Category Archives: Extra Stuff you build

Progress!

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Well, lots of stuff getting done. We even organized our nuts and bolts. Nice plastic boxes for AN hardware.  We have both aircraft hardware as well as automotive hardware in the shop, so we have to be REAL careful to organize them and keep them separate.

Part 1 – The wing

Top skin is riveted. Forward top skin is riveted. Bottom skin is drilled and de-burred. All holes are full size and de-burred

This is the bottom of the wing.

Wing tips are a challenge but with lots of patience we are able to get a good fit. Will need a little filler and sanding though. We need to add navigation light here.

Wing tips are a chore.

Electrical conduit is installed and wire to the landing light. Cool!

The landing light will be LED from Duckworks.  Nav lights will be Aveo PowerBurst DayLite units.

Duck under the aileron push rod tube.

Part 2 – Building a Wing Stand

Some 2×4’s (stud grade), casters from Harbor Freight, scrap wood from the shipping boxes and a couple of feet of indoor/outdoor carpet from Lowe’s.

The carpet comes in 12 foot widths (Perfect!) so I had two 1 foot pieces cut.  Rough drawing so Tom and I had an idea what it was supposed to look like, and Bingo! Wing stand! Now, where to store it while we build the fuselage?

I love my plans stand!

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While building an RV-9A I built a stand to hold the plans while I worked.

Old style Van’s stand

For the Sonex, The plans come in a different format. They are a “pad” of plans stapled together into a very thick stack. By lowering the plans surface and clamping the plans to the top, we have a very workable arrangement.

New Sonex style

The plans are tough and can be opened and close many times without wear.

Plans clamped to table top

So, I modified my Van’s stand to be a Sonex stand and I’m very happy!

Flip plans

By changing from an upright stand to a lay down stand, and clamping the Sonex pad to the desktop, I’m able to flip through and page quickly and easily.

With the Sonex plans, you work on a page at a time anyway. No loss.

What to do?

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What to do while waiting for your kit to be delivered? Why, build of course!

We do not have water in our hanger, but washing off parts is in some demand. While waiting for the rest of my airframe kit to be delivered I built a sink!

RV sink and faucet, 12 volt pump and a 12 volt battery and put the whole thing on wheels using scrap wood from around the hanger!

Two 5 gallon jugs (one for fresh water and one for gray water) round out the build.

We have an easy drain for the gray water (soap and water only, no chemicals) at the airplane wash rack and a close by spigot for filling the fresh water make this a useful project for the hanger.

Perfect

Make the counter top useful but not too big for the hanger.

Jaws!!! A bit of add-vice….

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A good vice has a clamping jaw that can hold ANYTHING while you wail away on it. The problem with that is the damage that can be done to the object clamped in the vice.

Here are my vice jaws:

Jaws of Death

Jaws of Death

To prevent damage to small items, I cut a couple of pieces of 3/4 x 3/4 aluminum angle (the square kind, not the structural kind ) to clamp without damage

Jaw protectors

Jaw protectors

The problem was that these babies were ALWAYS hitting the floor while I was trying to insert the work. So, a quick trip to the local stationary store got me a rubberized magnet (used to make business cards into refrigerator magnets) that I cut into a couple of strips and glued to the top of the jaw protectors. Voila!

Magnets glued to underside of jaw protectors

Magnets glued to underside of jaw protectors

Cool.

 

Jaws of Life, Death and other things…

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Yikes! I have a butt-kicking vise in my shop that will grab a hunk of metal, and hold on like a Gila monster!

Jaws of vise

But sometimes, you want to hold something a bit easier, and not make marks in the item clamped in the vise.  A simple solution is to cut a 3/4 by 3/4 angle into a 4 to 6″ length. Place that in the vise, and voila!  An easy holder for small parts.

Aluminum insert for vise clamping.

Aluminum inserts

But wait. These baby’s are always falling out and on to the floor every time I try to put something into them.   So, HERE IS THE TRICK:

Buy some self-stick magnets from your local stationary store, and cut to size, and glue them on to the angle.  They stay in place, and make it easy to move the insert around.

Vise Inserts with magnets

Aluminum vise jaw inserts with magnets.

Remember to put the magnets on top of the vise so you do not try to squeeze them.

CC