|
Post by shawnson on Aug 8, 2011 9:26:56 GMT -5
i am getting ready to order my plans at the end of this week, i was wondering if anybody could help me out with a tool list. we already have a fairly well stocked garage from the lancair 4p we just finished in march but that was composite so i am sure there will be some new tools to add to the inventory. thanks for the help i am looking forward to getting started.
|
|
|
Post by pilotsailing on Aug 8, 2011 10:23:55 GMT -5
What part are you going to build first ? The fuselage is all chromemoly metal work, covered in fabric, but the fabric is the last part of the project. You can have the whole fuselage built before you start the wings. The wings are all aluminum metal, so lots of #40 and # 30 clecos. Also a few #21 clecos for the spars. Rivet snaps and perhaps an arbor press to set the rivets in the spar. A good read of Freds wing construction manual will give you a heads up on what is needed for the wings.
|
|
|
Post by shawnson on Aug 8, 2011 11:02:15 GMT -5
i figured on doing the fuselage first which should be fairly straight forward. i was thinking more along the lines of those items that sneak up on ya. the random helpful tools that people come across or make that seem to make life so much easier but require a lot of banging your head into a wall to figure out.
|
|
|
Post by jaywelch on Aug 8, 2011 18:37:13 GMT -5
My .02 .. get those quarter magnets .. they help in tube holding. And if ya got the funds, a tube notcher will speed things along. I used the old fashioned method of cutting and notching the tubes by hand with a grinder, so if you go that route I use this site .. www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgiIm sure theres more .. but that comes to mind. Good Luck! Jason
|
|
|
Post by shawnson on Aug 9, 2011 11:12:18 GMT -5
that website does have some very useful information thanks.
i thought i might throw up some pictures of our recently completed Lancair, since i don't have any thing to show for my sonerai but a couple of receipts.
|
|
|
Post by shawnson on Aug 9, 2011 11:28:10 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by n3480h on Aug 9, 2011 19:23:53 GMT -5
Beautiful work!
Tom
|
|
|
Post by bil438 on Aug 15, 2011 15:07:58 GMT -5
Tools, I found that the tools kits they sell have twice the tools you'll need or use. Often times you trade speed (chopsaw) for cost (hacksaw) If you are buying power tools, the lathe is the king of machine tools. With accessories a lathe will do milling, drilling, some shaping, reaming, tapping. The area where a lathe is unique is that it will make bushings, hinge parts and spacers of every type. You'll need dozens, perhaps hundreds of them. I found the original tail wheels to break often or wear out fast. So I took a look at a Scott tail wheel and made one similar myself. That tailwheel paid for the lathe. My SIILS has almost 400 hours on it. It was restored after an engine failure at 300 hours, mud wasp in the fuel vent line. (use a tennis ball with a slit and check those tubes with a straw or stirrer.)
All I can say is make it exactly according to the plans resist every temptation to add mods and weight. My SII was lightened at rebuild. Empty weight is now 538 lbs. Once you have flown it for say 25 hours, then you might consider what changes are actually necessary for the aircraft to fulfill it's mission.
As someone else wrote, where you start determines the tools you need. If you build the wings first they can be hung from the ceiling while you build the fuselage/tail. Bill
|
|
|
Post by n3480h on Aug 15, 2011 17:07:37 GMT -5
Bil, this is good advice. My airframe is strictly "to plans", largely as a result of the many difficulties other builders have related with simple changes that resulted in 10 other changes to accomodate the first change. I did change nonstructural things like a carbon fiber floor and panels - but nothing that will change flight characteristics, strength, or operation.
I was fortunate that a friend wanted to upgrade to a larger lathe, so I bought his for a song. It's just a little table top model and it can't do anything larger than 6"Ø and 12" long, but it has produced phenolic trim pulleys, bushings, spacers, a prop spacer for the Skylite, and a host of other small turned parts.
Tom
|
|
|
Post by shawnson on Aug 16, 2011 9:59:17 GMT -5
that is all very good advice gentlemen thank you, and believe me considering how terrible the plans where for the Lancair, and the amount of shall we say... creative thinking was involved. i think i may just enjoy building a plane that i can just do what i am told, no more no less.
|
|
|
Post by chuck59 on Aug 16, 2011 10:38:44 GMT -5
that is all very good advice gentlemen thank you, and believe me considering how terrible the plans where for the Lancair, and the amount of shall we say... creative thinking was involved. i think i may just enjoy building a plane that i can just do what i am told, no more no less. \ Unless the plans have been seriously upgraded, you are in for a rude awakening..
|
|
|
Post by shawnson on Aug 16, 2011 13:03:00 GMT -5
i was being a little sarcastic, i have seen lots of plans for lots of aircraft and so far i put the sonerai and Lancair a two very far ends of the spectrum. the builder will always have to be creative and do some thinking for themselves that is what makes it fun and challenging. but a lot of the times with the Lancair it was just frustrating. there where many poorly described steps but about 2 years ago i almost lost it when i came across a page and the gist of the instruction said:
step 1 bond part abc-123 in place.
that was it nothing more! i could not find that part # in inventory, it didn't have a picture of what it should look like, didn't say where it went or what i was supposed to bond it in with. i lost some hair that day and many others. but oh well there it sits finished and making smiles for us every time we look down at the ASI!
|
|
|
Post by shanenothdurft on Aug 27, 2011 10:31:11 GMT -5
CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET A COPY OF FREDS WING MANUAL
|
|
|
Post by schrome on Aug 27, 2011 11:30:37 GMT -5
Shawnson,
To what others have said I would add a bending brake for the ribs in the tail feathers. I made my own from hardware store steel angle and it worked pretty well. A metal cutting bandsaw is almost a necessity, in my opinion, and a small milling machine next to the lathe would be the cat's meow if you have $pace. The plans for the fuselage are very good but for the wings they don't quite cut it; Fred's manual is necessary. The most frustrating parts for me were the canopy, cowling and cooling baffles (nicely alliterative!), where the "plans" more or less just wish you good luck. Good luck! :-)
Shane, you may be able to find Fred's email address somewhere on the Great Plains web site. Look for Sonerai designee or something like that.
Ed
|
|
|
Post by soneraifred on Aug 27, 2011 18:45:31 GMT -5
CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET A COPY OF FREDS WING MANUAL Send me an email at fredkeip@aol.com
|
|