| 35 | Shop Reorg | 3/18/2006 |
| | After going through the Tony Bingelis book I realized how much the tripping over cords and juggling of tools was affecting my work. Although I would rather have been building I decided to spend a day blocking all the holes between the rafters, making some hinged tables for additional workspace, and some racks to hold things that are unnecessarily stored on the floor. I'm glad I did. There is so much more room to move around and the shop finally seems ergonomically layed out for building the ribs or any other small project. If you have the Tony B books you might recognize the simple-to-build racks. The rib jig is set up on a table on hinges that swings up and latches allowing full access to the router table below. Added an additional light. Since the space between the rafters is blocked up to keep out wind and critters, I pulled out an old kerosene heater for the chilly days. New shop modifications were really worth the time spent.
Man hours: 8 |
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| 34 | A Day in Paradise | 3/12/2006 |
| | I think I probably have the smallest workshop on record. It's cramped, I have to juggle tools and work surfaces around, I trip over cords for the power tools, but I cherish every minute out in this little shed. I was looking for a used tablesaw last year and wanted a good one but didn't want anything new that was cheap and couldn't justify the expense of a Jet or other NICE tablesaw. I was listening to the radio on the way to fly my RC planes and a guy had one on a radio tag sale and wanted 25 bucks! That's not it. I called, went over to see him the next day and he also had about 75 studs, 7 sheets of 3/4" CDX, roofing, and a router table (no router) that he wanted to get rid of. He said I could have it, hence the shed. (the free shed!) Only an 8' x 12' footprint but big enough to keep everything in one place. I've gotten used to it and can actually be pretty productive out there. Spent the majority of today covered with sawdust and working on the Piet. |
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| 33 | Rib Jig Almost Done | 3/12/2006 |
| | Got up early and put some more time into the rib jig. Had to take my son back to college and worked on it some more at night. The time alone in the shed helped fill in the hole he leaves in the house when he's gone. All the internal brace guides are in now except for the one for the little 1/2" x 1/2" piece the leading edge is fastened to. The only thing left are the gussets. I'm working on a spring clamp that will not move around to hold the gussets so nails and staples can be avoided. When I'm happy with the design I'll make 15 clamps to handle the gussets for the regular ribs and 5 more for the end ribs that have 5 extra vertical braces.
Man hours: 3 |
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| 32 | Rib Jig | 3/11/2006 |
| | Took advantage of the warm weather and got some stuff done. I promised my son I'd put a short shifter in this car, and hood pins in his carbon fiber hood, so that's what I did first. Then I made tracks for the shed, where I spent the rest of the day (3 hours) working on the rib jig. Once the rib jig is done the ribs should begin appearing one every day or so.
Man hours: 3 |
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| 31 | Bingelis Books | 3/8/2006 |
| | I guess now is a good time to get these books. I've done a lot of prep work but haven't built anything yet. The books should be here by 3/15 or so and I'll be diving in to them as soon as the package arrives. The Bingelis series is the single most recommended resource I've been encouraged to use. |
| | | Tony Bingelis 4 Book Set | Non-Material Project | $90.00 |
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| 30 | Steaming Device Observations | 2/24/2006 |
| | When I removed the 2 pieces of capstrip from the apparatus they felt drier than I would have expected. I did notice that during steaming some of the steam was escaping from where the vent pipe is bolted to the pot lid. I'm assuming that since the holes in the cover are close to the shape of the capstrip steam didn't flow upward. To enhance the flow of steam over the wood I'm making 2 modifications. I'll drill a hole in the lid to release steam so that it will be flowing through the vent pipe at a good rate. Also, due to the problems with gas (which tends to stay in liquid phase in lower temperatures and get colder during use due to the refrigeration effect) I bought a simple electric hot plate. I haven't received it but it will simplify things quite a bit. |
| | | Hot Plate w/Shipping | Non-Material Project | $25.00 |
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| 29 | Spar Shaping | 2/24/2006 |
| | My EAA chapter had a meeting a month ago at one member's home. He has a hangar and strip next to his house. Anyway, he is building a Waco. I closely examined his spars and noticed on both the upper and lower wings of this biplane that the rear spar was reshaped to match the angle at which it meets the top capstrip. Then under the tutelage of another member building new ribs to repair a wing on his Pober Jr. Ace I saw the same thing. Test fitting a piece of spar I noticed only a small amount of interference and my current plan is to trim the aft top edge of the rear spar to remove the small edge that interferes with the capstrip. I purchased a 6' length of 3/4" spruce spar for test fitting my ribs. I cut 1" pieces to place in the jig to get a precise fit and the front needs a block (mentioned on the plans) to fill in a void, although others just let the gusset make up the space. The rear piece almost fit and was perfect after the edge was angled slightly. |
| 28 | First Steaming | 2/19/2006 |
| | Today I fired up the steamer and processed my first 2 pieces of capstrip. I cut the steam tube down to 27" since there is no need to steam the back half. It was ridiculously cold out (probably not the best day for this) and the problem I had was that as the gas canister released it's gas the canister temperature dropped and rendering less gas pressure (Ideal Gas Law made this a bit of a headache). I took the canister out and ran it under hot water a couple of times and that really helped. I think I'll add a piece of leftover tin from the vent pipe and wrap around the can so that it extends into the flame which will conduct heat back to the can. I let it boil for about 45 minutes and promptly took the pieces out and placed them in the bending jig. They felt dry to the touch but I'm sure they retained moisture from spending that much time directly exposed to steam. Next time I will wet them down before steaming.
Man hours: 1 |
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