3RD QTR 2001 | • • • |
07/02/01 - 1.0 Welded joint 22. | |
07/10/01 - 1.8 Welded joint 23. | |
07/11/01 - 1.8 Welded joint 24. | |
07/12/01 - 1.7 Welded joint 25. | |
07/13/01 - 0.5 Welded part of joint 26. | |
07/18/01 - 2.2 Finished joint 26 and 27. | |
07/19/01 - 1.5 Welded joints 28 and 29. | |
07/24/01 - 0.8 Welded joint 30. | |
07/25/01 - 2.6 Welded joint 31 and its respective fwd gear bushing. | |
07/27/01 - 3.0 Welded joint 32 and its respective fwd gear bushing. I've kinda figured out a routine to welding these clusters now. I start out on the inside since it is the most difficult for access and comfort while welding. I use C-Clamps as rests for both my torch and rod hands, they allow me to get very fine movement easily, plus keep me from resting on the hot tubes. I then use the smaller #5 cup to tack weld the tight angles enough to continue with the bigger #6 cup, which I use whenever possible. Once I have the insides done then of course I do the outsides. | |
07/31/01 - 1.7 Took fuselage off engine stand, started using blocks so I could work at firewall joints. It still spins, but just rests on the blocks under the front seat area. Welded joint 33. | |
08/01/01 - 1.5 Welded joint 34. | |
08/02/01 - 1.3 Welded joint 35. | |
08/06/01 - 1.2 Welded part of joint 36. | |
08/13/01 - 2.0 Finished joint 36. | |
08/06/01 - 1.8 Welded the last joint, number 37. Sorry no pictures, the camera is in the shop for awhile....warranty repairs. | |
08/28/01 - 0.5 Tacked in the fuel pump mount bracket part 210-85. | |
08/31/01 - 1.0 Welded the rest of 210-85. | |
09/01/01 - 2.2 Cut and welded in the extra .75 x .035 tube for the header tank. | |
09/06/01 - 0.2 Put fuselage back on table (upside down) to check straightness. It pretty much dropped right back in the blocks left when building the top ladder although it was a little tight. Checking with a plumb-bob revealed that the centers of the top and bottom ladders are still aligned to better than 1/16" of table centerline across the length of the fuselage. Following the Weld Sequence really works, which is slightly amazing, since everytime I was welding a cluster I could hear the fuselage creaking from the heat. | |
09/07/01 - 3.5 Cut a 3/4" notch in a board, then pounded straight the lower longerons aft of the splice. This was done so that the longerons will appear straight after the fabric is applied and tightened. The top longerons don't matter since the turtledeck covers them. Started work on tail hinges. Since my hinge straps were bent pretty close already when purchased from Kimball Enterprises, I elected not to build a hinge jig. I Devised method to hold hinges in proper postion for welding of rosettes using a bolt, two 1" spacers and several washers. After welding, I drilled a #50 oil hole then reamed out hinges. Adjusted hinge supports for proper relationship to hinges. | |
09/08/01 - 2.6 Cleaned and sorted tubes and ribs for the tail feathers. Discovered a pre-drilled and notched tailpost that Kevin had sent along with the pre-bent tail tubes. Wish I had seen it when building the fuselage. I had to do a little sheet metal work to straighten some of the ribs that weren't formed symmetrically. Layout complete on vertical fin except for the 330-10 3/8x.035 brace tube. | |
09/09/01 - 3.0 Cut the top of the tailpost off the fuselage so I could use it to make the 330-23 sleeves. Being a nice guy, I made one for my buddy Phil at the same time. I had left the tailpost extra long on the top so it would clamp to my table (see pic). Cut and fit the 300-10 brace tube to the vert fin and tack welded it up. Cut and drilled holes in the -23 sleeves then tack welded them to the -24 rudder horns. | |
09/11/01 - 1.5 Finished welding the rest of the fin, otherwise I watched the news and answered the phone all day. Definitely a good day to not be at work, although I had flown flight 175 home to SFO from Boston late the night before. | |
09/12/01 - 3.6 Welded up the 330-24 rudder horn. Laid out the rudder and tack welded it up, except for the horn/sleeve assembly which I left free to rotate so I could lay the rudder flat for welding to avoid warpage. Note that I used the optional 1/4" wide rings to lock the hinges in place. After I finish weld the rudder, I'll do the rosette welds on the sleeve, then weld the aft end of that rib theat meets the sleeve. I also need to add the extra 1/4" brace tube that is NOT on the plans, the tubing is on order from Aircraft Spruce. | |
09/13/01 - 0.5 Heated and shaped the top of the 330-22 rudder spar to the 330-27 trailing edge at the top. | |
09/14/01 - 1.3 More welding on the rudder. | |
09/18/01 - 1.6 Added the extra 1/4" -.035 brace tube. Finished welding the rudder. | |
09/19/01 - 1.0 Layout and placed blocks for the vert fin forward support structure. Cut tubes to fit & tack welded. | |
09/28/01 - 1.0 Trial fit of tacked fin support revealed some sort of fitting problem. After review of plans, discovered an error of 1/2" in the layout of the support on the table. I misunderstood the 9.63 dimension to be from the C/L of the fuselage crossmember to the top of the triangle, when in fact that dimension is 9.63 - .50 = 9.13 | |
09/29/01 - 2.3 Redrew layout and placed blocks for the vert fin forward support structure. Trimmed the bottoms of the support tubes, did a little bending of them to fit the new angle. Finish welded it. | |
09/30/01 - 3.0 Located and welded the fin support. Welded the 210-79 bushing and 330-11 V-spacer onto the tailpost. | |
Quarter Total 55.2 hrs / TTD 283.6 hrs | |
3RD QTR 2001 | • • • |