Chucked the top part of the passenger stick socket in the lathe to square it up... kept chewing up my bits. Must have hardened when I used the chopsaw to cut it down. Ended up cutting another piece and will take it to Whitey's to square up in his lathe.
Apr 26
.2hrs
Stopped by Whitey's to speak to him about the Jacobs and to use the lathe. He was just about ready to take-off for a flight when I arrived. I said I'd be here for awhile... I squared up the piece of tubing and he returned an hour later. Briefly spoke about what he was doing to make the inertia starter an electric starter and that was it.
Apr 27
2.1hrs
Success ! Drilled the holes in the bottom of the Stick Socket pretty much dead-on. Welded the top 10 degree angle on the paseenger Stick Socket and welded on both elongated washers on to the bottom of the passenger Stick Socket... this time I drilled the first hole before welding over both holes.
Apr 29
2.0hrs
Ground down, filed and sanded inside of Stick Boots where I had welded over holes. Welded on the washers and 3/8 x .o65 tube to pivot area on passenger's Stick Socket. Ground down, sanded and then re-welded tube for good seam.
Apr 30
2.0hrs
After filing and sanding down the washers in the pivot area on the passenger Stick Sockets I was unhappy with the way the 3/8" tube was welded so I re-welded over both sides. Aligned the Stick Sockets in Stick Boots and drilled second hole. Filed and sanded the area on the outside of the washer smooth (where I had welded the hole over.) Marked out the sides of the large Torque Tube so that both Stick Boots will align.
May 1
4.0hrs
Aligned the Torque Tube Control pieces in the jig. Cut the 3/8" spacers and reamed to 1/4" (jig spacer for Stick Boot) then aligned all the pieces in the jig... took out to the garage and welded it up. A little bit more space between the front of each Stick Boot and the large Torque Tube so I started to measure and cut two collars. Just about finished with the Torque Tube Controls!
May 2
4.1hrs
Decided aginst fabricating a collar for the front of the boots. Instead, took 3/32nd weld rod and easily welded the front of each boot. Cut a piece of 1.5" dia tube and clamped it on the inside of each end of the Torque Tube, where it was slightly distorted, Heated the distorted side up to a cherry read and let it cold down to room temperature. It's real close to being perfect again. Did the same to the other end. Cut the two 3/8" x .o65 tubes for the collar. The plans don't tell you what length, the Skybolt Manual says to cut them to 1.25". I think they ment to say 2.25". I realized this after I had them cut to size, squared at the ends and reamed. Went back and cut two more 2.325" long, square the ends and reamed them to .25".
May 3
2.3hrs
Cut, squared the ends and reamed to .25", two additional 3/8" tubes for the second collar. Jigged the first set then the second set in the small jig I made up and welded them onto the Torque Tube collars.
May 4
4.8hrs
Quite a bit accomplished today. Cut both collars in half, square the ends then re-reamed the 3/8"tubes. Measured for placement on Torque Tube then welded the collar stays into position. Cut two lengths of 3/8" x .o65 tubing for the bushing at the Stick Socket location on the Stick Boot. Drilled and reamed the 3/8" hole in the Stick Boots... ready for me to weld them in. Hope to finish it tomorrow.
May 5
2.8hrs
Welded in bushings on both Stick Boots for Stick Sockets. Cut off tubing that was inside of the two outside wings. Ground smooth and finished off with 120 grit sandpaper. Sanded the Collar Bearing with 400 grit sandpaper.
1.5hrs
Wanted to make sure that the two Stick Sockets were at perfect 90 degrees with each other when connected with the Stick-to-Stick Pushrod. Drilled some 5/8" flatstock, attached to the one Stick Socket. Locked it into 90 degrees upright then locked the other Stick Socket into 90 degrees upright and marked for drilling.
.3hrs
Drew up the Stick-to-Stick Pushrod end connection on CAD. Printed out... ready for work on it tomorrow.
May 6
1.1hrs
Cut, ground to size and sanded edges of the Pushrod end connections.
2.3hrs
Cut the tube for the Stick-to-Stick Pushrod, marked and drilled the holes for the 3/8" tubes... then welded in the 3/8" tubes.
1.5hrs
Welded in and ground down the 3/8" tubes. Sanded to a smooth finish. Made up a for aligning the end connections onto 5/8" tube. Went to bolt it into place and the one hole is off a few degrees than the other ! RATS ! I even double checked this to make sure it was in line. RATS !
May 7
1.4hrs
Measure, cut and drilled another Stick-to-Stick Pushrod tube. Made sure that both holes were square before moving ahead with weldeing in 3/8" tubing.
1.5hrs
Welded in 3/8" tubing. Filed down excess weld and reamed holes to .25". Aligned and welded on end tabs onto Pushrod.
.5hrs
Spent a little bit of time learning what the numbers ment for AN bolts. Figured up what bolts and nuts I need to order for the Torque Tube Controls.
May 8
.9hrs
Drilled holes in Stick Boots and welded in 1/4-20 nuts (for stick stops.)
2.5hrs
Drilled bottom of Stick Sockets, with an under-sized bit, then reamed to .25". Threaded 1/4-20 nuts into welded on nuts. I messed the threads up in the first one. Tried threading bolt into seconed one. Wasn't happening so I re-tapped with a Bosh Tap set I picked up a few months back. BRILLIANT ! Cut the first nut off and welded on another one... tapped it before threading on bolt. Worked like a champ. Cut 1/4-20 rod to length for the Pushrod to Stick Socket connection. The pilot's Stick Socket fit, the passenger's Stick Socket was off by a few degrees. Decided to weld the hole closed then using the Pushrod as a jig I would re-drill the mis-aligned hole.
.7hrs
Welded hole closed then re-drilled using bushing in Pushrod as a guide. Put all the pieces together and the Torque Tube Controls are FINISHED !
May 9
2hrs
Spent about 1/2 hour cleaning up the garage workshop and setting up one of the large tables so that I could do some welding. Spent the rest of the time cutting the three tubes for the Reverser (had the rest of it made) and squaring them up on the lathe, welded on the the 1 1/2" tube to the Reverser. Drilled and reamed the four holes on the Reverser to .25".
May 10
(2hrs)
Spent time taking some of the accessories off the radial. Have it documented on the Overhaul page. Not including the hours on the build.
May 11
2hrs
Put the finish welds on one side of the first stab/elevator set.
2hrs
Put the finish welds on the second side of the first stab/elevator. Still have a few small areas to weld.
May 13
2.1hrs
Started welding up the second stab/elevator set after a little over a half hour finishing up the first stab/elevator set.
2.1hrs
Continued welding up the second stab/elevator set. After welding for about 1/2 hour I went to start welding the elevator and saw that it was out of alignment. Spent a little bit of time cutting some welds and getting it straight again. Continued welding.
May 14
1.8hrs
More welding on the stab/elevators. Torch started to spit, messing up the weld line; tanks running low. Needed to stop and replace them.
2.7hrs
After running out and hooking back up the tanks... more welding on the stab/elevators. For some reason they keep twisting pretty bad. Put them back in the jig and welded them up as much as possible. Took out of jig and
continued welding. Still more to do.
May 16
1.7hrs
Finished welding up the stab/elevator. Spent most of the time heating the one tube to "bend" it back straight.
.2hrs
Cut-up the rotisserie to make the stands to set the fuselage on to make the gear. Baisically very low profile saw horses.
May 17
(2hrs)
Stopped by Whitey's. Spoke to him about the engine mount and asked him about widening the landing gear. Said it would be no problem. I'll make the main gear approx 12" wider if I have enough material (already bought the matieral.)
1.6hrs
Locked one of the stab/elevators back in the jig and began to fit the trim-servo tab in. Ran out of small Dremel disc cutters. Will need to buy more tomorrow.
May 18
3.5hrs
Began cutting and notching the metal ribs for the trim tab on one of the elevators. Finished up by tack welding it into place.
.8hrs
Finish welding the one complete trim tab.
May 19
3.2hrs
Locked the second stab/elevator into the jig. Measured, cut and notched the pieces of the second Trim Servo Tab then
tacked welded them into position.
.5hrs
Welded up as much of the Trim Servo Tab as I could. Will need to wait until I've cut it from the elevators to finish the rest of the welding.
May 21
1hr
Went over to Denise's, where I have the fuselage in an out building, to set up the fuselage for building the main gear. Turned out to be a fact finding mission more than
an actual stand building session.
1hr
Picked up a few 2x4s to build stands for the fuselage. Measured, marked and cut them to size.
May 22
1.3hrs
Glued and screwed together the two stands.
2hrs
Went over to Denise's. Put the fuselage up on the new stands and leveled it. Using plum bobs, I started marking out for the main gear. Once placing the Axel Jig Support on the longerons I realized that I had made them a little off. Time to modify them.
.5hrs
Using the CAD drawing of the Axel Jig Support, I started re-figuring how the tubing needed to be placed and welded.