Well, again it's been quite a while since I've made any entries in
the Diary, but ....I've made lots of progress ... on the new
Garage/Shop!
I've badly needed more room and last fall I started a 28 X 40 foot
garage/workshop
I think my wife was so enthusiastic about the project because it meant she'd
be able to get her car back in the garage.
I had planned on being in the garage last Fall, but unfortunately things
seldom go as planned.
The contractor had planned on a vacation and the floor was to be poured
while he was gone. He planned on erecting the structure when he got back Unfortunately the mason never showed up and when the contractor came to
work expecting to start building he only found a pile of sand.
As the building is to be heated with an Infrared heater I insulated
the floor from the ground with 1 inch Styrofoam.
Well, we finally got things ready and poured the concrete, but it was
fall. The leaves were falling like crazy and it was getting pretty chilly
at night.
Actually we only ended up with a few "fossils", but the crew was picking
up leaves like crazy.
The Mason finished power trowelling the stuff at 1:00 AM using his pickup
truck lights so he could see.
I've managed to get most of the yard and garden tools on one end with
lots of space left over.
I now have the heater, which is one of the new tube type Infrared
heaters for hangers and industrial buildings.
The heater, which is under construction is the long tube on the saw
horses. Fortunately it is now hanging from the ceiling.
The next step is to get the floor sealed and the welding bench finished.
You can see the Salamander is doing its job and heated the room quite well, down to about 15 degrees that is.
The welding bench is now done. Man, but that thing is heavy.
Unfortunately, I now have to move every thing off the floor so that
it can be painted.
Two reasons for painting the floor. One, It's easier to clean
and keeps it from making dust.
And the second is that it makes it much easier to find those little
parts that keep trying to hide after you drop them.
Well, after many projects, lots of tower work, lots of shop work,
and I'm now making progress on the G-III
The floor of the shop has three coats of Epoxy paint. The "Hanger Heater"
works very well, the airplane *stuff* has been moved in with the exception
of the Horizontal Stabilizer which is still on the bench in the basement.
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Cutting Bench |
I laid out both halves of the fuselage on rubber pads, set up two shelving
units to use as a bench for cutting fiberglass, received two gallons of
Resin from the "New Glasair" company, created a template out of 3 mil
plastic for the front wing attach point, waxed a portion of the top of
my work bench, promoted one gallon of Resin, and then mixed up 100 grams
of Resin and catalyst, cut two 2' square pieces of fiberglass cloth and
made a practice two layer laminate.
Although I've worked with Epoxy, this is the first large piece I've done
using Vinyl Ester Resin. Lots of "Air Bubbles". Time to get in a bunch
of practice.
As I had a Dentist appointment, I didn't get a lot accomplished today.
I cut several pieces of glass cloth to use as reinforcements for the front
wing attach point, Mixed 50 grams of resin and did the first lay-up.
I had a few very small voids, but they were not in a spot to cause a problem.
I filled these with resin and mixed up another 50 gram batch.
I did two more lay-ups on the reinforcements and also cut the cloth and did
the first two layers of the rear wing attach point reinforcement.
I finished cutting the reinforcements for the front wing attach points, finished all four layers on the right side and did all four on the left in one session. No voids in either. Using a gallon paint can as a template I marked out 12, 7 inch circles (to be used as the center of the reinforcement for the rear wing attach points) on the fiberglass cloth and cut out all 12. I also cut the two pieces to be used for the bottom of the rear attach point for the left side. I mixed the resin and did the bottom two layers for the rear attach point on the left side and 5 of the 6 round center pieces for the right side, wing rear attach point. I then laid up all 6 round pieces for the left side rear wing attach point and the last piece for the right side.
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Left: Laminating rear attach point. |
I also created a template and cut the fiberglass cloth for the Horizontal
stabilizer reinforcements. I installed two of the four for each side.
Right: Fiberglass cloth pieces for Horizontal Stabilizer attach point reinforcement |
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Jim Powell stopped by and
we mounted the fuselage halves, upside down, on saw horses, hot glued the
41 1/4 inch 2 X 4 brace between the front wing attach points. Right: Installing the 41 1/4 inch brace. |
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Jim stopped by around 1:15 again today and we worked on fitting up the two fuselage halves.Left: Jim, checking the alignment.
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Over the weekend, I studied the manuals and viewed the videotapes on assembling the fuselage. I wish I'd seen them sooner. They used a plastic template for the lay-up areas. Then he did the lay-ups on the plastic and transferred them to the fuselage area. They were much neater than my "glue it in place" approach, but the rest he did much the same as we have been. The manual called for the fuselage halves to fit perfectly...It didn't say anything about the amount of "block sanding" required to make it do so. Right: Fuselage edges needing block sanding. |
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Left: Temporary Firewall. |
I think I'm going to add a flange and pipe to the plywood to allow easily
rotating the fuselage so we can reach some areas more easily.
There are also a lot of mold edges to be removed.
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The Com antenna arrived. I block
sanded the edges of the forward belly pan and hot glued some pieces of wood
at the edges of the belly pan (two on each side) These keep the belly pan
from falling down into the fuselage while I work on fitting it to the fuselage. Right: Front Belly Pan, Right side detail. |
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3 Hours, Friday April 27th, 2002
Jim Powell came over and helped prep sand the right, inside of the vertical stabilizer to get it ready for the Com antenna. He cleaned the area with Acetone, while I cut a single strip of cloth from scrap to seal the antenna in. Between the two of us we managed to get the foil antenna in place.
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Me Prepping Antenna area |
Left: Scrubbing the area where the antenna will mount using a coarse Scotch Brite (TM) pad. |
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Right: Clamps and wood blocks used to hold the antenna, wet cloth, and feed line in place while the resin cured.
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Clamping Detail |
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Installed Com Antenna |
Left: The antenna layout (running parallel to the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer and the temporary routing of the feed line. The area on either side of the feed line under the cloth was filled with a medium q-cell mix. |
I trimmed the cloth while in the green state and then mixed up some micro-spheres with resin and filled the space around the coax to give support to the antenna connection. Now it's time to complete sanding the bonding surfaces for the fuselage halves as well as finish fitting the plywood yoke around the front of the fuselage and trim the temporary fire wall to fit. THEN I can finish bonding the halves together. Sure is a lot more work than it would seem.
I cut the temporary fire wall out of a single 4' X 4' piece of 1/2 inch plywood. The outer piece, which remained intact was trimmed slightly to fit around the cowl flange and hold the fuselage in the proper shape. The temporary firewall was trimmed to fit tightly and inserted inside and behind the cowl flange.
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Fuselage bracket (firewall to right) |
Interior of fuselage at firewall |
The next step was to set the fuselage right side up and the tail section on a pad at floor level. The cabin section was clamped and held in alignment by 6 inch long by 2 inch wide wood strips, hot glued to the outer surface of the fuselage after it was aligned. In some cases it was necessary to clamp the wood in place to force alignment. I started at the front and worked back. If you look carefully at the right hand picture "Underside of clamping", you will see I used two 1 X 2 boards about 8 inches long. There is a piece of 2 X 4 on top of the bottom board. That 2 X 4 fits into the recess between the shells where the 6 layer laminate will go that joins the shells. On top, the 8 inch board clamps the piece that is hot glued in place, down tight, to hold the shells in alignment.
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Behind The Windshield |
Between the Doors |
Underside of clamping |
The tail section had a wood block fitted between the halves at the rear of the tail. After twisting the fuselage to align the leading edges of the vertical stabilizer the block was clamped in place. Duct tape was pulled tight around the leading edge of the tail section from both sides, aiding in keeping the two sections aligned. The same technique was used in the aft section of the fuselage. In one spot a wood block was placed under the tape to force the one side down and into alignment.
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Tail Alignment Clamp |
Duct Tape holding shells together |
Note the wood block. |
Only two or three wood pieces were hot glued in place at a time. The fuselage was then given time to shift and settle. It is amazing how the alignment just slowly shifted into place, given enough time. It looks as if the tail will require very little alignment adjustment when the belly pan is installed.
Now that the fuselage has pretty much taken shape, about three more blocks along with 4 on the tail and the
fuselage will be ready to invert and bond the halves together. With the heat we've had lately, I'll have to use a
new batch of resin without the accelerator, just the promoter.
The current batch has enough accelerator in it that it will set in about 15 minutes with a two layer laminate.
Not nearly enough time to make the multiple layer lay-ups to join the fuselage halves,
or the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer
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View of the alignment blocks down the back seam |
Bob Winchester checking out the temporary fire wall |
The over all fuselage showing vertical stab alignment blocks |
3 Hours July 28, 2002
With the help of Bob Winchester and Joyce, I turned the fuselage upside down. Leveled the fuselage laterally using the waterline 100 marks. I then used a plumb bob to make certain the tail was in alignment. I put in one layer of fiberglass down the seam, but pulled it out before it had taken a hard set. I wasn't happy with the bond and cleaned the whole seam with acetone, re-sanded it and wiped it down with Acetone the second time.
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The left and center photos show the 3 1/2 inch wide fiberglass cloth laid in place. There are already three laminations under it. A careful examination of the right photo will show the overlap for a seam after the resin has been applied. The ends of the strips coincide with the left end of the orange mark and the dark orange spot about an inch to the right of that. The overlaps are staggered to prevent an undue thickening of the lay-ups.
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This image shows the tail end of the lay-ups and the antenna mounted inside
the vertical stabilizer. Left is looking toward the tip of the vertical
stabilizer. |
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Just two more layers to go and then it has to set for two days to cure. Then
I up-end the fuselage as far as possible and then do the lay-ups in the
leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. That is supposed to be the tough
one.
It's supposed to be hot and
humid Sunday so I doubt I'll be able to get much done on the fuselage, but
I can work on the horizontal stab which is jigged up in the basement. I think
about 3 more hours and I could have the lay-ups finished. I am going to
have to do a bit of trimming along the edge of the joint though.
5 Hours 21 July, 2002
I trimmed the edges of the existing layers and then finished up the last two layers in the long seam.. I also added two more layers to the space between the windshield opening and the back of the cowl. The Temperature is running near 80 F in the shop now and that is cutting down the working time on the resin. Even without any accelerator in the resin it still gels in about 15 minutes. I think for tomorrow at least, I may be working on the tail in the basement.
I plan on finishing up the last lay-up between the cowl and windshield tomorrow. (It's only 18 inches long by 3 1/2 wide.). If the lay-ups I finished up today are cured hard enough I plan on block sanding the edges to make the look good. I think I can do the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer where it sits now.
7 Hours 22 July, 2002
I started on the vertical stabilizer. I prep sanded the inside of the leading edge, by wrapping a sheet of 80 grit emery cloth around a long piece of 1/2 inch thin wall conduit. and running that back-and-fourth through the channel in the leading edge of the stab. After vacuuming and blowing out the channel, I forced a cloth soaked with Acetone down through the channel. That did an excellent job of cleaning the channel, but made the surface far too tacky to try and slide the cloth into place.
I waited a couple of hours and slid the 2 inch wide strip of glass cloth into place. Being cut on the bias I ended up with a one inch wide strip of cloth almost twice as long<sigh>. However some judicious work with the half inch thin wall and a very long screw driver I was able to compress the cloth back to the proper dimensions. Using a 1 inch brush hot glued into the end of a three foot length of thin wall (with a slight bend near the end) I was able to reach all the spots in the recess at the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer.
I mixed a 100 gram batch of resin with 1 CC of MEK. Using the brush on the extension I was able to soak the cloth and it looked good.
9 hours 23 July, 2002
Well, I decided to try a multiple lay-up, but laying out the cloth on foil, soaking it with resin and then adding a second layer to create two layers and just put them in place. I'd work out the air bubbles from the installation after it was in place. This would allow me to get rid of all the voids between the two layers. I had the two layers almost in place when they slid off the support and of course, slid around on each other. I was unable to get them aligned and had to pull them.
I cleaned up the channel with an acetone soaked cloth as in the earlier prep stages. A couple hours later I installed the second layer in the conventional manner with little problem. It looked good and I figured if I stayed up late enough I could get the third layer in. I finished up on that layer around 3:00 AM.
8 Hours 24 July, 2002
Bad Day! I went out around 2:00 PM and on inspection I found three large air bubbles/voids. that extended from the center of the seam to nearly the edge of the lay-up and about an inch and a half long. They were all in the first 1 to 16 inches from the base of the stabilizer. I thought about grinding off the layer in those spots and using a mill fiber mix, but it turned out that the bubbles were under the second layer. I wasn't comfortable with that large a cut out and using mill fiber to fix it.
Using a small wood chisel and a long screw driver aided by a 16 ounce ball peen hammer I was able to remove the first foot of the three layers.. Very slow going.
7 Hours 25 July, 2002
Working slowly I was able to sand down the ends of the remaining three layers so I could get a two to three inch overlap with each of the three new layers on the previous layer without creating a large bump in the lay-up. This was a real good workout for one of the Dremmel tools with the cable extension. I sanded the channel thoroughly with the 80 Grit and conduit as I had before. Then I vacuumed it out and cleaned with acetone.
4 Hours 26 July, 2002
After a little more sanding and a thorough cleaning I installed the first layer with about 3 inches of overlap onto the bottom three layers.
4 hours 27 July, 2002
Around noon I installed the second layer and the third layer around Midnight. So, I'm now back to about where I was a week ago.
2 Hours 28 July, 2002
The previous work looked very good so I again prep sanded using the 80 grit on the thin wall conduit, vacuumed out and cleaned with acetone. I tried laying out the cloth strip on a piece of wax-paper that had the width lines drawn on it with a large marking pen. Holding onto both ends of the waxed paper I started sliding it down through the channel. It easily slid into place. I slid the paper back up slightly and using two of the spring loaded clothes pins, clamped the cloth strip to the top of the stabilizer. I then slowly slid the waxed paper out from under the cloth while keeping the cloth straight without any stretching. I did have a small amount of repositioning, but not much. Starting at the top of the stabilizer (the bottom of the lay-up as the fuselage is inverted. I soaked the cloth and worked my way toward the bottom of the stabilizer. After about 10 inches I unclipped the clothes pins and made sure that area was well coated with resin.
At 1:30 AM it still looks good, but is not yet firm enough to trim with a cutter.
3 hours 29 July, 2002
I trimmed the previous lamination, prep sanded and cleaned the surface with acetone and put the next lamination (layer #5) in place using the waxed paper. It took less than 15 minutes for that part of the operation. I put fans in the windows to cool the shop down during the night.
2 hours 30 July, 2002
Joyce shut the fans off before going on an early bike ride. Unfortunately I didn't get up early enough to close the windows in time to keep the shop cool and it reached near 80 F by evening. I trimmed the ends of lamination #5 and using the same method as above installed layer #6. The high temperature made me appreciate the waxed paper method of getting the cloth in place. I was just finishing touching up the lay-up. I was going to add one more spot and discovered the resin in the cup was gelling. Before I could dump it out, it had hardened too much to remove all of it from the cup. Fortunately the lay-up looks good. It's had several hours to set and still looks good.
I had planned on running the fans again tonight, but we are supposed to get some storms, so the windows are going to have to stay closed.
I started fitting the rear belly panel and set the middle one in place for spacing and measurement. The front one is in place, but the jig holding the front of the airplane needs a bit of sanding in one corner to give the front of the pan a little more room.
Next step will be to fit and glass in the front and rear belly pans
187 hours to date
The
says you are caller
If you have comments, suggestions, or corrections email me at EAA Chapter 1093
