29 November 2009
cut guide set up
I sterted off with out a cut guide thinking I could control the cut ok, which I did for about 12 inches before the cut went inside the line! luckily I have more wood than I need and can flip over after one mistake. The guide can actually be a little rough on the saw but the cost of the saw over the cost of the spar makes it a worthwhile control measure.
Spar thickness cut layout
This is how the spar is not set up to cut the tapered thickness (smallest dimension 18ft(l) x 6.5in (w) x 2in (t))
where is tapers from 0.5in at the tips to in the middle. Note the aluminiaaum cut guides clamped on about a quarter of the way in with the saw through the cut. Long hard slog that cut is I can tell you.
08 November 2009
Aeros
0.6 hrs solo yesterday in the Robin. Broken nimbo-stratus between 2500-4000 feet but clear over the coast so did some lazy eights, rolls and steep turns over Stockton beach. Couple of touch and goes
15 September 2009
16 July 2009
Maitland and back
I ducked into the club to get checked out in the 150 so I could get a little bit of cheap scenic flying in. I hadn't flown since January!!! so according to club rules I needed a quick check ride. Would I take P over to Maitland for the check and he could then pick up the Robin? Sure.
Nice takeoff when 100 ft off the deck my window blows open. No big deal. Check airspeed, balance, climb. Slowly reach out and grab it. I dont like my watch hanging out there. And bring it in. And shut it properly this time. Seemed closed on the checks. Oh well.
P had just set up a student for a solo nav into the Upper Hunter so the lifting of the fog was of vital interest. Willy was clear but west there was lots of low cumulus embedded in fog. It didnt look good from here, but as we reached East Maitland you could see that it was transparent enough for VFR and was dissipating in the very slight breeze from the west.
And at East Maitland, just over the top of the Model Aircraft field, P shouts look, two o'clock, model aircraft. What? Sure enough, perspective and distance making it look like a real low wing aircraft about 200 ft below our 1500 ft, a green radio controlled aeroplane. Flying straight and level parallel to our track about 200 m away. We are outrunning it (at 85kts!!) so I turn a little towards it to keep it in my view. It does a half roll then loops into a rolling hammerhead, then drops out of sight below us. We turn back towards YMND.
Nice approach into an empty circuit for 23 YMND and dropped of P while I fuelled up the Cessna. P wanted to wait to make sure the Robin started. It did after the usual pre0flight checks. By that stage all the fog-back-logged lessons and joy flights were starting up and I jsut managed to race to the head of the queue. Because of all the rain the grass taxiway was a big puddle so everyone backtracked to the detents and the 23 threshold. By the time they all arrived I completed my checks, and blasted off. The Robin two behind me.
Beautiful Saturday morning, traffic, coal trains, shopping centres, parks, sports, rivers and mountains. A lovely hour in the air.
Nice takeoff when 100 ft off the deck my window blows open. No big deal. Check airspeed, balance, climb. Slowly reach out and grab it. I dont like my watch hanging out there. And bring it in. And shut it properly this time. Seemed closed on the checks. Oh well.
P had just set up a student for a solo nav into the Upper Hunter so the lifting of the fog was of vital interest. Willy was clear but west there was lots of low cumulus embedded in fog. It didnt look good from here, but as we reached East Maitland you could see that it was transparent enough for VFR and was dissipating in the very slight breeze from the west.
And at East Maitland, just over the top of the Model Aircraft field, P shouts look, two o'clock, model aircraft. What? Sure enough, perspective and distance making it look like a real low wing aircraft about 200 ft below our 1500 ft, a green radio controlled aeroplane. Flying straight and level parallel to our track about 200 m away. We are outrunning it (at 85kts!!) so I turn a little towards it to keep it in my view. It does a half roll then loops into a rolling hammerhead, then drops out of sight below us. We turn back towards YMND.
Nice approach into an empty circuit for 23 YMND and dropped of P while I fuelled up the Cessna. P wanted to wait to make sure the Robin started. It did after the usual pre0flight checks. By that stage all the fog-back-logged lessons and joy flights were starting up and I jsut managed to race to the head of the queue. Because of all the rain the grass taxiway was a big puddle so everyone backtracked to the detents and the 23 threshold. By the time they all arrived I completed my checks, and blasted off. The Robin two behind me.
Beautiful Saturday morning, traffic, coal trains, shopping centres, parks, sports, rivers and mountains. A lovely hour in the air.
14 June 2009
Spar Trimming
It's taken a lot longer than I thought to get this spar done. Having finished the laminations and ending up with a spar sized "blank", worked a reasonable compromise between the plans' dimensions and the unexplained "750 lb mod" (enabling an extra 100lbs wt to be carried on the aircraft) drawing a (slightly) curved taper from the centre to the wingtips, I had to cut it down to size. By hand. Slow but safer. After an hour's cutting with handsaw, over a couple of days I think evilly what about the power saw? It's a hand drawn circular saw. Freak me out. I draw a parallel line 1/4" outside the actual dimension to allow for blade error and try to keep the cut outside that line. I test and am able to hold it parallel. Stop the saw to assess. But before the blade slows I relax my grip, it catches and propels back along the direction of cut. Yipes! The teeth cut outside the line perilously close to the actual line. In fact right on it. I could have trashed it. Finish the job with the hand saw. Use the electric planer to smooth the rest of the cut and bring the cut right up to the line with the belt sander. Success. But will not use the circular saw again. Too dangerous. That's cut one of four on the vertical plane. Three more then rotate the spar through 90 degrees to cut two cuts on the horizontal plane.
12 May 2009
Fuselage Jig
Transferred the drawing onto the jig base thanks to the Corby Starlet Newsletter I bought from the editor Vic Boyce - handy builders notes. Gluing guide blocks onto it tonight. Does both sides.
Laminations complete. Let the trimming begin!
I finished the final laminate layer before Easter. Since then I've been sanding front and back faces flat and having chosen a most flat face, I went to the least flat face and practiced the precision drawing onto the spar blank - of The Cut. Having got that largely wrong (the plans says the spar has a straight taper, but that doesn't explain the 750lb mod to the top centre of the spar which distorts the calcs). I tried again on the other side and decided to compromise the straightness with a more even curve top and bottom. There's already a warp and washout built into the rib angles so a minor extra curve should be ok, (Wait for covering problems!).
Now I am read for The Cut. But how?
Hand saw. Slowly and carefully. I'm not taking it to a professional. If the they bugger it up there would be serious trouble.
I thought optimistically this could be done by the End of January! Anyway, I am building my fuse jig too.
Now I am read for The Cut. But how?
Hand saw. Slowly and carefully. I'm not taking it to a professional. If the they bugger it up there would be serious trouble.
I thought optimistically this could be done by the End of January! Anyway, I am building my fuse jig too.
16 March 2009
Laminates 7 and 8
75% of the spar is now glued. At this rate another two weeks to start trimming it.
05 March 2009
2nd and 3rd laminations
No i wasnt game to do two at once. Actually I have four laminations because the first gluing was between two laminations. The second added the third lamination, the third gluing added the fourth. Out of 12. 1/3 of the way through. And I've run out of big enough clamps to for the width. So I need to buy or borrow more.
M helped me with the first two gluings, and A helped with the third.
M helped me with the first two gluings, and A helped with the third.
16 February 2009
Horizontal laminations started - Spar
Going one by one rather than all at once. I discovered I wouldnt have enough glue for the "all at once" anyway. Must order more. I may try two at once next weekend. Getting there.
07 February 2009
grain direction
The spruce was long but it was quarter sawn. To get it to "lay flat" within limits, meant having to cut narrower width pieces to length and then glue them side by wide to make up the 2.25 inch width of the spar blank. Then "brick" them so that the joins werent on top of each other and the grain all oriented the same way - up in the middle down at the sides. Once glued together it will have enormous strength.
The Spar Jig takes shape
Almost ready to go. Just need to add the wax paper to the battens. That's the laminate stack (spar blank unglued) to the right of the jig.
10 January 2009
last spar horizontal lamination
Glued up number 12 this morning. That's the easy bit. Now how to do the vertical lamination - ? Have to build the rest of the jig appropriately and test before gluing. How exciting!
28 December 2008
Building the wing spar
Gluing the first horizontal laminate today, I have 12 of them to do. A 1" and 1.25" glued to form a 2.25" laminate. When I finish that I will block up the Jig so I can bend the dihedral into the laminations of the spar. I am thinking I will do it in two lots of 6 laminations each.
If that doesn't sound like much progress in the 10 days I've had the wood: I have had to:
- organise the timber in the garage, including building a series of chain straps from the ceiling to hold timber when not in use (so its not tripped over on the floor).
- build the jig table and jib board
- practice procedure including wax paper placement to stop epoxy gluing work to table
If that doesn't sound like much progress in the 10 days I've had the wood: I have had to:
- organise the timber in the garage, including building a series of chain straps from the ceiling to hold timber when not in use (so its not tripped over on the floor).
- build the jig table and jib board
- practice procedure including wax paper placement to stop epoxy gluing work to table
18 December 2008
BFR
My biennial flight review was due in October, but I was overseas. So its to last Saturday that I could get a free day and a booking to coincide but K, the CFI, agrees to do it. He tells me to plan for Stroud Road, Singleton then Maitland for some circuits and back to YWLM.
The Saturday starts off IFR, but its forecast to improve vis by the booking time. It's also forecast 25 knots gusting to 40 from the north west.
The bookings are running a little late so I catch up with some club mates and a work mate. K asks me what I'd like to do and I say I say I've planned for the NAV. He says ok, let's see what it's like up there.
I climb to 1500 heading north and forget to retract my flaps in the 150 past 5 degs. Oops. Bad start. Then my heading keeping is all over the shop, I'm drifting around 30 degrees trying to make my compass reading match what I think I should be seeing on the map. I decide that there is the Karuah River and if I steer in between its undulations it will take me to Stroud and Stroud Rd is just over a little hill from there. By the time we get near Stroud I have sorted my heading work (pick a peak on the far horizon consistent with the heading then steer to that). The Stroud valley is green and beautiful. The town looks scrumptious.
I climb to 2500 to clear the higher ground between Stroud Rd and Singleton. Set the new heading to the west and get a quick estimate for Dungog, only 10nm away on the track which will confirm the estimated winds and ground speed (75 knots). Estimates confirmed Kerry asks me what the town ahead is. Confident it is Gresford he says Divert to Maitland from there.
I stretch out the VTC and confirm the correct scale on the ruler (1:25K) get a bearing adjusted for 12 deg magnetic, apply an estimated wind solution for the heading and we wheel through 90 deg over Gresford.
A big 1450 ft hill passes to the right of track one third of the way south, confirming we are on the right track. K asks if I can see the airfield - still 25nm away. I point out four bright spots above a green area that I think are the hangars at Rutherford, too far to see the runways, but it is correctly placed to the right of Maitland township. By the time we reach the line of low hills north of the Hunter River it is clear it is the airfield bang on course. I call "All stations Maitland, C-150 Uniformm Quebec Oscar is 12 miles to the north inbound 2 thousand 2 hundred".
K is happy, he says most navvers taken on this diversion follow the Paterson River and end up over the Hunter River looking for the airfield.
It's windy. Windsock straight out pointing right down runway 26. Pull the engine at 2 thousand feet. "Traffic Maitland 2 thousand feet over the top glide approach two-six."
I give a quick trouble check aware how little time there is to fly this thing in this wind onto the runway. I confirm low key, call base turn two six, keep her turning towards the threshold because the strong wind is blowing us away. 150 ft on late final pull all flap and grease her onto the runway where K accuses me of showing off.
Leave it too late for a go around in the post landing glow and K calls an abort. If not airborne by the intersection give it a miss. We backtrack and leap into the very bouncy air. There is rotor wash off the hill facing us, Not climbing well in the downdraft we clear the thrashing trees by about a hundred feet. Continue climbing through the illusion of not turning thanks to the massive crosswind on crosswind leg.
I ignore the ground and look at the gyro compass for inputs. By 500 ft agl things are looking normal and we are headed back to YWLM.
At late final at YWLM we are a kite, creeping up to the field so slowly. At one stage I note the airspeed decayed to 40knots - up throttle and down nose. The gusts were pushing us left and right swinging either way trying to get the slip right as it gusts in the other direction. Last second above the tarmac and she greases on again, like the preceding was just for fun. I smile at K. You Happy? he asks. I'm happy. I'm happy too.
The Saturday starts off IFR, but its forecast to improve vis by the booking time. It's also forecast 25 knots gusting to 40 from the north west.
The bookings are running a little late so I catch up with some club mates and a work mate. K asks me what I'd like to do and I say I say I've planned for the NAV. He says ok, let's see what it's like up there.
I climb to 1500 heading north and forget to retract my flaps in the 150 past 5 degs. Oops. Bad start. Then my heading keeping is all over the shop, I'm drifting around 30 degrees trying to make my compass reading match what I think I should be seeing on the map. I decide that there is the Karuah River and if I steer in between its undulations it will take me to Stroud and Stroud Rd is just over a little hill from there. By the time we get near Stroud I have sorted my heading work (pick a peak on the far horizon consistent with the heading then steer to that). The Stroud valley is green and beautiful. The town looks scrumptious.
I climb to 2500 to clear the higher ground between Stroud Rd and Singleton. Set the new heading to the west and get a quick estimate for Dungog, only 10nm away on the track which will confirm the estimated winds and ground speed (75 knots). Estimates confirmed Kerry asks me what the town ahead is. Confident it is Gresford he says Divert to Maitland from there. I stretch out the VTC and confirm the correct scale on the ruler (1:25K) get a bearing adjusted for 12 deg magnetic, apply an estimated wind solution for the heading and we wheel through 90 deg over Gresford.
A big 1450 ft hill passes to the right of track one third of the way south, confirming we are on the right track. K asks if I can see the airfield - still 25nm away. I point out four bright spots above a green area that I think are the hangars at Rutherford, too far to see the runways, but it is correctly placed to the right of Maitland township. By the time we reach the line of low hills north of the Hunter River it is clear it is the airfield bang on course. I call "All stations Maitland, C-150 Uniformm Quebec Oscar is 12 miles to the north inbound 2 thousand 2 hundred".
K is happy, he says most navvers taken on this diversion follow the Paterson River and end up over the Hunter River looking for the airfield.
It's windy. Windsock straight out pointing right down runway 26. Pull the engine at 2 thousand feet. "Traffic Maitland 2 thousand feet over the top glide approach two-six."
I give a quick trouble check aware how little time there is to fly this thing in this wind onto the runway. I confirm low key, call base turn two six, keep her turning towards the threshold because the strong wind is blowing us away. 150 ft on late final pull all flap and grease her onto the runway where K accuses me of showing off.
Leave it too late for a go around in the post landing glow and K calls an abort. If not airborne by the intersection give it a miss. We backtrack and leap into the very bouncy air. There is rotor wash off the hill facing us, Not climbing well in the downdraft we clear the thrashing trees by about a hundred feet. Continue climbing through the illusion of not turning thanks to the massive crosswind on crosswind leg.
I ignore the ground and look at the gyro compass for inputs. By 500 ft agl things are looking normal and we are headed back to YWLM.
At late final at YWLM we are a kite, creeping up to the field so slowly. At one stage I note the airspeed decayed to 40knots - up throttle and down nose. The gusts were pushing us left and right swinging either way trying to get the slip right as it gusts in the other direction. Last second above the tarmac and she greases on again, like the preceding was just for fun. I smile at K. You Happy? he asks. I'm happy. I'm happy too.
31 March 2008
Finished the ribs
the other sides of rib pair 107 is gluing on the table right now. the final gluing event of the rib sequence is drying on the table and will be put with the rest of the rib stack - representing 18 wing ribs in total - all made by me - awaiting the next phase - to start in October - being the construction of the one piece spar (with the 750lb all up wt option) - then the final assembly of the wings will proceed.
i have finished my first component set and i feel like an aeroplane builder - hurray for me and plans set 352
i have finished my first component set and i feel like an aeroplane builder - hurray for me and plans set 352
22 March 2008
Ribs all done!
There's been an overlap in production with Rib Pairs 95 and 107 (the last wintips). Process goes:
1. draw up & glue jig
2. cut & wet overnight top and bottom rib pieces
3. shape top and bottom rib pieces to leading edge ply insert
4. cut vertical and diagonal intermediate pieces
5. glue all above together
6. dry overnight
7. cut out ply gussets and glue to rib vertical and diagonal joints
8. turn rib over and cut out and glue gussets for other side
9. simultaneously repeat steps 2-5 for next rib
10. repeat steps 6-8
11. start on next rib steps 1-10 doing step 8 from previous rib
I will get a photo soon of all the ribs laid out! So excited.
Next Looking for materials for the spar jig. But I am having six months down time from the project while I am overseas with work. Starting backn in Oct.
1. draw up & glue jig
2. cut & wet overnight top and bottom rib pieces
3. shape top and bottom rib pieces to leading edge ply insert
4. cut vertical and diagonal intermediate pieces
5. glue all above together
6. dry overnight
7. cut out ply gussets and glue to rib vertical and diagonal joints
8. turn rib over and cut out and glue gussets for other side
9. simultaneously repeat steps 2-5 for next rib
10. repeat steps 6-8
11. start on next rib steps 1-10 doing step 8 from previous rib
I will get a photo soon of all the ribs laid out! So excited.
Next Looking for materials for the spar jig. But I am having six months down time from the project while I am overseas with work. Starting backn in Oct.
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