Hints for Homebuilders Videos-What are your ideas?

[Seerjfly]

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[SprintUS1]

Norman how did you get such deep lightening hole flanges. They are beautiful!!. What material.
Joe Goldman

[Norman Langlois]

Joe
A special compression die was made and is variable ,to create the flare in different size holes. as well as different flare. What you saw is the deepest and is done on 6061 T6 .050 . Its what makes my single spar what it is.Any less of a flare would not give the large diaphragm the strength of a truss work.
The die clamps the material before it coins it using a hydraulic press
Also used is simply a set of Green lee Punches.carefully debured so not to have crack starting points.
For anyone not knowing what I am referring to see earlier post about using Stewart's adhesive for working fiberglass . The two pictures were actually a mistake in my upload.
My plane is all very experimental with I think new ways to create an ultralight.If they are difficult than its probably why its not been done. No insult intended to anyone just my self explanation how or why is anything I may do unusual or new. I have taken extreme paths because I can. I have built machinery just to build this plane of mine. 3 plus tooling

[SprintUS1]

Beautiful, and strong. Great looking truss.
Joe

[Sonex1517]

How about vid on Vortex Generators? Before and after performance results (minimum liftoff airspeed, power off stall, power on stall).

I put these on my low wing, 520 lb Fisher Avenger (installed on the wing and tail; 3" apart on the wing and 1.5" apart on the underside of the stabilizer). I think it's one of the best performance enhancement that one can get - and for very little money. Also, it made a noticeable difference in ride quality. It rides smoother in turbulence than it ever did before. Also if one ever has to land off airport, that 5 to 8 MPH slower touchdown speed is a real safety benefit.

Your Sonex would make for a good test case; posting before and after results, along with your impressions of the difference in overall ride quality.

This is one I'd love to see, especially since I am building a Sonex. I used to own a Cherokee with VG's at the wing roots. I have been wondering how VG's would (or would not) work on my Sonex.

[SprintUS1]

On my plans built sprint I did the following: 1. took scrap aluminum bent it lw 90o and flattened out the ends. 2. I used these to brace every rib. Angled from the rib tip to the web, use cheap nuts and bolts. 3. Thus supported I measured with a strap the width needed for the leading edge and ordered it. I rolled it to LIGHTLY start the start the shape DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CREASE THE LEADING EDGE. I then used luggage straps (2") and wood scrap to pull the skin around the supported ribs. Drill, cleco, remove skin, remove braces, clean holes. Cleco and rivet. The tension makes for a very strong and stiff lE.
Joe G

[Pearson]

I'd like to see a "how to" segment on creating small parts from Plexiglas sheet. Besides the obvious...using a mold of some sort and the judicious application of heat....how is shaping Plexiglas properly done?

If this thread is still open, I would love to second Ricks suggestion for a video on forming Plexiglas. But I would like something more than just small parts. I would like to be able to make a formed skylight. My skylight would be about 35" square, and needs to have about a 2 or 3 inch bulge outward.

[Charlie Becker]

If this thread is still open

Yes, the thread is still open and I do monitor it for ideas so keep them coming!

Just don't forget that we produce them in batches so it takes a while for an idea to make it to a finished product.

[Christopher Ingram]

I would like to see more video's covering the different types of wood glues and epoxies. When It came time to choose my bonding agent I struggled to comprehend the various glues/epoxies and the pro's and cons of each. It would have been a time saver if I had a better idea of how the different products were applied, how much to apply, how much clamping pressure works best, what kind of surface preparation is or isn't needed and most of all just a better understanding of what is out there available to us builders.

Thanks,
Chris

[nrpetersen]

A simple dumb thing I've discovered - Large sheets of drafting Mylar are wonderful for pattern making for sheet metal parts such as fairings, brackets etc. The Mylar is dimensionally very stable, and you can write on either side of it with a pencil or squeak pen, while at the same time be able to see through it. It will lay flat yet is stiff enough that it can be used as a pattern for sheet metal parts.

It even makes a good work bench for pre-pregging epoxy layups using a putty knife for spreading the epoxy.

As you may speculate - my company threw out a whole pile of D size mylar when they converted to digital drafting. It was too good to throw away. Heh! Heh!