More deburring

I'm almost done!

No pictures since there isn't anything worth seeing. I almost decided against even writing anything. But, for the sake of documenting my time, I decided I should. Although, the quantity of time is pathetic. For good reason though; I helped a friend build a bar top for his kitchen this weekend. (Total time this weekend 2.0hrs)

I have more long hours, travel, and busy weekends lined up for the next couple of weeks so don't expect much. Come mid September I should be back into full production!

Mundane Deburr

More deburring last night and tonight. It becomes very mundane. Although, let your mind wander when completing this simple task and it can become a bit meditative. A plus I suppose.

I'm starting to see the end now that I have deburred the larger skins and only smaller frames remain. My fingers grew tired of twisting the drill bit, cramping from the endless repetitious motion. So I took a break and started dimpling some parts when I came across an impossible hole to dimple in parts F-1055 the rudder stop skin stiffeners. The hole requiring dimpling sits snug next to the bend and a standard dimple die diameter is too big to reach the hole. So I modified a spare die I had by grinding half the cylinder off one side, thus allowing clearance to the hole.

If I need to make tools finish this airplane things may really slow down. Wed (1.0) Thurs (1.5)

Too much work, too little airplane

I have been working a lot on a project at work and am very disappointed in the lack of time I have had for everything else, including airplane building. So with what little time I've had in the past week or so I think I've accumulated two hours of time, all of which has gone to deburring holes. (2.0)

Completed Structure Overview (218.5hrs)

A needed update to the overview. The part in work is highlighted red, the tailcone and some of the fuselage, and the completed parts are highlighted blue.

Total Time 218.5 hrs

A Baby and an Airplane

Yesterday morning my wife and I found out we are having a baby girl. This was much to our surprise as we expected boys in our future, although we are quickly warming to the news. The excitement is building now that the baby is more identifiable with a name, the kicks help as a constant reminder too. She's due Dec 29, 2012 and yes we are simultaneously having a baby and building an airplane!

Rib Bending

I clecoed the skin on the fuselage ribs and bulkhead assembly as far as I could, before I needed more clecos. An interesting thing I ran into with the outboard fuselage rib. The holes weren't lining up in the skins. As the picture shows you can clearly see the rib is straight and the skin has a curve to it. So I fluted the edge of the rib to give it a curve to match the skin. It worked great on the first try. The surprising part about this is that this step is not mentioned in the plans except on a rib further forward than this one. See the pics below, although don't expect them to be in order, blogger never loads them in sequence.

Also, I rearranged parts tonight with the help of a friendly neighbor. Moving the tailcone back to the table for disassembly and the fuselage to the floor to finish clecoing all the parts on. Working the parts at the same time might turn out to be better then expected, despite the logistical requirements. (1.5)

Back at it.

Vacation and travel for work has lead to no airplane building in the past couple weeks. But, this past weekend was productive. I decided to continue working on the fuselage, three reasons: it looked to be more fun and productive, it would lead to another large part, and I'm kind of avoiding the million holes I would need to debur and dimple in the tailcone. Although all of this quickly proved to be ill fated. As I was finishing clecoing together the ribs and bulkheads that form the bottom of the fuselage I began to realize I had a cleco quantity problem, a cleco quantity deficit to be exact. Almost all of my 3/32 clecos are holding the tailcone together and I need a couple hundred more for this skin. So the plan has shifted back to the tailcone who's next step is to disassemble, leading to hundreds of freed up clecos. So it appears I will be bouncing back and forth between the two parts. Keeps it entertaining I guess.

Just so the pics make sense the fuselage, although each part is worked on separately and with meticulous detail deburred and marked, is half assembled as a whole and standing upright on its forward end. (Sat 6.0) Sun (6.5)