| 131 | 3rd Special Rib Started | 5/28/2007 |
| | I made a late start at 9:30PM to get the 3rd rib started. I did all the noisy stuff (cutting, sanding and finally getting rid of all the sawdust with the shop vac) so that tomorrow morning I can quietly head out to the shop at 5:00 and T-88 the first set of gussets. Steamed up the top capstrip for special rib #4.
Man hours: 1.5 |
| 130 | 2nd Special Rib Started | 5/26/2007 |
| | After a long day of yard work, fixing gutters, cleaning up the garage and attending to all the other chores around the house, I made a little time to jig up the next rib. I would have like to have put the gussets on but starting that at 11:00PM is just too much. I had a plan to get through the gussets so I could do another whole rib tomorrow but I will hit the sack knowing I at least got something done. All the pieces are in the jig, level sanded and ready for gussets tomorrow morning.
Man hours: 1.5 |
| 129 | First of 6 "Special" Ribs Done | 5/25/2007 |
| | There are 6 ribs that have extra vertical supports to strengthen the parts of the wing where the fabric meets the rib at an angle. The first of these ribs, started on 4/9/07, is now done after a long home improvement project. It was great to get back to the project again. Steamed up the next piece of capstrip for the next rib which I hope to head into tomorrow.
Man hours: 1.5 |
| 128 | Updated Building Mindset | 5/23/2007 |
| | When I ordered the plans, scoped out this project and started in on the ribs I quickly developed a profound admiration for builders before me who had sorted through all the technical detail and made it to the flying end of this project. Now, over a year into this, with only ribs to show, I've found that it's much more than just keeping up with the myriad building steps. It's doing all that building in the midst of an absolute onslaught of family commitments, home repairs, work and everything else life throws at you. Those flying the projects they built themselves are truly the champions of this craft. ...and some have built more than 1. |
| 127 | Project Commences | 5/20/2007 |
| | Since the shop was severely violated by the home improvement project, I finished up the storm windows and reorganized the shop out in the shed. Still have some more stuff to do in the way of turning it back into a Pietenpol factory but the jigs are ready for action and the last few of the ribs to complete the entire set. |
| 126 | Involuntary Time Off of Project | 5/8/2007 |
| | I needed to strip the wallpaper and repaint our bedroom. After 2 hours of stripping paper I got to the first window and thought I'd take a break from scraping and clean up the window. I pulled out some wood blocks I tacked in to support the air conditioner and the sill was rotted. I dug into the sill to find that the studs around the window were also rotted. I yanked the sheetrock, pulled out the bad wood, replaced everything, insulated, put up new sheetrock, made a new window frame and put it all back together. ...back to stripping wallpaper, 3 LAYERS!! As of today the wallpaper is gone, walls have been mudded, taped sanded and prepped for painting.
...so no work on the Piet for the last month. Tomorrow I will pick up a 20 ton shop press and start getting ready to weld and produce some metal parts. Should be back to work soon. Anyway, the room badly needed an update and life will be better in SOOOO many ways when that room is finally DONE! |
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| 125 | More Toys | 4/13/2007 |
| | On the way home from work I picked up my Oxygen and Acetylene tanks. I'm new to this and can only assume they recommended a "B" tank (40 cubic feet) for acetylene and 92 cubic feet for oxygen assuming that I would be doing some cutting with the torch. It wasn't too expensive so I took the 2 tanks. I also found that if you buy the tanks they fill them for free the first time. ABCO was going to charge more, didn't have the tanks ready as promised, and didn't seem motivated to help me out so I took my business down the street. These folks were friendly, cheap and will take my tanks back when/if I move. |
| 124 | Retooled Jig #2 | 4/12/2007 |
| | I removed the first special rib from the main jig and then placed in the flipside jig. With the rib in place I set the gussets in their positions and added the 7 new clamps to complete the retooling of this jig. With the clamps now installed I set the height with the adjustable screw that makes contact with the gusset pressure plate. I want perfectly perpendicular pressure so the gusset doesn't roam around while the T-88 sets. Ready to finish the back side of gussets on this rib now.
Man hours: 1.5 |