| 195 | Planing of Cap Strips | 2/10/2009 |
| | Grabbed 9 lengths of 60" capstrip left over from what I bought for the ribs and ran them through the planer taking them from 1/4" down to 3/16". Cut the pieces and set them in place. Started disassembling the jig clamps since the fulcrum/hinge piece is also used as my pinch clamp to hold the stringers in place.
Man hours: 1 |
| 194 | 2nd Round of Elevator Gussets Glued | 2/8/2009 |
| | Did the usual coarse sanding and vacuuming of all the surfaces to be glued, applied the glue, and set the clamps. Now getting ready for the stringers and looking at the plans for the next task, v. stabilizer and rudder.
Man hours: 1.5 |
| 193 | Elevators - Side 2 Prep | 2/7/2009 |
| | Today started off with a trip to Home Depot, and a look at hand tools that might be good for cutting off the rabbet shoulder in the gusset locations. I like hand tools because everthing is slow-going. Nothing worse than an aggressive power tool diving into a precious piece of nearly finished work. This tool worked great, but took a lot longer than I thought. Overall, I like the control I had with it and would recommend it. I left a little raised shoulder that came down quickly with the Permagrit sanding tool. After leveling and test fitting, the gussets are ready for glue.
Man hours: 4 |
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| 192 | Top Side Gussets Intact | 1/17/2009 |
| | Once the T-88 sets, the stick frame and gussets will be structures. Since it's cold, I'll let them sit for a couple days before I flip them over in the jig and start cutting off the rabbet edges where the gussets sit. ...then the usual sanding and glueing will resume.
Man hours: 2 |
| 191 | Gusset Area Leveling Done | 1/16/2009 |
| | I set out to glue the first side of the elevators today, starting with the leveling of the trailing edge pieces to match the angle of the tapered sides. After I was sure the gussets were going to lay flat without gaps, checking with a straight edge and then the gussets, I scored the places where the gussets will be applied as well as the back side of all the gussets. Rather than press on past midnight, I decided to just clean up and get up early tomorrow and glue.
Man hours: 2 |
| 190 | Clamping Up Elevators | 1/4/2009 |
| | Now with the gussets done, the reusable clamps came out of storage and positioned all over the elevators in the jig. Once started, things moved along at a good pace. Some of the gussets don't lay flat and that is because the trailing edge needs a little more sanding to follow the taper. Also need to adjust the pressure point screw on each clamp so that pressure is applied exactly perpendicular to the gusset. After another 30 minutes of prep, the gussets will be ready for T-88.
Man hours: 3 |
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| 189 | Rabbet Removal For Gussets | 1/3/2009 |
| | The rabbet edges of the jigged members need to be ripped off in order to create a flat surface and maximize the glued area of the gusset. By removing the rabbet the gusset can set on the frame right up to the edge. Actually, there will be a bit of overhang which will be cleaned off with the router flush trim bit.
Man hours: 3 |
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| 188 | Starting Off 2009 With Some Work on the Elevators | 1/1/2009 |
| | Time to get the Pietenpol out of another stall. Starting the year out with some work on the beloved project seemed appropriate and perhaps will be a precedent for a year of continuing progress. Freezing as it was, I dug the 1/8" gusset ply out and traced the gusset shapes from manilla templates that were previously test fit on the jig. I cut them on the bandsaw a tad oversized and then used the oscillating drum sander to produce the smooth curves using the drawn line as a guide. 16 gussets total.
Man hours: 2 |
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