Nothing Fancy, Just Dust's Plane Day

[Dust]

Everybody starts out with a plan

then money gets in the way

or

Time gets in the way

Or, god forbid

Health gets in the way

the build goes on

[Dust]

Back to workin nearly everyday, nothing exciting, have so much aluminum in the shop, you would think i was buildin an RV, pics of the manifold progress shortly.

my buddy made me a cool brake that puts a 3/16 radius bend on material up to 20" long.

[Dust]

Well, Saturday was a plane great day, went to billskis plane factory, with neverquit and some plaster molds for naca scoops for vacuum lay-ups.

First off, billskis design, engineering and workmanship on his one of a kind plane is extremely impressive.

Second off - he is a great guy and spent the day teaching and showing us the methods he developed for vacuuming lay-ups - great stuff and extremely needed when doing intricate parts.

Thanks billski, hope i can return all of your favors shortly

and being duffus, i forgot a camera and greg forgot that he had a camera in his pocket!

[Billski]

We did have a pretty good time visiting, talking airplanes, and looking at my project.

Well, I did not bring a camera for the action, but I have pics (I have gone digital!) of the parts under vacuum, and after unveiling them. Getting the plaster out of the parts is a touch rough, and is competing with reupholstery of the store-bought's seats. When I get them free, I will take more pics and post them here, along with my critique of how I did and how I will do the next batch.

Billski

[Dust]

Not many plane days lately, sometimes life gets in the way.

[Steve parkins]

no photo's ? , wow life must be hard ! a party, and we get the crumes

[Dust]

well, i did not do any plane work over the weekend, BUT, greg did - we now have beautiful Stainless steel pitot tubes to install.

Now i have to make the D10 heat surround for them, small steps, many because of great friends.

[Dust]

Have worked on the plane almost every day since Friday, things are getting back to normal.

Wife is week so my stints on the plane are not long, but they are frequent.

Friday - polished pitot tube
Saturday - installed right side plywood brace for crash strength(had to remove elevator pitch trim bracket - PIA), polished pitot tube
Sunday - glassed the brace in place, flox from saturday still green - perfect.
Monday - mmm can't remember
Tuesday - drilled in and hole sawed the D10 heat shield material for the heated pitot tube
Continual progress, life continues

[Dust]

last night snuck out to the shop while wife was napping, sanded the inside of the pitot surround for a perrrrrrrrrrrrfect fit to the pitot tube, first tried baking surround and freezing the pitot tube, no joy.

then mounted it in the lathe and turned the leading edge, because the hole in the faceplate was drilled and is not tapered the pitot tube is not perfect centered, next i will turn a tapered hole and finish the surround.

Step at a time

Tuesday night the fuel system was continued to be installed, thanks to the industrial/marine/hot rod plumbing store down the way from the airport, i have unique fittings that allow the system to go in.

fun stufff

[mplafleur]

Having a parts supplier down the street can be a blessing and a curse.

[Dust]

FYI, the counter is now open from 7:00 am to 1:00, no longer till 4:00

[Dust]

more progress, finally installed the piston to hold up the canopy.

figured out a way to make the stand off hard points to attach fuel and return lines.

progress

[Dust]

Last night, 4 layer lip on canopy, stand off hard points for fuel system fabricated, finally. Sanded outside blend on rudder side

stopped by hardware store and got grade 8 fine thread blots for engine bracket attachments.

Also spent an hour with my A&P buddy helping him figure out why a cowl on a 172 does not fit and how to fix it, PIA. Best we can figure is he needs to change all the camlocks to ones that can be adjusted up/down/left right instead of just in and out with spacers

[argoldman]

Originally Posted by Dust

Last night, 4 layer lip on canopy, stand off hard points for fuel system fabricated, finally. Sanded outside blend on rudder side

stopped by hardware store and got grade 8 fine thread blots for engine bracket attachments.

Also spent an hour with my A&P buddy helping him figure out why a cowl on a 172 does not fit and how to fix it, PIA. Best we can figure is he needs to change all the camlocks to ones that can be adjusted up/down/left right instead of just in and out with spacers

Greetings Dust and Max,

I would tread lightly on substituting bolts. Although Grade 8 might be stronger in tension than the Aircraft stuff, the threads are probably cut rather than rolled and the material is more brittle. Aircraft bolts will stretch before they snap, Grade 8s not so much. At least that is what I've been told. You may end up with a junction that is less strong (in it's application) than if you use AN bolts.

One would think that if the cowl originally fit on the 172 and now doesn't fit that something might have happened to the airframe to prevent the fittage. I would probably find out what that is before changing the camlocks. If what has happened to cause the malfit, and it is not a matter of structural safety, change those fasteners.

[Dust]

Agree on all points.

These are engine case bolts, appropriate ones are grade 8, fine thread.

On the 172 cowl, that is the first thing i looked at. Had the cowl taken off and looked for damage or changes. And went over change history.

New engine and engine mount, new brackets holding the fasteners on the firewall a year or two ago. New fasteners that have rubber cushions that are about 1/16 inch longer.

We undid the rubber bumper in the prop flange area and that solved a bit of the problem, but not near all.

maybe the brackets are a little different than the original? who knows, not he or I. If he changes the cam lock bases to adjustable, the cowl can tell us how it is wrong and we can then lock it in place, up, down, left, right with the adjustable cam lock and cam washers on them and in/out with simple spacers.

Best we could figure, he had already messed with it fer hours with only being able to adjust in/out with spacers.