Figuring out punch list. Made phenolic washer for trim handle.
May 9
1.3hrs
Tail spring bracket - cut off and re-designed, re-CAD'd.
May 10
1.2
Made new tail spring bracket, part A.
May 12
1.6hrs
Made new tail spring bracket, part B; the sleeve that holds the springs.
May 14
3.3hrs
Modified part B; made second sleeve that the first one fits into to build up the thickness. Build up thickness of sides so that the bolt head is far enough away from the lower longeron.
May 15
1.1hrs
More work on part "A".
May 16
1.4hrs
Attempt to align tail spring. Not working...
May 17
1.3hrs
Didn't have fuselage level. Leveled then algined and tacked on tail spring bracket.
May 18
1.7hrs
Not happy with tail spring alignment. Another attempt to align. Tacked... still not happy with it.
May 19
.8hrs
More work on the tail spring bracket.
May 21
2.6hrs
Build out revised cup sides.
May 22
2hrs
Made new bushings on lathe. Welded on skewed !
May 23
2.1hrs
Cut bushings off. Grind/sand off old weld. Re-weld on straight.
May 24
1.4hrs
Weld on Part B (plate) to fuselage. (weld is too close to holes STILL)
May 25
1.4hrs
Start thinking and working on tabs for seat belt connections. Started designing but then needed to investigate what size holes needed to be made for the connection.
May 26
2.5hrs
Made new Part B (longer) and cut/filed off old Part B from fuselage. Welded on new Part B.
May 27
1.3hrs
Figuring out set belt hard points.
N/A
Made rotisserie for nose of fuselage - for spining.
May 28
4.4hrs
Still figuring out hard point locations. Make patterns. Rough-cut pieces out of .o71 4130.
May 29
2.9hrs
Grind/file/sand to shape. Burn patterns off. Sand front and back faces smooth.
May 30
3.6hrs
Check and re-size hard points. Weld 6 of 8 onto fuselage.
May 31
3.2hrs
Welded on 7th and 8th hard points for seat belt harnesses. Made control stick shafts for front and rear pits. Made fitting so that NAF 1173-2 stick grip with 1 1/8inch hole would fit onto 1inch shaft.
Jun 2
3.5hrs
Work on the pilot's control stick. Trimming, fitting, welding on of the top bushing, and cutting the V's into the lower section for welding and then welding on the stick.
Jun 3
.9hrs
Work on the second control stick.
Jun 4
2.5hr
Welded V on front stick. Drilled out existing 3/8inch bushing in rear stik - reamed - cut and welded in new bushing.
Jun 5
1.2hrs
Rear stick boot needed some attention - worked out the problem with it being too narrow.
Jun 6
1.4hrs
Needed to re-work bottom of each of the stick sockets (needed to squeeze them in) to 5/8inch) etc.
Jun 7
1.2hrs
Prep for connecting push rods. Figuring out what needs to be done to get it done. Took measurements. Need to purchase some 10-32 x 1inch bolts.
Jun 8
N/A
Spent about an hour on it but didn't get anywhere with anything... Did research on what size drill hole for a 10-32 bolt. Getting conflicting answers.
Jun 9
1.6hrs
Started drilling the push rods with bearings. Screwed up the first stick and a $55.00 bearing ! Bearing twisted while drilling. Made jig to hold bearing in place. Will try again.
Jun 11
1.6hrs
Glue false rivets in instrument panels. Figuring out location of cut-outs for the webbing on the seat belt that goes through the turtledeck opening. Drill attempt on first bearing for push rods. Tube twisted and I ruined the first bearing. Need to re-think and make a good jig for holding tube/bearing.
Jun 12
1.6hrs
More measuring and marking of holes for openings in turtledeck door for seat belt webbing. Not real confident that the openings in the guides I made are going to work. May need to re-make.
Jun 13
N/A
Needing to figure out size of opening for seat belt webbing (with ends). Send email off to Hooker Harness.
Jun 14
1.5hrs
Received order for drill bits, 10-32 bolts, washers and nuts. Used jig I created for a few tests. Drilled all four holes for first push rod tube.
Jun 15
1.7hrs
Drilled all four holes for second push rod tube. Went to attach and found that I left the tube in the walking beam too long. Will need to cut down.
Jun 16
1.3hrs
Filed down the too long of a tube in the first walking beam. Looks and works good... just a little cleaning up.
Jun 17
6hrs
Filed second walking beam's tube so that bearings had clearance. Measured, cut, and drilled four holes in third push rod. Set-up fuselage for last connection. Need to buy additional tube to finish.
Jun 18
1.4hrs
Re-design seatbelt webbing guides ?
Jun 19
.9hrs
Do I need to re-design the webbing guides ? I need to find out the actual hardware that is used on it.
Jun 20
N/A
Researching Hooker Harness on the iternet - sending an email to them asking the question about the size of the hardware.
Jun 21
2hrs
Attempting to figure out why the hell the stick grip is basically going through the passenger seat when showing a 25degree push forward. Two hours... and I figure I can't use the grip. Needs to be something more compact and directly around the stick. Took the grip off and... that's the issue.
Jun 22
1.9hrs
Triple checking the length of the last push rod after triple checking that the grip was indeed the culprit in last night's woes. After confirming length I marked and drilled push rod for both bearings. Tested on fuselage and it WORKS !
Jun 23
2.6hrs
Re-work the back stick-boot and stick so that I can use the WWII stick grip I bought. As it is... the stick is kinda close to the back of the front seat when full 25degrees forward.
Jun 25
3.4hrs
Finished re-work on pilot's stick boot/stick/stick grip. Tested... looks great !
Jun 26
1.3hrs
Re-work front stick booth.
Junn 28
1.6hrs
What's up with the front stick boot?
Jun 29
1.7hrs
Cut the blanks for the new seat-belt web guides. 2.75inches wide at the opening.
Jun 30
2.9hrs
File and sand all four, new webbing guides. Grind off, file and sand areas of four existing guides on fuselage.
Jul 1
3.2hrs
Cleaned up guides before welding onto fuselage. Welded all four onto fuselage.
Jul 2
2.5hrs
Re-worked front stick-boot in cradle off of fuselage. Welded on angled piece to stick-boot. Drilled 3/16inch hole for removal front stick.
Jul 3
2.7hrs
Decision on how to attach the rear instrument panel; four brackets attached to the lower portion on the pane and one, centered at the top ?
Jul 5
2.6hrs
Match-drilled rivet holes in all four brackets. Aligned and tacked onto fuselage for finish welding.
Jul 6
3.9hrs
Align and weld on four instrument panel mounting brackets. Figure out how to attach/stabilize top of instrument panel. Designed bracket - drew up on CAD.
.8hrs
Figuring out attach brackets for front instruement panel. Realized that the front panel will need to be modified because of the sway wires. Cut out paper pattern to figure this all out.
Jul 7
1.7hrs
Cut out top support bracket for the pilot's instrument panel, along with the two tabs that will get mounted to the fuselage for attaching said bracket to fuselage. Match-drilled anchor nut plates to the two tabs.
Jul 8
1.4hrs
Align and weld on two mounting tabs for the top of the pilot's instrument panel. Took way longer than it should have.
Jul 9
1.8hrs
Jig upper, back center section wing spar. Attempt to locate/figure out holes that need to be made in front instrument panel for sway wires.
Jul 10
.7hrs
Gave up on trying to figure out hole locations without the actual finished pieces in place. Don't want to play this guessing game. Push until a later time.
Jul 12
2.3hrs
Started drilling holes for new SL Wire Lugs.
Jul 13
1.4hrs
SL Wire Lugs - finished drilling holes. Rough cut. Ready for grinding and sanding to size. Need to re-do one; cut too close to line (undercut it).
Jul 14
1.5hrs
Re-making SL lugs. Made one new one.
Jul 15
3.1hrs
Two more lugs made and ground to size. Actually took me 4.3hrs but that was because of a dull drill bit (not counting dull drill bit time).
Jul 17
1hr
Files/sand three lugs.
Jul 19
1.2hrs
Study upper wing center section plans.
Jul 20
1.8hrs
Drill holes for newest SL lugs.
Jul 21
2.1hrs
Drill remaining holes in lugs and grind rough shapes.
Jul 22
1.2hrs
File lugs. Still need to sand.
Jul 23
N/A
Spent 2.3hrs getting the table down and set-up in the basement workshop to start putting the upper wing center section together.
Jul 24
1.1hrs
Plans - looking through both the Standard and the Radial plans. Trying to figure out what needs to be done.
Jul 25
1.6hrs
more studying... of plans... looked over threads on biplane forum
Jul 26
1.1hrs
more of the same...
Jul 28
N/A
2hrs - Tired of adding hours when all I'm doing is looking at plans and photos.
Jul 31
1.5hrs
Initial set-up and alignment of spars.
Aug 1
1.5hrs
Building it upside-down. Everything needs to flip. Made a BIG note and placed on work table.
Aug 2
1.3hrs
Start figuring out hardware for the upper wing center section. Asked the question about match-drilling 3/4inch holes through the spars, asked on the biplane forum.
Aug 4
1.7hrs
Re-ream holes for 1/4inch bolts on rear spar UWCS fittings so that I could bolt them in place and in positon for drilling/reaming 3/4inch holes.
Aug 6
.5hrs
Make drilling jig.
Aug 7
3hrs
Drill/ream first 3/4inch hole for rear spar UWCS fitting.
Aug 8
1.9hrs
continued working on opening up second 3/4 hole - need 3/4 reamer
Aug 9
.9hrs
reamed 1/4" started figuring out hardware
Aug 11
.8hrs
more figuring out of hardware
Aug 12
1.3hrs
Started making extra side-rail
Aug 14
1.2hrs
More work on the extra side-rail; drilling bolt holes
Aug 15
.8hrs
Drill rivet holes in extra side-rail.
Aug 18
1hr
Went with Tom McDowell (EAA 216 President) to a friend of his to use metal brake to bend side-rails.
.6hrs
Dimple rivet holes in side-rails.
Aug 19
.7hrs
Cut down rivets for side-rails.
Aug 20
1hr
Make plugs for spars
.7rs
Cut down rivets to correct length.
Aug 21
.4hrs
Burn patterns off side-rails.
Aug 22
1.4hrs
Cleans off side-rails with MEK. Riveted anchor nut plates to first side-rail.
Aug 24
.9hrs
Anchor nut plates riveted to two more side-rails.
Aug 25
1.9hrs
Anchor nut plates riveted to remaining side-rails (all except extra one). Will need to drill out a few and re-rivet.
Aug 26
.8hrs
Drilling out of bad riveting. Rivet. Re-peat repeat.
Sept 1
1.6hrs
Begin aligning the new side-rails/sheet metal.
Sept 2
3hrs
Actually spent four hours on it today, but... from wasted time running up and down the steps getting tools and the 1/2 hour spent thinking if re-doing the pseudo longeron is the right way to go. Put me down for three.
Sept 4
4.3hrs
Re-doing the pseudo longerons - cut/ground/filed and sanded the starboard one off. Made new stand-offs.
Sept 5
1.4hrs
Aligned and tacked on new pseudo longeron on starboard side.
Sept 6
1.3hrs
Finish weld stand-offs to longerons.
Sept 8
1.5hrs
Trim down and fit first side-rail.
Sept 13
1.2hrs
Weld on first side rail. Notched and fitted second side rail.
Sept 15
2.1hrs
Trimmed and finish fit second side rail. Needed to re-drill sheet metal for alignment.