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Thread: Building a Nieuport 11...

  1. #111

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    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.

  2. #112

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    First rib went on the top wing!

    As always, a comedy of errors with a happy ending - pics to follow.
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  3. #113

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    Since there's frost on the ground and I'm a big wussie-wuss when it comes to the cold, I figured I'd catch up with some pics.

    Here's the rib jig ready for coping:



    Here's the rib in the jig after the ends are coped. A few notes:

    The bottom rib is dented to fit around the spar, as per Mr. Baslee's warning and suggestion. Just a little ball peen work on my tiny vise's flat side.
    The paper cut outs for the gussets worked out really well; a paper pocketed folder gave its all for the aircraft.

    I bent the first set using the brake, but found that it's soft enough to just use a bending/clamping tool for the second set which took much less time and gave the same result.

    I riveted only one side of the rib at a time so it would fit into the spars!



    This is the two "anchor" ribs in place - one the aileron end of the bow and the other farthest towards the fuselage to lock down the bow.



    I had to do some stuff at the fuselage end. The gusset was interfering with the horn, and the rib itself was bumping against the nut holding the horn to the aileron control spar. A bit of trimming and a tiny offset fixed it.



    The measurement lines on the spars are to ensure the ribs are at the right angle (7 degrees), each mark at a quarter inch. Don't trust your eyes unless you're at a compression strut!

    One will also notice that the rear spar's measurements have been over-written. I had measured from the tip end of the spars and numbered, only to find they didn't match up at the compression strut!




    Much angst at my end until I realized they're not the same length (as they are on the lower wing).

    A quick look at the plans revealed this - the end rib is at the end of the leading spar but not at the end of the trailing one.

    Our DAR says he can tell if a guy actually built his plane by the condition of the instructions (dirty, bent, written on, etc.). I think this one page will get me the 51% no problem!

    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  4. #114

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    I've got some repairs to do to my work area as well. We had some high winds - 35 MPH gusting to 45 - and it did a number on my little tent/tarp:

    Nothing some new tarps and some duct tape can't fix, though.



    Wife calls the flying helmet/goggles combo Santa brought as my "fidelity cap;" no way I could cheat on her wearing it:



    I found the goggles online somewhere that are a bit too big but fit over glasses, which I most definately must wear.



    (and since I have to work tonight, I'll wait to shave before I go in...otherwise I'll look like this at the end of the shift!)
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  5. #115

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    Some pics and lessons learned:

    With the weather improving (it's been stormy here for the last two weeks) I got into it for the last two days. A bit humid, though:



    X marks the spot on the front and rear spars for the ribs. The long measuring marks I did were unnecessary, but somewhat helpful in understanding how the spars were set up of unequal lengths.



    It matches the X on the rear spar, natch. First lesson is to always affix the lower rib to the gusset on the jig - it is a huge pain in the back to lean over and put them in and it is easier to align things.
    Note the long tail of the rib. This is another lesson in coping; I have had to strap a couple at the end over the bow due to not getting it quite right.



    Redneck solution!

    I couldn't find a half inch hole saw anywhere locally, and it's a half inch rib going over a half inch bow. Hmmm, let's drill a hole using a 7/8" bit.



    Then carefully cut up both sides of the tube with some tin snips to as close to the center of the hole as I can get.

    Cut the hole so that only one half of the tube is left. Check three times to see that one is cutting the right side!

    A little ball peen hammer work to flatten it.



    Adjust using sander to make the bottom of the circle more half inchish.

    Check against a bit of half inch scrap in the jig.



    Seems to fit pretty good!
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  6. #116

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    This is one of the ribs where it's only the top, and not the bottom, so we can just wrap around and tie back into the same rib.

    But it works even "top and bottom."



    Wrap, rivet, bend around to conform to the shape of the rib for neatness using some vice grips and a bit of scrap to keep from scratching the tube. A little sand paper deburred it nicely.



    Top right wing ribs in place. Still a few things to do, though.



    Lesson Two: Secure the rear spar rib gusset first. It decides the airfoil consistency along the wing. I've got one rib that's 3/8" higher than the others because I hadn't figured out the order of securing them (and that's mostly by luck). Hadn't decided if it's worth it to put more holes in the spar or not.

    The ribs in the foreground are the "figure out" ribs. At the rear I've got to make a gusset or strap to the rib ends along the aileron side of the spar. I may just wind up running the strap - it's not sexy, but it has the fewest questions assigned to it.

    I've got to file down the rear spar end to match the profile of the rib to the bow as well as do some "adjusting" of the front rib copes to the spar with a hammer (they won't lay perfectly, owing to the sweep) as well as think about putting on the leading edge.

    I'll table the latter until both wings are done.

    It started raining and I was just so happy to see the ribs on the wing that I didn't want to put it up in the storage shed just yet!
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  7. #117

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    The little Nieuport's ribs at the aileron are quite a bit higher than it is, and so there was a "lightbulb" moment about what Robert Baslee was talking about on the phone with me about the long strip.

    He had mentioned putting it at a 45-or-so degree angle. and at the time it didn't make a lot of sense (but I wrote it down anyway - I've learned to have a notepad handy before I dial him up; it would be embarrasing to have to call him twice with the same question!).

    Quite a bit of measuring and hemming and hawing and I finally bit the bullet and cut an inch off the top ribs:



    (oh, and I was very pleased when the long ruler laid across the ribs evenly - across the wing I have one rib that's about 1/32" higher than the others, which I'm not going to fool with in fear of just making it worse. This good alignment was largely due to fortune more than planning; I only thought to check AFTER they were all in place!)

    Little test piece of scrap for angle and length measurements, tacked with a strip of aluminum tape.

    Why did I have aluminum tape so handy? I realized I only gap sealed the alieron hinges on one wing - the other one - and quickly fabricated them so I wouldn't forget again!



    Strip cut from the thick, harder stuff Robert supplied for the aileron leading edges that I gave up on. What's not shown is the cut outs for the aileron hinge and the full rib in the backgound.



    The light was starting to fade and the camera popped up the flash.

    It's not really that wavy and crappy looking; indeed, it's some of my best bending work.

    I'll make one more long one like this and two shorter ones (it doesn't reach all the way), following my "bend it all at the same time or really close together so it'll match" rule.

    Didn't have time to rivet it to the ribs or the spar...
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  8. #118

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    The nice thing about having a dumb night security guard job is that I get a lot of time to think about things.

    I think those upper ribs were just made too short to begin with. My concerns is that in addition to drag, it's going to enhance adverse yaw (with the downward aileron having most of the bite) to where it's going to be even more of a handful to fly. No need to borrow trouble.

    So I distilled the issue on the ribs down to its basics:

    Problem:

    Ribs are short and float above the spar.



    Solution one:

    Make the rib slightly shorter and reduce the angle down to the aileron as much as possible. This method was my first approach, detailed earlier.

    Solution two:

    Make the rib longer to bring the airfoil down to the aileron across the spar.

    Why not? Length is adjustable, after all, and I'm a damned expert at putting splices in bows thanks to my unique building style.

    So I did some quick and dirty work this afternoon:



    It's just a temp fitting using some scrap (loads of it at the right length) held with a bit of dowel and some tape.

    Might as well extend it as far as I can and still allow full aileron motion if I'm going through the trouble.



    A bit of scrap to see how the gusset along the edge would be bent.



    I have to work out if it's extended too far, though, keeping covering in mind. I have to get an iron in there, after all.



    Naturally it's going to be a PITA to splice the little bits on, but thankfully there's only ten to do, including the other wing.

    The lower ribs are not a problem - they match up pretty well and can get that strip very easily.

    On another note, is anyone reading this, or is it just a vanity thread? If it is, I'll just stop adding to it.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  9. #119

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    ...is anyone reading this...?...
    I am.

  10. #120
    rv8bldr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Ladd View Post
    I am.
    Yep, me too.
    -------------------
    Mark
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