htm and the idea for the gear I picked up from here: http://www.eaa.org/sportaviationmag/1001/RetractableGear.pdf

1000.6- RV-10 Ruger- Tool Assembly

Workshop- 59 mins (Workshop 3:44, Total 3:44)

     I've spent the past few weeks running numbers about spare income vs. cost to see what kind of monetary outflow I can expect to be able to afford this whole project. The numbers are great, and I'm feeling confident. This past weekend I went on a shopping spree at Harbor Freight and Home Depot to buy some machines I didn't already own. Also swung by Lowe's for some lumber to build a modified EAA table for said machines. I'm building it a few inches taller and much narrower to save room in the work space.
     For tonight, I'm just assembling the band saw, drill press, and grinder to get a final measurement for the tool table dimensions. Pretty boring night overall. More fun to be had tomorrow. -M

1000.5- EAA Workbench #1

Workshop- 2 hrs 45 mins (2:45 Total)

     With the help of -L, we cut and assembled a Standard EAA workbench. Without a proper bench to make the bench on, we assembled it on the floor of the garage and on the giant cardboard box from the table saw I purchased way back when. It still turned out square and true with basic wood shop tools. The camera settings for a time-lapse video were wrong, with low res pictures and the interval set for far too much time. I'm not even going to bother posting it.
     Plans for the bench can be sourced here: http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/worktabl.htm. Plans for the gear to facilitate movement can be found here: http://www.eaa.org/sportaviationmag/1001/RetractableGear.pdf
I'll likely make another (longer) bench later on. I did learn that the standard bench is too low for my liking, so I think adding a set of casters to raise it will make this bench ideal and mobile for easy use. I'll need to mess around with some numbers. -M