Rough
cut the four straps for the top of the rudder pedals.
1hr
WELD PRACTICE AGAIN !
Oct 31
1hr
Ground down the four straps for the rudder pedals.
1hr
Guess.... yep, more welding practice.
Nov 1
.8hrs
Yeah... more of the same... welding practice.
1hr
Looking over the plans trying to figure out the right amount of tubing to buy. Asked the biplane forum. Most plans come with a material list.
Nov 5
.8hrs
No cut list for the Radial Version of the Skybolt so I needed to figure out a way to out the length of the diagonal tubing in the frame.
Decided that I would constructed a wood mock-up of the fuselage and empennage. Cut the wood tonight for the fuselage and began marking out the
stations. Will nail together during my next work session and take measurements.
.7hrs
Uh... yeah.... more welding practice. Getting better with those cluster welds with
45 degree angles.
Nov 6
.7hrs
Started hammering together the mock-up of the fuselage.
Nov 7
2.3hrs
Continued hammering together the mock-up. Making it in three sections so that
I can move it around. A lot slower than what I thought it would be to make this.
500 hours tonight !
Nov 8
2.8hrs
Still hammering away on the mock-up.
Nov 10
1.5hrs
Drawing up the fuselage structure. Figuring up that angled tubing is A LOT easier than I had thought.
It's all drawn up. Just need to find the angled measurements. Click here to find out how.
.6hrs
Can ya guess what I was practicing out in the garage workshop ? Yep... welding. Lookin' pretty good.
Nov 12
2.7hrs
Had an additional view of the fuselage I had to draw up. Finished drawing that up on CAD. Need to take measurements for each size tubing
to come up with a material cut list for my tubing.
Nov 13
.5hrs
yes.. welding
2hrs
Figuring up the tubing list for the Skybolt. I have what I need figured,
now all I need to do is take inventory of what I have to see what I need to order.
Nov 17
.5hrs
Took inventory of the 4130 tubing I had here. Need to place that order now.
Nov 19
1hr
Getting ready to weld the rudder pedals. A little practice welding the flat caps that go onto the ends of one tube for each rudder pedal.
Good solid welds. Not as difficult as I thought it would be. Not real pretty though.
Nov 21
1hr
More practice with welding caps on the ends of tubing. Also another practice weld on
a 45 degree weld joint. Consistently good with the welding. Caps could look better though.
Nov 23
4 hrs
First time at drilling holes into metal. Drilled under-size then reamed to size. Drilled the holes
in the four fittings that connect to the rudder cables. I also had to sand the edges and the face of these to get out the marks I made with the grinder. Sanded these on the table-top belt sander.
Nov 25
1.3hrs
Using
a 1 1/8" holesaw drill to cut out the 7/8" diameter .100
4130 caps. What with me having to change out the bandsaw
blade (don't buy Harbor Freight blades) to cut the metal blank for the 8 pieces, I worked on
this for 1.3 hrs only to have cut 4 of them out.
Nov 26
1.hrs
Cut the additional 4 circular blanks out, plus one for a test weld. Took a close look at
the drawings and saw that the tubing for the rudder pedals are 7/8 x .056 not .049.
Nov 28
.9hrs
Dry run on welding up a rudder pedal. Turned out
reallll nice.
Nov 29
1.8hrs
Received tubing in for the Rudder and Brake Pedals. Started cutting pieces to size.
Nov 30
4.7hrs
Vacation day. YAHOO ! get to work on the plane. Cut ALL of the parts for the
Rudder Pedals. Still need to finish trim three pieces and then it's ready to GET WELDED !
Dec 2
2.5hrs
Trimmed the three pieces down to size. Welded on all eight caps for the horizontal pieces on
the Rudder Pedals. First actual piece of the plane that I welded up. Ground down excess weld and finish sanded with 150 grit.
Dec 3
2.1hrs
Tack welded up most of the rudder pedals. I haven't drilled the holes into the horz. tubes
that connect to the brake pedals so I didn't tack those on yet. Pretty much welded up one of the rudder pedals.
Dec 5
2hrs
Welded up the main welds on the remaining three rudder pedals. Main meaning, the vertical tube with the
lower horizontal tube and the 2" tube to the vertical tube. Moving right along...
Dec 6
2.1hrs
Set about drilling the holes in the horizontal tubes that connect to the brake pedals.
Got only two drilled. woohoo... big yippee... They wouldn't chuck in the microlathe for reasons I won't go into so I had to figure how I was going to
center them on the drill press. End result... two holes drilled. Disappointing night.
Dec 7
2.8hrs
Last night... my mistake. I picked up the wrong metal cutting drill bit. BIG difference between a standard and one of those cobalt ones.
Anyways... drilled the rest of the holes in the horizontal tubes. Looked at them and decided I wasn't too happy with the centering of the holes on the caps. Re-cut new caps and have cut additional
tubing to re-make the four pieces. They're all cut ready to weld together again.
Dec 8
1.8hrs
Welded all eight caps on the ends of the four horizontal tubes. Time to put up the tree so it looks like I'll be
grinding these down tomorrow and drilling the holes in them.
Dec 9
1.8hrs
Ground down, drilled, and reamed holes in both ends of two
horizontal tubes.
Dec 10
2hrs
Drilled and reamed the remaining four holes in the
horizontal tubes.
Dec 11
2.2hrs
Cut the tubing for front brake pedals. Tomorrow I'll cut the
other brake pedals and possible welding up of them.
Dec 12
2.1hrs
Cut the additional tubing for the pilot brake pedals including the center tube which
has a bracket that connects to my Cleveland brakes.
Dec 13
2.8hrs
Tacked together all four brake pedals (unhappy with the squareness of one - will either
pull apart and re-tack or cut new tubing. Welded up both passenger brake pedals (eight welds.)
Dec 16
.8hrs
Hacksawed apart one pilot brake pedal and retacked together. Welded up one
pilot brake pedal.
Dec 17
1.3hrs
Hooked up the two new tanks. Welded up an additional brake pedal.
Dec 20
2hrs
Filed down and finish sanded with 180 grit sandpaper the two pilot brake pedals. Filed off
excessive weld. Primered them.
Sept 23
2.3hrs
Filed down excess welds on another brake pedal. Finsh sanded with 180 grit. Primered them.
Dec 24
3hrs
Looked at my finished pedals and was unhappy with the "squareness" of one of the rudder pedals. Set about cutting all new tube,
tacking and then welding the brake pedal together. Gotta love trying to be a perfectionist.
Dec 25
1.3hrs
Filed and finish sanded the last brake pedal. Primered it too.
Dec 26
5hrs
Tacked welded the fittings that connect to the rudder cables. Welded the top edge of the horizontal tubes to the rudder pedals. Banged (bent) horizontal tubes per plans.
Welded up one entire rudder pedal.
Dec 27
2.8hrs
Welded up two rudder pedals.
2.2hrs
Bent and drilled brackets that are connected to the pilot's brake pedals (still need to ream after welding the two pieces together. Drilled and reamed holes in 12 small brackets that get welded to
the brake pedals.
2.1hrs
Welded up the last brake pedal then filed and finished sanded with 180 grit.
.3
Laid out the landing gear bungee truss.
Dec 28
2.2hrs
Filed and sanded edges of all tabs that go on the brake pedals.
2.4hrs
Positioned and tack-welded all tabs on the brake pedals.
Dec 30
3.9hrs
Put finish welds on ALL tabs. Drilled and reamed holes completely
through the brackets that connect to the small vertical tube on the pilot's brake pedals, welded them on as well.
Finished the rudder/brake pedals !
Dec 31
.4hrs
Sanding down and putting primer on the four pedals
1.5hrs
Looking at the plans and what I drew up for the bungee truss area. The R version calls for
a shock strut as opposed to the Standard versions bungee system. The shock strut isn't even proven. Still sorting this out.