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Chronological Updates, November, 2011
6 Nov 2011
It has been awhile since I updated the site, but this is not due to a lack of work on the plane. Progress has been made; most of it just hasn't been very photogenic. Here's a quick re-cap.
I got the mount holes in the pitot assembly drilled and tapped so that it mates up with the Gretz mast. I also countersunk the holes in the mast, but didn't take a picture of that.
I also decided where I was going to mount the pitot heater control box—inside the wingtip on the outboard face of the outboard wing rib. This makes it easily accessible should maintenance or replacement be needed. I put holes for four nutplates into the rib so the box can be screwed into place.
I still need to get the two aluminum tubes that come out of the pitot assembly flared. Jeff has offered to give me a clinic on how to do tube flaring since I've never done it before, I just haven't been able to find the time to get the pitot up to his hangar. Coming soon.
With the pitot work mostly done, I've been concentrating on getting the left wing disassembled and all the parts ready for the next primer pass. Here's the current version of the checklist that I posted last month:
This was enough items checked off the list that I was able to stow the main spar, rear spar, and ribs which frees up my workbenches finally.
Still a lot of work ahead, mostly in the form of deburring and dimpling the skins. I'm not sure how to do the lap joint correctly yet; I'm thinking I'll skip doing it on the bottom side entirely, since it is an aesthetic thing anyway (right?). Deburring huge wing skins is not fun, so I'm splitting the work up into little managable junks. I expect the progress over the next few weeks to be somewhat underwhelming and unphotogenic.
30 Nov 2011
Just an end-of-month update. Progress continues, slowly, on deburring and dimpling various left wing pieces. Nothing photo-worthy. Between getting married, moving Nina in, and spending a week in Florida, November's progress wasn't stellar.
It has been awhile since I updated the site, but this is not due to a lack of work on the plane. Progress has been made; most of it just hasn't been very photogenic. Here's a quick re-cap.
I got the mount holes in the pitot assembly drilled and tapped so that it mates up with the Gretz mast. I also countersunk the holes in the mast, but didn't take a picture of that.
I also decided where I was going to mount the pitot heater control box—inside the wingtip on the outboard face of the outboard wing rib. This makes it easily accessible should maintenance or replacement be needed. I put holes for four nutplates into the rib so the box can be screwed into place.
I still need to get the two aluminum tubes that come out of the pitot assembly flared. Jeff has offered to give me a clinic on how to do tube flaring since I've never done it before, I just haven't been able to find the time to get the pitot up to his hangar. Coming soon.
With the pitot work mostly done, I've been concentrating on getting the left wing disassembled and all the parts ready for the next primer pass. Here's the current version of the checklist that I posted last month:
finish deburring and dimpling rib flangesexpand rib tooling holes for pitot plumbingmake final decision wrt where the AoA line will runmake rib holes for APRS antenna linedebur/dimple rear spar- debur inner surface skin holes (1/4)
debur skin edgesdebur J-stiffener edges- remove vinyl stripes from skin
- taper skin lap joint
- scuff inner skin surfaces (1/4)
- dimple skin
This was enough items checked off the list that I was able to stow the main spar, rear spar, and ribs which frees up my workbenches finally.
Still a lot of work ahead, mostly in the form of deburring and dimpling the skins. I'm not sure how to do the lap joint correctly yet; I'm thinking I'll skip doing it on the bottom side entirely, since it is an aesthetic thing anyway (right?). Deburring huge wing skins is not fun, so I'm splitting the work up into little managable junks. I expect the progress over the next few weeks to be somewhat underwhelming and unphotogenic.
30 Nov 2011
Just an end-of-month update. Progress continues, slowly, on deburring and dimpling various left wing pieces. Nothing photo-worthy. Between getting married, moving Nina in, and spending a week in Florida, November's progress wasn't stellar.
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