Forged
ahead and bent the ears on the forward landing gear/flying
wire fittings. Went bent... the hold placement on the
ears... one was Dead On my mark, the other just a smigin
off. The only way I could have been more accurate was
to have it machined. SWEET !Drilled the holes on the
ears on the one fitting. Still need to do the other.
Feb 25
1hr
More review of how to build the main landing gear, during lunch.
2.4hrs
Made the extra ears for the foward fitting for the main landing gear. Started to file and sand smooth the edges of the back fittings for the main landing gear. It ain't a quick process.
Feb 26
1.5hrs
Sanded smooth the edges of the rest of the forward main gear fittings and then sanded smooth the rear main gear fittings. Also drilled preliminary holes in rear main gear fittings.
Feb 28
.6hrs
Glued the CAD drawing of both Torque Tube Aileron Actuating Arms and rough cut them out of .o90 4130.
Mar 1
2.2hrs
Sanded smooth the edges of the Torque Tube Aileron Actuating Arms. Welded on the "ears" to the Forward Main Gear Fittings.
Mar 2
2hrs
Re-read the Skybolt Builder's Manual's chapter on building the Torque Tube. Need to build a jig. Still need to cut a few washers before I start. Drew up on CAD the elongated washers I need for the bottom of the stick sockets.
.7hrs
Cut out and ground to size the four elongated washers for the stick sockets.
Mar 8
1.7hrs
Started building the jig for Torque Tube. Just about finished with it. Still need to pick up a 1 5/8" hole saw to cut the hole for the main tube support.
2hrs
Welded up a jig for bending the stick boots. Having a helluva time bending the boot around the 1.5" tube. Need to heat it a little... gotta find the top to that propane torch.
Mar 9
3hrs
Spent way too much time bending the stick boots (still a little tweaking to do.) Drilled the 1 5/8" hole and cut to length the two supports for the Torque Tube jig.
Mar 11
2.8hrs
Spent the first part of the evening heating up and "trying" to tweak the second stick boot into shape. Not gonna work. Tried printing out an additional stick boot pattern at home. Kept coming up too small. I'll wait until tomorrow to have Glenn print it on a blue print printer. Discovered that
I drew up the actuating arms 1/2" too short. I'll print those up tomorrow too. Spent the rest of the time glueing up the Torque Tube jig. A night of learning.
Mar 12
3hrs
Made the actuating arms, from start to finish. Ready to weld onto the Torque Tube. Had only purchased enough .o50 to make the two stick boots. Will need to order the additional 4130 to make the re-make.
Mar 15
3.9hrs
Re-made one of the stick boots (actually making it out of .o63 instead of ordering an entire sheet of .o50.) Not happy with this re-make, closer but still not happy with it (meaning I used the wrong size pattern.) Cut out another one and left the "wings" on it about 6" long. Hope that this will make the bending easier.
Mar 16
2.3hrs
Spent ALL this time bending the boot real close to the shape that it needs to be. FINALLY !
Mar 18
2.4hrs
Practiced driling holes on scrap 1.125 tubing. Spent an unusual amount of time just making sure that the cross-sliding vice was tracking correctly. Unhappy with the holes cut by the 5/8" hole saw. The 3/8" bit did a great job on cutting the bushing hole. I'll be going out tomorrow to purchase a 5/8" bi-metal drill bit. Some of that learning tonight.
Mar 19
2.4hrs
Cut, drilled and squeezed the first stick socket. Measured, marked and cut the second stick socket.
Mar 22
5.3hrs
Cut and drilled the second stick socket. Cut all four washers for the pivot area where the 3/8" tube goes. Welded the oblong washers onto the bottom of each stick socket and drilled per plans. Not happy with the look of the second one. Measured out the markings on the piece of tubing (thank God) that I had left.
Starting the entire process of making the second stick socket tomorrow.
Mar 23
3.2hrs
Measured, cut and drilled the third tube for the stick sockets. It's the third one I've made. Also cut out the elongated washers for the bottom of the stick. Wednesday I'll weld those on and weld on the washers around the 3/8" tubing. I also cut the 10 degree tube for the top of the
passenger's stick.
Mar 24
1.5hrs
While waiting on the material for the Torque Tube I decided to re-visit the tail feathers. Just reviewing the plans. Bad idea to
jump back and forth; wasted time. Need to weld them up... maybe tomorrow.
Mar 25
2.4hrs
Decided to start making the Reverser. After reading the few pages in the Skybolt Manual I saw that the one hole needed to be moved an 1/8". Made that fix to the CAD, printed it out
and went about starting to make it. Got the 3/4" tube cut to size and some of the holes drilled. I'll finish it up on Saturday.
Mar 28
3hrs
Finished drilling and then cutting the openings in the Reverser. Was about ready to weld on the 1/2" tube I had... double check the dims for the tube. DAMN ! It needs to be .o58, I only have .o35 and .o49. Another call to
Aircraft Spruce !
1251.2 hours - HALF WAY THERE !
March 29
5.1hrs
Measured, cut and drilled the forth stick socket. Looked at it and threw it in the trash. Not happy with that one either. Measured, cut and drilled the fifth stick socket. So far... it looks good. Cut the elongated washers then called it a day.
Mar 30
2.3hrs
Stick sockets. Welded on the elongated washers and match drilled the 1/8" holes into the washers. Tack welded the 1/2" bushing and the washers for the pivot tube. Seems like a long time doing a few little items, but I was working at it the entire time.
Apr 1
3.3hrs
Bent the washers around the stick sockets, in the pivot tube area. Welded them onto the socket. Welded the inner pivot tubes to the washer. Filed down excess tube and weld bead then sanded with 150 grit paper..
Apr 2
3.7hrs
The top part of the passenger stick socket is tilted forward 10 degrees. I welded this on... two times (wasn't happy with how it looked the first time.). Bent the returns on both stick boots. First one (the .o50 thick material) was a breeze to bend. The second boot (.o65 material) was a pain to bend. Unhappy with the results. I'll be
re-making the entire stick boot. Time to order more .o50 material.
Apr 4
2.3hrs
Measured and cut the main tube for the Torque Tube. Cut three collars. They're too big to chuck in the lathe to square ends. I'll bring to Whitey's tomorrow to see if his lathe is big enough. Cut the four washers that get welded onto the stick boots. Ground down the returns on the good stick boot.
Apr 5
1.5hrs
Went over to Whitey's and used his large lathe to square up the edges on three collars (only need two) and square up and use a parting bit to make six (only need four) collar stays. A little bit of learning with the lathe today : )
Apr 6
2.9hrs
Re-worked the jig for the Torque Tube Controls... some minor/er major adjustments. Figured out where the collar is located on the main tube; marked it's location. Filed the ends of the tubes I squared off and cut yesterday so that I could slide them into to position on the main tube. Measured and marked the location of the cut-out for the rear stick boot on the main tube and cut it out with both a hand file and the dremel tool.
Apr 8
2.2hrs
Started off tonight by finishing up the jig for the Torque Tube Controls. Welded on the washers to the one stick boot and drilled 1/8" holes through both. Studied the plans and then drew up the collar on the DeltaCAD program, glued the pattern to the MDF board and drill the 3/8" holes and screwed in the blocks. Ready to make the collars next session.
Apr 9
2.6hrs
Received the shipment of flat stock and tubes today. Took a sheet of .o50 4130, pasted, cut, bent and cleaned up the edges of, hopefully the last, stick boot. For some reason, the fifth one was a breeze to make.
Apr 11
1.7hrs
More work on the stick boots. After welding on the washers to the stick socket pivot point, the one edge distorted a little bit. This happend when I did it to the other boot too. Same spot. What's up with that ?
Apr 13
1.6hrs
Drilled the holes for the stick socket hardware. Unhappy with how the stick socket hangs in the stick boot. Welded shut the one hole and will re-drill. May make the stick sockets over AGAIN.
Apr 16
1.6hrs
Material arrived yesterday. Made my fifth Stick Socket; cut to size and all holes are drilled. Slotted out the bottom too. I'm getting pretty good at this
Apr 19
2.3hrs
Uh... made two more Stick Sockets. Yeah... both of them the same. Happy with the second one... so far. The jig moved and messed up the 5/8" hole on the first one; damn nice one at that.
Apr 20
2.5hrs
Cut all four washers for the Stick Socket pivot points and all four elongated washers for the bottom of the Stick Sockets.
Apr 21
2.1hrs
Tack welded the round washers onto the pilot's Stick Socket. Heated then hammered to countor to the round stick. Welded washers into place and the 3/8" tube. Welded the elongated washers onto the bottom of the Stick Socket. Cut the upper length of tube for the passenger's Stick Socket at a 10 degree angle. Waiting for the lathe belt so that I can square up the end.