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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Alabama
    Posts
    2,236
    It's a very short list and pretty humble, to be honest!

    Critical is a Harbor Freight belt sander (30 bucks) and pneumatic rivet puller gun thingie (40 bucks), along with an air compressor (mine is a small pancake one from Lowe's or Home Depot that I got for 100 bucks with hoses and junk). You'll need a small bending brake (Harbor Freight, 40 bucks).

    Small drill press (you can see it in pictures, it's 140 bucks if memory serves).

    Corded drill - cordless ones run out of battery just when you're in the groove of things.

    Standard drill bit sets - you'll use mostly 1/4 and 1/8th inch bits, the latter of which come in packs of ten or twelve for a reason; you'll burn through them a suprising amount of time.

    Half moon shaped (about a quarter inch wide) and big flat metal files.
    Rubber mallet. Get two. One for banging on metal, the other for throwing when you're frustrated (but always AWAY from the airplane).
    Ball peen hammer. Never throw it, though.
    Hack saw and blades.
    Cheapo clamps - spring loaded and C clamps from Harbor Freight.
    Pliers, wrenches, and socket sets - kitchen drawer quality is fine.
    Butane torch with bottle and Sharpie pens for annealling.
    Metal carpenter squares and long metal rulers - my big yellow one from Walmart is five feet long and really useful.
    Portable sawhorses - they fold up into the top for easy storage, are beefy enough for the job and I'm too lazy to make my own (35 bucks each)
    Levels - long and short levels for checking if stuff is, well, level.
    Those ratcheting box end wrenches from Sears. They seem like a rediculous luxury, but I love them. Should have bought two sets.
    Cheapo plastic miter box for cutting straight.
    Electric jig saw and a circular saw (you'll need them for cutting wood for the build table and jig stuff).
    Bunch of wood screws for the jigs.
    Conduit bending tool for bending tubes.
    Safety wire twisty tool.
    Yellow plastic angle measuring tool.
    Sheet metal cutting shears (I also grabbed an electric one from Harbor Frieght when it was on sale).

    [edit]

    Swagging tool and a go/no-go gauge. I got a standard one from Lowe's for around 50 bucks (I think), and the go/no-go gauge from Aircraft Spruce. No problems at all, and it's a helluvalot cheaper than a nicopress tool.

    Paper cutting shear thingie machine. Thin aluminum is no problem for it, and one can get a straight cut no problem with no bends at the edge of the cut.

    Sheet metal crimping tool. I think it was 20 bucks.

    [/edit]

    That's pretty much it. When Mr. Baslee advertises that his planes can be built in the space of a garage with normal hand tools, it's not puffery.
    Last edited by Frank Giger; 12-06-2012 at 10:27 AM.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

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