+1. I spent my time in wood shop and learned a fair bit from Dad about machinery, but I'd like to have a better understanding of composites.Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingriki
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+1. I spent my time in wood shop and learned a fair bit from Dad about machinery, but I'd like to have a better understanding of composites.Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingriki
Removing pop rivets....tiny hole punch to knock out the stem before drilling....wish I knew that earlier.
More fabric covering hints and tricks...Covering a fuselage, alternate knot tying
Painting from prep, prime and finish coats
The videos have been a huge help.
Thanks
Jake
An article on ways to degauss a steel tube fuselage to improve compass accuracy - or even make it possible to get the compass correction within reasonable numbers.
I had to work on my J4 for a long time with a degauss kludge before I could get the compass to work. I removed the tachometer and the compass before trying anything although I don't know if that is necessary. I found that the aircraft compass would correct up to about +/- 45 degrees but the old airplane steel fuselage was way beyond that. A degauss kludge can be made with a coil of Romex cable with the conductor and ground ends wired together to make a single continuous winding. Something to limit the current (like a heater) is necessary. Fiddling around with a piece of 4130 tubing, it seemed like it took about 50 ampere-turns to demagnetize.
All,
Thanks for the recent ideas. We'll add them to the list. We plan to shoot a few more in the next 45 days.
I had problems bending the aluminum leading edge to fit. I realized that on order to manhandle the leading edge around the nose ribs they had to first be secured. I used 90o angle formed from scrap al secured with small nuts and bolts fro the top of rib to web of the spar. I then alone, help would have been good, used tiedowns and long peice of wood to rachet the skin around the ribs. You must first cut the skin to length as it might interfere with the straps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright
thanks for such ideas.....i m also following ur page on fb....
regards
I need instructions about how to select in the market the proper Styrofoam which shall be used to built Rutan/KR type of home-built aircraft. Discussing with colleagues of various experimental experience, i noticed that there is confusion and several mixed opinions (blue and pink polystyrene extruded, or polyurethane extruded, small/big cell, typical densities....). I'd love to see video about it, with eventually even market and brands references.
Here in Europe purchasing voluminous stuff from Aircraft Spruce or Wicks is not convenient (high oversee shipment cost), therefore we need criteria to find equivalent products in the local market.
Regards,
Bruno
Suggested responses to the old question: When will it fly? But dramatize the questioner and your recommended answers, don't just sit on a stool in front of the camera, or you will just bore us into going back to work on our own projects...which is what I should be doing instead of snooping around these forums!
Don't use TIG, MIG, or any other electric welder, and you won't have magnetism issues. Gas welding may be old school, but it's easier on the compass. And don't use brazing rod to tack weld your tubes, like I caught ol' PHP doing on one of his Pober Ace projects. That was a real PITA to grind off all the brass in order to get decent welds! Yeah, he looked good in the posed photos, but Paul never did learn how to weld.
I would like to see something on LED lighting, including taxi, landing and nav/strobes. How many lumens are needed for each application, how much power, etc. Which is better, round, square, or rectangle shaped lights.
Another item could be a whole new segment on engine overhauls. This could be broken down into many short videos.
If you are still looking, a series on wood selection would be nice. I am looking at building a Mini-max Eros and would like to know more. The plans cover some of the information but it would be nice to have a more in-depth knowledge of what I am doing and where to find more information. Below is a list of what I would like to see covered if possible.
1. What type of wood is typically used in different applications like spars, longerons, rib cap strips, gusset material, etc. What is to be avoided?
2. Grain orientation for spars, longerons, rib cap strips, gusset material, etc.
3. Selection of wood for the parts listed above, including runout, knots, grain pattern, etc. and what is acceptable / safe in different applications.
4. Glue application. How much? Thin layer or a little thicker?
5. Moisture content. What to look for and how to change it properly. What about wood at different moisture contents (not extreme) used in the same parts?
6. Long term storage. Seal the wood as soon as each part is constructed or can you wait. How long is too long?
7. Warped wood. How warped is too warped?
8. Clamping pressure. When is it too much? Different clamping techniques and types for gussets, frame sides, fuselage assembly, etc.
I have an idea on most of these from building furniture most of my life but I would like to know more as these techniques pertain to aircraft construction. Besides, you need more videos for us wood and fabric guys. :)
Thanks,
John
Make a video on how tight bracing cross wires should be inside of wings and how to true them all up. Because I really don't know. I've seen a video somewhere of how tight control cables should be and how to tighen them up, something like around 20 pounds? Don't remember off hand... probably wrong.
Make a video on how to keep carpenter bumble bees from drilling holes in your wing spars and other wooden plane parts, which is obviously structurally dangerous.
I would like to see some more composite videos. Examples would be mixing epoxy and microballons and/or flock to the correct consistency. Repair work would be a great example.
In general, I would like to see more advanced videos. It appears that many of the recent videos are basic and are intended for a newer audience that do not have a lot of building experience building. Techniques for moderately skilled builders would be great. An example would be methods for how to seal a fuel tank. Both fiberglass and sheet metal would interest me.
Longer more detailed videos would also be of interest.
Keep up up the good work. The Hints for Home Builders is the first thing I look for in the weekly EAA e-Hotline.
Wayne
How about a firewall forward installation video. It would have to be quick, but is something everyone needs to know when building a plane.
Latest design for Hints for Homebuilders does not work for me in FireFox. The old designed seemed fine, I could watch the video on a small screen (many times I just want audio) and search for new videos at the same time. The new design doesn't even play the video. Should would like to old design back.
Which Firefox version are you using? On what kind of computer? What operating system is installed on that computer?Quote:
Originally Posted by CAVU Mark
I experimented this morning with fresh installs of Firefox (version 60) on Windows, Mac, and Android. The videos are playing correctly.
So perhaps you just need to update your Firefox.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
Thanks.
I am certainly no expert builder. Slowly making my way through a plans-built tube-n-fabric parasol. So, I continue to find the Hints for Homebuilders very helpful.
But, here's a suggestion. How about producing a multi-episode video series that follows a project from start to finish? There would be the opportunity to dive deeply into the various tasks required to complete the airplane. Costs for the development of the series could be offset by sponsorships.
Given the prevalence of kits, I would suppose that focusing on that type of project would make the most sense. But, it would be very interesting to see a plans-built aircraft project depicted this way. To that end, I wonder if sufficient video and audio were captured during the somewhat recent Mechanix Illustrated Baby Ace project to edit into a long-form video.
Probably ten minutes after I post this reply, someone at the EAA will reply with a link to exactly what I am suggesting. That would be a pleasant discovery.
Thank you again for the incredibly helpful resources that you all provide to us builders.
I am using the latest FF Ver 60.0.2 on an older PC (AMD processor) A10-5700, WIN 7 Home 64 bit, 12 G of RAM, MSI 2AEO motherboard, 1G of video memory - ATI ASUS EAH5450, 931GB of disc space, cable modem on wifi, 20MB download speeds. The older version of Hints worked fine, the new version does not show the preview screen, left hand menu. uBLock is disabled.Quote:
Originally Posted by conodeuce
Chrome works on the same computer. I prefer FF.
CAVU Mark, I'm tempted to move to Firefox myself. The latest version is supposedly faster (was piggish in the past). Now that Google's omnipresence is starting to creep me out, Firefox is looking more attractive.
I'm sorry that I couldn't reproduce the problem.
Best of luck.
There are a ton of online builder logs with very detailed descriptions and photos. Many of these logs are of plans-built aircraft and will be applicable in a general sense for anyone building a similar aircraft. Googling will find many instances of blogs and should provide hours of valuable reading. A new video series would be more-or-less a repetition of the online resources.Quote:
Originally Posted by conodeuce
Yes indeed, there are many web logs of experimental projects. I follow multiple. An in-depth video series would chiefly be a means of evangelism. The new world of media that we are living in is starving for content. So, a well made video series would be welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan
I, for one, have been reading everything I can get my hands on for help in building my Junior Ace. I have not, however, found anything that fully tackles the depth of information I'm looking for. Perhaps an appendix of links to all these "tons of online builder logs with very detailed descriptions and photos" would be quite helpful.
Even the hints for homebuilders are a general overview and gloss over specifics, and often ignore the "why" of what we're doing. I agree that an in depth, long-form video series would be a welcome resource, and suspect it will also be a form of evangelism as conodeuce suggests. Much like the "Build this plane for under $800 including engine!" article in Popular Mechanics kicked off the homebuilding movement, using the media of today; Youtube, Facebook, forums etc; could help revitalize the home building movement, bringing it back out of the realm of $40K kits and retirees, bringing it to the forefront for younger generations.
Granted, a truly "affordable" homebuilt would do a lot to encourage this as well; the $800 airplane of 1955 would be about equivalent to a $7000 build today, but that's a different soap box for a different time.
Edit:
As it is, people like Peter Sripol are filling this void in media for younger generations by cataloging his inexpensive ultralight builds. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the depth of experience that many older members of the EAA family possess, and may lead the younger generations to making uninformed and potentially dangerous decisions. Nothing against Peter, he's just the most prominent creator of this type of content that I can think of at the moment.
I understand what you are advocating and am sympathetic to the novice builder who doesn't have the technical background of the gray-beards. There are two obstacles to inexpensive homebuilts that immediately come to mind:
1) The desire for immediate gratification with the latest and greatest flash and bang. Yes, the legacy designs have their own charm but not the appeal of new aircraft. This desire to have strong performance, quick builds, and the latest tech drives the community of builders into the "$40K kits".
2) The lack of a reliable, field-proven, low-cost and readily available powerplant in large quantities. The $7000 aircraft doesn't happen because there is no way to fill these powerplant needs in this price range. A decent used Conti or Lyc is going to consume that $7000 budget with nothing being spent on the airframe, and good used engines are becoming quite rare. The "alternative" engines are plagued with low-time field history/reliability and often sketchy support.
I wish we had a good solution to your question but I suspect it is just going to be necessary to raise the $$$$$ bar to achieve the reliability and performance desired.......and the market has already done that.
I appreciate the sympathetic ear, Sam, and understand the harsh reality. The powerplant issue certainly came to mind and is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle until demand is great enough for the industry to take notice. Of course, you'd still have no field history and questionable support.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan
I'm afraid I took this thread off track and away from my intended point, that a well made, in depth series covering the build and test flying of one of the more inexpensive homebuilts would be a valuable resource for us beginners and potentially a useful outreach tool for the EAA.
On a related note, if there exists a resource or resources already containing this information, I would personally be very appreciative of a list of them. There are many technical manuals out there, but it's not always clear which ones are valuable for a specific task and some information may be lost without wading through technical specs in multiple volumes. At least, this is my experience so far.
Try the Pete Bowers Centennial Fly Baby Page:Quote:
Originally Posted by Tench745
http://www.bowersflybaby.com/PB100/index.html
And click the "Jump to Construction Information" link.
I've got some references to key Tony Bingelis articles (scroll up a bit), information on setting up the shop, some info on hardware, and some basic workmanship guidance.
In addition, there are in-depth articles on wing and fuselage construction. Not directly related to a Junior Ace, but wood is wood.....
Ron Wanttaja
Yep, the FlyBaby page would be at the top of my list. Also, a set of Bingelis books is mandatory for any novice builders of 'legacy' wood aircraft:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo.../bingelis5.php
Attachment 7329
Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan
Yup, I've got two of the Bingelis books already, very good information, but even still good information on the same/similar topics is spaced out over the two volumes, making it harder to remember where I've seen it when I need to refer back. I'd like to compile a database of information/resources as I build to help myself and future ace builders, much as Ron has done for the Fly Baby.
In that vein, over time I would like to get together a list of current suppliers for materials as well as articles, etc on how to actually assemble an aircraft.
That's enough of me derailing this thread for now. I'll likely post more as I go in my Corben Jr Ace Build thread.
Be the change you want to see, or something like that. :)
Reading is good, building is better. I just finished my third Stearman but only one plane was completed! OR... find a local museum and help restore some aircraft. That is what I did at the Air and Space Museum and the USS Midway, now I am the fabric guru (I learned from Frank who built TBMs on Long Island in the 40s) Can't read about that in a book.
C.B.,
I would like to learn how to install a capacitance type gauge for a Fiberglas header tank. Also where to install the gascolator.
For fuel gauges (cap. type) what indicators must be used with which capacitors etc.
I'd like to see a video on cleaning and preparing a steel tube fuselage that has been over 20 years in the making for priming/painting.
I would also like to see videos on using other fabric systems - Stewart and Oratex come to mind, as well as patching fabric from one system with materials from another.